Chapter 3

There's A Girl In My Room

The slam of the car door echoed down the deserted street.

The muted morning light was just making its presence known as Bobby Mercer made his way up the familiar front steps, his shoes crunching on the icy cement. He exhaled slowly, his breath visible in the morning chill, and rubbed a gloved hand along the chipped, white painted door. In the distance there was the faint chirping of birds.

Bobby lightly muttered, "Home sweet home."

"You can say that again, brother."

Bobby spun around to find his brother, Jeremiah Mercer, hopping up the steps behind him. Jeremiahhad beenthe second Mercer to move out of the nest and by far the most successful and well-adjusted. He was frequently called a "rising star" in the Union with his troubled past far behind him and hisreputationas the most reasonable Mercer.

Bobby, the oldest, had been the first to step out into the world, so to speak. When he wasn't getting into some kind of trouble, he usually worked as a mechanic at a friend's shop downtown, but he frequently disappeared as well. As time went on, Bobby seemed to grow harder and harder to reach, but he always showed up back at home eventually. After all, he wasn't going to abandon the only family he'd ever known.

"I didn't know you were in town, jackass." Jerry rubbed his hand together, blowing on them. "Here for long?"

"I'm down at Jimmy's for a few weeks. No time for car wrecks like Christmas."

The two men embraced quickly before entering the screened-in porch together. They shook the snow off of their feet and hung their coats beside the screen door.

"You know why Mom called, Jer?"

"No, man, I was gonna ask you. I was just up here on Monday and everything was fine. She made it sound like something important though."

Bobby chuckled. "Hey, maybe that fairy started talkin."

"Hey, I'd watch it with that shit now, Bobby. Mom seems to be taking a liking to this kid lately. On Monday I even saw the two watching Letterman together. Besides, Jack ain't that bad; he's just not used to shit."

Bobby shrugged and threw his hat onto a nearby chair. "Alright, man. Whatever."

The two walked into the main house and Bobby yelled out, "Hey, Mom, we're home!"

When they were greeted only by silence, Jeremiah yelled out, "Ma, you here?"

Some shuffling around could be heard upstairs, so Bobby pointed upwards.

Jeremiah nodded and said, "I'll go have a look in the kitchen."

Bobby took the stairs two at a time and wandered down the hallway. Not seeing anyone, he turned and headed for his old room. One of the luxuries of coming back home was getting his own room back. Technically it had been Bobby and Jeremiah's room, but since Bobby actually slept over occasionally, it was really his now.

He turned the doorknob and took a few steps into the room, but immediately froze upon seeing that he was not alone.

Standing over by his window, an unfamiliar girl was fishing through some kind of messenger bag. She had her back to him, but he could tell that she wasn't very tall. She was thin, almost too thin and had long, dark, wet hair that hung down her back. She was wearing dark, oversized clothes. He'd never seen her before in his life, as far as he could tell.

She hadn't seemed to notice him until he unintentionally muttered, "What the-"

She quickly dropped the bag and turned to face Bobby, but he spun around, back into the hall and slammed the door shut behind him. As he leaned against the door for a minute, Jeremiah appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Mom's not downstairs; neither is-" He looked at his brother oddly. "What is wrong with you? You look like someone's gone an-"

"There's a girl in my room."

"Is this supposed to shock me?"

Bobby smirked. "Huh, Funny. I'm serious though, man. There's some chick I don't know in my room."

Jeremiah grinned. "Do you ever know them?"

Bobby smacked his brother on the side of the head with, "Shut up, Jerry."

"Ok, first, don't hit me." Jeremiah shoved Bobby lightly into the wall. "Second, I don't know who's in your room. And third, where's Jack?"

"Why?"

"Maybe someone who actually lives here will have some idea of where Mom is why there's a girl in your room."

Bobby shrugged and yelled, "HEY, FA-" Jeremiah elbowed his brother in the stomach.

"JACK?"

The bathroom door down the hall opened to reveal a tall, skinny teenage boy pulling a black tee over his head. He wore black boxers and his longish, light brown hair was damp from a shower, sticking out in all directions. He frowned when he saw Bobby and Jeremiah blocking the hallway.

