(Then) James

We hit 100,000 page views today!  This blows my mind, as this blog is barely over two months old.  I know I've said it before, but I cannot believe how much this has taken off, and I appreciate so much all the wonderful people that take time to read and/or comment.  When I asked who you guys would like to see backstory on, most people wanted to hear more about James and Jordan.  It's funny, because even with the significant part (even though neither have been around too long) they've played in Liv's story, I really hadn't thought through their story much, so it was good for me to have to do that.  For now, I only have one post, so I decided to do it as a bonus this week to thank you guys for reading and commenting and getting this blog to where it is!  I can promise you more on this story in the future, too.  
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16 months is not enough time separating sibling birthdays.  Especially when both siblings are competitive boys.

It really wasn't my fault that I made varsity basketball as a freshman when he had just made it that same year, as a junior.  I couldn't help that I got more play time than he did.  Basketball was my thing.  It was never his thing, so I didn't get why it pissed him off so much.

Not that that was the main reason for our shitty relationship.  But it was certainly the catalyst that sent it rocketing over the edge of the cliff.  After that basketball season, things were never good between us again.

Jordan was always loud.  He was always getting into trouble.  Never anything too crazy.  Just a detention here, a day of in-school suspension there.  The police only brought him home once before he turned 16.  Apparently, putting a hole in the fence and climbing the water tower is frowned upon.  Who knew?  Not Jordan, I guess.

I was always sort of quiet when we were younger.  Jordan could be overwhelming, and our parents loved my quietness.  I think Jordan picked up on that.  He just got louder and more obnoxious, and more convinced that I was the favorite.  I don't know, maybe I was.  It's not like they fed me filet and lobster and him dog food.  It wasn't that obvious.  But I guess there was a subtle feeling.

Once Jordan got to high school, he realized how attractive he was.  Most of his detentions and in-school suspensions resulted from stupid shit he did to show off for girls.  Once I got to high school, Jordan realized I looked just like him, and he started avoiding bringing girls home or telling them we were related.  Not that it was an easy fact to hide.  If he wasn't taller and bigger built than me, we could have been twins. 

I was surprised at the amount of female attention I got my first year in high school.  I guess being on varsity basketball and being tall for my age helped with the older girls too, but I wasn't really big into dating at the moment.  I had enough going on with school, basketball, and avoiding Jordan as much as possible. 

But then there was Celine.  The first time I saw her, I thought she was the hottest girl in the school.  Then I saw that the arm she was touching was Jordan's.  I immediately took her off my list of possible girls I might actually want to make the time to date, and quietly lusted after her from afar.

Jordan ended up dating her for long enough that he started bringing her home every once in awhile.  She was actually really nice, and I have no idea what she saw in Jordan.  She started saying hi to me in the hallways at school, and chatting when we'd run into each other.  Eventually, Jordan started to notice, and he wasn't very happy about it.

"We're just friendly," I protested, when he came flying into my room one day, roaring about me making a move on his girl.

"Friendly my ass," he growled.  "Stay away from her.  You aren't going to take this from me too."

I considered arguing back, but the bruise on my jaw from our last fight had finally faded and I didn't feel like getting my face fucked up again.  I was tall for my age, but I was still just tall and scrawny and Jordan had about 6 inches and 40 pounds on me.  That meant that the fights where I had held my own as a kid now generally went in his favor.

When Celine came up to me in the hallway the next day at school, all smiles, I frowned and said, "I'm not supposed to talk to you anymore, sorry."  It was stupid thing to say, but I said it anyway.  She looked bewildered, then hurt.  She tried to say something, but I walked away.  Not worth it.

After school, Jordan was waiting for me when I walked in the door at home.  "What the fuck?" he yelled, before I even had a chance to put my backpack down. 

"Now what?" I sighed, thinking that at least my face had been unmarred for 24 hours.

"You fucking told her I told you to stay away from her?" he snapped, standing and taking a menacing step towards me.  I supposed it would be too much to hope for that mom or dad might be home early today and we could keep this to a verbal altercation.

"Well, no, I didn't tell her that you said that," I said with a shrug, hoping it came off more nonchalant than I was feeling.

