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Danny opened his eyes and huffed as he turned over in his bed. He stared at the ceiling for a minute, before turning just his head to look at his brother in the bed beside him. His phone was pressed against his ear, and practically lit the entire room. He spoke in a hushed voice, but not quiet enough. His brother’s volume was turned up so that he could hear the faint sounds of the girl he was talking to— but his voice was much louder. Danny sighed and picked up his own phone to check the time. It was well past midnight, he had play rehearsal tomorrow, and Cole showed no signs of getting to bed any time soon.
Danny groaned when he heard his brother's next words.
“See you soon,” Cole had said.
See you soon.
That meant that Danny had a much longer night ahead of him. Pissed, he looked over at Cole.
“Are you kidding me, man?” he spat.
Startled, his brother looked over to him, and replied, “What?”
Danny rolled his eyes, “You’re inviting another girl over?”
At this, Cole looked annoyed, “Why the hell do you care what I do?”
“Because I have shit to do tomorrow,” he replied.
Cole rolled his eyes. “Stop acting like a baby. Sleep on the couch or something.”
Danny grabbed his phone and stood up, shuffling towards the door.
“Fuck you…” he muttered, slamming the door and making his way downstairs.
Danny shuffled down the stairs, making his way to the living room. Grabbing a nearby blanket, he slumped onto the couch and flicked on the tv. He scrolled through channels before choosing some cheesy rom-com. It reminded him of something his mother would watch, on the rare chance she’d actually get the tv. He raised his feet so that he was laying on the couch, set the remote down, and watched the movie.
After a few minutes of watching it, his eyes began to get heavy. They began flickering closed slowly, despite his attempts to keep them open. Finally, after minutes of battling, he turned off the tv and let his body win. Slowly, his eyes flickered closed, and he began to drift off.
Danny startled awake to a blaring alarm in his ear. He groaned and rubbed his eyes, then snoozed the alarm, before slowly dropping his feet onto the floor. He pushed himself up and trodded towards the kitchen. He was met by his mother, leaning over the counter with a cup of coffee in her hand, reading the local paper (some article about his school’s football team, he was pretty sure.)
“Hey,” he said to her.
She jumped slightly, but relaxing at the sight of who it was.
“Good morning, Danny. How’d you sleep?”
He yawned, then muttered, “Not super great…”
She frowned. There was a few minutes of silence, where Danny poured himself a cup of coffee and began sipping on it. After a few moments of this, his mother broke the silence.
“Why’d you sleep on the couch last night?” she asked.
Danny set down his mug and shrugged. He sat there for a moment.
“Cole..” he finally mumbled.
His mother nodded in understanding. She began to rub her son’s back and sighed.
“I’ll talk to him, honey.”
With that, she put her mug in the sink, gathered her things, and walked away.
“I love you, Danny.”
“Love you too, mom,” he muttered.
He looked into his coffee one more time, then drank the rest.
Today’s going to be a long day…