Page 71 of My Brother’s Best Friends Entanglement

Shouldn't you be testing the flushing capacity of a toilet somewhere.

Leon:

Nah, lil sis. I don't mix business with pleasure.

Alexia:

Gross

Leon:

Promise you won’t tell anyone about the bottom drawer or else I'll show everyone the video of your second grade concert.

Alexia:

Deal.

I fill my travel mug with hot water, drop in a tea bag, and grab a macadamia white choc cookie from the jar as I ponder what Leon's told me. As I walk back to my office, I reread Marcus's message. It's clearly something important. I should text something back.

Good luck?

I'm sure you'll do great?

Get 'em, tiger?

Those are nice. Non-committal. Supportive.

Boring.

"Hey Alexia," I hear a voice as I turn into my hallway, and look up to see three stressed faces looking back at me. It's one of the groups from my third-year tutorial.

"What's up guys?" I ask, opening my office door and letting them in.

"We can't make sense of the instructions Professor Yamada emailed for our assignment last night. They're practically incoherent. And why is everything in caps?" Nora, the unofficial spokesperson for the group, says.

I laugh. "Nothing wrong with an incoherent email now and then."

"There is when it's 25% of your grade!" Nora exclaims and sinks into the couch.

Ah yes, undergrad, where everything is life and death. I sigh and gesture to the empty seats. "Okay, let's have a look and see if we can't make some sense of it."

They let out a collective sigh of relief, and for a moment, I forget that I have no place giving out advice to anyone.

EIGHTEEN

Marcus

I've walked the length of the driveway eleven times in the last eight minutes. Macca's counted. He's watching from the balcony railing, calling the number out every time I pivot and walk back.

"You're going to wear a groove into the concrete, boss," he says. "We already had to pour it twice because of the rain."

"Consider this me putting it through the paces one last time," I shout.

"Might be a bit late for that," Jack calls from his spot in the open doorway. He's leaning there like the picture of nonchalance, but I'd wager his nails are chewed down to nothing. And he's not even the nail biter in the group.

What he is, though, is my second in charge, and today's almost as important to him as it is to me. He's been with me almost from day one. He could be running his own successful company. He likes the work, is brilliant at it, but wants none of the responsibility. "Seriously, someone get the boss a drink before he has a heart attack. The agents haven't even arrived yet," Jack adds.

"Leave me alone, I'm thinking," I snarl, metaphorically retracing my steps over the last three months of the build.