Good, Bad, and the Other One

One's good, one's bad, and the other... is.

The doorbell chimed its bland tones, and Jay Marcus answered. Behind the door was Jeremy; when Jay opened the door, Jeremy Marcus greeted his minutes'-younger brother with a firm embrace. As he ended the warm hug with a solid pat on the back, he said, "Good to see you, bro!"
   

"Yeah," replied Jay. "Ditto."
   

As they moved apart from the hug, Jeremy's Golden Retriever bounded through the doorway. It wore a blue bandana around its neck. The minutes'-older brother bent down to give the dog a loving ruffle, pressing his face against the dog's to kiss its snout. "I hope you don't mind," Jeremy said, looking up at Jay apologetically, "I brought Goliath with me."
   

Jay shrugged. "No problem." He closed the door and trudged back to the living room.
   

The dog barked excitedly, ran into the living room and jumped onto the couch. Jeremy strode after him, sitting down next to Goliath. The dog moved aside as his master situated himself on the cushions. Jeremy ran his fingers through Goliath's fur, whispering "good boy"s.
   

"When's the game start?" he asked Jay, brightly.
   

"Soon," Jay said, nonchalantly dropping into his recliner. He slouched slightly, staring at the television.
   

Jeremy nodded. "And when's You-Know-Who getting here?"
   

His brother shrugged, still staring at the television. "Soon," said Jay. He slowly scratched his dull brown hair. "Don't know."
   

Unconsciously scratching his wavy blonde hair, Jeremy nodded. "Yeah... you know how he is." He looked toward the kitchen, then back at Jay. "Got any snacks?"
   

Jay pointed toward the kitchen. "Probably."
   

"Thanks," said Jeremy, standing from the couch. "You want anything?"
   

The younger one blinked.
   

"Right, got 'ya." Jeremy left the room toward the kitchen. The room seemed to grow dim in his absence.
   

Jay heard his brother rummaging through the cupboards and cabinets. He rolled his head to the side and found the Golden Retriever staring at him. He blinked and the dog blinked back. After moments of staring, the dog jumped off the couch to join Jeremy in the kitchen.
   

"Hey!" A cabinet door slammed shut as Jeremy's voice called out from the kitchen. "Doug's not around, is he? I haven't seen him!"
   

Jay took in a slow breath before responding. "Doug," he called in a slow drawl.
   

Moments later, a rotund basset hound waddled into the living room. His big, drooping eyes looked up curiously at Jay, but after a few seconds, he lost interest and dropped to his belly. Doug rested his head on a small paw, letting out an exhausted grunt as he settled on the floor.
   

Jeremy came back into the living room, and the room brightened slightly. His hands were full with bags of potato chips, bags of pretzels, stalks of celery, and bottles of various fluids. When Jay slowly turned his head to acknowledge the load, Jeremy smirked innocently and said, "Figured I'd get Mister Always-Late set up, so we don't miss anything." He took a bottle of water, unscrewed the cap, and chugged down two-thirds of the bottle. After wiping his lips and letting out a pleased sound, he pronounced: "That's good agua!"
   

He flashed a brilliant smile in Jay's direction, and Jay turned his head back toward the television.
   

Suddenly, something started banging on the door. Then it stopped, followed by continuous rings of the doorbell. That too stopped, but was soon followed by a duet of bangs and rings, not following any discernable rhythm; aside from the rhythm of chaos. Jay and Jeremy looked at each other, and at the same time had the same thought.
   

Jeremy swiftly hopped off of the couch, while Jay slowly made his way out of the recliner. Goliath barked happily, jumping around Jeremy's legs, while Doug merely lay on the living room floor.
   

When Jay opened the door, he saw a sudden flash of light. No lights were sparked, no shiny objects were in the area; the flash of light came from the collision of something solid connecting with Jay's vulnerable face. He blinked the stars from his eyes and looked toward the man who had punched him.
   

"Johnny Marcus!" exclaimed Jeremy, from over Jay's shoulder. "Way to be late - again!"
   

The sneering man at the door way quirked his lip higher into that of a smirk. He ran a bruised hand through his black, spiked hair as he said, "Whatev's. 'Ya gonna let me in, or not?"
   

The two brothers moved out of the way to invite in the third. The minutes'-youngest brother stomped through the doorway, taking off his leather jacket and throwing it onto the floor. Jeremy sighed and picked up the jacket, rolling his minutes'-oldest eyes toward Jay. "Nature, huh?"
   

Jay closed the door and plodded back into the living room, where Doug greeted him with another exhausted grunt. He dropped back into his recliner as the other two made their way into the living room. Jeremy walked around the coffee table to sit on the side closest to Jay, Goliath sitting proudly at Jeremy's feet. Johnny, on the other hand, jumped over the back of the couch, landing feet-first on the cushions before plopping his rear on them. Mud and dirt fell from his boots, soon to become one with the fabric of the cushions.
   

