My New Brother Zane

School was about to end. It was the summer of my junior year of high school, and finals were coming up right after prom. Prom was a different story, though, so I’ll skip out on the details there. I was just about to turn 17 that June, so by far one of the youngest in the class, though I didn’t look it. I am tall with blonde hair, soft blue eyes, and a huge smile. And a tan. I live in bright hot sunny Florida, so that one’s a given I suppose. My name is Tyler.
I have two little sisters, both of whom are much younger than me. Dad lost his job early on, and they just didn’t have time to…well anyhow this is about stuff other than my parents love life. If you want that, I guess ask someone other than their son to write about it…
Every guy secretly wants a little brother. Not just because they’re adorable and the key to getting amazing dates, or because they’re a lot easier than sisters, but simply because slavery becomes legal and I suppose it’s someone to hang with. I mean, who else is your closest friend? Well that said, I didn’t have one.
So here I am, sitting here, senior year, life changing, and my parents sit us down for dinner at a fancy restaurant. This rarely happens. Something big must be about to happen.
My dad sits up a little straighter, looks at all of us kids, then mom, then back at us. “Your mom and I have been talking…”he says, then takes a sip of red wine. “We have decided we have always wanted another boy, especially because we have two beautiful girls, and we have had such a great time raising Tyler,” he pats my arm and I look at him curiously, “that we…well, we think we may adopt a boy. His name is Zane.”
My little sisters get all giddy and what not. I mean hey, they’re thinking little brother like baby. I’m thinking great, a baby, or worse, a kid with major psychological problems. I mean, this is my senior year coming up. A brother is sweet but still…
After a long dinner conversation, my thoughts opened up a little. Turns out, Zane is 15, about a year younger than me, and lives a few hours from here. We are meeting him this weekend, to which he will come stay with us for a few days. Turns out, my parents have been doing some serious work under the radar.


So the weekend finally gets here, and we show up in Orlando. He’s been staying in foster care, and the parents seem nice. The house is a beautiful two story Victorian. These people must be crazy fostering teenage boys…
We stand there in the foyer, waiting for him to come down. I see a hand running down the balcony railing, but not much else. Then legs. Wow, this kid must be tall, like me. Legs, legs, crotch…ok hurry up cant stare at that all day bro…torso, chest…this kids in shape…head…wow that’s shaggy hair…Zane.
He jumps off the third step lands directly in front of me. “HI!” he says with a huge grin. We both blink then stare. Woah, this kid seriously looks like he could actually be my brother…
“We kinda do look a like…” he says, then extends his hand. “Well hey! I’m Zane. You must be Tyler. I kinda stalked your facebook some.”
I laughed and shook his hand. Funny guy…. The family all said hello, and we sat in the formal living room and had sweet tea. Zane and I ended up talking the most, probably because we sat on the same couch, while the foster parents talked with some agent lady or something and my sisters played with the foster parents little girl Hannah. Yeah confusing, I know. Lots of talking. Turns out, though, that he would be staying with us on some pre-arranged “trial run” sort of thing to see how he fit with the family. My mom and his foster mom were on the same cheer squad in high school, so we got to pull some strings.
The three hour car ride back home was pretty normal, actually. Like I said, my sisters were happy to have a cute boy in the car with them, especially a new “big brother,” and I actually had a friend. We talked about sports, he played soccer and baseball; music, both of us loved it all; and school.
Our house is a two story colonial style on three acres. It’s pretty big, 5 bedrooms and 5 baths. Though we did have a guest room, it was decided he would stay with me for the week, or the first few nights at least, just to be more comfortable.


We both retire upstairs to my room after the long afternoon, dinner, and running around playing tag out back. Zane sits on the edge of my bottom bunk, so I grab my computer chair, prop my feet up on the desk, and flick on my lava lamp for some soft lighting.