First Snow

Chapter 3: The Invitation

Chapter 3: The Invitation

When we were called for dinner, Alex and I paused the game and went outside. Unfortunately, being a bit (or rather, a lot) of a klutz, I slipped on the newly cleaned floor and flew into the door of Alex’s little sister, Halley. Needless to say, she yelped when the door suddenly made a massive thud.

“Luke, what the hell? Are you trying to kill my little sister or something?” Alex is always pretty protective of Halley.

“Yeah, I’m fine. No, don’t hurry to make sure my nose isn’t broken.” I turned to Halley, who was peeking from around the door. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Are you?” She asked, whispering as usual. I swear, she is the polar opposite of her sister: shy, quiet, and the type of person to be concerned about others (and not to threaten people with baseball bats).

“I’ll be fine, assuming your sister doesn’t kill me with a fork at dinner.”

We went down to dinner, and I sat down in what seems to be the designated guest chair (or maybe it’s the Luke chair; it’s not like I’ve been here with other guests), across from Halley. The food was good, as always, and the conversation was lively, for the most part. I don’t think Mr Jacobson likes me very much: he always glares at me.

“So,” he began gruffly, “you’re on your own for some time. Your parents get back in what, a week?”

My parents and Alex’s parents went to school together, so they still keep in touch. Small world, I know. “Yeah, they have a meeting in London and then another one or two in Spain, I think.”

“I hear Spain is lovely this time of year,” MrsJacobson noted. “Luke, why don’t you stay here with us for the week? I’m sure Jake and Anne wouldn’t mind.” Jake and Anne are my parents. A week with the Jacobsons... I wonder what that’ll be like, I thought to myself.

“What, so I’ll have two little sisters this week,” Alex said snarkily. “Seriously, though, you should stay. It could be fun.”

“Well then, if you’ll have me, I’d be glad to stay,” I said, hoping I sounded sufficiently grateful.

“It’s settled, then. Alex, after dinner, go with Luke to make up the guest bedroom.” Alex’s mom has always been really nice to me. Sometimes I feel like she and Mr Jacobson are pulling a good-cop/bad-cop routine on me. Dinner continued apace. I realized at one point that I didn’t know Halley at all. I mean, she’s two years younger than Alex and she works in the library, but I don’t think she and I have ever chatted. She’s really shy.

After dinner, Alex and I made up the guest room, and I mentioned to Alex how little I know Halley. “She’s a shy girl, so no surprise there. I just wish she’d stick up for herself a bit more. She’s always whispering, it’s like she barely exists,” Alex said.

Seems she’s a bit like me in that way. I made a quick trip to my house (I’m only a few minutes’ walk away from their house, anyway) to pick up some clothes for the week.

I got to the house fairly quickly, entered through the unlocked front door, went up to the guest room to drop off my stuff, and looked for Alex. She wasn’t in her room, so I checked downstairs in the living/dining room. Halley was doing the dishes, so I asked her if she knew where Alex was.

“She’s in the bath,” she said quietly.

“Figured. Want some help with the dishes?” If I’m going to be here a whole week, I might as well help out.

“It’s ok,” she whispered, despite the giant Mount Dishmore in the sink. She was trying to clean the huge pot they used to make the soup, but since she was so tiny, she couldn’t reach the bottom. It was kinda cute, the way she hopped trying to reach into it.

“Let me get that,” I said, feeling bad for her. She was a bit flustered, but she looked grateful, if shy. I figured I could help out and get to know Halley a bit more. Or at least, help out. “Do they always make you do all the dishes?” She nodded silently. The getting to know her part of this plan seems a bit impossible. We continued in silence for a while until I noticed Halley singing really quietly to herself. WHAT A VOICE, I thought to myself. I mean, this girl could SING! We continued, and I just listened for a while. I don’t think she knew that I noticed her singing.

“You have a beautiful voice,” I said when her song was done. Her tiny face went beet red, and all of a sudden, I felt a bit bad for saying anything. “Sorry, it’s just, well I’m a musician, and I tend to notice these things. Do you record yourself, too?” She shook her head vigorously. “That’s a real shame. If you ever want to, I’d love to help out. If you want help, that is. You can use the school’s music room.” Man, I’m still really taken by her voice. I mean, wow.

“I work after school, so I can’t.” Wait, a six word sentence?! Out of Halley?! That’s the most I’ve ever heard her say. She tilted her head in confusion.

“Well, I have some recording gear of my own. You could borrow it over a weekend if you want to record.” I offered. A voice like this should never go unrecorded! She shook her head, but she did seem to contemplate it for a while. I will make it my mission to convince her to record!

“Okay, but feel free to ask me any time. What kind of music do you like?” I figured I might as well keep the conversation going, seeing as we have some common ground.

“I have eclectic tastes in music.” Eclectic. Anyone who uses a word like that gets plus-points in my book. Well, she does work in a library, so I guess that helps.

“Bet you I’ll know most names you can come up with,” I said. I hope she’s not feeling uncomfortable or anything.

“Breakeven,” she replied quickly.

“The Script. Next.” This IS part of my job, after all

“Let the Flames Begin.”

“Paramore” I wouldn’t have pictured her a Paramore fan

“Old Letters. Molasses. Comptine d'un autre été- l'aprés-midi. Meteor Shower. Carrie”

“Old Letters: Company of Thieves. Molasses: The Hush Sound or Raekwon? Comptine: Tiersen. Meteor Shower: Owl City. Carrie: Europe.” Now I’m really impressed.

“Molasses is also from Radiohead.” She stuck her tongue out at me. Right. My turn.

“Okay, then. All Secrets Known.” Let’s see how she does.

“Alice in Chains.”

“25 or 6 to 4.”

“Chicago”

“Sultans of Swing” God, I love Dire Straits. I practically modeled one of my songs after them!

“Dire Straits.”

“I applaud your excellent and varied tastes.” That was actually a lot of fun. Who would have thought she was so competitive. I’ve never seen her smile so much. We got back to washing dishes (yeah, we got a bit distracted), and Halley accidentally dropped a soapy glass. It shattered, cutting her leg pretty badly. “Woah, Halley are you ok?!” I swept the glass away and covered it with a dish rag. I checked the cut to see how bad it was. “Your leg is bleeding,” I said, not realizing that it was possibly the single most glaringly obvious fact to Halley right now.

She touched my shoulder and smiled slightly, saying “it’s okay.” I guess I got a bit panicked there.

Alex stormed the kitchen, yelling “I heard something break! Halley, are you ok?!” It occurred to me that I was about to die. Alex probably would see the following: 1) Halley and Luke are alone, 2) Luke is kneeling on the floor, 3) he has his hands on her legs, 4) he’s looking up at her, 5) she’s touching his shoulder and smiling gently. All of this taken into account, in Alex’s mind, 6) Luke must die. Therefore, what followed was totally expected. “Luke,” she said menacingly, “what the hell are you doing to my sister?” And of course, she was standing next to the block of knives.

“Quick, her leg is bleeding! Bandages!” Her instinct to kill can only be overpowered by her instinct to keep her sister safe.

“What?”

“The glass broke and cut her leg! Bandages! Now!”

She rushed off to get bandages, and I knew I had cheated death for one more day.