Free Synergy by Georgia Payne

is
me, ” she stated.
    Jason
looked toward the door.
    “Oh.  It was nice to see you
again , ” he said,
sticking his hands in his pockets like a teenager. For some reason,
it made her smile.
    “ You wanna come in
for a beer ?” she asked with spontaneity,
her words surprising even her. As she watched him hesitate, she
added, “ My brother will probably be home
but he don’t care .”
    She
realised then that inviting him in after the way they met the first
time could be misleading.
    “ Sure, one
beer .” He agreed.
    As she
led him in the front door, she heard sounds from the  living
room, and opened the door slowly to see who  was in there. Her
brother Jarell was on his Xbox, the noise from the game on low, so
all she could hear was quiet gunshots. He sat with no shirt on, but
his chains still hung around his neck. An opened beer was on the
table in front of him next to a bowl of half-eaten chips. A blunt
sat in an ashtray by the side of him, burning away on its own. She
figured he was loving having the house to himself without her
there, seeing as her mom and Tushaun would be in bed. She opened
the door fully then and told Jason to come in. As Jarell saw Jason
in his peripheral vision, he turned his gaze to the door and made
eye contact with Jason, who stood in the doorway
nervously.
    Jason
    “ You bringing
people home now ?” Jarell asked, sounding
deadly serious. Jason felt like a teenage boy meeting his
girlfriend’s father for the first time, though he barely knew this
girl. The whole thing was stupid, really.
    Dee
promptly told her brother to fuck off and he laughed and paused his
game before standing up. He was around the same height as Jason,
with dark skin and tattoos covering his chest and his arms. He even
had one on the side of his neck.
    “ What up bruh? I’m
Jarell, ” he stated, extending his arm out
to Jason.
    “ Jason, ” Jason replied, taking
Jarell’s hand in his and bumping shoulders with
him.
    “ Jason
Taylor ?” Jarrell said, in a manner that
sounded unsure whether it wanted to be a statement or a
question.
    “ Yeah. ” Jason said, used to this sort
of conversation.
    “ I didn’t even
know who he was till now ” Dee told her
brother.
    “ How you ain’t
know ?”
    “I don’t know, just didn’t. ”
    After
the three of them were acquainted, Dee went into the kitchen to
find herself and Jason some beers. As the men sat down on a sofa
each, Jarell turned to Jason.
    “ You do that one
song ...” At that, Jarell sang Jason’s own
lyrics at him. Jason laughed slightly, feeling pretty embarrassed,
but took it on the chin.
    As Dee
returned, beers in hand, she told Jarell to shut up, and handed one
of the bottles to Jason before sitting down on the sofa next to
him.
    “ Where’s
mine ?” Jarell joked, blowing smoke from
his blunt before setting it back down.
    “ On the table,
half drank, ” Dee replied, and Jarell
smirked.
    On the
coffee table in front of Jarell, smoke billowed. Dee eyed it and
stood up to fetch it before sitting back down.
    “ Who said you
could smoke my weed ?” Jarell questioned as
she inhaled the fumes.
    “ You fucking
wasting it, ” Dee snapped at her brother,
making eye contact to punctuate her point. “ And who fucking bought you it ?”
    Jarell
started to smirk again, and Jason decided he was probably one of
those brothers that lived to mess with his little sister. Jason
also realised how surprised he was by the way Dee snapped at her
brother. When she spoke, she had such a sweet-sounding voice,
almost childlike, so hearing her snap that way was like seeing a
different personality altogether. He didn’t necessarily think it
was a bad thing. He thought she could probably stand up for
herself.
    In an effort to keep the peace, Jason piped up.
“ So, you two live here
together ?”
    “ It’s my mom’s
house .” Dee said.
“So  it’s my mom, Jarell, my sister,
and my son. ”
     “ And
you ?” Jason questioned, though he thought
it was more