"Please don't tell me you're being serious?", Luke questions, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. "Yes", I say confidently. "Oh, brother", he nods dissaprovingly. "At least I've found someone; you haven't even begun looking. And no, Funbuddy doesn't count", I argue truthfully, realizing he was offended by my comment on the dating app he uses. "Well at least the girls I find are hot, and fun to be around", he argues irrationally. "That's what—", I'm ready to scold him when my dad walks in. "Cut that out!", he hissed, striking his hand through the air to express the gesture. Me and my brother leaned backward in shock. "This is completely unprofessional and unacceptable. You think either of you are gonna get the position acting like this?", he deprecated with a cold finger pointing at us. We glanced back and forth at each other, my brother and I receiving a much harsher stare from our dad.
In my opinion, I deserved the position more than my brother for countless reasons. One being: I am way more qualified in every aspect; two being: I'm older, wiser, more responsible, punctual; the list goes on and on. All Luke cares about, is partying, drinking, sleeping around like the pretentious adulterer he is, and blowing my dad's money on a lavish lifestyle. If my dad stopped giving him money, he wouldn't be able to buy a fraction of the things he does. He's a lousy, underachieving supervisor who only gets paid $50 an hour.
I must have been so caught up in my indignant belabouring that I didn't notice my dad had left. Luke just stood beside my desk on his phone, grinning to himself for some reason. No doubt he was probably texting a new side-piece. I swear, he goes through girlfriends like underwear.
"What are you doing?", I question him like I already know the answer. His eyes dragged up from his phone like they were glued to it or something. "Hm?", he mumbled distractedly. "I said, what are you doing?", I repeated, holding up a questioning brow. "Oh, you know, just talking to Bianca", he shrugged like even he knew it was obvious. "Who's Bianca?", I looked confused, and I honestly was; I've lost track of how many girls he's been with, that I just stopped trying to remember their names. "My girlfriend? The one after Shanikwa?", he said like I should know. "Oh sorry. I forgot… is she the fiftieth or the ninetieth?", I instigated sarcastically. "She's—", he said as he realized what I meant, "You mother—", he growled, launching at me with all of his weight. I quickly stepped to the left, avoiding the impact. Only he still felt the impact. "Ow! You—", he cried out as my dad barged in again. "What in the H-E-double hockeysticks are the two of you doing!?", my dad reproved. "Nothing", I said nonchalantly. There wasn't a single ruffle in my suit or hair which told my dad that Luke had another outburst again.
Looking between the both of us furiously, he begged, "Do I really need to send you back to those anger management classes!? You said they worked". 'Well clearly, he was lying", I deride in my head. "Ah", he flinched in pain, "Uhm, dad? The thing is, I wasn't actually going to those meetings. I was hanging out with my friends", he blatantly confessed, without an ounce of guilt in his eyes. My dad's face looked incredulous, despite his overriding fury. "You what!?", my dad finally reacted. "Well, what did you think I was going to do?", my brother shamelessly defended. "Exactly why I should be CEO", I took my chance to jump in. "No! Neither of you bafoons are going to be CEO!", he shouted disdainfully. "You two have one month to show me you're serious about this role! If neither of you can get your act together, I'm giving the position to Malcolm", my dad threatened, knowing that would get to us. Luke and I both looked horrified.
Malcolm is this superficial, arrogant, boastful, egotistical; well, you get the point. He's basically the worst person alive, and yes, I'm including murderers. The last person who should have any position of authority is Malcolm. I can't say I have the same level of contempt and abhorrence for anyone else. And I think I talk for both Luke and I when I say this.
"No, dad! Please!", Luke begged, pleading on his knees. And I couldn't tell if he was mocking an earnest plead, or if he was actually being serious. "Then you better resolve this issue between you two and find a wife!", my dad yelled warningly, but it sounded more like a command. Probably unable to bear looking at us disappointments, he walked out more calmly than I would've— nope, he slammed the door.
"What am I gonna do?", Luke sounded terrified. "What dad literally just screamed in your face", I bluntly proposed. "I can't be with just one girl. That's miserable! I'd get bored so fast", he complained like it was the hardest thing in the world. To be fair, finding 'True Love' isn't as easy as it sounds; but he could settle. Though I would never say that to his face or he'd probably have a heartattack. "Luke, I don't understand… what is so hard about being responsible? Like, for real. Can you not comprehend what it's like to have a mature personality?", I chided, directly throwing all of my frustration on him. He just remained silent in shock, ignoring my words entirely.
I decided to just take a step back and calm down. The pressure wasn't just on him, I had a lot to do before I could prove my worth to my dad. Maybe the first step was talking to her again.