A Night With No Stars

VII. Teenage Wasteland

Maks was woken up by the noises coming from his living room, surprising him once again because he was still used to silence. He got up reluctantly and left his bedroom, half asleep. He vaguely remembered how angry he'd been watching Aleks with Wiki last night, but now this resentment had returned in full force. He saw Aleks leaning over the table, telling some story animatedly, and Wiki, who apparently couldn't stop giggling, and felt himself being filled from head to toe by some treacherous, overwhelming emotion that made him want to clench his fists, plunge into the living room, and drag one of them out of there; he just wasn't sure which one more.

He didn't do that, though; instead, he just muttered a 'good morning' under his breath. Aleks looked up and grinned at the sight of him. Wiki snickered, and Aleks shot her a sullen glance.

"Okay, I'm going." He rolled his eyes, taking the last sip of his coffee and getting up reluctantly.

"Maks, your friend talks a lot," Wiki said, even though she didn't seem to mind. "He's been trying to bring himself to go take a shower for the last hour. He's already told me his whole life story," she added when Aleks poured coffee from the pot into another cup and gave it to Maks, along with a significant glance when he passed him in the door. Maks had no idea what that look was supposed to mean.

He sat at the table, trying to convince himself that he was pissed at Wiki because of last night, but he knew it was more because of her last comment. He'd told her his whole life story, seriously? Maks knew it was ridiculous, but he was actually hurt that most of the time they spent together, Aleks was bending over backwards like a fucking acrobat just to avoid his questions, and now he was revealing things to his sister, whom he'd met yesterday? He was pissed, and it wasn't that he was jealous of Wiktoria; that would be absurd, but it couldn't be that Aleks liked her more than him, right?

On the other hand, he knew Aleks had a big mouth and talked way too much. Maybe they'd just hit it off. That actually made sense. They were closer in age, after all. They were both kids. That was a weird thought. He shook his head to get rid of it.

"How are you feeling?" he asked quietly. He could see she was embarrassed by the way her eyes were focusing on everything but him.

"Better now," she murmured, staring vacantly at a jar of jam. Maks wanted to wince, but he held himself back. He didn't know how to approach this and not scare her or piss her off, but make her open up. He and Wiki had never been all that close, and Maks just realized that he didn't know her very well. The age gap was too big. When he'd left for England, she'd been fourteen and essentially a child. Then he'd come back. and all of a sudden she was a teenager. And he knew what some teenagers were like, but he had Wiki forever labeled as his little sister, and it hadn't even crossed his mind that she could be that sort of teenager.

"Listen," he started, deciding that she was right and that it was much easier when they weren't looking at each other. "How long have you been doing this? Taking this stuff?" he asked awkwardly.

Wiki's head jerked. "What? Maks, no," she reassured him quickly. "That was the first time, first and last, because it was awful," she added with conviction, scowling. "I won't try again, I—"

"First and last time, are you sure?" Maks emphasized, this time leaning in to look her straight in the eyes. "You swear?"

"I swear," she mumbled.

Maks exhaled loudly. "What were you even thinking?" he asked after a short silence, frowning, because he really couldn't wrap his head around it.

"I just wanted to try," she said half-heartedly, shrugging. "Everyone does it—"

"You're not 'everyone'," he snapped, because that was a really dumb reason.

"You sound like mom." Wiki shot him a knowing look, and Maks realized that he kind of did.