From Rockybado 3: The Invasion of the Naughty Blue Aliens
It was the day that school got out for the summer, and the Ingram’s knew that they had quite a few plans. It was a sunny day in Crown Point, a city in Northwest Indiana, about forty-five minutes away from Chicago. The Ingram’s didn’t really have anything planned tonight. However, David and Brody Ingram were going to play tennis with their friends tomorrow. Brett, the second oldest, had a gig for his band in a couple days. Among other things. The five siblings were not about to waste this summer by doing absolutely nothing. Dawson is 28 years old, almost 29; he lives in an apartment in Merrillville with his fiancée, Daniela Cardis. They are getting married in a couple weeks. Brett is 24, and he lives in a house owned by his friend’s uncle. He lives in Crown Point with his fellow band members, John Coolwood, Chris Paragnotti, and Tony Rossi. Brett’s main band is called the Hawaiian Geeks, as a take on the Hawaiian Dweebs from the three seemingly “fictitious” islands. However, Brett is also a part of another band called Mr. Morton, but he spends more time with the Hawaiian Geeks. David is 22, going on 23 on September 30th. Brody is 21, going on 22 on September 23rd. Toby is 18 and now a senior in high school, not quite sure what exactly he wants to go into; however, he has his eye on the business field. Toby is looking into some good colleges around the area, as well as some schools in Chicago and Indianapolis. He has obviously not made his final decision yet. According to most people, it was the year 2014. According to others, it was the year that has made a positive impact on their lives. And still, according to others, it was the year that has made a negative impact on their lives. However, it was still the year 2014. And the Ingram’s were okay with that. A little confused as to how much time has quickly gone by, but they were open to any possibilities in their futures. After graduating with his Bachelor’s in Marketing and Spanish in 2008 (he dropped education and switched to business because marketing was more interesting to him), Dawson returned to the same school in Valparaiso and received his Master’s in Business Administration last year around this time. That was also the year Brett received his Bachelor’s in Finance. However, Brett did not graduate from the same college as Dawson; he graduated from a university on the north side of Indianapolis. David also recently graduated from a small school just south of Warsaw, Indiana, with degrees in Marketing and Finance. Brody is now a senior at the same university that Dawson graduated from; only he is studying Computer Engineering and minoring in Marketing. And, of course, Toby has not completed high school yet. Brody and Toby, especially, did not have anything to worry about, in terms of academics for a good two months, and they were okay with that. They wanted to focus this time on playing video games and gaining insights on what they would like to do when they get older. At this very minute, however, the two boys just wanted to play video games. “What game do you want to play, Toby?” Brody asked his younger brother of four years. “Beats me. I can’t think right now,” Toby replied. “Want to play something older or newer?” “Whatever you’d like.” “Seriously?! You’re putting all this on me?!” Brody exclaimed. “Yes,” Toby replied with a grin. “Okay then. I’m in the mood for….” “Baklava!” Toby shouted and ran downstairs toward the kitchen. Brody ran after him. “I WANT BAKLAVA, TOO!!!!” “CAN’T BEAT ME TO THEM!!!!” Even though Brody and Toby are twenty-one and eighteen years old respectively, they are still very young at heart. And chances are, that will not change for a while. The two boys were downstairs, fighting over the package of baklava. Brody grabbed the package and split the Greek goodness in half. However, while trying to cut into the baklava, he didn’t realize that there was a wine bottle right next to him until he heard a crash on the floor. “Wha….” Brody mumbled as he saw the accident that he had caused. “Oh dear,” Toby remarked. The wine bottle wasn’t just broken. It was shattered. All over the floor. And the contents of the wine bottle looked sad on the white tiles. Brody didn’t quite know what to do. And Toby wasn’t quite sure what to think. “I was hoping for some wine with my baklava,” Brody said with a sigh. “Oh well.” “Can I get the mop?” Toby asked. Brody nodded, and he picked up as much debris as he could with the nearby broom. Toby came in and mopped up the mess. In a matter of fifteen minutes, the mess was cleaned up, but Brody couldn’t help but feel sorry for himself. Not necessarily because that was a bottle of wine, but more because that wine was not the cheapest wine on the market. The two boys completely forgot about the baklava, and they returned upstairs. “Okay. I know what we should play,” Toby said after he and