How to Date a Nerd

Chapter 10 - I Became a Penniless Mastermind

Chapter 10 – I Became a Penniless Mastermind

 

“What on earth?” Arthur eyed on me, nearly spluttering out coffee all over my face.

Just then, Nathan entered the kitchen and parked himself on the kitchen table while rubbing his forehead. He looked just as messed up as I was—a blackened eye, a broken lower lip and a bruised, swollen cheek. Well, maybe not really. Despite the fact that I gave him a guilt free pass to beat the crap out of me, all I got was a bruise near my left eye and a nasty cut where I accidentally bit the inside of my lip. That last part wasn’t even his doing.

Nathan hit like a girl. He should work out more. But that wasn’t the point. We’d be dead in two seconds anyway in the hands of Arthur Walden.

“What’s for breakfast?” my brother asked innocently before I shushed him. We both received dangerous looks from Dad.

“Uh,” I cleared my throat, unable to think of anything smart to say. “It was all Nate’s idea.”

Nathan stiffened on his chair, running a hand over his already messy blond hair. “We, uh, tried out for… boxing! That’s right, boxing,” he muttered chuckling wryly.

Arthur just nodded bleakly. “I can see that. It was so clever for both of you to use each other as punching bags. And also, there’s this matter of my car being found by the cops in a tow-away zone just in front of Gilbert Murough’s diner at five in the morning.”

Nathan and I groaned almost at the same time. I knew that sneaking out was a dumb idea. And one of these days, he would be the end of me.

With a sigh, Dad put down his coffee cup and gave us his idea of a serious look, which by the way didn’t work because he was just too cool. “Nathan, you’re the oldest—“

“By two minutes!” Nathan complained cutting off Dad.

“Doesn’t matter. I expected you to be the one to look out for your younger brother. Not drag him to drink jack until you both pass out knocking the brains out of each other’s heads!” he roared.

It was the first time I heard Dad raise his voice. He had no problem with me drinking during my rebel years, but I guess he was just worried more about Nathan than me. He expected me able to handle myself and my liquor all the time—except last night—because he raised me that way. What he didn’t know was that Nathan was raised by a bunch of crazy drunks, which would explain why he was the only one who was still sober enough to drag all of us home.

He was clearly not human.

“And Leon,” Dad said, turning to me. “You’re the smarter one. No offense,” he paused to tell Nathan.

“None taken,” replied my idiot brother, grinning like a nutcase. He was clearly loving that I was being scolded in front of him.

“Between the two of you, it’s you Leon, who should keep your brother out of trouble.” Dad shifted his eyes between the two of us like he was trying to imagine how many times I stomped on his precious little Nathan’s face. He shook his head with a sigh. “You’re grounded, both of you,” he muttered before Nathan could smirk more.

“We’re eighteen, Dad!” he grumbled like a five year-old. I knew better than open my mouth at this point. It could only get worse.

“Indefinitely,” Arthur added. “No allowance. No credit cards. I’ll be confiscating those later. No drinking sprees. And no new car for you,” he said mostly to me. “If you think you’re eighteen then you should both better start acting the part.”