Porthaven

I

Green, green, green; greens and browns as far as the eye could see, flowing past in a seemingly endless stream of scenery. Daya watches it all flow past through his car window in a sleepy daze. It's more green than Daya has seen in half a decade, and it's beautiful.

"Mom's going to miss you, you know?"

"I know. But I can't pass up this opportunity." Daya reluctantly turns away from the kaleidoscope of beautiful greens outside and towards the driver seat. His sister is driving, so she is focused more on the road than the scenery. "Do you know how long it would take me to save up for a house and a clinic on my own?"

"Oh, I know, but I promised mom I'd try and convince you to stay," She says, breaking out in an impish grin. "This is me technically doing that."

Daya sighs softly. "Did she really think that would work?"

"Probably not, but she was desperate. You've always been her favourite."

"Mom doesn't have a favourite. She just likes to smother me."Daya wants to deny it, but she definitely has a point. Their mother is in the habit of 'babying' him, which he found overbearing at times, but also meant he got away with a lot when they were teenagers. "I'm pretty sure she's only upset I'm leaving because she can't keep trying to play matchmaker."

Jay snorts in a way their mother would primly call 'unladylike'. "Hardly, she'll just keep sending 'matches' your way till you cave and move back."

"She'd probably stop if she found out my type." Daya jokes.

"Right, tall, handsome." Jay counts on one hand for dramatic effect. "There's one more thing I'm forgetting. What is it again?"

"Has a penis," Daya answers, feigning and failing a deadpan expression.

They both burst out in a fit of laughter. Well, laughter for Daya, Jay cackles. Laughing with Jay is always easy for Daya. Even though they are four years apart, they're thick as thieves. He'll miss not having her or her cackling around anymore.

Jay must be thinking along the same line because she asks, "Promise you'll visit often? Dev's a poor replacement for you." Dev is their brother, his older brother and her younger brother. Jay and Dev weren't on friendly terms.

"Of course. I can only stand my own cooking for about a month anyway," Daya jokes. In reality, Daya knows he'll have trouble adjusting to not having family around, but living near nature has always been a dream of his. He's done his research, moving to Porthaven, Maine, had taken a year of deliberation and another year of construction as well as having to deal with certain legal troubles.

"New York's only a day away. You live further, but I don't think anyone was surprised you moved away." Jay has always been more independent compared to Daya. They've always been very different, personality-wise. Jay had essentially eloped with a man her mother not so secretly dislikes; Daya is still too scared to tell his family he is gay.

They don't look alike either. Daya is much darker than Jay and covered in freckles; his hair grows down his back in inky black waves. Meanwhile, Jay is much lighter, and her dark brown hair only reaches her chin.

The only thing they have in common is poor eyesight, dark brown eyes and unfashionable glasses.

An hour later, Jay pulls up in front of a pleasant little stone cottage, a pebble's throw away from the beach. They begin the tedious task of unloading everything their bones into the two-story home. The interior walls were white and soft salmon pink, and all the rooms were wonderfully cosy. Aside from a few old photos and hanging decorations, it's sterile like most new houses. Daya can't wait to fill it up with new things and give it the personality it is lacking. As they finish unpacking his few things for the day, someone knocks on the door.

"Guests already? How did they know we were here already?" Jay asks as she sets down a box labelled 'cutlery'.

"Well, we weren't exactly silent," Daya answers, jokingly shooting Jay a look. She's probably alerted the whole damn town with the amount of noise she made while unpacking. Daya doesn't complain; she's doing him a favour after all. "I'll get it."

"Great. I'm way too tired to meet new people right now."

Daya doesn't open the door immediately. Instead, he peeps through the looking glass to see a petite blonde and pink haired lady with a tray of frosted cupcakes. Daya doesn't ask any questions and opens the door.

Call me gullible, but a tray of cupcakes is more than enough to get me to open the door. Besides, which criminals would go through the effort to bake just to get into a mostly empty house?

"Hello! Is Dr Davawalla here?" The blonde woman greets. She's very cheerful and very loud. "I've got a housewarming gift for him."

"I'm Dr Davawalla, but just call me Daya." Daya is used to the expression of surprise that flashes across her face. To put things bluntly, he looked like a woman and his fashion sense only confused people more. He'd long since stopped feeling insecure about that; dresses are pretty, and heels don't make him feel quite so tiny. "How can I help you?"

"Oh, right. I'm Joecy, and I wanted to welcome you to the neighbourhood! Would you like cupcakes? I made them myself." She pushes her tray forward. "Keya talked about you all the time. I actually thought you were her son." Her words were nice, but Daya detects a barely hidden jab at Keya's actual son.

"Cupcakes?" She asks again. She's very insistent, which Daya would normally find suspicious, but cupcakes cloud his judgment. Maybe it's just small-town weirdness.

"Sure, can I offer you some tea in return?" He explains as he takes the tray from her. "I know I have tea in one of these boxes at least."

Joecy's smile drops briefly before reappearing so fast Daya isn't sure it actually happened. "Oh, that's okay; You're probably too busy unpacking, and I just wanted to welcome you."

"Well, I definitely feel very welcome." A beat of awkward silence passes before Daya adds. "Thank you for the cupcakes."

"You're welcome." She turns about and starts down the steps, only to pause then turn back. "I almost forgot. We're having a party at Sophia's house this Friday, opposite the bait shop. You should come; It'll be a good way to really get into the Porthaven spirit."

"I'll do my best to make it. What time is it?"

"Well, it starts at 6 pm, but most will probably arrive at 7 pm, and it tappers off at 12-ish. I hope I get to see you there," Jocelyn says before leaving, waving the whole time until she disappears out of view.

Daya brings the tray of cupcakes into the house and back to Jay, who had found the tea and made herself a cup in the few minutes Daya was gone. Her eyes widen at the sight of the cupcakes.

"Housewarming presents," Daya explains as he takes the cupcakes into the kitchen. He pours himself a mug of piping hot chai tea and grabs a cupcake before going back to the empty living room. The next few days will be very busy, but at least he has Jay here for the night and a tray of mildly suspicious cupcakes to keep him company.