Brody found a place on the floor to sit. “What?” Brody asked, still a little down. Toby grabbed an older game out of a nearby shoebox and showed it to Brody. They played some older video games for quite a while, try an hour and thirty minutes. The two boys were waiting for their parents to return home from work, for Brett to finish band practice with his friends, and David to come home from an interview that he had with a local business. Dawson and his fiancée were probably coming over to the house later tonight, and the kids’ parents were probably going to order in pizza or Chinese take-out. Typically the family has this kind of treat the day that school gets out for the summer. “I GOT THE JOB!!!!” a familiar voice suddenly boomed in the room where Brody and Toby were playing video games. “You did?!” Brody asked excitedly to David, his older Irish twin brother. “Yes! They told me they liked me, and I start next week!” “So, what will you do?” “Finance mostly, but a little bit of marketing as well,” David remarked. “Nice!” Brody replied. “You have an internship, right?” “Yes. I started a couple weeks ago, but I have a week off because my supervisor’s in Spain. As a side job, I’m working at Uncle Alan’s business. I got off today at three o’clock.” “Does this internship count as college credit?” “Not this time around. Last year’s did.” This is the second internship that Brody has had since he started college. Both internships involved the knowledge of computer engineering, but Brody wouldn’t need to report to his internship supervisor for another week because his supervisor was on a business trip. In the meantime, Brody wanted to pick up some hours at their uncle’s consulting agency, which is only ten minutes away from home. “Do you have to go to Uncle Alan’s tomorrow?” David asked his younger Irish twin brother. “No. I went in three days in a row, so I can finally sleep in tomorrow!” Brody replied with a lot of excitement in his tone. “That’s good. I can sleep in tomorrow as well!” “How long should we stay up tonight?” “However long you’d like to stay up,” David answered. “When will Brett be here tonight?” Brody asked. “Probably in thirty minutes. He sent me a text saying that he just finished up his practice. His gig is in a couple days!” “Can’t wait.” “And chances are that we are going to have pizza tonight because you, Toby, saved the day!” “Last day of school for Toby!” David just graduated from college, and now he has a full-time job. For all the college graduates out there, it must be extremely weird to receive a sheet of paper worth thousands and use it to obtain a dream job. It must also be a weird feeling to be out of college and not have to return the next fall. That was probably how David was feeling at the moment. A bittersweet feeling, because David now has a “big boy” job, and he won’t have to return to college in a few months. Brody will be in the same boat as David next year, as long as he can get into the classes that he needs for graduation. Like David, Brody has had a great experience in college, and he probably wouldn’t want it to end so quickly. But, then again…. There’s the real world. “I’M AT YOUR HOUSE!!!!” another familiar voice shouted from downstairs. David, Brody, and Toby dropped everything they were doing and ran downstairs to meet up with Brett. He was here to pay everyone a visit. His friends were off to their own families’ houses tonight, and chances were that Brett was going to stay here for the night because he did not want to be at his own house alone. Brett was, of course, in his band garb, consisting of a green Irish golf cap, a nice white collared shirt, blue jeans, gym shoes, and….the Hawaiian print vest that their grandma made for him a few years ago. Every one of the members of the Hawaiian Geeks owns at least one Hawaiian print shirt or vest. Of course, that is the theme of the band. “How was band practice today?” Brody questioned his older brother of two years. “It was great, as always,” Brett replied. “That’s good to know. Are you excited about your gig?” “Definitely! This is the one that we are all looking forward to, because Coolwood’s sister has always wanted us to play for her graduation party.” “And what’s her name again?” Brody asked. “Melissa,” Brett answered. “She was crazy about me in high school. She was a freshman when I was a senior, and she and her friends always went to my tennis matches.” “Tennis is fun to watch.” “It’s much more fun to play.” “I didn’t make it on the tennis team for a reason.” And it was true. When he was a sophomore in high school, he decided to shy away from tennis and focus on bowling. With that in mind, he realized that he might not have all the time in the world to devote to tennis. Instead, he found his real passions: bowling and playing in a garage band. Dawson and Brett are still on the bowling team, and that is how Dawson and Daniela met. Brett and Olivera