Chapter 15
A little later, Juice walks in the door and sits next to me on the couch. "How was work?" I asked. "Good. Busy. What about you guys?" he asked. "Good. Michael got a lot done today. Looks like he's a nerd like us." I say laughing. Michael sticks his tongue out at me and starts laughing. I get up to start dinner and Juice says "Why don't we order in?" I look at him and nod and he calls in dinner. Thirty minutes later, dinner is there and we sit down to eat. "I got you something." Juice tells Michael. He looks up from his food and Juice hands him a phone. "A phone?" Michael asks. "It has all of our numbers programmed in it. You need something you call or text. It also has GPS set up on it so that if something happens, we can find you." Juice tells him. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Sometimes we have other crews that cause problems. This way, if we get separated, and you can't call, we can locate you. Things are good right now so this is just a precaution. Plus helps your sister not worry so much." Juice says winking at me. "Thanks Juice. Thanks Sis." he says.
We finish dinner and we all head to bed. Lying in bed, my head on Juice's chest, he's stroking my head and we are listening to the tv in the background. "You okay?" he asked. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just thinking." I tell him. "About what?" he asked. I sit up a little so that I can look at him. "Are things okay?" I asked. "Yeah. They are actually. Things are quiet." he tells me. "Good." I say. "You worried about Michael?" he asked. "A little. It seems like he's doing good but I still worry." I say. There's a knock on the bedroom door and Juice says "Come in." Michael opens the door and says "I'm okay sis." I look at him and say "Come here." He walks over to the bed and sits down. I pull him to me and he wraps his arms around me. "You know, I was an only child. This whole sister thing is new to me too. I just want to make sure you're okay and that you're happy." I tell him. "My parents were crap. You guys actually act like you love me. So, yeah, I'm happy." he says. "We do love you kid." Juice says. I kiss the top of his head and we all just sit there.
The next morning, I get up and Juice gets in the shower. I start breakfast and when it's almost done, I go to the bedroom and tell Juice and then go to Michael's room and wake him up. "Wake up kid. Breakfast is done." he opens his eyes and smiles and says "Be right there." We all sit down to breakfast and I listen to Juice and Michael talk. "You okay babe?" Juice asks. I smile and say "I'm good. Just listening." They look at me worried so I take my now, empty plate, and stand. Kissing Michael's head and Juice's cheek I say "I'm good. Really good."
Juice heads to work and Michael gets started on his assignments. "Sis?" I hear Michael call out while I'm in the laundry room. "Yeah." I say. "Can you help me with this?" he asked. He walks into the laundry room and I look at his assignment and it says that he has to write an essay his English class. "This says you have to write about the most significant moment in your life so far." I read it off. "Yeah." he says. I look at him and say "What are you thinking?" I asked. "Well, I thought about writing about coming to live with you but I don't want to give too much away that I'm not supposed to." he tells me. "Okay. Well, you can still write about it. Hold off on it until Juice gets home and the three of us will sit down and help you." I tell him. "Okay. I just didn't want to start writing it not knowing what I could put in it and what needed to be kept out." he says. "You did good kid. You're good." I tell him before he heads back to the living room to work on other assignments.