Jamie found that the longer he stared at Brooks’ face, the dumber he felt like he was getting. His search for sign of life and intelligence behind Brooks’ big Bambi eyes was proving to be futile and a waste of time with every word coming out of his mouth paying testament to just how idiotic his new housemate really was.
“I hope whatever you have isn’t contagious,” he commented dryly as he fed his siblings a piece of pancake for every two that he ate himself. From experience he knew that it was best just to ignore it until it went away but Brooks was trying his patience with the sneaky glances and coy snickering that sparked every defensive mechanism in his body.
He’d survived a lot of things but Jamie wasn’t sure suburbia was going to be one of them if Brooks Mcknight wasn’t going to shut his face anytime soon. “You’re not even capable of listening, are you?” he snapped over Stella’s head, unable to force down the vitriol that had accumulated in his silence. “You’re beyond stupid. Dare I say, you may be an authentic moron.”
The sound of unzipping drew Jamie’s eyes to Brooks’ hands in time to catch the canister before it could bean his sister. He stared blankly at the label, the tenuous vacancy of his face speaking volumes of the calm before the storm. He set Stella on the ground and stood, shaking the can in his hand as he approached Brooks, lips curling slowly into a smirk.
With a murderous glint in his eye, he extracted a lighter from his pocket.
Within seconds, Marjoree to flew into view and snatch the items from his hands before he could make a flamethrower out of the aerosol spray as if it hadn’t been the first time she’d done so.
“Get to school, boys,” she scolded, hands on her hips. When Jamie didn’t budge, she shoved his bag into his arms and leveled him with a look. “Go. Now.”
Jamie sniffed and shouldered the bag as he looked at Brooks on his way out the front door. “Don’t come near me if you care about those eyebrows, Gingersnaps. Bet all that air in your head would make great combustion fuel.”
Brooks easily shrugged off the stream of insults about his lack of intelligence. It was nothing he hadn’t heard before, hundreds of times, and truthfully, it didn’t bother him much. Now, if Jamie had said something about his appearance, that would have been a whole different story, but fortunately, he didn’t take it to that level.
Admittedly, he was taken aback when the other boy tried to make a makeshift blowtorch out of his can of deodorant, but he also couldn’t help but laugh as the soap opera level of drama unfolded in front of him, especially when Jamie’s mom stepped into the room and started yelling at him. Brooks quickly followed Jamie as he headed outside, still grinning like an idiot, even when the boy threatened him.
“Yea, yea, I’m dumb, we been knew, and it’s getting kinda repetitive, despite the variety of your synonyms, my dude. Oh, and calling me stupid a shitload of times doesn’t make you look that smart either, you know?” Brooks pointed out, rolling his eyes playfully. This guy really needed to chill, because it was too early for these intense arguments. Besides, Brooks wasn’t that stupid. As a matter of fact, watching Marjoree scold her kid, combined with the fact that Jamie was obviously a virgin, had given him a brilliant idea on how to end his mom’s relationship once and for all.
Brooks unlocked his car, but much to his surprise, Jamie had already started walking. “You know it will take at least an hour if you go by foot, right? Probably two in your case, actually,” he laughed, shaking his head. “Just get in the damn car.” It wasn’t like he was excited about the prospect of having the other stink up his car, but at least for now, he had to pretend to be nice to him. Brooks easily caught up with him, and tapped him on the shoulder. “Come on, tough guy. You don’t wanna be late on your first day, do you?”