Slobodan have been in an on-and-off relationship for a few years. Right now, they are happily dating. “How’s Olivera?” David asked Brett. “She’s doing well, as always,” Brett replied with a smile. “Is she going to the gig?” “She can’t because she and her family are going to London for a few weeks.” “That’s where Dad was born and lived until he was eleven!” David pointed out. “Yes. That’s true,” Brett replied. “When will everyone be here?” “I guess Mom and Dad will be here within an hour. Not so sure about Dawson and his fiancée.” “Well, we need to figure out if we want pizza or Chinese food.” “Definitely.” In a matter of thirty minutes, the Ingram’s parents arrived at the house, closely behind Dawson and Daniela. So, with this in mind, let the fun begin.
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From Rockybado 2: A Run in the Game
It was a couple days after the Ingram’s and the Garfield’s had fun at an amusement park. These next two days were basically meant for Brody, Andrew, David, John, and Adam to rest up and get ready for their baseball and tennis practices. This summer, the Watsons baseball team, the team that Andrew and Brody were hoping to get into, was going to start their season off by playing against the Pratts, a baseball team in Hebron, a small town a little southeast of Crown Point. The Watsons had many hopes of getting through the first game strong. Last year, the team was not as successful. After having that experience, the team saw no reason why they couldn’t try harder this year. Today, Brody and Andrew went to baseball practice, while David and Adam went to tennis practice. Coach Withrow’s baseball team didn’t actually practice or play today. They just had a meeting about a game that was not too far away from now. The coach was passing out letters to the players who would take part in that game. He ordered everyone to line up in alphabetical order. If the coach told the player, “great job,” or something very positive, and he gave them a sheet of paper with the schedule for the entire summer, they had the opportunity to play in the game. Otherwise, if the coach had a critical comment for the player, and he didn’t hand out a schedule, they didn’t make it this far. Not necessarily that they were bad. They just needed to improve for next season. Now, time for the baseball coach to determine the participants of the upcoming baseball game. Brody and Andrew stood stiff while waiting for Coach Withrow to hand out letters to them. Their hearts were pounding so hard against their chests that they could burst at any given time. After a few minutes, both boys just waited to see if they made it on the team for this season. “Matthew Adams, great job.” “Scott Ardovich, you need to improve your pitches.” “Patrick Artley, you’re great.” “Nicholas Baker, you made it in.” “John Bierborner, good effort, but you have a better chance of getting in next year since you will most likely improve.” “Bryan Brackley, if only you didn’t show off as much, you’d be a great player.” “Sam Elczek, you should practice a little more. The more you practice, the better you get.” “Nathaniel Gondek, congratulations. You made it in.” “Caleb Hartney, you should practice catching the ball with your left hand.” “Brody Ingram.” Oh dear. Now was the time to find out about making it on the team. Brody’s stomach turned upside down. His heart was pounding much harder than before. And he closed his eyes. What did Coach Withrow think about Brody being on this season’s team? “You’re on the team, Brody.” After these words, Brody let out a sigh of relief. Now, he really started hoping that his best friend also made it on the team. “Mark Irdron, you need to spend more time improving your pitches.” “David Jackson, excellent.” “Isaiah Kaittholis, you need to spend more time practicing your pitches and catching the ball.” “David Kilt, you made it in.” “Cameron Lazynski, better luck next year.” “Josiah Lindt, you’re amazing.” “Mark Lovestoski, you need to try to practice focusing on the ball when up to bat.” “Andrew McCalsky.” Now was the time for Andrew to find out about making it on the team. His stomach turned upside down. His heart was pounding much harder than before. And he also closed his eyes. What did Coach Withrow think about Andrew being on this season’s team? “Andrew, you are also on the team.” Andrew let out a sigh of relief. “Ben Morquist, you should practice batting with your left hand.” “Kyle Nancy, you should gain a little more experience for next year.” “Paul Nesmond, same thing to you.” “Tony Polansky, same as Sam. You need to practice more.” “Andrew Radigan, excellent.” “Sean Yadovich, good.” “The two Yerbaschek boys, you may both be pretty annoying at times, but you both made it on the team.” After Coach Withrow finished determining the team for this season…. “Even if you did not get a letter, please do not take this personally. However, you should still