'I've just spent the last hour and a half trying to shove him out of my bedroom.' 'Really?' I laughed, thinking about Gibsie behind the wheel of a vehicle. 'Because, my dear friend, Gerard Gibson passed his theory test on Friday morning and some demented idiot at the tax office decided to give him a provisional driver's license.' 'What are you doing next weekend?'Ĭlimbing off my bed, I hurried over to my door and turned the lock. My phone vibrated against my thigh, alerting me to an incoming call from Claire. 'Night, Shan,' he chuckled, closing out my door. 'No,' I groaned, fake gagging when awareness dawned on me. 'Do you want me to answer that honestly?' 'Why are you going to the shop so late?' I questioned. I glanced at the screen of my phone to check the time. 'Do you want something from the shop or not?' Joey asked, sounding impatient. I could only hope that I wasn’t standing in the eye of the storm when it happened.

No, I had been a member of this family long enough to recognize this quiet period as the calm before the storm. I wasn’t naïve enough to believe that my father's decision to not break up the house this weekend was because he had decided to turn over a new leaf. He even bought us all takeaway Chinese last night and passed me the remote control rather than just flinging it at me like he usually did.

There was a huge case of double standards in this house – a house that had been exceptionally quiet this weekend. Or at least, no one ever said a word to Joey when he brought a girl home.

They were at the age where sleepovers were allowed.

'Do you want anything?'Īoife went to BCS and was in sixth year with Joey, so it wasn’t uncommon for them to stay at each other houses on a school night and head to school together. 'I'm going to the shop,' my brother announced, taking a quick glance around my room before his eyes returned to my face. 'What's up, Joe?' I asked, shoving my books back into my schoolbag. My bedroom door cracked open and my brother's head popped through the crack. I was finishing up the last of my homework late Sunday night when a knock on my bedroom door broke through my concentration.įolding my copybook, I slid it into my Math's textbook and called out, 'Come in.'

Keeping 13 by Chloe Walsh