He laughed--a short, loud, barking sound that lacked humor.  "She broke up with me, asshole," he growled, punctuating the "asshole" with a quick, hard punch to my gut.  He walked away laughing as I doubled up and sank to my knees, trying to catch my breath.

He didn't speak of the situation again after that, but he took great pleasure in sabotaging all my budding relationships.  He did it for fun.  He could really turn on the charm when he wanted to, and most people at school had no idea what an ass he was at home.

I can't put my finger on when things started to really go downhill, but the Friday night that my parents got a frantic phone call from one of Jordan's friends was certainly not even close to the beginning.  My parents rushed out of the house around midnight and didn't come back until the next afternoon.  They wouldn't tell me what happened, just that Jordan was sick and would be in the hospital until that evening, or perhaps the next morning.

It wasn't until Monday at school when I got the real story from the rumor mill.  Jordan had been at a party with his friends and had drank so much that his friends couldn't wake him up.  When he started vomiting and choking in his stupor, one of his friends had frantically and "anonymously" called my parents, who had called 911 and rushed to where he was.  He ended up getting his stomach pumped and spending a couple days in the hospital detoxing.

He was in bad shape, and none of us had even realized it.  Of course, he played it all off and threatened to fuck up my face so badly I'd be unrecognizable if I talked to my friends about it.  No problem, because I didn't want to talk about him.  He managed to hold it together for the rest of the school year at least. 

During the summer between my freshman and sophomore years (so his junior and senior years), he was out a lot.  He came home drunk a few times, but more often he just didn't come home.  My parents kind of gave up on him, not that they ever had high hopes for him in the first place.

I spent the summer lifting weights and working out with a couple friends from the basketball team, and I actually started to fill out a little.  That would be helpful when Jordan and I inevitably got into it again.

Once school started, Jordan got his shit together again for about the first two months.  After that, he started doing stupid shit again, staying out all night and coming home drunk.  He even showed up to school drunk a few times.  He was on his game for stealing my girls, at least.  I pretty much just gave up, rather than lose another one to him.  My only consolation was that he didn't even bother with basketball this year.  And after this year he wouldn't be at school anymore. 

I didn't worry much about dating during basketball season.  I kissed a few girls here and there, but nothing serious.  In March, though, one of my friends introduced me to a junior named Brooke.  She was gorgeous, smart, and funny.  And interested.  I took a chance, and Jordan actually left it alone.

We had been dating for about 6 weeks when Jordan walked into my bedroom on a Thursday night.  "Hope you don't mind, little brother, but Brooke's going to go to prom with me this weekend," he said with a smirk.

"Yeah, okay," I replied, not looking up from my Geometry homework.  Jordan hadn't been planning to go to prom, and Brooke wasn't that stupid.

"No, really," he said.  "I decided to go last minute.  I obviously needed a date and I knew she wasn't going because you're both too young.  So I asked her.  Told her you were cool with her doing a favor to help your big brother out."

I looked up at him.  He was clearly serious.  "You are the biggest fucking dick," I snarled, standing up.  Jordan now only had about 2 inches and 20 pounds on me.  We hadn't gotten into a physical fight in several months but I was more than ready to go this time.

He leaned against my door frame, clearly not expecting me to make the first move.   He was shocked when my fist connected solidly with his nose, slamming his head back against the door frame.

"You motherfucker!" he yelped, hands flying to his face to try to stop the blood streaming from his nose.

"You're bleeding on my carpet, asshole," I retorted calmly.  "Mom's gonna kill you."  Just then our dad came running up the stairs.  He took one look at Jordan, then shook his head at me.

"What the hell are we going to do with you two?" he asked, exasperated.  My mom yelled up from the bottom of the stairs, trying to find out what was going on.  Seriously?  Out of all the times he nailed me, I get one good slug in and they're on my ass?

Mom had made her way up the stairs.  "Jordan!  You're bleeding on the carpet!" she screeched.  I smirked at Jordan.  His left eye was already starting to blacken.  My hand was throbbing but I didn't even care.  I wanted to hit him again.  And again.

Mom led Jordan to the bathroom and my dad just stared at me.  Finally he shrugged and said, "He probably had it coming, but you should stay in your room for the rest of the night."  No problem.  As long as Jordan stayed out, anyway.