be there for the game. If something happens all of a sudden, for example, if Brody or Andrew end up having an asthma attack, one of you will have to take his place.” Brody and Andrew high-fived each other. Then, Brody glanced over at Bryan Brackley, whose face was full of anger. If the big boy was angry, the situation was never pretty. He would most likely be outraged, and the outcome would be pretty significant. “What do you want?” Bryan, the big bully, asked rudely when he saw Brody. “Nothing,” Brody said quietly. But that was it, and Brody was very surprised. He was afraid that Bryan would actually come up to him and slug him into oblivion. Not really, but same difference. Bryan has always been well-known to not be especially nice to his fellow teammates. “We made it in!” Andrew shouted to Brody. Brody ran up to his best friend, and they gave each other yet one more high-five. The two of them ignored Bryan, which was probably more to their advantage than not. It was now four o’clock in the afternoon, and Andrew went over to Brody’s house. David and Adam were at tennis practice, so they would not be home until 6:30 this evening. Dawson was at his internship. Brett was out with his best friend, John Coolwood. But Toby was at home, and so were their parents. David McCalsky, Andrew’s older brother and only sibling, was nice enough to give them a ride back to Brody’s house. “So, I see that you both made it into the game?” David asked his younger brother and his friend, when they were in the car. “Yes, we did,” Andrew answered. “That’s pretty awesome, given the fact that this is your second year on the team!” “I can’t remember. Did we make it in last year?” Brody asked Andrew. “I don’t think we did,” Andrew replied. Another few minutes were spent inside David McCalsky’s car, making some small talk about making it on the baseball team. And, all in all, this has been a huge goal for both Andrew and Brody. They have played tee ball since they were little kids. And they have been playing baseball since the age of ten. But Andrew and Brody have been on this particular baseball team for two years, and they had desperately wanted to take part in the big game last year, but they did not quite make it. Now, since they did finally make it into the big game, the two boys would most likely need to consider this an improvement on their part. Now, at Brody’s house. “Thanks for the ride,” Brody said to Andrew’s brother. “No problem,” David replied. And David McCalsky drove off. Brody knew what to expect. Since David Ingram wouldn’t be home for another two and a half hours. Since Dawson wasn’t quite sure when he would be home. Since Brett would try to stay out as long as he could before he did need to come home. Brody knew what his parents would want to do for dinner. One choice or the other. “Hey, guys!” Brody’s mom greeted them at the door. “Hey, Mom,” Brody replied. “Hey, Mrs. Ingram,” Andrew said. “Would you guys like to do Chinese take-out or fried chicken?” Brody’s mom asked. Brody and Andrew looked at each other and then back at Mrs. Ingram. They were both at a loss, basically since both Chinese take-out and fried chicken sounded good tonight. Chinese food is great. Fried chicken is also great. However, fried chicken would most likely not go so well with Chinese food. Or the other way around. But Brody was planning to go on a run tonight, and Andrew was hoping to go on a run with him. So, the decision was not so hard at this point. “Chinese food,” Brody and Andrew said almost simultaneously. “Okay. I will call them and place an order,” Brody’s mom replied. Brody and Andrew high-fived each other. They could never have been so excited about having Chinese food. As a matter of fact, Andrew and Brody were singing a song about Chinese food as they danced over to the living room, where Toby was most likely playing some sort of video game. Toby was pretty tired today because he had an appointment with his eye doctor, and he had to get new lenses for his glasses. And the transition from one pair of lens to another can be difficult for the eyes. “Hi, Toby,” Brody greeted. “Hi, Toby,” Andrew repeated. “Hi,” Toby answered quietly, meaning he was really focusing on his game. “Can we play with?” Brody asked. “When I’m done with this round, sure.” When Brody and Andrew were getting ready to play video games with Toby, someone else came inside the house. It was Brett. And no one knew why he came home so early. Brett, who normally comes home at around eight o’clock at night when he hangs out with John Coolwood, came home at 4:56 in the afternoon. How very unusual. Even though Brett came home much earlier than expected, he came home in a very weird mood. And Brody could somehow sense that something turned out to be unexpected. Moreover something in Brett’s favor. Apparently, Brett did not notice Andrew, Brody, and Toby playing video games. He silently went up into his