Page 114 of Grin and Bear It

Nash walked up to the twins as they worked on their assignments at the kitchen table.

“We’re going over to Ellie’s for dinner,” he told them. “Finish your work and then grab some takeaway for dinner. My card is by the phone. Just charge what you want to that.”

“Yess…” Knox hissed.

“Don’t go nuts though,” Nash growled. “Dinner and some dessert only and after you’ve finished your homework.”

“Can Declan come over and have dinner with us?” Knox asked, both boys perking up at the idea.

Nash sighed, looking the two of them over closely.

“Just Declan. We’ll be back by ten at the latest and I expect the two of you to be showered and in bed at that point, and Declan to be home in his bed.” His eyes narrowed then. “I can trust you, right?”

“Yeah, of course.”

Maddox felt like Knox’s reply came out too fast, too smoothly, but his uncle didn’t seem to notice. He nodded just the once, then turned to see the rest of his uncles appear in the kitchen.

“Look after yourself,” Lin said, ruffling their hair. “Work hard and do the right thing. Uncle Ty will look at your maths work when he gets home.”

“And Uncle Lin will proofread your English when he gets home,” Tyson replied with a tight smile.

“Unless you’ve got art homework, I’m no good to you,” Cole said with a wink. “But make sure to put your bloody dishes in the dishwasher or—”

“You’ll make us do all the dishes for the week in the sink,” Knox finished for him with a sigh. Cole was always coming up with increasingly creative threats, but he rarely followed through on them. “We know.”

The boys watched their uncles closely as they gave their final instructions, but as soon as the front door closed behind them, Knox tossed his pen down to grab his phone.

“I’m gonna tell the boys they can come and hang at our place,” he told his brother.

“What?” Something curdled in Maddox’s belly. “But Uncle Nash said—”

“We could have friends over,” Knox finished for him with a grin, putting an emphasis on the S. “Nash won’t know. The uncles will be at Miss Jennings’ place for hours, maybe won’t even make it home tonight. You know the stories. They’re going nuts over her and while they do, we’ll—”

“Get in the shit, again?” Maddox stared at his brother. “Didn’t you learn anything from the party at Declan’s?”

“Yeah, to lock away all of the uncles’ alcohol, because fuck that.” Knox got up and started grabbing bottles of spirits from a cupboard in the kitchen to then carry them out of the room. “I can’t afford to pay off more bottles of Scotch. People will come around, hang out and then go. No alcohol, nothing to get us in trouble. It’ll be fine.”

But every time Knox said shit like that, it never was. Maddox watched as his brother started going through his contacts, firing off texts, then answering phone calls when they came through.

“Yeah, come around now,” Knox said to whoever was down the line. “My uncles are out and we’ve got the place to ourselves.”

This was not the way it was supposed to go down.

Maddox watched the hordes of kids come streaming through their front door with growing unease and when he looked at his brother, he saw something similar in Knox. Not that you would know it, if you didn’t already know the signs. His easy smile, the way he bumped fists with the guys walking in the door made it look like he was cool, too cool, but Maddox knew. As soon as the guys he was greeting turned away, Knox’s smile faded, his eyes widening, as he saw just how many people had turned up.

Kids Knox had invited had obviously let others know that the twins’ uncles house would be adult-free for the night and with the power of social media and mobile phones, the student grapevine went to work, alerting everyone. Boys pulled open the fridge, dragging out food, drinks, some finding Tyson’s stash of muffins and when they opened the tin, they were quickly snatched up.

“Hey, Knox!” one guy called out. Jimmy was in Year 12 at their school, not that he was there much. He didn’t need to be, because his reputation preceded him, despite his absences. “Got any more food?”

“I’ll order some pizza,” Knox called back.

“Knox!” Maddox glared at his brother. “Uncle Nash said pizzas for us, not for the whole fucking school.”

“Chill, Mads—” Knox started to say.

“It’s not like he won’t fucking know!” Maddox shot back in a terse whisper. He eyed the crowds, saw people flopping on the couch, turning on the TV, grabbing their game controllers and firing up their console. Some started opening rooms, checking out the contents before walking in and that’s when Maddox pulled away. “It’s gonna show up on his credit card statement.”

“I’ll pay him back,” Knox said with a shrug. “I’ve still got that birthday money the parents…” The two of them fell silent then, the quiet swallowed by the general hum of so many people being crammed into the house at once, but they shared a moment anyway, just staring at each other. “I’ll pay him back.”

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