Chapter 4 Jeff hadn’t gotten much sleep. Fear had settled into his mind about possibly being someone’s father.  He didn’t feel like a father.  What if he wasn’t good at it?  Did it mean that he would have to stop with all of the outrageous things he did?  Would he finally have to be a "normal", responsible adult?  Would he have to dye his hair a normal color?  All of these things ran through his mind. He had only been asleep for a few hours when he awoke to someone banging on his front door.  He pulled the covers over his head and tried to ignore it, hoping that whoever it was would go away - but no such luck.  Realizing that the noise was only getting louder, Jeff jerked the covers off of himself and put a pair of shorts on. "I’m coming!", he yelled angrily and the banging stopped.  Jeff cracked the door open and squinted his eyes in the bright sunlight.  It was Matt. "You’re still asleep?  What’s wrong with you, Jeffro?", he asked very irritated.  "WHAT?!?!", Jeff snapped.   "We have a signing in Raleigh in like an hour and a half.", Matt said raising his watch to show his brother what time it was. "Wow.  Sorry, bro, I didn’t mean to sleep that long.", Jeff apologized. "Stop apologizing and get your ass ready.", Matt demanded. Jeff threw his hands up and rushed into his room to take a shower. "You don’t have time to shower!", Matt called to him. "I gotta shower!", Jeff yelled.  "Did you take one last night?", Matt asked.   "Yeah.", Jeff returned. "Then you’re not dirty, just get dressed.", Matt instructed his younger brother. Jeff rolled his eyes and sighed as he reached into his closet for a pair of pants.  He put on a pair of fuzzy red and blue shorts, a blue shirt and a red baseball cap.  He then threw on his tennis shoes and walked into the living room.  Matt looked at his brother like he was insane. "What?", Jeff asked annoyed at the look he was getting. "That’s what you’re wearing?", Matt asked. "Yeah.  Why?", Jeff asked. "Nothing.  Let’s go.", Matt told him shaking his head and walking out the door. Jeff grabbed his bag and walked out onto the porch.  Just as he was about to shut the door, he remembered something and yelled to his brother, "Hold up Matt!  I’ll be right back." "Hurry up!", Matt called as he climbed behind the wheel of his silver mustang. Jeff ran back inside and grabbed a bottle of red fingernail polish from the bathroom counter.  He hurried out to the car and jumped into the passenger seat. "What did you forget?", Matt asked as he pulled out onto the street. Jeff held up the fingernail polish to show his brother.  Once again, Matt shook his head and said, "Jeffro, I love you, but you’re strange."  Jeff just smiled as he began to paint his nails red to match his shorts.  They made it to the store in plenty of time for the signing.  They were waiting inside the store, which was being kept empty until the signing began.  Matt looked at his younger brother who was sitting in a chair behind the table fighting to keep his eyes open.  He had a seat in the chair next to him, "What’s wrong?" Jeff turned to look at him sleepily, "I didn’t get much sleep last night." "Why?", Matt asked him.   "Kari threw some big news at me last night.  She might be pregnant.", Jeff said leaning back in the chair. "Wow", Matt said leaning back in his chair too.   "Yeah.  That’s what I said.", Jeff chuckled. "How do you feel about this?", Matt asked. "I dunno.  I mean, I’m happy, but at the same time scared shitless.", Jeff informed him.  Matt just nodded.  "She’ll find out in the morning, well no, I guess that would be tonight our time…hell, I dunno…that stuff confuses the hell outta me.", Jeff said.  Matt nodded in agreement.  "And then there’s this other shit.", Jeff said looking out at the crowd of fans who had gathered outside the store in hopes of meeting their heroes.  "What shit?", Matt asked. "I got another one of those letters, from the same person.  They said that I would find out soon how much they loved me.  Kinda freaks me out.  I mean they could be out there in that line right now.", Jeff said almost shakily.   "Why didn’t you tell me?  We coulda canceled this thing.  I mean, it may not be anything, but you never know.", Matt said. Jeff was even more worried now, because Matt seemed alarmed at what only days  before he blew off as nothing. "It’s too late now, they’re about to open the doors.  Besides, it’s prolly nothing and we couldn’t disappoint these fans for nothing.", Jeff said as he looked up and saw the first of the crowd enter the store. "Stay close to me kid.", Matt said just before looking up to greet the first of the fans.  What?  Stay close to him?  What did he think was going to happen?  Now Jeff was beyond worried.                  Last Chapter ..*.. Next Chapter ..*.. Chapter Index ..*.. Home