Under these Stars

Chapter 3: What are brothers for...?

a/n: Changes from Editing:

Uncle Chris (37): surgeon. vegan. Recently Divorced.
Uncle Mark (related to Mama Greene) (37): psychologist. 

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"I can't believe you redshirted me," I bundle up my wet clothes and put them in my bag.

"Love you too sis," Finn bows. I feel the urge to push him off his skateboard, but I'm not that mean.

We have this thing called "red-shirting" at our pool within our staff. If someone is guarding the pool and you happen to be off rotation, you could decide to put on your red lifeguard shirt and jump in the pool. Thus, you would be counted as a drowning victim and the lifeguard has to jump in the water to save you. I don't mind it that much usually. I mind it a lot when the doofus is your brother who dives underwater into the deepest part of the pool (which is 20 feet) and just sits there at the bottom waiting. He's a heavy 6'1" dude. I was going to wait for him to run out of breath and float to the surface, but my manager was outside watching me. These fake drowning are timed and watched by the manager.
"You're extremely lame." I lean in to punch him, though it ends up throwing me off balance on my skateboard rather than him.

"Mhm sure sure," he pats my head patronizingly.

"Was this to get me back for sitting on you? That was justified since you ate my Cheeto puffs."

"Actually, you looked all cozy that I felt it was my responsibility as a lifeguard and brother to make sure you were alert," he teases. "And I got wet too! What are you complaining about?"

I ignore him and give him the silent treament. He just doesn't understand long hair problems. We get home, one of us nice and dry, the other soaking wet. My hair is really takes forever to dry, while his hair is short.

"Hey Dela! Hi Finn!" My Uncle Mark greets us. "I'm making veggie burgers for dinner."

"Noooooo," we say miserably, but our stomachs disagree. It will eat anything that smells or looks edible.
"Aww, they taste good and are healthy for you," he frowns. "I want you guys eating more healthily, not those greasy pizzas everyday."
"I would also like vegan pizza. That's a thing right?" Finn comments.
"We are kidding. We love your veggie burgers," I say, elbowing Finn to shut his mouth. Uncle Mark has a vegan diet, or what he "plant-based diet" since he doesn't like labels. He is slowly transitioning all our foods to be vegan. Well, that's never going to work since my brothers and I are huge meat lovers. That doesn't dissuade Mark though; he still cooks his vegan meals for us. Honestly, they aren't that bad and he makes them taste great. I am quite surprised there are a lot of different dishes you can make.
I prefer Allen's food since he knows my picky eating.
"Okay, now you guys go clean up. Chris is working the night shift again tonight so he won't be coming to eat with us," he sighs.
Uncle Chris is a surgeon while Mark is a psychiatrist. The two of them are identical twins on my mom's side. Both are available bachelors in their late thirties. I tease Mark all the time about finding a spouse. Chris is recently divorced but I worry about him. He has taken more work shifts, barely leaving time for himself to rest and relax.
Uncle Mark has sole custody of us but with Allen turning eighteen, he could technically become our guardian. Mark lives with us, but Chris only drop by once in a while to check up on us, since he doesn't live with us. Before, they would pretty much camp here whenever they could.
After I shower, I head towards the dining room. Everyone is already sitting there eating. I take my place next to Allen and start eating too. The veggie burger isn't that bad, instead of meat there is tofu. There is a tangy sauce marinating the tofu which makes it quite delicious.