All the words, pt. 2
It was still just a little strange to be the person being looked after and not the one doing the looking after. Zach wasn’t a martyr or anything, it just somehow always worked out that he was taking care of his siblings and not the other way around. “In that case I’ll stop trying to convince you,” he said with a faint smile, one that slipped into a frown when Dillon told him not to worry about missing his birthday. “Having things going on isn’t an excuse,” Zach began. “I should have remembered your birthday, but I’ll make it up to you, okay?” He wondered if Dillon would argue that he didn’t need to do that, even if he did Zach wouldn’t let it go. Twenty-one was a milestone birthday, one that he thought his brother deserved to celebrate, even if it was a month late.
“And I promise I won’t keel over on you, I wouldn’t do that to you or Maddie.” While his brother’s words had sounded like a joke, Zach wanted him to know that he wasn’t going anywhere, so it wasn’t something he needed to worry about. “Oh god, please don’t. Have you seen Talia’s disapproving look, the woman is scary,” though not as scary as their mother. “And you and Maddie were awful for telling mom on me, the two of you made sneaking out of the house really hard.”
By this point he knew that it would be easier to just agree, plus he couldn’t remember the last time he and Dillon had spent time together, just the two of them. “You know I can’t remember the last time I ate, honestly,” Zach commented as he moved over to the coat rack near the door, grabbing his off the hook and shrugging it on. “Any idea what they’ve got for food today?” Not that it really mattered; Zach would eat just about anything right now.