Free Remember My Name by Chase Potter Page A

several brown bottles in the bottom drawer. He
glances at Jeff, who shakes his head. Jackson detours and grabs a coke from the
top shelf. “Ben, you want a pop?”
    Pop. In case I’d forgotten I
was in the Midwest. “I’ll have a Mountain Dew.”
    “We only have coke and root
beer.”
    Who are these people?
“Coke then.”
    “Sure thing.” He grabs the
can and sets it in front of me, taking a seat beside Jeff.
    “So how have you been, Ben?”
Jeff asks, realizing his phrasing mistake only at the end of his sentence.
    I frown. Does he want a
serious answer? Because it would go something like, it’s been a clusterfuck
ever since Mom announced she was leaving for the summer and I was getting
shipped across the country. “Fine,” I say.
    Jackson raises an eyebrow.
“I’m glad you’re still the same old bowl of sunshine.”
    “Fuck off,” I snap, my eyes
narrowing.
    Jeff cuts in, “Hey, hey.
None of that. We’re really glad to have you here, Ben, but I have to tell you
that we’re in the middle of a few things. I just had two of my employees quit
this last week, so I’ll need both Jackson’s and your help for the next few
weeks until I can find someone new.”
    I have a summer job now,
too? “Okay,” I say. “And the other stuff?”
    “We’re also remodeling the
guest bedroom. Until we finish up in there, you’ll need to share Jackson’s room
with him.” He gives me a sympathetic smile, the kind that parents give to their
kids when they’re getting hosed.
    My eyes shift from Jeff to
Jackson, who’s taking a sip from his coke. I still haven’t opened mine. Pulling
back on the tab, I let the crack of carbonation break the silence so I don’t
have to. “Are you serious?”
    “Afraid so. We’re going to push
in our free time to get it finished, so hopefully you won’t have to spend more
than a few weeks in Jackson’s room.”
    I take a deep breath,
mentally running through the list of what has happened today. Exiled to rural
Minnesota for the summer? Check. Drafted into a job? Check. Have to share room
with estranged brother? Check. “All right, whatever.”
    Jeff’s expression makes it
seem like he’s trying to be understanding, but he doesn’t respond to me.
“Jackson, how about you show Ben the house? I’ll bring his bag up to your room
in a little bit.”
    “Come on, Ben,” Jackson
says, jumping up from his seat and snagging his coke off the table. I don’t
bother taking mine.
    Leading me up the stairs, he
points out the bathroom, Jeff’s bedroom, and the room I’ll have once it’s
finished. “It kind of looks like hell right now,” he says, nudging open the
door and gesturing with the can in his hand. “The old plaster and lath got
pretty damaged in a roof leak,” he explains, making a face that doesn’t seem to
be directed at me. “So Dad decided we had to take it right down to the studs.”
    I have no idea what he’s
just said, but the room is a disaster. I can see the structural boards that
form the skeleton of the walls, and the floor is covered in piles of wood
chunks and what look like little pieces of concrete. “Huh,” I say. “I guess
Jeff wasn’t kidding about it not being ready to live in.”
    Jackson stiffens beside me.
“Why do you call him that?”
    I shrug. “That’s his name.”
    “Yeah, no shit.” He turns
away and continues down the hall, leaving me in the doorway to the destroyed
room. As he walks, the tips of his shoulder blades make alternating impressions
in the back of his shirt. Is that what I look like from behind?
    I catch up to him as he
opens the door to his room. It’s about as messy as the guest room with the
walls torn out. Clothes cover most of the floor and they’re piled on top of the
dresser too. Along the wall above the bed, unmade of course, is a huge poster
for the latest Star Trek movie. I bite my lip. I actually really like Star
Trek, but I’m not about to tell Jackson that.
    “A little messy, but it’s
home,” he says.