About thirty minutes after getting home and the banter with his mother, Marcus heard light knocks on his door. Removing one of his earbuds, he stared at the door from where he lay in his bed, "
Yes?" Marcus asked with a suspicious tone thinking it was his mother.
"
Can I come in?" the soft voice of his younger brother barely reached through the processed white painted wood door. Marcus sighed while taking the other earbud out and pausing his music while throwing the device to the foot of the bed.
Getting up, he walked right over and opened the door, "
Sure," he forced a smile, knowing that Louis needed to see it. Louis walked right under his brother's arm and went into the room, sitting on a chair that usually was never touched since it was Louis's chair, or at least that's what Marcus would tell his friends when they came over.
Closing his door, he walked over to his computer chair and plopped down while looking over to Louis, "
What's up?" he asked while giving it one good spin.
Louis sat there on the chair, looking at the ground, and he didn't answer his older brother's question. This caused a furrowed brow look to come from Marcus, "
Louie, what's up?" he asked again while watching his brother shrug his shoulders.
"
I'm serious," he stated in a gruffer voice, "
What's wrong?" he asked once more. Louis seemed to be reluctant on answering his older brother's questions.
Sighing, Louis seemed to be struggling, and clearly, the gears in his head were turning, "
I don't know. I just..." trailing off, he began to chew on the inside of his cheek.
"
Louis stop that," Marcus demanded, and Louis instantly stopped chewing on the inside of his cheek. This was a habit that Louis adopted because of the lack of attention at home and anxiety that the outside world gave him, so he expressed it in the way of chewing on his cheek or chewing a pack of gum in a single day.
"
This kid is being mean to me at school, and now you and mom are fighting more," he finally released the words. Slowly, Louis decided to add on, "
Plus, you and dad are too," Louis was showing that he was being affected by the negative energy between their parents and his older brother.
Marcus seemed to stop spinning or having the upbeat vibe to him while his brother expressed these worries and difficulties, "
Hey, Lou," he said while getting up and going over to his little brother. Crouching down in front of him, he forced a half-awkward smile, "
I know things are tough at home and school, but I got you. You have me too. You can always talk about these things with me. I know our family has been fighting, but I don't know how to stop it. I do right, I do wrong, I do nothing, and I get in trouble. It's because I'm the oldest," placing his hands on Louis's shoulders while he tried to get his little brother to look at him. Louis seemed to peak over to his older brother staring at him.
Marcus stuck out his tongue in a playful way, "
now cheer up," he demanded, and Louis rolled his eyes. Louis began to push Marcus away, and this triggered a playful behavior in the eldest Dotson son.
Picking his younger brother up without an issue, he threw him onto the bed and began to tickle Louis. This caused an instant reaction of kicking and pushing away, "
Marcus, stop it!"
"
Not until I see that smile!" Marcus shouted back while trying to get a cheerful attitude from his little brother. He was trying to cheer him up in any way he could.
Louis was trying to fight his brother from this charade of playful behavior until a crash of shattering glass echoed in the room. Both of them stopped what they were doing while they stared over at the ground where the noise came from. A glass nicknack laid there on the hardwood ground of Marcus's room, shattered, and he looked over to Louis. They both began to chuckle at the breakage of the item, "
Okay, okay, I'll stop," Marcus said while pushing Louis's head and ruffling his hair in a few seconds before going over to the broken item.
Louis sat up in the bed and watched while Marcus began to clean the item up that he knocked off the dresser he kicked while being tickled, "
I'm sorry I broke that," he didn't know if it was important or not.
Marcus shrugged his shoulders, "
Don't worry about it. Mom got it for me this Christmas. I can't even remember what it was," he admitted while being careful with the sharp pieces of glass.
Interaction(s): Marcus and Louis Dotson