Marc becomes suspicious when his younger brother declines his offer

Being the older brother, Marc is used to Finn asking him for favors, particularly when it came to picking him up after a concert or small venue gig. He’s surprised and suspicious when his younger brother declines his offer.

These shorts are practice pieces that build upon the lore of my characters. These pieces may feature characters that belong to my friends, but those characters may not appear in my final story. However, they should be taken as extended lore. I hope you enjoy these shorts.

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“Do you need me to pick you up?”

Leaning against the door frame, looking into his younger brother’s room, Marc observed as Finn rummaged around in a drawer, its contents rattling around as they were swiped from one side to the other.

This particular question had found Marc driving to some part of the city to collect the youngest Davenport on many a night from whatever trouble he had managed to get himself into. Admittedly, it wasn’t always trouble. Admittedly, it was more often his friend Matthieu that got Finn into bother.

“No, I’m good.”

Marc raised an eyebrow at Finn. “You sure?” He was cautiously skeptical when Finn declined the offer of a pick-up. “I know you’ll be texting me sometime after midnight for a bailout.”

“Then I’m good till then.” It came as a cheeky response as Finn accented it with a grin.

“Where you headed?”

Finding what he was looking for, Finn’s eyes lit up as he pocketed the plastic card into his jeans. “I’m going to see a movie with some of the guys from the swim team. We have a tournament coming up, so coach figured we should get some bonding time in so we are in sync.”

“Team bonding,” Marc acknowledged. “Didn’t actually cross my mind that a swim team would do such a thing.”

“Yeah!” Finn replied as he closed the drawer with a gentle thud. “I mean, we don’t really buy into it, but the new Spiderman film is out, so it seemed a good excuse to get out and see it.”

“So, how are you getting back?”

Finn slipped his hand into his pocket to grab his phone, checking the notification he saw. “Pete is picking me up. And he said he’ll bring me back.”

“Well, if he doesn’t, text me, okay?” Marc added as he pushed himself up from the doorframe, entering the room and approaching Finn. “And please, don’t try to get into any bars again. You know how much trouble you got in with mom and dad?”

“I swear, I won’t make the same mistake twice.”

“That was the second time!”

Finn smirked. Looking into his older brother’s eyes, he could see so much of himself in Marc. As much as Marc tried to bury it down due to his newfound career in policing, it was only a few years earlier that Finn would recall all the tricks that Marc had pulled and how many Finn had learned from his older sibling. Sneaking in at night, how to hide a bottle of beer in his room, how to get mom and dad to give up cash for a good cause—he knew them all. And thus, it meant Finn had to be one step ahead.

“I know the routine,” the younger sibling started as his protective brother approached him. “If things go to shit, give you a call, and you’ll come running.”

“You know it doesn’t quite work like that,” Marc replied. “If I’m on a call out, I can’t pick up.”

“And that’s why I said I won’t need you to pick me up. I got this.”

Marc removed his wallet and tugged out a twenty-dollar bill, offering it over. “Don’t spend it all at one popcorn stand,” he added, a cheap attempt at humor.

“Bro, I will buy the biggest box of popcorn with this!”

“Enjoy the movie. Don’t be home too late. You don’t want mom to ground you again.”

The smile on Finn’s face reached his eyes, sparkling with appreciation as he pocketed the money. “I won’t. I promise.”

But when does a sixteen-year-olds promise mean anything? For within seconds, Finn had forgotten about his promise as he got ready to leave, tapping the fake ID in his back pocket he had fished out of his drawer. Just another thing he had learned from his older brother.