The Cinders of Dezu

1st: Glistening Red (2)

"You almost got me in trouble again!" said Cairo in a hissing whisper, "I told you we couldn't play the crab game!"

"Hey, I was the one who got in trouble," said Raina, "Way to let me take the fall!"

"You didn't get in trouble! You call that getting in trouble? Plus, you had to take the hit, you're his little girl! What is he going to do? Disown you? I just turned 18 so I'm supposed to be the adult now. Otherwise, I'm just a grown man teaching his daughter to play hazardous beach games."

"Nice grown-upping, blaming everything on a little kid," she said.

Cairo rolled his eyes.

"Oh, so NOW you're a little kid? Look, this is your house. He's your dad. You're not going anywhere if he gets mad at you. I'm just on vacation by the good graces of my uncle. I can get voted off this island. The least you could do is get a slap on the wrist for your dear ol' cousin."

His eyebrows raised.

"And don't think for a second I didn't see your whole Shirley Temple routine."

He stopped walking and put his hands behind his back and dug his foot in the sand. His voice went high pitched, "'Aw, gee dad! I don't know nothin about no crabs!'"

"Who's Shirley Temple?" she asked.

"Doesn't matter, its a code written in all you little girls. You know how to make hearts melt so you get your way."

Raina smiled as they kept walking. They were quiet listening to their footsteps in the sand. Raina began to skip. Then she began to sing.

"Animal crackers in my soup
Monkeys and rabbits loop-de-loop."

Cairo shook his head.

"What are you?"

Raina's teeth shone in here smile. She then put her nose in the air and closed her eyes as she puffed out her chest.

"The daughter of a thespian."

"I think, you're a demon," Cairo said.

Raina slapped her hands on her cheeks and looked at him with a comically exaggerated show of offense. Cairo reflected it back to her with a gasp. They headed up the hill, tracing a path around the trees to a stone walkway littered with bits of sand that led up to the door of a beautiful island house.

It was mostly white-walled with black pillars holding up the entrance as they approached it. As they entered, Devin was talking with his servers while they hustled and bustled about. They went inside and made their way to the dining room and kitchen where they prepared something that smelled delicious to Cairo.

"Can you grab Julian?" said Devin, "He's in the-"

"Oh, I know where he is," said Cairo.

It was a perfect interception followed by a three pointer when the door burst open and washed out the white jerseys and faces of the players.

"Aah! Dude too bright! It's the worst time for a glare!" said Julian, pausing the game.

He was sitting on a large couch, turning around to look into the light of the doorway. Cairo could see his eyes squinting like he was staring directly into the sun.

"Did you seriously turn off Knights of Ablazia for this?" said Cairo.

"You know, cool people like sports games."

Cairo shook his head.

"I'm just saying, they could easily release a free patch every year and update the players stats. Maybe a couple dollars worth of DLC for new athletes. A new full game every year is a scam. They're scamming you."

"You know what? I don't like what you're saying. Also, I feel judged. You're judging me."

Cairo scoffed.

"Devin has two rules: Be safe and we eat meals together. Otherwise we can do whatever we want."

Julian turned around and flopped his butt back on the couch.

"Lunchtime then, huh? I'm almost done with this quarter."

"How far did you get on 'Knights' after I left?" said Cairo, leaning over the edge of the couch looking at the screen above them.

The screen was massive. It went all the way up the wall they were facing and covered part of the ceiling. It reflected off of Cairo and Julian's eyes as they looked up at it, the commotion of the game commencing again.

"Let's see, you left like an hour and a half ago and I started playing this immediately after sooooo CAN YOU PLEASE get rid of that glare!?"

Cairo turned around and shut the door.

"You could have come out with us, ya know?"

"Yeah I could have. But you had to. Devin didn't ask me to take her outside and play. He asked the nephew. Not the friend."

Julian didn't take his eyes off the screen. Cairo rolled his eyes.

"We have a whole private island to ourselves, you know? You could take advantage of all it has to offer."

Julian scoffed.
"Yeah and you know what else this private island has to offer? AN ENTIRE THEATER ROOM TO PLAY VIDEO GAMES! I think I am taking advantage."

Julian dunked just as the buzzer went off. The instant replay started to play in slow motion.

"Nice! Alright, let's go," he said as he dropped the controller and hopped over the back of the couch.

They both left the room and began heading toward the dining room.

"So who won the crab catch?"

"What? I said we wouldn't play it. She can't play that anymore," said Cairo

"You can't say no, dude. She gets you every time. Who won?"

Cairo's eyelids drooped and his lips turned up in a sarcastic smile.

"It was a tie, if you must know."