Kruppo

Chapter 28
I was sitting at the table with Marvin, finishing up some pizza we’d ordered, because neither felt like taking a stab at cooking. So we’d ordered a large pepperoni pizza and a large Hawaiian pineapple pizza.
Sitting back in his chair, a satisfied look on his face, Marvin smiled slightly after sighing. “There’s a reason why I don’t eat much pizza,” he said to me. “It’s because I eat too much when I get my hands on it.”
I could relate; there is nothing better in the world at making someone feel fatter than pizza. But what a wonderful feeling it is when it happens. I grabbed both boxes and took them out to the trash, and came back in to find Grant talking with Marvin.
They were into the conversation pretty deep when I approached. “So how’s everything going with that, anyway?” Marvin was beaming about something. I hadn’t heard what it was Grant had said previously, so what that particular could be I had no idea.
“We’re doing great,” Grant shrugged. “Could we have her over for dinner sometime?”
“Her? Who’s her?” I couldn’t help my curiosity, and I stepped in before Marvin could speak. I leaned on the counter next to Grant, and I nudged him. “You didn’t tell me you were datin’ anyone, man. Is she cute? What’s she look like? Blonde, brunette? Mexican?”
Grant blushed, and Marvin rolled his eyes. “Chad, leave him be.” Marvin said. “You should be proud of him anyways. It’s been a while, huh Grant?”
Grant’s blush didn’t go away, but he nodded. “Her name’s Patty,” he told me. “Is that okay, or is there a problem?”
“Why would there be a problem?” I didn’t care. The glare he was giving me spoke volumes, however. I knew he was pissed for me butting into the whole thing. The last thing in the world Grant liked was getting made fun of for having very little experience with girls. It was something he wasn’t proud of, and even though I never really poked huge fun at him, I did tease him every now and then.
It wasn’t going to make him feel better unless I encouraged him. So I punched him on the shoulder lightly. “Bring to hang out with me and the guys sometime.”
“Yeah, right,” Grant said sourly. “That’s what I need; a bunch of guys hitting on my girlfriend right in front of me.”
Marvin was already heading towards the living room when he spoke again. “Don’t get all riled up about it, Grant. She can come have dinner sometime. Just let me know when.” He sat down on the plush, green couch we’d inherited from our grandfather, and reached for the television remote. “Chad, come in here, will you please?” I didn’t have to hear the tone in his voice to know what was coming. I winked at Grant one more time before leaving the room and sitting on the other end of the couch, a few feet away from Marvin.
We waited until Grant was out of earshot when Marvin spoke. “Look, I want you to be nice.”
“Oh, come on! It was a joke, for God’s sake.”
“Chad, you know Grant gets sensitive to this kind of stuff.” Marvin sat forward, his eyes containing a mix between a glare and something else I couldn’t place. “We all know that you have tons of girls you hang out with, but Grant doesn’t do this often. Just be happy for him, and give him something to go on for once.”
“I am giving him something to go on!” The heat was flooding in, and I could feel something starting to jerk back and forth between the two of us; unseen, angry. A little demonic thing trying to push us over the ledge, towards an argument.
“No you’re not. I can tell when you’re being funny and when you’re being mean,” Marvin’s voice was getting louder as well. He wasn’t shouting, but he wasn’t being quiet like he had been a few moments before. “I don’t know why you do this to him. He’s never made fun of you for anything, and you treat him like an inferior. Stop it!”
“I’m not gonna argue about this,” I was doing whatever I could to salvage the situation. Standing up seemed to be a good idea, but Marvin shot to his feet as well. “I’m sorry. I don’t wanna fight about this though. I love the kid, you know that. I just like to push his buttons every now and then. It’s not being mean, it’s just fun.”
“Well, what’s fun to you is not fun to him, get it?” Marvin shook his head and sat back down slowly. “Go apologize. You’re brothers. Start treating him like one.”
“Okay, okay. Don’t kill me.” I let him win. I just didn’t have it in me anymore; arguing over pointless subjects like a girlfriend was not exactly the kind of excitement I was looking for anyway.
Marvin turned the TV on then, sighing. “Seriously, Chad. Grant deserves better than what you give him.”
“I know. I’ll go apologize now.” And I left the room, feeling more than slightly annoyed.
Getting upstairs to Grant’s room seemed to take less than a few seconds, and I was in front of his door before I knew it. I struck the wooden frame twice, hoping Grant wouldn’t just ignore me like he had done a few times before, years ago.
He opened the door, but he was on the phone then. I gave him thumbs up, hoping he understood that I meant to check in on him. He returned the gesture with his free hand. He then mouthed. “Later.”
There was no point in waiting a few hours to apologize, so I mouthed it back. “I’m sorry.” I whispered.
“Hey, hold on a sec, will you?” Grant took the phone receiver away from his ear. “What?” he said quietly.
“I said I’m sorry for earlier.” I said again, louder this time.
“Sure, whatever.” Grant shrugged it off. “I gotta take this call. It’s Patty.”
I let him get back to it, feeling a strange dissatisfaction in my soul as I dragged myself back into my own room. Sitting down at my laptop, I plugged in my ipod and started playing an Earth album, and leaned back in the chair, pondering what kind of man I was measured to be.

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I'm so post-rock I shit sad birds