[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
** HOWIE **

“Did you guys get enough cookies?” I placed the fourth bag of cookies on the counter and sighed when I received no response. A quick glance over my shoulder confirmed that Nick and Brian had wandered off to join AJ in front of the television; leaving me alone as always.

I pulled three bags of potato chips out of the next shopping bag and dropped them on the counter in annoyance. I was suddenly overwhelmed with resentment. Why was I always the one who was expected to take care of everyone else? Why weren’t Nick, Brian, and AJ in here helping me to put things away? Even Kevin had wandered off, probably to seek out some quiet time. Needless to say, the whole ‘just leave all of the boring, mundane tasks for Howie’ routine was getting old.

Abandoning the staggering amount of junk food, I walked over to the fridge and began putting away the produce. I jammed a cucumber into the crisper and hated myself for doing it. I hated myself for not insisting that the others get off their asses and help out. I was a push-over, and a generic one at that. It was nothing new; I knew all too well what people thought of me, but it didn’t make the description hurt any less.

“You guys want to give me a hand?” I tried my best to sound upbeat.

I knew that none of them would respond, but I still waited a few seconds to see if they would; my hand wrapped tightly around a head of lettuce. When my words were greeted with the silence that I had been expecting, I literally slammed the lettuce into the crisper and forced the drawer closed. The plastic cracked in protest, but I pushed back in defiance. Little bits of lettuce came loose and crammed themselves between the lip of the crisper door and the bottom of the lower shelf. I did the same to the second crisper; more lettuce shards coming loose and littering the once pristine bottom of the fridge.

I wasn’t quite sure what had gotten in to me over the last few hours. All I knew for sure was that I was stressed out beyond belief and feeling incredibly alone. Nick had Brian, AJ had Brian, and Brian, the lucky bastard, had both Nick and AJ. I suppose some would argue that I had Kevin, but Kevin wasn’t exactly the lean-on-me kind of guy that I needed at that particular moment. Well, at least he wasn’t that kind of guy when it came to me. For a long time, Kevin had been that kind of guy with Nick, but I wasn’t quite sure where the two of them stood in terms of their relationship at the moment.

My feelings of self-pity intensified as I stared at the cookies that Nick and Brian had selected. They hadn’t even gotten the type that I liked. Would it have been so hard for them to bring home one stupid box of Chips Ahoy? I was constantly being either overlooked or taken for granted, and I was getting pretty damn sick of it. Of course, I would never be able to stand up for myself for fear that I would end up hurting someone’s feelings. I had already resigned myself to the notion that I would forever be the guy in the background, the guy being consistently passed over by producers, song writers, reporters, photographers, fans, and my supposed brothers.

I swallowed the bitter pill of my self-realization and tossed the cookies in the cupboard. A horrific thought entered my mind as I took note of the fact that Brian and Nick had purchased two packages of Oreos; otherwise known as Nick’s favourite cookie of all time. What if the situation had been reversed? What if the media had reported that I was dead instead of Nick? Would their reaction have been the same? Would they all have cried for me in the same way that we had all cried for Nick?

“Dude, what the fuck happened to the lettuce?”

I turned around to see AJ standing in front of the fridge. His eyes were busy scanning the items that I had already put away. He was most likely looking for a snack, and he was definitely ignoring the massive amount of things that still needed to be sorted and put away.

“What’s wrong with it?” I was practically shaking with pent up anger and I was acutely aware of the fact that I was about to rip AJ’s head off.

“You, like, mangled the shit out of it.” AJ laughed. “Half of it is caught in the drawer.”

“You know what else looks mangled?” I seethed. “Your face!”

“My face?” AJ stopped laughing and stared at me in confusion. “Are you okay? You look a bit flushed.”

This is why I didn’t insult people. I was clearly bad at it. To make matters worse, AJ didn’t even have the good sense to pretend to be offended. In the end, it was his completely oblivious reaction that pushed me over the edge. “If you don’t like the way that I’ve done it than do it yourself! I’m done! I’m not putting another thing away!”

“Okay.” AJ shut the fridge and raised his hands in surrender. “Are you sure that you’re feeling okay?”

“I am not your slave or your mother!” I exploded. “I’m done with this shit! I’m done with all of you!”

AJ now looked completely and utterly baffled. He was staring at me with a mixture of sympathy and confusion. I saw him shoot Nick and Brian a helpless look out of the corner of his eye and I whipped around to face them. They had both turned around on the couch and were watching the situation unfold with nearly identical expressions of pity. They, like AJ, probably thought that I simply wasn’t feeling well; that all I needed to do was lie down and have a nap, and that everything would be back to normal when I woke up.

“I’m leaving.” I announced; dropping the bag of chips that I had been holding back onto the counter. “You guys can do something for yourselves for a change.”

I strode out of the kitchen and retrieved my suitcase from the cluster of luggage by the stairs. That hadn’t exactly been the explosion of emotion that I had been hoping for, but at least I had successfully managed to walk away without feeling completely guilt ridden.