room, most likely to play the electric guitar. Or maybe he was going to draw pictures. Whatever he was planning to do up in his room, he probably wanted to be alone right now. Nonetheless, Brody quit playing video games when it was a good time to stop. He walked up the stairs to his older brother’s room. As expected, the door was closed. It might even have been locked, too. Maybe not. Hopefully not. Because Brody wanted to know what exactly was going on with Brett. Brody knocked on the door. After a few seconds, Brett opened his door. Brody eyed his brother. Brett, for some odd reason, had tears streaming from his eyes. Something bad might have happened. Or, somehow, Brett was so overcome with emotion that he couldn’t keep it in. “W-what happened?” Brody asked his older brother. “The most beautiful day of my life,” Brett answered with a weak smile, once he could maintain his composure. “Why? What happened?” “I met a girl.” “You met a girl?” “I met a girl.” “Where at?” Brody asked. “The bowling alley,” Brett replied. “Does she go to your school?” “She will be a freshman at my school next year. JC knows her.” “Is she pretty?” “Why would I not have pulled a wimp?” And Brett started crying again. He hid himself behind the side of his bed so that Brody would not be able to see him bawling. So, basically, Brett was acting as similarly as David when it came down to cute and pretty girls. However, Brody has never seen David cry over those matters. Today, he saw Brett cry over those matters. Brody left the room. He thought that Brett might want to be alone in his room right now. And Brody certainly did not want to talk about pretty girls. He was more concerned about when Mom was coming home with Chinese food, as well as when he and Andrew were going on their evening run. Not that Brody doesn’t have a crush on some girls. “So, what happened to Brett?” Andrew asked his best friend, once he came back downstairs. “Take three wild guesses,” Brody replied. “He isn’t feeling well, so he’s staying up in his room?” “No.” “He might be mad about something?” “Absolutely not.” “He wants to call somebody in his room, so he knows he won’t hear any noise,” Andrew guessed. “Close, but no cigar,” Brody remarked. “Okay, then what is it?” “Apparently, when he was out with Coolwood tonight, he met a pretty girl at the bowling alley.” It took a little while for Brody and Andrew to digest all of this information in one sitting. Not that Brett finding a pretty girl has ever been that hard to believe. But there were several reasons why Brett might be up in his room. Brody knew what Brett was doing up in his room; Andrew had just found out. From Rockybado: Robot King of the Island
Everything has always been normal in Crown Point, a quaint little city in Northwest Indiana. As a matter of fact, everything has always been normal everywhere, especially in the household of the Ingram's. This family, from Crown Point, was just going through a normal day, as always. The five boys' parents were at work. The oldest, Dawson, was on his first day at an internship. The second oldest, Brett, was playing games on the computer. The three younger boys, David, Brody, and Toby, were playing video games on their old gaming system in the common living area. Everything else was very quiet in their house on Garfield Court. When school starts again, Dawson will be a junior at a private university, which is about thirty minutes away. Dawson is studying Spanish and Education, and will be 21 years old in July. He is involved in many clubs and organizations, and he is also part of a bowling league with one of his brothers. In his spare time, Dawson likes to play lacrosse with his friends. Brett will be a sophomore at the nearby high school and already has aspirations of working in the IT department of a prominent business. He also does quite a lot at school, and he is on the bowling league with Dawson. However, Brett does not play any other sports, other than tennis. David will be a freshman at the same high school, and all of his classmates consider him the valedictorian of his class; he is that smart. He is on the tennis team with his best friend, Adam Levistad, and he has been looking forward to high school for quite a while. Brody, a soon-to-be eighth grader at the nearby middle school, is as smart as David. However, Brody is very accident prone and is considered a klutz. As David is on the tennis team, Brody does not do any school sports yet. However, in high school, he wants to play tennis and baseball. Toby is a fourth grader at an elementary school in the area. He is the youngest of the kids, but he is not related to them biologically. As a matter of fact, he was adopted from Luxembourg when he was very young. At first, his real name was Tobias Laschwanze Urzyscha Schwann. But, when he was adopted, his adoptive parents legally changed his name to Toby Laschwanze Urzyscha Ingram. They liked the name "Toby" more than they did "Tobias." To explain Brody's sense of being accident prone, he has had everything happen to him since he was little. When he was only six years old, he fell out of a tree and broke his wrist. Brody fell off his bike and broke his arm at the age of eight. When he was ten, he was very sick with the flu, passed out, and had to go to the hospital. In the summer of seventh grade, he had to have his tonsils taken out. He also has asthma and was diagnosed with it when he was six. Nothing of the like has ever happened to Dawson, Brett, or Toby. David had his tonsils removed when he was four years old, and he was diagnosed with asthma when he was eight years old. Therefore, he and Brody have more in common than he and their other siblings do. When Brody had the flu, he tried to get up from the couch and get a drink of water because he was very thirsty. Little did he know that he was very dehydrated. When he was halfway to the kitchen, he felt as if he spun around in circles while hearing some dark music coming from the other room. Before he knew it, he was on the floor with a relatively high fever. Once he was stable, he found out that it was how he fell that made some of his family members laugh. He passed out in a more unique way than the majority of people would. When Brody was six, he had a huge desire to work in an orchard, since their grandparents own one on their property. He, being as headstrong as he always has been, decided to actually climb up an apple tree and see how many apples he could pick while up in the tree. Before he fell, Brody picked a total of nine apples. He tried coming down safely, but he lost his balance. Therefore, he lost all nine apples; they fell to the ground and bruised. Then, Brody himself fell to the ground, and he landed on his wrist. After he was back on the ground, he could feel his heart pounding through it; and he felt sick to his stomach as well. Their grandma found him and took him to the hospital to have his wrist x-rayed before they all found out that he broke it. And that was the last day of school for him for two days and a weekend. Tomorrow was going to be the last day of school for everyone, and Brett received a phone call from one of his friends, asking if he would like to come over to his house so that they could study for finals together. Once Brett got off the phone with his friend, he left. An hour and thirty minutes later, David and Brody decided to draw pictures of abstract figures. “Thank goodness we don’t have finals yet,” Brody said. “Finals are probably very annoying to study for, but I’ve heard that they are mostly pretty easy to pass,” David replied. “True that,” Brody sighed with apprehension. “I don’t like the idea of staying up at midnight studying for unnecessary finals. Math I can most definitely handle. Literature, on the other hand.” “Oh, you’ll be fine,” David answered confidently. “Brett has yet to have a bad final.” Brett came back to the house soon after his younger brother made the somewhat valid statement. If he knew exactly what David and Brody were talking about, he would be in utmost agreement with them. However, since he didn’t know, he wasn’t quite sure whether David and Brody were saying something good about him, or something bad about him. Brett was going to find out for himself pretty soon. “What did you say about me?!” Brett chimed in, sounding quite furious, yet sarcastic. “Absolutely nothing!” Brody answered with utter excitement. “That came out of nowhere,” David said plainly. “I realized that.” Brody, for some odd reason, decided to lie on his stomach. He was on the couch, and then he decided to grab a bag of candy from the kitchen counter. But Brody realized that the bag was empty. He was a little bummed. “Would you like to go to a fast food joint?” Brett asked his younger brother. “Okay!” Brody nearly shouted. Brett and Brody went to Brody’s choice of fast food joint. David wanted them to bring him back a chicken sandwich, because he did not feel like going back out once he was at home. He was working on his own personal “project” involving medical robotics. Brett helped him with the project whenever needed, but David really wanted to do his research independently. He has been hoping that he could get a lot out of this research so that he could come up with ideas for new medical technology in the future. Once Brett and Brody returned home from the fast food joint, they observed David working diligently on his project. They handed him a small bag that held David’s order. “Thanks,” David said blankly. “Any time,” Brett answered. “I thought you were going to study with your friend for a while.” “Well, we were going to. We planned on studying for two hours, and then we got caught up in playing video games.” “Do you think you’re ready for your finals?” “Oh, yeah. I’m ready to nail this like a boss.” David kept working on his project for another