Best Friends with Benefits

33

Tyler

I parked outside the house and glanced over at Hunter.

He was anxious, but he looked happy. Like, he was on his way to accept a Nobel Peace Prize.

"Tyler." He said as I prepared to leave the car.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"You gotta have my back on this, alright?" He asked. "I had your back with Amari and I had your back against Dad."

"No you didn't." I scoffed. "With either of those, actually."

"Okay, but you're my older brother. You're just supposed to have my back anyway." He said. "Plus, if you would've told me about you and Amari before anyone found out, I would've had your back."

"Do you really want to argue about this right now?" I asked.

"Nah. You're right." He shook his head. "I need open space to tackle you just in case you say some weird stuff."

I went to step out of the car, but Hunter grabbed my arm.

"You didn't promise." He said staring at me.

His eyes were pleading for me to say it. I didn't even know what I was supporting him through!

"I promise." I said.

I didn't have to know. If he needed a promise, it was serious. I had his back against the world if he needed me to. He should've known that.

We stepped out of the car and started walking towards the house. I sighed and stopped him.

"Alright. I had your back, so now I need you to promise me something too." I said.

"What?" Hunter asked.

"You'll remember that this isn't my fault." I looked over at him. "You won't be mad at me."

"Mad at you about what?" He asked glancing at the house then back to me. "Did you go in my room?"

"Just promise." I said.

He stared at me for a second longer.

"Alright." He sighed. "Alright. I promise."

I took a deep breath and we walked into the house.

Hunter

It was silent. Almost as if no one was home.

Perfect. I had time to go over how I was going to say this. How I was going to react to their reactions. The whole script, really.

Then we heard it. A loud thud. Tyler quickly shoved me behind him and we ran off towards our parents' room.

Boxes were packed and pictures were thrown across the room. The floor was littered with broken glass and Mom was red in the face as she stared at Dad who was sitting on the bed pinching the bridge of his nose.

He always did that whenever he was trying to contain his anger.

Last time he did that to me was when I had charged Tyler in the house and kicked a hole in the wall.