“You’re leaving?” Nick called after me. He actually sounded a bit worried now. “Like, leaving, leaving?”

“I’m going to choose my room.” I clarified as I retreated down the hallway. “For once, I’m going to be the one who makes a decision first.”

I could hear their voices drifting after me as I wandered off towards the right side of the house where the bedrooms were located. Brian’s southern drawl was rising and falling inbetween Nick’s whining and AJ’s raspy laughs. It was probably a good thing that I couldn’t actually discern what it was that any of them were saying.

I ducked my head into the first room on my right as I made my way down the hallway. It had clearly been decorated with a little girl in mind; bubble gum pink walls with white furniture and a four poster twin bed. I smirked to myself as I continued on down the hallway. I was almost certain that there was going to be a fight over the Barbie dream room. I passed a bathroom before coming across a larger bedroom with two double beds. Clearly a room for boys, the walls were painted blue and the bedding boasted a car and truck theme.

“You want the room next door.”

I looked to my left at the sound of Kevin’s voice. He was sitting in what I assumed was the master bedroom; his feet stretched out on the king sized bed with his Kindle in his lap. I could feel the anger coming to the surface once again. Of course, Kevin had already managed to claim the best room for himself without the rest of us noticing.

“Seriously.” Kevin nodded his head in the direction of the door next to the room that he was in. “I’ve already checked it out. It’s set up like a guest room with a queen bed.”

“Thanks.” I mumbled.

There really wasn’t much point in taking any of my anger out on Kevin. Like AJ, he probably wouldn’t even notice that I was upset. I made my way into the adjoining bedroom, blinking in surprise as I took in the outdated décor. There were flowers everywhere; on the wallpaper, on the bedding, on the lamps, on the rug. It looked like a 1980’s floral shop had exploded.

“You’ll have to look past the flowers!” Kevin’s voice came through the wall.

“No shit.” I grumbled not loud enough for Kevin to hear. I let go of my suitcase and flopped down face first on the ugly comforter. At least I had secured a room to myself that didn’t look like the inside of a gumball.

“Oh, hell no!”

I pushed my face further into the retro comforter as Nick’s voice echoed down the hallway. Judging by his tone, I had a pretty good feeling that he had just stumbled upon the pink bedroom.

“How is this fair?” AJ was speaking now; his voice sounding dangerously close to my flowered tomb. “We never decided who was sleeping where.”

“You’re right.” Kevin replied. “WE didn’t decide anything. Howie and I picked our rooms first. It’s not our fault that you three chose to slack off.”

It was becoming a bit hard to breathe. The fibres of the ancient bedding were being sucked up into my nose. I was now panting through my mouth, the fabric turning damp from my breath. I considered lifting my head, but I thought better of it as I knew that AJ, Nick, and Brian were now lurking in the hallway between my room and Kevin’s.

“We just did all of the shopping.” Nick whined. “Why are you punishing us?”

“Nobody is punishing you, Nick.” Kevin snapped. “It’s just a bedroom.”

“That’s easy for you to say.” Brian had now joined the conversation. “You don’t have to share a room or sleep in Barbie’s dream house.”

I could practically hear Kevin rolling his eyes. “Come off it, cuz. Fair is fair. Howie and I chose first.”

“Well, how are we going to decide?” Nick demanded. “I don’t want to sleep in a twin bed.”

That was it. I had had enough. I rolled over onto my back and took a welcoming gulp of air. “Use the matches.”

“What?” AJ stuck his head into the flower-power suite. “What the fuck happened in here? It looks like my mom’s living room in the 80s.”

“Just use the matches.” I pinched the bridge of my nose and ignored AJ’s comment about the décor. “Whoever draws the burnt one sleeps in the pink room.”

“I’ve got them already.” Brian announced as he pushed AJ out of the way and stepped up next to the bed. “Howie, can you hold them?”

I resisted the urge to let out a grunt of frustration as I pulled myself up into a sitting position; so much for getting some alone time. I took the matches out of Brian’s hand and stuffed them into my fist. I held my hand out to the three of them and stifled a laugh. They all looked so determined.

“You’re all going to pick at the same time.” I commanded. “One … two … three!”

Brian, Nick, and AJ practically launched themselves at my fist. They all scrambled to choose a match; their fingers jabbing roughly against my skin as they each fought to obtain the one that they wanted.

AJ emerged from the mess first, and he victoriously thrust his unburned match into the air. “Who’s gonna be my roommate?”

“Me.” Brian grinned as he held up his own unblemished match.

Nick mimicked AJ’s behaviour from earlier by hurling his burned match to the floor in frustration. He crossed his arms over his chest and pressed his mouth into a deep, childlike pout. “This is NOT fair!”

“Grow up, Nick.” I shook my head and flopped back down on the bed. “Things could be worse, remember? You could be dead.”