"Why the heck should I shut up?" Nick teased.
"Because you’re getting annoying." Aaron turned towards the window and ignored Nick.
He watched Jess and her friends pass them leaving the store. He waved and they waved back. Jess smiled and inconspicuously blew him a light kiss. Aaron smiled and caught it placing it in his pocket. Then made a sign for her to call him sometime.
"…So now you know about Jess I’m gonna need to hear about your last boyfriend." Nick was talking to Erica.
"Actually you probably won’t need to because you’d want to kill him." Erica smiled slightly joking.
"Why would I want to kill him?" Nick didn’t notice her smile.
"Because he told the whole school that I…" She winked at Aaron.
"What did he tell them?" Nick started to get a little worked up.
Erica began to cry. She was a VERY talented actress Aaron noted. "He, he,"
"What did he do?" Nick grabbed her hand with his free one.
"He said I had cooties!"
Erica and Aaron burst out laughing. They were crying by the time that Nick noticed what had just happened.
"You guys are mean!" Nick pulled over to the side of the road.
"What are you doing?" Aaron managed to say.
"I’m not moving until you apologize."
Nick turned to Erica. "Ok… I’m sorry that you’re gullible."
Nick frowned. "I didn’t mean that!"
"I’m sorry I’m a good actress."
"Erica!"
"Ok, ok, I’m sorry I made fun of you." She kissed his cheek lightly.
Aaron was still laughing. "What the heck is so freaking’ funny back there?"
"You guys are so cute."
Nick turned up the volume on the radio and got back on the road. Erica smiled at Aaron. ‘I’ll talk to you when we get home.’ She mouthed.
Aaron nodded and settled back into the seat. Then his cell-phone rang. "Hello?" Aaron said excited hoping it was Jess.
"Hey Aaron it’s Angel."
"Oh, hi." Aaron said disappointed.
"What’s wrong with you? You don’t even want to talk to your twin sister?"
"Sorry Angel, I was expecting um, someone else." Erica turned down the radio.
"Oh, ok. How are you?"
"I’m fine. I’ve made a decision."
"Oh crap. Aaron makes a decision. That’s not good."
"Shut up! I’ve decided that I’m not gonna live at home anymore."
"What!?"
"Well, I’m sick of coming home and giving all my money to mom and dad… then having to wait for them to give me my money. It’s just that. I have a job. When you’re sixteen and have a job that you do and they don’t technically the money is yours."
"But Aaron, you’re only fifteen."
"So I earn my money. They just sit back and watch it all roll in!"
Nick pulled into the driveway and turned off the car. Aaron didn’t even notice. "Aaron what’s got into you?"
"Angel! Don’t you get it?"
"Get what?"
"I’ve been making them money since I was nine! All I get from it is twenty dollars… A WEEK!"
Erica glanced at Nick who was watching his brother intently. "Aaron…"
"No Angel you don’t understand! God! Can’t you see what they’re doing?"
"But Aaron!"
"Angel, I’m sick of it. There is NO way I’m waiting till I’m eighteen to get even a fair share of my money. I want to receive what I’ve earned, now."
"But Aaron why do you want to move out?"
"I want to move out so that I have a reason to get my money. So I can survive."
"Nick," whispered Erica, "Is he gonna be ok?"
Nick shrugged and looked back at his little brother.
"And Angel you can tell Mom and Dad what I said. This may sound conceited or something but if I have to I will take them to court."
Aaron hung up the phone and looked up. Nick stretched out his hand to his brother. "You ok?"
"Yes. I’m ok."
"Why didn’t you tell me?" Nick kept up a strong guard but Erica noticed his hand holding hers was shaking.
"I don’t know Nick. It just kind of hit me I guess."
"Are you really serious about this?"
Aaron nodded slowly. "Didn’t it piss you off that you never got anything from what you were doing?"
"God all the time. Why do you think that right when I turned eighteen you guys moved to LA huh?"
"Oh, yeah I guess so. But Nick why didn’t you do anything earlier?"
"I was thirteen when I started… It was only five years of that. You have nine years of this crap. It hits you harder I guess."
Erica looked back and forth between the two boys. At the moment they looked like men and not just, you know, men, but, real men. Just your extra-ordinary men who had lived their lives and had gathered wisdom and felt hatred to last a lifetime.
Aaron leaned over the seat and hugged his brother. "I love you Nick."
"I love you too Aaron."