Shane and I entered our house and looked around cautiously, just waiting to be screamed at for skipping. Sure, Type’s mom had written us an excuse note, but you just never know with our luck.

                When no one started screaming their head off at us, we relaxed a little and sat down at the kitchen table with a bag of chocolate pretzels and some chocolate milk.

                “Wow boys. Healthy meal.”

                We looked up at our grandpa and grinned. “Oh, you know,” I said with a casual shrug. He came and sat across from us with a smile.

                “What are you doing here grandpa? I was pretty sure you fell off the face of the earth,” I said and offered him a pretzel. He took it and laughed a little.

                “No, I didn’t fall off the face of the earth. I’ve just been really busy with work and everything. I decided to stop by because I missed my grandsons,” he said.

                Shane and I smiled a little. I loved my grandpa. He had helped care for us after Shane got attacked at the gas station, and he had been a hell of a lot more help than my dad or mom.

                “Is Jey-Jeydyn here?” Shane asked curiously. Jeydyn was our aunt, our dad’s little sister. She was only 6 years older than us and she and Shane were especially close.

                Grandpa shook his head and gave Shane an apologetic smile. “No, she has an exam tomorrow so she’s holed up in her dorm studying. I hope you boys are always studying hard. College is the way to a better life. Sadly, money is too important of a concept and too hard of a thing to obtain. So work hard in school and it will literally pay off,” grandpa said with a sigh.

                “Yea, yea, yea,” I said dismissively.

                Grandpa rolled his eyes at me and stood up. “Well, I’m going to head out. I’ll see you boys later,” he said and hugged us tightly.

                “And boys? Keep an eye on your dad for me. I know that he’s strict when he’s sober, but it’s so much better than when he was…addicted. He loves you boys, and I love him. He needs to be strict with you, and you know it even if you won’t admit it. You’re teen boys. Just keep an eye on him for me,” he practically begged. Shane and I nodded seriously.

                “Dad? Are you still here?” dad asked, coming out. He gave grandpa a curious look and grandpa offered him a smile.

                “I was just saying bye to the kids. I’ll see you later Ben. Bye boys,” he said with a wink at us before he left the house.

                “How was Type’s house? What did you guys do?” dad asked, sitting across from us and taking a few pretzels for himself.

                Shane and I both shrugged. “We hung out with Type and Bruce in Type’s room,” I said, deciding to leave out the fact that Nina had been there. Dad would question me like a mother fucker if I mentioned that.

                “Aw, Bruce. I still can’t believe he got himself kicked out of school. Poor kid’s going to end up poor and living with his parents forever,” dad said with a sigh.

                “I think he’d kill himself before he spent his life living with his parents. You know he hates his dad,” I said, rolling my eyes. Bruce hated his dad like I hated my mom.

                “Dad, can Nina and Luna sleep over tomorrow? And Type too,” I asked.

                Dad hesitated. “Fine. But mom and I will check in on your guys every couple of minutes and your bedroom door stays open the whole time,” he said sternly.

                I rolled my eyes. “Yea dad, because I want to have a fivesome with my twin brother,” I grumbled. Shane blushed. “Gross!” he cried in disgust.

                Dad shrugged. “I’m just being safe. That is the last thing I want to walk in on with my own kids,” he said, shaking his head.

                “Oh t-t-trsut me dad; you w-won’t,” Shane said and I laughed and slung an arm around him.

                “You’re just jealous because size is the only thing we’re different with,” I said with a wink.

                “Y-Yea because I’m an anac-conda and you’re a g-garden snake,” he said with a wink of his own.

                I pouted as dad exploded into laughter. “Then I guess Shane takes after his dad,” he said with his wink.

                “Hey! In your dreams!” I cried and jokingly shoved Shane. Dad watched us in amusement as we playfully began to wrestle. I didn’t even try to make it rough. Shane got scared when people were rough with him.

                We pulled apart laughing and slinging our arms around each other. We looked up and saw love in dad’s eyes. He smiled at us and stood up, ruffling our hair and taking another pretzel.

                “Well, have fun with your sleepover tomorrow,” dad said before leaving the room to go do whatever it was he did.

                Shane and I stood up, still playfully shoving each other. We put the food away and put our glasses in the sink before heading on up to our bedroom.

                “Hey Shawn?” Shane asked quietly.

                “Yea?” I asked, glancing at him.

                “I r-r-really do w-want to quit sm-smoking. I would a-appreciate it if you s-s-supported me,” he said, barely audible. “And I n-n-never want to get h-high again.”

                “Goodnight Shane,” I said simply, crawling onto my bunk and getting under the covers sleepily, my thoughts on tomorrow night’s sleepover. Shane was just being stupid right now. Of course he wouldn’t quit. Quitting was too hard. If I couldn’t even do it, how did he expect to? Whatever. Tomorrow he would forget about quitting and just have a good time with us, our girlfriends, and our best friend.