"Oh. It's socks."
I think it's safe to say that Barley didn't like the birthday gift that I got him.
To make matters worse, I was a bit late giving it to him.
I had somehow totally forgotten his birthday, until I woke up that morning and heard my mom saying happy birthday to him.
Oh, no. I'll have to try quietly sneaking past him, I thought.
I'd tried to sneak past Barley as quietly as possible, but he'd noticed somehow. HE TURNED AND LOOKED RIGHT AT ME!
Why, though?
What could he have possibly wanted from me?
I never did find out.
Well, at least I didn't have to worry about him picking me up from school. After all, it was his birthday.
But when I got home, he was standing outside on the front lawn, for some reason.
That's weird, Ithought. He's usually in his room all day.
I ran around to the back of the house and tried to climb in through a window.
That was a big mistake.
Thud! Crash! Splatter!
There goes the birthday cake…
So, I think I'm pretty much the worst brother ever.
"Barley! I'm so sorry! Please forgive me for hurting your feelings!" I cried.
Time seemed to move in slow motion as he turned around to look at me.
"You didn't hurt my feelings. Mom did," he said slowly.
"What did she do wrong? She's not the one who ruined your birthday!" I said. After all, I was the one who had smashed his birthday cake.
"She got me a suitcase! I guess she wanted me to move out!" Barley said.
"Ouch," I said.
"Do you also want me to move out?" he asked, staring into my soul.
"No! I love you, Barley! I like having you around!" I panicked. "You're such a great brother and I like your hugs and … and… I got you a real gift!"
That last part was a lie.
"Oh, really?" Barley asked.
Oh, no. Now, I was really in trouble.
"You don't need to do that," he said.
"I-I-I don't?" I asked.
"No, of course not!" Barley said. "Having you as a brother is better than any gift!"
Barley hugged me so tightly that I could barely breathe.
"Aww… let go of him!" Mom lied.
In retrospect, I don't know why I had gotten so upset. Perhaps it was because how stressful things had been for us lately. Well, mainly for him, I'm sure…
It all started back when we both got new bikes. It was fun, until Barley crashed into a police car and vowed never to ride his bike again.
But, only a few weeks later, he changed his mind.
Barley was lying on the floor.
"Did you try to wrestle with Mom again?" I asked.
"Maybe…" he said, smirking slightly.
"He really needs to find better ways to entertain himself," Mom said.
"I play Quests of Yore, and I go on quests with Guinevere the Second. What more could I want to do?" Barley said.
"How about a bike race?" I suggested. "It's such a nice, sunny day."
"Uh… nope!" Barley said. "I'm all out of energy today."
"Come on, you need to get some sunlight. You're looking kind of pale," Mom said.
"Uh… help me up?" Barley asked.
"No," Mom said. "You can get up on your own."
It was by no means a fair race. Barley couldn't keep up at all.
In fact, he fainted and fell off his bike.
"Yay! I won!" I said, and then went inside to have a cookie.
The cookies were from another attempt at "family bonding", because it had rained on the day we were meant to have a picnic.
Unfortunately, all of the cookies were gone.
"Oh, no! Who ate all of the cookies?" Mom said. "I just baked them yesterday!"
Then, she started crying!
What a weird thing to cry about.
"We could just bake some more?" I suggested.
"I have a better idea!" Mom said. "I'll leave a special surprise for the individual who ate all of my cookies! So selfish and greedy! Not even leaving any for Ian!"
"Well, actually, I…" I said.
"I am going to bake dragon treats, and leave them in the cookie jar," Mom said.
"Uh… okay…" I said.
Fortunately, Barley was perfectly fine. Well, at least that's what he told me.
After a while, he'd finally come back inside…. and didn't say anything for the rest of the day.
"What happened to him? Did he crash into a car again?" Mom asked, noticing that he was bruised and covered in scrapes.
"No," I said. "He fainted and fell off of his bike!"
"WHAT?!" Mom said.