Hellooooo, faithful followers! I have returned! I am SO sorry for the wait! I haven't given up on this story and I hope you all haven't either! Enjoy and review if you like!
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After breakfast, with Mom and Dad gushing over Connor and his various accomplishments (Provo's leading tap-dancing youth, high school valedictorian, aspiring BYU student) the rest of the morning played out rather awkwardly. Seeing as, like I said, my family has never skipped church before, we had all this free time but we had no idea what to do with it. My parents and Jack mostly wandered about the house, picking up books and putting them down, switching the TV on and then off, opening and closing the refrigerator…
And me? I watched Kevin and Connor.
They didn't do much beyond sitting on the living room couch, conversing about…well, truthfully I wasn't paying attention to that part.
I just sat at the dining room table, pretending to read a book…but really I was watching them. There they sat on the couch, laughing and carrying on. They seemed to move closer and closer to each other as time wore on. If they looked in my direction, I would quickly dart my eyes back to my book; once in a while I would even turn a page for good measure.
I know it's wrong to spy on people but, well…the thing is, I've always had an über-tight bond with both of my brothers. I love them more than anybody in this whole world. They've been there for me literally since the day I was born and when we were growing up, we did everything together.
But now that we're all getting older, we don't spend as much time together as we used to. I miss it. And neither of my brothers had ever had a girlfriend, much less a boyfriend. So I'm going to admit that I was a just a tad…ugh, this is going to hurt…jealous of Connor.
I know, I know, I shouldn't be so possessive. But I just can't help it. I have a really hard time adjusting to change. Heck, when Kevin was in Uganda it took me roundabout six months to wrap my head around the fact that he would be gone for two years.
Unfortunately, I got so caught up in scolding myself for wanting Kevvie all to myself that my eyes wandered back to my book…and stayed there. Of course, I had to pick my favorite book ("Rules" by Cynthia Lord) to pretend to read. I enjoy rereading my favorites, but I picked the worst possible time to do so. I think I got through a good chapter before snapping back to reality and remembering that I was on a spy mission. I swung my eyes up from the book, only to find the couch unoccupied.
I slammed my book shut and looked around me. Kevin and Connor were nowhere to be found. I got up and dashed about the entire floor, looking for them. When I couldn't find them, I darted up the stairs and nearly knocked over Jack.
"Whoa!" I exclaimed, catching myself. "Sorry, Jack!"
Reaching his hands out to steady me, he smiled and replied, "It's alright, Rie. You're fine. What's your big hurry, though?"
Not wanting to give away my secret mission, I shrugged casually and said, "Oh, no reason. Just gotta put my book away."
"What book?"
Aw, crud. I was empty-handed. I guess I had left it on the table.
Nervously, I stuttered, "Uhhh…uhhh…oh, uh, I forgot it, I left it on the, uh…"
Jack chuckled. "Looks more like you were hunting for our big brother and his significant other."
Doing my best to look innocent, I gave him a balky look. "Me?" I said, a bit too dramatically.
It didn't work. Jack busted up laughing. My shoulders slumped. My cover was blown. "Yeah," I admitted.
Jack softly squeezed my shoulder and kneeled down to look me in the eyes. "You feeling alright?" he asked.
I looked at him and sheepishly sealed my lips. "I guess I'm just…not used to him yet."
Jack half-smiled sympathetically. "Well the way to fix that is not to spy on them," he said. "It's not okay to spy on people."
I dropped my head in shame. "Sorry," I mumbled.
Jack pulled me into a hug. He whispered in my ear, "Alone."
I pulled away and raised one eyebrow. "Huh?" I asked.
Jack smiled deviously. "It's not okay to spy on people alone."
My eyes widened and an excited grin broke out across my face. The partner-in-crime in my brother had just emerged.
People look at us and assume that we are an absolutely picture-perfect Mormon family, but to be quite honest, Jack and I have always had a bit of a rebellious streak about us. Hey, we're still Latter-Day Saints even if we break the rules once in a while.
Moments later, we located Kevin and Connor, concealed behind Kevin's nearly-closed bedroom door. And with that, we became spies. Flanking Jack, I strained to listen to what they were saying, but I couldn't make out anything. Having Jack as a partner-in-crime usually meant I was given the lower ranked job. Then again, I had already gotten a turn to eavesdrop the night before, so I really couldn't complain this time.
"What are they saying?" I whispered.
"Just more talk about Connor's tap-dancing career," Jack whispered back. "Apparently he's danced in nine national competitions, and he won high titles in all of them. Now he's telling Kev how he used to practice in Uganda when nobody was around because he missed it so much."
"Hmm," I said. "I always wanted to learn to tap dance. Maybe he could teach me."
"Yeah, maybe," Jack responded. After a pause, he added, "Truthfully, I always wanted to learn myself."
I regarded him quizzically. "Really?" I said. Tap-dancing? That wasn't my brother. Jack is a well-known jock at school; I'm talking hardcore cross-country runner, star quarterback, captain of the basketball team, the baseball team's best pitcher, and a jack-of-all-trades (pun very much intended) in track. No matter the season, Jack was out playing some kind of sport. The performing arts were never his forte.
Jack looked back at me. "Yeah!" he replied. "Why not? I've always loved watching tap dancers, and when I was a little kid I was fascinated by the sounds that the shoes make. But I've been so busy with sports all my life that I just…never really had time to get into it, I guess. And…I don't know, maybe I was a little bit shy about it."
"Why?" I asked. This was getting interesting.
"Well, what have I always done for extracurricular activities? Sports. Nothing but sports. And well, that's kind of what everybody came to expect from me. So I guess in a way, I didn't take up tap dancing because I didn't want to…disappoint anybody." He shrugged and shook his head. I could tell he was having a hard time explaining this.
My face softened and I leaned in closer to my brother. I looked into his eyes, and I saw what looked like…conflict. Like underneath the quietly congenial and sporty boy I had come to know and love, there was something buried much deeper that needed to be let out. But the way Jack's face was contorting with the struggle of grappling with finding the right words to explain his case told me that this wasn't the right time to dig it up. So I shook my head as though I was coming out of a daydream and said, "What are they saying now?"
Jack snapped back to the present and resumed his listening position.
"Huh…now I don't hear anything," he reported.
"Really? That's weird," I responded. "They've been chatting nonstop all day, maybe they ran out of-"
All of a sudden, we were on the floor! One minute, we were scouting the door to listen in on our big brother and his boyfriend, and the next minute we were toppled over onto the floor. "WHOA!" we both exclaimed, attempting to catch ourselves in the half-second we had to do it but ending up on top of each other.
Rubbing my sore noggin, which I had inadvertently bonked on Jack's rock-solid shoulder blade, I looked up to see what had happened, and found myself looking dead into the eyes of Kevin and Connor. Kevin's hand was resting on the doorknob. Oh…
All of us were silent for a minute. Kevin and Connor were smiling down at Jack and I; I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
"Well hello, you two!" Kevin greeted us jauntily. "Can we help you?"
Jack and I stared blankly up at him, our mouths hanging open, both of us stuttering, trying to conjure up a good explanation for this.
Connor piped up, "Maybe I could take Mister Jack downstairs and teach him his first steps! I have a pair of shoes he can borrow." He winked.
I swear I saw Jack's face turn apple-red.
...
So Connor's first day in the Price house is going pretty well, don't you think? ;)
See y'all next chapter! Don't forget to stick around! :)
Quick A/N: "Rules" is my favorite book, so I just HAD to squeeze it in there! XD If you haven't read it, check it out. It's a great read :)
