I first met Brandon when he was fifteen years old. At the time, I was more nervous about meeting the family of this beautiful girl I was flirting with. I had NO idea what I was walking into.
Brandon seemed like the quintessential little brother. He introduced himself and immediately left to play Xbox. I honestly do not remember much about the first interaction. I was nervous to meet Whitney’s siblings and he did not really care about me. But, while talking to the rest of Whitney’s family, Brandon came upstairs and immediately got in a fight with Lori about some inane teenaged problem. I have never had a little brother, but he acted exactly how I imagined: arguing with mom about something stupid and being more annoyed that he had to stop playing Xbox to meet his sister’s stupid boyfriend.
And that was about it.
Whitney and I went on our first date and everything went… Honestly not that well. I locked my keys in my truck, sat a seat away at the movie because I was too scared to sit next to her, and shared maybe eleven words of conversation.
I was blowing it. I thought there was no way I was ever going to spend time with this wonderful family again.
But then,
we came back to Lori’s and I noticed a Rock Band set up. I immediately hinted at a round of Rock Band. This was my last chance (I thought) to impress these guys. So Brandon, Christin, Whitney, and I all played Rock Band. We joked, laughed, and all tried to decipher Christin’s nearly inaudible singing.
And that was it. I left the house and immediately went over to Wes’ house to discuss how I blew it with his girlfriend. But to my surprise, Brandon showed up shortly after. This is when I REALLY met Brandon. We played video games until Brandon said that he wanted to go swimming. Keep it was eleven o’clock at night. But, Brandon, Wes, and I all went to the river for swimming. The very minute Brandon opened his door, he was instantly naked. I went from meeting this kid to seeing him naked in less than two hours. I figured “when in Rome,” so Wes and I joined him.
Obviously things did not go as bad as I thought, because Whitney and I continued to talk. But just as important, I got to continue to know Brandon. Over the years I grew extremely close to him and, although not through blood, I inherited the quintessential little brother.