Family History

Chapters 9 and 10

I put the extra thing before the chapter this time, because this story is now getting serious, and I thought it would've been a bit messed up to put it at the end of this chapter or any other ones after this. Hehehe...

On with the story!

-_-_-_

"Okay, I know you guys said people called you Ed and Al because your first names are too common. They are, especially John, but... Are there really that many Matts in the world?"

Both snickered loudly. She raised her brow and frowned, frazzled.

"Lily... You haven't been around here for very long, right?"

"Yeah..."

"I guess you don't have many classes with all the other Matts here." The brothers shared a knowing smirk. "For some reason, many babies in this area were named Matt at the same time, so there's, like, five others besides me. In our grade."

Her eyes widened. "Seriously?! That's worse than when there were three Kaylas in 6th grade!"

"There's a few in the grades above and below, too," Ed added.

"Daaang, people!" She rolled her eyes in slight disbelief and annoyance at the unoriginality of all the parents.

"Some of them use different nicknames too, so I guess that's why you didn't notice?" Al pondered. "But we all kind of formed a club and we meet every once in a while. It's pretty funny because we sometimes go to a restaurant or walk around town and meet strangers and say "This is Matt A. and Matt B. and Matt E.- that's me- and Matt G., etc., etc."

"That's pretty awesome." Lily grinned as she imagined a group of young men sauntering down the sidewalk, waiting to reveal their little not-so-secret to others, then laughing and fist-bumping and being average stupid teenage boys.

"I'm friends with the Jons and Johns too, but there's sadly not enough of us to do the same thing." Ed shook his head in dismay.

"It's okay, Ed," Lily cooed as she started patting his head sympathetically, much to his irritation. "Maybe someday."

"Get your hand out of my hair," he growled menacingly in a low volume. It seemed there was an anime tick mark on his forehead, growing in size.

"Your hair's cool! And much better cared for than mine," she giggled as she ruffled his hair, now really ruffling his feathers too. "It's almost long enough for pigtails."

"Shut your face!" he muttered darkly as he threw her hand away from him. Al gulped and peered into his eyes. They somehow screamed "DEATH" at him- even though eyes clearly have no vocal cords.

-_-_-_

Al glanced behind him, making sure his older brother was gone. He turned back to Lily. "Sorry if Brother has offended you deeply. He's like that with everyone."

"Yeah, I know." She shrugged the apology off. "I think I know you guys well enough. He doesn't really mean a lot of the rude stuff he says, it just comes out like that. Of course, it really doesn't help that I sometimes provoke him." She looked to him with a mixed expression, mainly of amusement. "Why is it so fun sometimes to poke a stick at grizzly bears like this?"

"How long did that take? ...The figuring us out part."

She leaned back and gazed forwards, but not really at anything in particular. "Not long. Especially since he reminds me of the person he was named after. Bark is worse than bite. People can tell he's really got a big heart underneath. Ya know." She glanced back to him.