hour at least. Brett and Brody decided to put on a Sci-Fi movie. David still worked on his project regardless. It may have appeared difficult for David to maintain his focus on what he was doing, but it really paid off in the end. “How many pages of your project do you have?” Brody asked. “Thirty,” David answered bluntly. “Just in text?!” “No. I have a few pages with pictures. Anyways, what time is it?” “Time for you to get a watch, sir.” Both boys laughed at the direct remark. David could probably use a watch. He has lost several watches in his life; six to be exact. His family members have kept on telling him that he can have another watch, as long as he doesn’t lose the next one. It was now about nine o’clock at night, and the boys were supposed to get ready for bed, since Brett would have to take a couple more finals, and David and Brody would need to be up and ready for school as well. The two boys were both standing in the bathroom brushing their teeth. They hummed some random songs while standing in front of the mirror. Then, when Brody rinsed off his toothbrush, he noticed a huge orange spider on the wall. He stood still. His face turned pale. He could feel his heart banging inside his chest. He noticed himself breathing hard. Then, he started shaking. “D-David?” he slowly called David’s name. “It’s a pider,” David joked. “SHUT UP!” Brody suddenly shouted. “I like me some pider.” “Well, you do. Kill it.” “No.” “Then, get your habitat case.” David went to his room and got out his habitat case, which was filled with sand and other décor. He came into the bathroom with the case, and then he picked up the spider with his fingers and put it in the case. Brody thanked him for that. Then, the younger brother took off his shirt. “HOLY JEHOVAH! THIS FEELS SO GOOD!” he announced. The weather was very warm tonight. It was the beginning of June, so it was almost summer. Only about ten more days, and then the longest day of the year would come. Time to pick out the watermelons, the cantaloupe, the sweet corn, and all the whatnot. David and Brody share a room, which is the biggest bedroom in the house. They each have a futon, one on each side of the room. The two boys fell asleep in no time at all and stayed asleep for at least a couple hours. Then, Brody woke up. “David?” he asked quietly. No response from David, meaning that he was sound asleep. Brody then crawled over to where his older brother was sleeping. David was sleeping on his stomach, his back moving up and down with his breathing. Five minutes later, he stirred and lay on his side. “DAVID!” Brody shouted at the top of his lungs. David finally responded. It turned out that he was not in the best of moods. As a matter of fact, he was in a worse mood than he normally is in his waking moments. The boy was suddenly woken up by his younger brother, and he found that to be somewhat annoying. He was trying to sleep, so that he would have a great last day of school tomorrow. And now, thanks to Brody, he might end up pretty exhausted. Brody had to have woken him up for a better reason than not. “What?!” David answered, somewhat annoyed. “Do you hear that sound?” “What sound?” “It sounds like girls singing.” “Why would we have girls in the house at this time of night?” “I don’t know.” “Want to investigate then?” “Yes.” David got up off his futon, and he and Brody walked all around the house. They didn’t think the “girls” would have been anywhere, except for Brett’s room. When David and Brody walked farther away from their older brother’s room, the sound grew fainter and fainter. “These girls are singing in Brett’s room,” Brody said bluntly. The two boys walked into Brett’s room, only to find him listening to some random pop music. He used some songs by his most favorite female artists to study for one of his harder finals. Apparently, the brain messes with its owner when he or she first wakes up from a deep sleep. David and Brody stood by Brett’s door for a few minutes as they kept on wondering why their older brother would even consider listening to songs that are most likely from the ‘80’s. “Hey, guys,” Brett said. “Hi,” Brody answered blankly. “What’s up?” “I thought there were girls singing in the house. You tricked me.” “It’s eleven. You should probably go to bed.” “It’s eleven. You should probably go to bed.” “In thirty minutes, I will.” “Have fun studying.” “Have fun going to bed.” David and Brody went back to their bedroom, and they tried to go back to sleep. David returned to Dreamland in no time at all. Brody, however, could not fall asleep. He had too much stuff on his mind. Last day of school tomorrow. Trip to the East Coast in a few weeks. Meet some new friends. How exciting. Brody decided to make himself a cup of hot oolong tea in order to calm himself down. As the tea was steeping, he returned to his thoughts about what his summer would entail. He closed his eyes and envisioned