Hate Every Beautiful Day
Chapter 1
By: Makena
He ran a hand through his short black hair and fell against the wall, sliding down to the floor. He grasped his beer bottle firmly in one hand. He had already had two or three of them. Glancing at the clock, he quickly learned that opening himself a fourth beer had been a mistake as the red numbers gave him the time: 5:45. His mother would be home any moment with his brother.
"Fuck," he muttered to himself.
Sure enough, as the words escaped his lips, a car pulled into the driveway. He hid his unfinished beer under his bed and pulled his legs up to his chest, hugging them sadly. He rested his chin on his knee and listened to the two car doors that opened and closed again. He shifted his eyes towards the window and watched a boy with bleached blond hair grab his back pack from the front seat and close the car door.
"I gotta get my homework done," he told his mother, his voice muffled by the closed window and the thick wall that separated the two. He waited for his brother, hugging his knees closer to his body and praying nobody would notice he had been drinking again.
The door squeaked open and the boy with the bleach blond hair stepped into the messy bedroom before closing the door again.
"Hi, Benj," he greeted his brother. Benji nodded and watched Joel set his things down on the bed next to his.
"Mom wants to know if you ate yet, 'cause she said she'd fix us something before she picks Sarah up."
Benji shook his head. "I'm not hungry," he said in a somewhat silent, saddened voice.
"Oh." Joel assumed that meant Benji had been drinking again and sighted slightly. He disappeared for a moment, but returned shortly as Benji noticed the car engine start up and the beat-up Buick back out of the driveway.
"How come you stayed after school today?" Benji asked, breaking the silence.
"Baseball meeting," Joel replied, taking a few books out of his back pack and placing them on his bed. "It was kind of just like a sign up, since the season doesn't start 'till spring."
He paused to draw out a note book and a smaller book that looked like it had come from the library. Benji read the title and frowned.
"Alcoholism?" he asked. "Why do you have a book on Alcoholism?"
"'Cause," Joel replied with a shrug.
Benji sprang to his feet from where he had been sitting and tackled his brother to the bed.
"Get off," Joel grunted.
"Why do you have a book on alcoholism, Joel?" Benji demanded.
"Because I have to do a project in history about Prohibition in the US," Joel replied, trying to throw Benji off. Benji, feeling slightly embarrassed, let go and walked towards his bed again.
"You're drunk," Joel stated, watching Benji with his eyes as he sat upright again.
"I'm not drunk," Benji replied. "I haven't had anything to drink tonight."
"Liar."
"I don't drink," Benji said through clenched teeth.
"I could smell your breath."
"I don't drink!" Benji yelled, kicking his mattress. The top of his beer bottle peaked out from under the bed and the precious liquid Benji had befriended over the past year spilled out onto the floor. Neither of them said a word. Joel watched the alcohol spill out onto the floor and looked up at his brother. Benji just stared, blinking down at his lost drink.
"Not a drinker, huah?" Joel asked, his voice filled of disappointment and sadness. "Kind of like dad wasn't a drinker, right?"
Benji hung his head and began to try and mop the mess up with a towel that had been hanging on his closet door. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "I'm sorry..."
-----
Benji groaned and turned over in his bed, trying to cover his ears with his pillow. The alarm was blaring the same, monotone "wanh! wanh!" in his ear and he found himself the victim of yet another hangover. The alarm suddenly stopped and was replaced by the lights clicking on overhead.
"Up," he heard Joel say. Benji groaned again and rolled over. He hated mornings and a hangover never made them any better. The smell of coffee filled the air and Benji tried to resist. He loved the smell of coffee and he loved how, like magic, it seemed to get rid of all his head aches every morning and got him through each day alive.
"Up!" Joel said again, throwing his pillow across the room, hitting Benji with full impact.
"Fuck," Benji muttered, propping himself up on his elbows. He opened his eyes, squinting from the sudden burst of light that greeted him. He looked over and saw Joel stuffing cash into his jean pockets. He was standing by his own bed, wearing boxers and a white t-shirt. Benji took Joel's pillow and tossed it back to him.
"I forgot to tell you last night," Joel said, pulling his pants up. "Remember how that kid Paul started taking bass a couple years ago?"
"Paul? That junior kid?" Benji asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"Yeah. So?"
Joel rolled his eyes. "We can start playing more songs if we add him to our little "band." I mean, we play in Acme every Saturday - don't you think its time we add some new songs? Besides - he's a good player. I heard him." Benji nodded and fell back to his pillow. "We're riding the bus. Get your ass ready."
Joel picked up a black Rancid shirt from the floor and threw it to Benji. Benji sighed and pulled the t-shirt over his head before climbing out of bed and pulling up a pair of jeans that had holes in both the knees. He grabbed his own back pack and headed out to the kitchen for his coffee.
"I want you to clean your room after school," his mother told him when Benji appeared in the kitchen. "That goes for you too, Joel."
Joel nodded and peaked out the window for signs of the bus. The big, yellow beast of a bus was rounding the corner and was inching towards the twin's house.
"Bus," he announced. "Bye mom."
"Bye, Joel. Have a good day at school."
"Bye," Benji said, making a dash towards the door to catch up with his brother.
"Bye. Try not to get in trouble today, okay?" Benji sighed and followed Joel to the bus, having to run a little to catch up. "Oh, did you talk to Aaron yesterday?"
Benji frowned. "Was I supposed to?"
Joel sighed. "Yeah. About drumming?"
Benji sighed. He didn't want to talk to Aaron.
"Do it today," Joel said when Benji didn't respond.
"Well, can... would you just do it?" Benji asked, taking a seat on the bus. "The football players don't exactly like me. You're more... sporty than I am."
"You do it, Benji," Joel said. "The football players like me just as much as they like you. Aaron's okay, though - nothing'll happen."
"But..."
"Trust me."