"Why are you here?" Jack muttered in a low voice. He reached back in the bathroom to grab a comb and started towards the room he shared with the third Mercer brother, which was unfortunately behind the two grown men.

"Mom called us-" Jeremiah was interrupted by Bobby.

"Wait, wait, wait." Bobby waved his hands in the air for a minute and gestured towards his room. "Did you bring a… girl over here?"

"What?" Jack tried to shove his way past Jeremiah, but the bigger man grabbed his arm.

"You brought a GIRL to the house to… Couldn't find a better place t-"

Jack flinched when Jeremiah tightened his grip; he snatched it out and took a few steps back before answering. "I don't know what you're talking about, man."

Bobby pointed at his door. "I'm TALKING about the teenage girl currently in MY room."

Jack face furrowed with confusion momentarily. "What? … Oh, you mean Arlyn?"

"Hah! See, he admits it!"

"I did not!"

"Hey, at least he knows her name…" Jeremiah chuckled.

"Of course I know her name. She's-"

"Just admit it, Jackie-boy. You're having se-"

A bedroom door behind Bobby and Jeremiah flew open, and a tall, nineteen-year-old poked his head out. "Who's having sex?"

"Hey, Angel." Jeremiah hugged his little brother while Bobby just crossed his arms across his chest and studied Jack intently, causing the boy to squirm and run his hand through his hair.

Jack Welsh was seventeen years old and had just been placed in the Mercer house a few weeks earlier. He didn't ever seem particularly interested in fitting in. He mostly didn't talk unless spoken to. In fact, so far had been the longest conversation Bobby had ever had with the kid. He figured Jack must've come out of something real fucked up with the way he flinched every time someone looked at him for too long or bumped into him. Then again, that had to be the case since he'd been sent here. None of them were saints by any means.

"So, who's having sex?" Angel looked questioningly around as if to catch someone in the act.

"Jack's having sex," Bobby kept looking back and forth between Jack and his door.

"Really?" Angel opened the door all the way and stepped out into the hall, grinning. "Little Jackie's having sex?"

"In my room."

"Jack's having sex in your room!"

"I'M NOT HAVING SEX!"

Jeremiah quirked an eyebrow and Angel snickered. Bobby sighed and said, "Oh, right you're a fairy. Sorry, I forgot."

Jack sighed, exasperated and kicked the wall. "With HER! I'm not having sex WITH HER!"

Bobby adopted a high pitched voice, "So, who's the lucky guy?"

"I AM NOT GAY!"

Angel leaned over and whispered, laughing, "They prefer homosexual."

Jack kicked the wall and again and turned away from the laughing brothers. "Fuck it."

Stopping Jack's march back to the bathroom, Jerry called out, "Hey, hold on, kid. He's just messin with you. Come on, where's Mom?"

Jack turned to face them again and glared at Bobby who was still smirking. "Mrs. Mercer went to the store."

"So, who's the girl, and why are we here?"

"Arlyn?"

"No, Mother Teresa. Yes, fairy, the girl in my room."

"Jerk-off."

"No thank you, FAI-RY."

Jack lunged forward, but Jeremiah reached out and grabbed his arm again. "Bobby, shut the fuck up. Jack, talk."

Still glaring, Jack mumbled, "Mrs. Mercer picked her up last night. I guess she called you about that."

"Wait-" Angel interrupted. "Mom called you two to tell you Jack was having sex?"

Bobby smacked Angel. "What the hell are you on?"

"No," Jack continued. "She lives here now. Social called your mom last night to pick her up."

"Oh, that." Angel turned back to his room.

"Wait, you knew that?" Jeremiah sent a look of amazement at his brother's stupidity.

"Course I did. Haven't seen her though." With that he slammed the door shut.

"So, you know her?" Jeremiah turned back to Jack.

The teen looked down and mumbled, "Who doesn't…"

"I don't." Bobby raised his hand in the air.

Jerry rolled his eyes. From downstairs, the sound of the front door slamming shut could be heard.

Jack looked up and said, "Just go ask her yourself," and he stalked back into the bathroom, slamming the door.

"I'm confused." Bobby shook his.

"You're always confused."

"Shut up, Jerry."

Wow, boys are stupid. Arlyn almost chuckled at the loud banter fading down the hall. Almost.