Word Count: 1262

The horn blared. It was loud, even inside the car.

“What the hell are you doing??” his brother demanded, his initial shock turning into confusion and concern as he swatted the extra hand away from the steering wheel.

“Did you not see what that woman just did, Michael?!”

His brother stared at him in disbelief. “She threw her cigarette out, it’s not–”

“She littered!”

“It’s not uncommon, Chris,” his brother spoke over the interruption.

“It’s illegal. Do you have a pen or something? I need to write down her license-plate number.”

His brother chuckled softly and shook his head, clearly not as upset about the incident as Chris was, “Are you thinking about going into law enforcement now? Architecture not enough for you?”

Christopher’s eyebrows furrowed in frustration, giving up his search for a pen when the woman turned down an exit ramp and out of sight. “She should be fined. It’s not fair to people who actually care about the environment and saving this planet from turning into some giant garbage dump.”

“Even if you did file a report, do you think anyone would believe the word of a teenager with no proof?”

A frown that could have been mistaken for a pout took over Christopher’s expression, golden eyes glaring unthreateningly out the windshield, still vexed about the woman and her blatant law breaking, but his brother had a point.

“I’m an adult…” he mumbled, wishing he was two years older already so he could remove the mar of being a ‘teen’ from his life’s record.

“Barely,” his brother laughed, “Congrats. You can vote. Want to join the Navy?”

Chris blinked, glancing over at his brother as a familiar feeling of guilt welled up inside him, “It’s not that, er, I think the Navy is bad or anything…” he rambled, shifting uncomfortably in his seat, “I mean, obviously it’s not. I like the Navy! It’s just… I don’t think I’d be very good at it… I mean…”

“At ease, sailor. At ease,” his brother laughed again, shaking his head to dismiss any awkwardness, “I was just joking. It’s not something for everyone… but I still think you’d look good in uniform.”

“Don’t say things like that… Won’t your girlfriend get jealous…?” Chris grumbled embarrassedly, fighting back a blush from the… compliment…?

His brother was always teasing him, but he couldn’t help it if he happened to like the fact that he had potential to look handsome, or whatever. He glanced over at his older brother again, noting the smooth fabric and shining embellishments of his Naval uniform, feeling plain and boring in his polo and shorts.

“My girlfriend thinks you’d look good in uniform, too,” his brother grinned, coming to a stop at a red light. “Why don’t you have a girlfriend? Or do you and you just haven’t told your favorite brother?”

Chris could tell he was being teased by the amusement in Michael’s voice, but he didn’t think it was very funny. He frowned lightly, “No, I don’t.”

“Why not?”

“Haven’t met someone I really like, yet,” he explained, pausing for a moment and then shrugged. “Not really ready to get back into the whole dating scene.”

His brother rolled his eyes, driving down the street once the light turned green. “You can be so old school sometimes, Chris. What? Are you looking for a wife?? There’s nothing wrong with dating for fun, you know. Get experience. Not all girls are bitches. What happened to Zee? She’s cute.”

“I know that,” Chris responded in exasperation, “And we’re just friends…” So what if he didn’t want to date for the sake of dating? He happened to like the idea of dating for a purpose. He’d tried dating for the sake of dating and he didn’t exactly get the best results. “Besides,” he continued, wanting to sound less lame, “I have school and other things to worry about.”

“Other things?” his brother snorted, “A K A baseball?”

“And the shelter…” Despite what his brother thought, apparently, he did more than just playing ball.

“Uh huh…” was the response he got before the topic was changed. “So, how’s college?”

“It’s fine. Lots of intro classes to take… Baseball season is starting up, so I’ve been training…”

“Working on those muscles to show off for the ladies?” his brother teased, causing Chris to roll his eyes once more.

“I don’t want to lose my scholarship,” he tried convincing him, but he knew the grin on his brother’s face wouldn’t be disappearing any time soon. “I don’t!” he tried again, letting out a frustrated sigh.

“Uh huh…” Michael replied again, “So are you actually staying at the house this weekend? Or are you and Peter just going to butt heads the entire time, again?” he wondered.

Christopher sighed, pulling out the phone that had vibrated in his pocket. “Of course I’m staying over. I never get to see you. And we don’t butt heads,” he said, earning him a snort from his older brother, “And mom wanted me to, anyway…”

“Butt heads?”

“Stay over!”

“I’m glad you do everything mom wants you to do, Chris. You’re such a good little boy. Doesn’t it get boring?” Michael asked.

Chris frowned, deciding not to respond to his brother after that comment. He wasn’t always such a ‘good boy’ as his brother said, but he didn’t really see the point in arguing something like that. He went to classes, he volunteered, he went to church, he took care of Anna, he played ball… He was enjoying himself, so what was there really to be bored about…?

Yeah, he knew he should be over everything that had happened with his past girlfriend, but it wasn’t as though he really didn’t have things to do! He was just… focusing more on school and sports, rather than a relationship. Was that wrong of him? Should he really be thinking about just… getting another girlfriend? Hell, maybe that would keep him from turning into a workaholic or something of that nature. Who knew… He just didn’t want to set himself up for a repeat of last time…

The last few minutes of their drive home were silent, save for the music playing at a low volume and the clicking Chris’s phone made as he texted a friend about baseball practice. His brother parked the car at the end of the long driveway, but reached out to grab onto Chris’s arm before he could jump out, looking at him seriously, “You can talk to me, you know.”

Chris blinked at his brother, forcing a look of confusion, “Yeah, I know. I’m fine! I promise.” He was lucky to have a brother like his — one who actually cared, but at the same time he didn’t want him worrying. Christopher smiled, much more sincerely than his fake, baffled expression, “I’m okay, Michael.”

Whether Michael believed him or not, he let him go, letting out a long sigh, “You’ve grown up so fast. It feels like just yesterday that I was changing your diapers–”

“Don’t start, please,” Chris said in exasperation, “And you never changed my diapers. That was Peter…”, he pointed out, rolling his eyes as he reached for the door handle to get out of the car, before kneeling down to greet the slobbering ball of fur that had bounded out of the front door of the house the moment his mother opened it. He really was okay. He had a family who cared about him, and good friends... And they were all happy and healthy…

He could ask for nothing more.