Thanks so much for all the feedback. Even the criticism is good, helps me improve. Love you guys. Excuse all the errors... here's Ch 2.
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"Wake up!" Joe came running into the room way louder than necessary. She rolled over in bed turning away from the noise. Taryn and Joe played tug-o-war with the covers. "Get up!" He was on the bed poking her now.
"Go away." She said muffled by the covers.
"What's wrong you don't love your little brother anymore?" He laughed.
"At 5 in the morning, no I don't love you. Get out of my bed." She rolled over facing the wall.
"Jamiee!" He shouted. "I'm calling for backup." He informed her. Jamiee appeared at the door in a heartbeat. Seizing the opportunity he got a running start and leaped on to the bed.
"Morning. You gonna get up and make me breakfast?" Now both Jamiee and Joe were on the bed and in her personal space. It's way too early for this. The boys were serious morning people and she seriously wished they'd take some meds for it.
"No. Leave. Now." She was sticking to statements rather than sentences.
"But I love you." Jamiee pleaded.
"You love Jessica Alba too but I don't see her ass making you pancakes." She countered. It's an ungodly hour and sleep was the only thing on her mind.
"Holy shit. Can you make that happen? Oh lord what would do to have Jessica Alba making me pancakes. You think she makes apple cinnamon ones?" Jamiee was drifting off into his own little world.
"What?" Joe was so confused.
"It's not even anything sexual. She just looks like she makes really good pancakes!" Even Taryn had to laugh at that one.
"Damn this bed is comfy." Joe bounced up and down on it, enjoying the softness. "Now I see why you don't want to get up. I would never leave this bed."
With one swift kick she knocked him to the floor and on his ass.
"You know... eventually you're gonna have to get up." Jamiee said ignoring Joe's painful moans from the floor. She regretted letting her little brothers stay with her.
Hours later Taryn jumped out of bed. Those extra hours gave her tons of energy. She was glad it was finally the weekend. No classes, no work, just her doing whatever she pleased. She scrolled through the contacts in her phone wondering who had a free weekend like her. After exchanging a couple text messages she realized she was on her own. She sat on her couch looking around her apartment; it was bland, dull, and boring.
"Paint!" she yelled a bit too loud. She had discovered her weekend mission, grabbed the boys and headed off to the nearest Home Depot. There was no way she was going to tackle a task this big on her own.
"Let's paint it silver." Joe was scanning metallic color swatches.
"Black!" Jamiee picked up the darkest swatches he could find.
"You guys are not interior decorators... you're just the labor. You have no say in anything. So shut your faces." She scanned through bold colors looking to see if anything really popped for the living room. She was hoping for something that would give it an open and bright feel.
"What's brighter than silver?" Joe was still trying.
"When you get your own place you can paint it silver."
"Hell no! That would be stupid." He couldn't even convince himself to do it.
"Exactly. So why don't you just put down the metallic's and go wander aimlessly." He gave her a smile, kissed her cheek and headed to the auto section. Jamiee followed. She loved her little brothers and at ages 15 and 16 they were especially entertaining. They all shared the same dark and sometimes plain mean humor that everyone else considered the jokes of assholes. They were going to be staying with her for a few days while mom was off in Vegas at a conference. Or so she claims. Didn't really matter to Taryn, she enjoyed their company.
She finally decided on a bright tangerine color, she had big plans for her apartment. She was going to finally make it fit her.
"Excuse me." She meekly said to the man with his back turned behind the paint counter. "Sir, excuse me." She was trying to be louder without being rude. He still wasn't listening. "Sir" She was getting frustrated. "Hello!" She finally shouted. He still didn't answer. She walked around to the other side of the counter to find the man propped up on his elbow sleeping. He looked somewhat familiar and Taryn wasn't sure why but for some reason this pissed her off. She thumped the man on top of his head causing him to jerk his head up and look directly at her. It was of course the last person she wanted to see.
"How did you know I worked here?" He blinked a couple of times and shook his head. He looked surprised but absolutely thrilled to see her. Taryn took a mental note of that.
"I didn't." She simply stated.
"So you didn't come looking for me?" Cydney cocked an eyebrow.
"No. I came looking for paint. So if you could just mix this up for me, without getting me banished from Home Depot, that would be great." He picked up the cans and started mixing.
"You're not curious at all?" He obviously couldn't mix without talking.
"No." It was a pretty unconvincing 'no'. Taryn scanned his facial features. He had some stubble on his jaw that wasn't there last night. As the paint shook he walked back towards her and she clicked her heels together wishing the boys would come back and be a distraction. She wasn't sure why but she didn't know if she wanted to face him or not. Which really made no sense because nothing had happened between them. For a while he just stood there looking at her, staring. Taking a deep breath he finally spoke.
"You're not going to give me a chance are you?"
"Why should I?" Taryn crossed her arms defensively.
"I thought about you all night." He couldn't make eye contact. "It's not fair for me to have seen all these things, all this happiness in my life, but not be allowed to actually have it."
"But how do you even know..." He cut her off.
