Bigger Problems

"Baby, you light up my world like nobody else!"

"The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed!"

"But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell!"

"You don't know, oh oh," we all scream together. "You don't know you're beautiful!"

"If only you saw what I can see!"

"You'll understand why I want you so desperately!"

"Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe!" Alexandra falls to her knees dramatically.

"You don't know, oh oh!"

"You don't know your beautiful, oh oh!"

"You don't know your beautiful, oh oh!"

"That's what makes you beautiful!"

We finally finished off with poses.

"Damn, Harry. Way to be dramatic at the end," Naph tells Alex, laughing.

"Oh, come on. You love my Harry impression," she says, blowing a kiss.

"Guys, we've been doing karaoke for the past two hour. I'm hungry," I announce.

"You like mac and cheese," Alexandra asks. I just nod my head.

"I'll go heat some up. I'll be back." She takes off running.

We were in the game room. There was a huge TV, a pool table, darts board, etc. Naph warmed up to me and wasn't shy anymore.

I crashed down onto the coach from tiredness of doing karaoke for a straight hour. Naph crashes down next to me.

"So, you go to the same school with Alex and Dan," Naph asks.

"Yeah, I moved here recently. How did you meet them?"

"Well, I was struggling with finding a place to stay that was close to my college and the dorms were too expensive. All those extra fees. I was looking for a place I could rent a room or have a roommate so everything could be cheaper when I saw Daniel put up on the web that he had an extra room for free and it was in great condition. I was surprised fate was on my side. I moved in and he became like a brother to me. Alexandra moved in a little later when they started dating." Ohhhh, so Alex lives here.

"How come Daniel doesn't live with his parents or Hope? Alex parents are ok with her moving in with her boyfriend?"

"Oh, Daniel got emancipated last year, so his parents can't do anything about it. He wanted his sister to move in with him, but I don't really know the whole story."

"So, you and Daniel never.. you know, before he was dating Alex." Naph burst out laughing.

I only asked because they seemed really close, but she did say they were like siblings, so this was a stupid question.

"Spencer, just a hint. Alexandra is more my type than he is." My eyes bulged.

"Oh, my bad. Sorry I assu..."

"No, it's fine. You didn't know, but I'm out and proud," she says, laughing more.

"So, your family knows?"

"Yeah, they were shocked at first, but they didn't mind. I miss them, though. I moved here for college. I go to Preskley by the way. It's my first year, but I miss seeing them everyday and my baby brother. I love it here, don't get me wrong, but you know what I'm trying to say?"

"Yeah, I get it," I tell her nodding my head.

Alex finally comes back with three bowls of Crafts mac and cheese. I can't even remember the last time I ate this stuff.

"Guys, let's watch a movie," she says, crashing in between me and Naph, passing us our bowls.

"You can pick the movie, Spencer, because I take too long and Alex always changes her mind."

Naph passes me the remote and that's how we ended up watching Grease.

Later on during the movie, Daniel called Alex to tell us that he was at his parents house fixing something, but everything was fine.

We just chilled for the rest of the night.

Last night, after Daniel came back to the house, he dropped me back off home.

When I got there, the lights inside were already on and I could hear noise coming from the kitchen. I ran to see what was going on, not forgetting to bring the bat I leave hidden by the front door with me.

When I entered the kitchen, I saw Nick, my brother, cooking.

How did he get in the house?

I walk up behind him and pull out one of the headphones he had in his ears.

The spatula in his hand goes to my neck like he was going slice it open if I were a robber or something, but then he realizes that it's me and a smile spreads on his face.

"SPEEDY," he screams, dropping everything and hugging me. I hug back.

"What are you doing here? How are you here," I ask him in bewilderment.

"They let me out early. You were on the trip, so I snuck in through the back sliding doors. I still don't have my keys back and I had to get an uber here."

"I've missed you so much, Nicky, even though you drive me crazy sometimes."

"I've missed you too."

"So, what are you making," I ask him, looking into the pan.

"Some shrimp and chicken alfredo."

"Yummmmy!"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I woke up the next morning refreshed. I could smell breakfast being made downstairs, I hurried to do my morning routine.

After I put on my shoes, I ran downstairs.

"Hey, I made some eggs, bacon, French toast, croissant. From what I remember, you like to eat, so I made a lot of food."

"As much as I like that, I also remember that you cook a lot when you want to tell me something important," I say, grabbing a plate and stacking.

Since we were kids, every time Nick had to tell me something important, he would give me a lot of food. I remember when I was five and he was six, he came to my room with a stack of toaster strudels. As I was eating, he blurted out that he broke my favorite doll by accident when he stepped on it. He just hugged me while I cried and ate the toaster strudels.

It was good because I liked being stuffed with food, but bad because it was never good news that followed.

He was scratching the back of his head in nervousness, while I waited for him to talk and stuffed my face.

"SooooowhenItalkedtomomshesaidthatshewascomingthisweek," he rambled out.

"Huh," I ask, confused. This time he said it really quite.

"Nick, I can't hear you."

"Alright, fine. When I talked to mom she said that she was coming here this week. I don't know for how long or what for." I paused my eating.

"Are you serious," I ask him slowly. He nods his head.

"Do you even remember the last time you've seen her in person, because I don't. I barely remember what she looks like," Nick says.

"Four years. It's been four years. She just said, 'hey kids I got a new job', and never told us when she was coming back. Why is she coming back now?" At this point, we were both slumping down in our seats.

"Let me drive you to school before your late," Nick says, standing up. I grab my bag and we leave the house. We both avoid the answer to the question rolling inside our brains because we're afraid of what the answer could be.

When we get to my school, he parks the car and we both get out.

"Oh, I almost forgot to give this back to you. Here's your key to the house," I hand it to him after getting it out.

"You remember when we used to go to school together? I miss beating up boys so they could stay away from you." I let out a nervous laugh.

A memory from before he left to go to college and before the bullying flashed through my head. The days when I was actually popular alongside him and boys always tried to approach me.

"Hey, Spence and nice to see you again, Nick," Sky comes out of nowhere, looking at my brother and wiggling her eyebrows. She was practically drooling.

"Sky, this is my, very off limits, brother. He has a girlfriend," I warn her.

"Your more outspoken now than you were the first time we met," Nick tells Sky.

"Yeah, because I'm not in Lily's shadow anymore," she says confidently. I see a fiery glint in Nick's eyes from Sky's boldness and I knew it was time to break this up.

I knew that look and I didn't like it, especially when it's pointed at my friends.

The guy has a girlfriend and still can't resist other girls.

"Alright, we have to head to class. I'll see you when I get home," I said and we give each other a hug goodbye. Nick speeds off in his car after I give him a warning to stay away from my friends.

"Spencer, why didn't you let me claim him before he got a girlfriend? I would be happy to have a piece of that Greek god," Sky says, whining.

"Please stop describing my brother like that. It's gross," I tell her, blocking my ears with my hands. The next minute I feel someone jump onto my back, almost bring me to the ground.

"If it isn't my main bitch," I hear Alexandra say from on top of me.

"Hey Alex," I say laughing, as she jumps off of me and throws an arm around my shoulders instead.

We talk while walking to our lockers. I told myself that I wouldn't think about my mom and will just get through my classes and everything. But when we got closer to my locker, I found out I had bigger problems.

"What. The. Fuck."