I closed my eyes, mildly embarrassed. We had, but I thought it’d be weird for our group to go. We were a bit older than their crowd. We didn’t want to be the creeps hanging out with the high school kids.
Tate managed to get my brother to roll his head up and was urging him to take a drink of the water.
“So, everyone was at the birthday party, and then what? I’ve got Blue passed out on my couch.”
Snickers could be heard from the other side. I waited for a reply, and I think my annoyance could be felt over there because she sighed and continued her story.
“Okay, so the party was at her house. We were all hanging by the pool, chilling, nothing crazy. You know Uncle Mark. Him, Uncle Derek, and my dads were all chaperoning. Well Blue finally gets there, after work. He’s in his little suit and he’s got a huge bouquet. He asks if Lola will come talk to him alone. Everyone is side eyeing them. You know Blue, he’s not really into this kind of stuff. All he does is work and hang out with my brother.
Anyways, Lola’s stupid friend from the theater, Bailey gets there. I’ve never liked her. She comes in and starts telling everyone about Lola’s crush on Dallas. Me and Ben are sitting there by the pool telling her to shut the fuck up, but then Lola comes back with Blue, all smiles and whatever. I’m assuming something happened there, but then stupid Bailey opens her mouth and is like, “Oh is this Dallas, the hot guy you’re always talking about?”God, I can’t stand her.”
“Yeah, I can’t either,” Ben said.
I gasped, my heart breaking for my baby brother. It was hard enough being the kid of famous people, and then have your older siblings having similar career paths. Now this. It was just another thing we kind of took from him. I had no idea he had feelings for little Lola; and I doubted Dallas knew Lola was crushing on him.
“What happened then?” I swallowed, already seeing the scene playing out in my head.
“Well Blue was upset, and then he went off on Lola. Called her a whore, slut, everything in the book. Left in a huff. The party was pretty much over then. Everyone was told to go home and then Lola tried going after Blue, but no one knew where he went. Even Rocky. We all came back to my place and now she’s crying upstairs.”
“She didn’t…” I shuddered. “Act on her feelings for Dallas, did she?”
“Fuck no!” Rosa laughed. “That crush was like years ago. I couldn’t believe Bailey brought it up. She isn’t really Lola’s friend, they just do shows on occasion together. I think she was trying to be like, cool. I don’t know. Blue wasn’t willing to listen though. He lost his shit as soon as he heard his brother’s name. He didn’t give Lola time to explain.”
I wasn’t even sure how to react myself to any of this. What could I do other than put him in one of the guest rooms and let him sleep this off? I felt terrible for my baby brother, but there wasn’t anything I could do tonight. I thanked Rosa for the explanation and hung up.
“Let’s get him to bed I guess,” I said, turning to Tate. He glanced at him and then me skeptically. Blue was kind of bulky.
“Can we just maybe move him to the couch instead? Bring some blankets out?”
I nodded and moved to help Tate pick up my brother and bring him to the couch. Blue stirred some but not enough to help any. I put a pillow under his head, a blanket over his body, and a bowl right next to his head on the floor, just in case.
The next morning Blue was stirring as I stepped out of my room to make Cara a bottle. He groaned and sat up, looking around in confusion for a moment before his cheeks turned beet red.
“Oh God. Did I do something stupid?” he asked, standing up. I laughed when he grimaced and reached for his stomach.I went to the kitchen and glanced back.
“I wasn’t there, but it sounds like maybe you and Lola both might be feeling a little stupid. What happened Bud?”
“Do you have water, maybe some crackers?” he asked, joining me in the kitchen. I nodded and produced the items he requested just as Tate was coming out of our room with Cara. Blue drank his water and then turned to them. He instantly brightened.
“So, this is the little thing causing such a stir in the family chats. Hello, you.” He smiled at her, and she grinned back. She loved new faces. Tate offered her to him, but my brother politely declined. “I reek of sweat, alcohol, and regret,” he chuckled low.
“Yeah, speaking of,” I started, handing a freshly made bottle to Tate and then turning back to Blue, “What the hell man? You like Lola?”
He cringed.
“Maybe,” he grew quiet before nodding. “Yeah, for a while now. Probably shouldn’t have blown up like that. I just wished she would have told me she liked Dally instead of kissing me yesterday.”
I leaned across the counter and looked deep into my baby brother’s eyes. He was very attractive, and I could see how Lola or any other girl would be almost hypnotized by them.
“Maybe you should go apologize and give her a chance to explain.”
He nodded and looked down at the counter. He grabbed a cracker and shoved it in his mouth.
“Yeah, probably. I’ll do that later today. For now, since I’m here, maybe I can spend some time with my niece?”
“No work?”
He shrugged. “They’ll live one day without me.” He slid off his stool and went towards the bathroom. “I’m going to attempt some clean up and then I’ll come hold her.”