everything. When Brody sat down and waited for his tea, Honeybunny walked over to him. The sound of the white cat’s loud purr emanated through the kitchen. The furry motorboat leaped onto Brody’s lap and sat down. I want you to pet me, the cat must have said. Brody pet the cat for what seemed to be five minutes. He drank his tea, and he continued to play with the cat. Brody then looked at the clock, and it was already one o’clock in the morning. Holy mostaccioli! He and his brothers have their last day of school tomorrow. There was no time to actually mess around with the cat, especially if he wanted to have a great last day of school. BRODY! PET ME SOME MORE! AROUND THE BACK AREA! The cat must have shouted. Brody picked up the cat and put it down on the floor. He really needed to go back to bed now, since he would be so exhausted, come tomorrow morning. He went back to his bedroom after drinking his oolong tea. David was still sleeping soundly on his futon. Brody then lay on his futon. He fought hard to go back to sleep, but it failed miserably….until about 1:30 in the morning. Brett Ingram (Rockybado) and his girlfriend, Olivia Cranston (The Magic Video Game), were spending a Friday evening at Brett’s Brooklyn apartment. It was just the two of them. Olivia’s friends and roommates spent the evening at one of the biggest parks in New York City. Brett’s friends and roommates decided to check out a blues fest. Brett and Olivia were invited to go, but they wanted to spend the evening at the apartment and watch movies.
It was around 11 o’clock in the evening, and Olivia noticed that Brett had somehow fallen asleep. They were halfway into one of their movies on the list for the night. Brett, normally a stomach sleeper, was lying on his back with his head turned to the right. He was on the outer end of the couch, and Olivia was nestled close to where the back of the couch and pillows meet. Not thinking Brett would really care, Olivia slowly placed her head against Brett’s chest. Before she had her head on his chest where she could feel his heartbeat against her head, but she never actually listened to it. Brett and Olivia knew they could make this relationship work, as they had both left their previous relationships of over ten years. Olivia had been with her long-time boyfriend, Cameron Sedley, for over nine years before he took a job in Colorado. He never let Olivia listen to his heartbeat, and Olivia didn’t mind that at all. Even though they are obviously no longer seeing each other, they are still friends. Brett had dated Olivera Slobodan for about the same time frame, and they had been incredibly serious. Olivera was ready to start a new life as she has gone back to school to get her PhD in biology. She is half Serbian and Asian Indian, and Brett has always thought that was the coolest mix ever. He planned to propose to her until one of their mutual friends brought up the subject without Brett’s consent. Even though the break-up was incredibly tough, especially for Brett, they still remain friends to this day. Brett’s heartbeat was very pure, a little bit on the fast side, but Olivia thought that was the cutest thing. She could hear his heart beating and his breathing in the background, and she knew she could easily fall asleep to this relaxing racket. She started crying tears of joy, for no apparent reason. It was the next morning, and she and Brett had both fallen asleep on the couch. Around 6:30 in the morning, Olivia got up and looked at Brett. He was still sleeping soundly, and chances were that he would not get up soon. Even though Brett is a morning person, there are days when he likes to sleep in a little later, especially when he watches TV or movies until 1 or 2 o’clock in the morning. When Brett and Olivia were watching movies together last night, Brett ended up getting so relaxed that he had fallen asleep way earlier than Olivia. She decided to watch him sleep for a few minutes. His arms were under his head, with his pillow between his head and his hands. His breathing was really steady, and there were small sweat stains on the underarms of his shirt. Olivia also thought she could see his heart beating through his shirt, at least when he was breathing in. Olivia thought this was the cutest thing. She though Brett was the cutest. He was so relaxed, and Olivia thought it would be okay for him to stay like this. A few minutes later, she decided to get rainbow bagels for both of them. Brett’s roommates must have come back later in the night, but they probably were out and about earlier in the morning. “Good morning, Brett,” Olivia gently shook her boyfriend of nearly a year. Brett didn’t say anything. He just drew in a deep breath. He was still asleep. His shirt was pulled up so that half of his belly button was exposed. He had fallen asleep in the clothes he had worn the previous day. |
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