Refusing to engage me, he replied with edge in his voice, “Fine. Stay. I really don’t give a shit.”
“Cool.” I pulled my phone out and leaned against the door.
Finding a game to play, I was halfway through it when I heard Jake groan, “Really, Kyle?”
His glare was icy.
“What? You said I could stay.”
I realized I was being annoying, but with Jake, my motto had always beenThere’s no such thing as bad attention. I just wanted to make him feel something, no matter how negatively it reflected on me.
“I seriously can’t wait to watch you crash and burn on national television,” he huffed.
“It’s going to be a train wreck,” I conceded.
Jake looked up from his phone with an honest-to-god actual smile on his face.Score!
“Of epic proportions,” he agreed. “It’ll be awesome.”
“I really hope I don’t let you down.”
“Oh, you won’t. When it comes to making an ass of yourself, you never let me down.”
We both laughed at that.
“Chances are I’ll get voted out of the game pretty quickly anyway.”
“Nah. You kill at swimming. Your team will need your mad skills in the water.”
“Something tells me once my teammates find out you’re my brother, they won’t give a crap about any of that. They’ll assume I’m a millionaire and kick my ass off the island.”
“So don’t tell them then.”
“Well, I don’t plan to, but you know me and secrets.”
Jake laughed. “Oh, shit. Yeah, you’re screwed.”
I nodded. “And even if I manage to keep my mouth shut, strategic thinking has never been my strong suit.”
“Uh-huh. That’s for sure. You can’t even pack your bags.”
“Why are you so obsessed with that? Jesus. It’s not like I need all that much stuff. I get one outfit for the entire show, and I already know what it’s going to be.”
Jake whipped his head around in alarm. “You’re not going to wear that stupid t-shirt and the short shorts, are you?”
Of course I wasn’t, but Jake didn’t need to know that. I grinned and shrugged like it was already a done deal.
“Oh, my god, Kyle,” he whined. “Do you have to be such a dipshit?”
“Hey, you said you couldn’t wait to see me make an ass of myself, so there you go. You’re welcome. Besides, you don’t even know which t-shirt I was talking about,” I teased, although we both knew which one he was referring to – my current favorite, a t-shirt with a beaver holding onto a log with the captionAre you looking at my wood?
Jake rolled his eyes. “The beaver one.”
“Seriously? You don’t like that one?”
“You know I don’t.”
“You have to admit it’s funny.”