"Honestly, Johnny..." berated Jeremy, but after a moment, he thought better of it and quieted down.
   

"Bite me, Two-Shoes," replied Johnny. He reached for the bag of chips, tearing it open to bring out overflowing handfuls of crumbs. Many fell on his person, but most landed on the couch. Goliath looked toward the man and sniffed with an air of condescension.
   

Johnny heard it. "What's with your dog, huh? He on some kind of sissy-doggy diet?"
   

Jeremy shook his head, letting the comment slide. He said, "And where's your dog, 'Bone'? Causing mischief, no doubt..."
   

Right at that moment, as if on cue, all three men - as well as the two canines - heard a crash come from the kitchen. It sounded like broken glass. Jeremy cringed, Johnny chuckled. "He's here," the latter said. He looked over at Jay, who was still staring at the television. When he received no response, he rolled his eyes and stuffed potato chips into his mouth.
   

Immediately after, he spit them back out. Globs of half-eaten potato chips spread across the living room floor; some landing on Doug, who merely blinked and let out a heavy sigh.
   

"Christ, Jay! What the hell?!" Johnny cried out, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Ever heard of fresh food?"
   

Jeremy chuckled, nibbling on a stick of celery. "Well, Johnny, these celery sticks taste pretty fresh."
Johnny gagged. "Uh, yeah right. That ain't happenin'." He tossed the bag of chips onto the coffee table, followed by his booted feet. "Brutus! Get your a*s in here!"
   

From the kitchen came more sounds of items meeting their separate demises. The sounds grew louder as Johnny's pit bull marched into the living room. From the corner of his eye, Jeremy watched as one of Jay's vases fell off of the side table, hitting the floor with a very audible crash. He looked over at the recliner to find Jay, as always, staring nonchalantly at the television.
   

Brutus approached Johnny's side of the couch and sat next to his knee. He looked over at Goliath and growled; Goliath leaned over and licked Brutus's face.
   

"Your dog better watch his a*s," Johnny warned, chewing on a dirty fingernail. "Or else Brutus'll tear 'im a new hole in it."
   

"You're so sad, Johnny," Jeremy replied. "Always threatening people - and animals, I might add - about their asses. Rude."
   

Johnny turned toward his minutes'-oldest brother, shaking his fist in Jeremy's face. "Can't fight nature, Two-Shoes. I take the candy, you give it back." He looked over at Jay. "While that sad lump over there does absolutely nothing."
   

Jay nodded. "Uh huh."
   

"You know, Jay, it'd be easier for people to write stories about you if you actually did something! Instead of sitting around, watching TV all day, you could be out with me." He glanced quickly at Jeremy. "Or, I hate to say it, spend a few minutes with Two-Shoes. Something, for crying out loud!"
   

"Eh," Jay shrugged.
   

Johnny jumped from the couch. "Know what? Screw this!" He picked up the coffee table and threw it across the room. It flew over Doug's relaxed frame and crashed into the wall, next to the television. "Where the hell is my jacket?!"
   

He stormed out of the room, with Brutus in tow. Before leaving completely, the dog turned and gave the room one final growl. Immediately after, the two brothers in the living room heard the front door slam shut. In the hallway, something fell and shattered; and Jeremy could swear he smelled something burning in the kitchen.
   

Jeremy stood up from the couch and went to the coffee table. He turned it over, inspecting to see how damaged the piece was. "Oh, good," he said. "Still salvageable." He looked up and gave Jay another dazzling smile.
   

As he set the coffee table back in its original spot, he had a thought. "Know what? I'm going to check on Johnny. You know how he gets." As he proceeded to leave the room, he went about cleaning up each mess, first. When everything was set to normal, Jeremy came back into the living room. "Come, Goliath."
   

The Golden Retriever looked at Jay and licked the man's hand. He padded toward Jeremy, who turned toward the front door. "I'll give you a call, try to reschedule getting together."
   

Jay heard the front door open. Then: "And, uh... don't pay too much attention to what Johnny said. You know... you know how he gets. You never know: one of these days, someone is going to write a story about you. I mean, at the very least, write one with you in it, right?" After a moment of silence, Jeremy said, "Right. Love you, bro."
   

The front door closed gently, and Jay looked down at Doug. The basset hound blinked his eyes toward his master, and both stared at the other for quite some time.
   

When the time had passed, Jay let out a slow breath. He grabbed the television remote, clicking the "Off" button. As the living room, and the rest of the house, fell to silence, Jay Marcus leaned back in his recliner and closed his eyes.
   

"Yep," he said, right before falling asleep.