240. Remembering stories of how you met someone

 All this talk from Gran Betty about Brit was bringing Brick down. It brought up ugly memories he had of his own with his Dad. Everything had been going so smoothly with his relatives as of late, and now G.B. was taking Brit to Iowa to see family that not even his grandmother wanted to see. Yeah, he was possibly from the most dysfunctional family around. But he told her over the phone that he and Lily would come up to help with Brit and Carson's kids while she was away.

"That's just crazy?" Lily snarled when he told her the news. He hadn't even crawled out of his work pants yet. He couldn't wait just to be in his briefs. All he really wanted was to lay on the couch with Lily and watch BONES.

 "Do we have to?" Lily pouted, who was already slumming in a summer tank and PJs.

They were getting a little time off, and it would be a road trip. Although it wasn't all that far, and the food would be free. Brick said he'd grill.

"You grill?" She laughed as if he were the funniest guy. "Don't you remember how you burned the weenies, and I was afraid we'd violated a code here?"

"Just don't go there, OK?" He said it was the least he could do. After all, Carson needed the kid's rooms set up. He had a lot of stuff in storage. "Would you rather do that?"

"No!" She yelped back. Her job was exhausting. She talked about how they treated her like a hired hand who was always having to carry a lot of stuff from one place to the next. "I just want us to stay home."

"We'll be OK there. Besides, it's been a while since I've seen Carson, and he is my favorite uncle." Brick shrugged back as he went to get out his backpack to fill with clean underwear and shorts.

"Carson?" Lily festered a look as if he were a forbidden subject. "You know, he was in love with my mother. And..and she's like way older than him."

"I think they've got past that. Besides, they knew each other growing up." He tilted his head as if it were no big deal.

"Well, he could have been my step-dad, you know." She fretted as if it were the very reason she needed to stay here.

Lily hugged herself and marched to her little fridge to find herself a soda and one for Brick, too.

"But he wasn't," Brick looked at her as if she were being angry for no good reason. "Just think. Chloe and Kat could have been your step-sisters..so you better be nice to them."

He knew it would take a lot out of Lily to be cheerful about it. "Besides, we can go to the pool. We can see Oliver and Carrie."

Yes, Brick knew he needed this, and Lily needed it too. Also, he promised Theo he'd shoot some hoops with him. Brick really needed some basketball practice. He'd been slacking off these last few weeks.