Quiet Enlightenment

Part 2, Chapter 7 - Temptation

Sunday, October 18, 2015

"Screw this. And screw you." Calvin said as he walked past his older brother. Typically, this behavior would lead to a complete reaming followed by a week's grounding, but Orson was used to this behavior that was now considered reasonable for his little brother.

"Love you too, jerk." Orson said as he started to pour himself a bowl of cereal. A knock on the door alerted him that his friend was at the door. He glanced at the window overlooking the giant porch on the front of the house and tapped on the glass before gesturing to the person to let themself in. The person, noticing the cue, let herself in and walked into the kitchen.

"Hey." Orson said as Olivia sat down on a barstool at the kitchen island.

"Hey."

"Cereal?" Orson said as he picked up the box. Olivia's eyes brightened up a bit.

"Absolutely! I thought I was the only person in the world to love these things!"

Orson smiled a bit at the new common ground as he poured a bowl for her. The blissful silence was quickly interrupted as sound started pouring out from Calvin's room. Without missing a beat, Orson walked across the room to his younger brother's room. Two heavy knocks on the door were enough to get the young man to turn down the television. With a sigh, Orson walked back to the kitchen.

"He's still being a handful?"

"Always. I don't know what's wrong. Mom and Dad think that he's just getting that whole puberty-hormone-rebellious thing going on. Don't get me wrong, I love my brother with all of my heart, but I'm starting to think that I don't get paid enough to do this sh-"

Orson stopped his rant as Calvin's bedroom door opened. Olivia could feel the tension in the room increase as Calvin walked back into the kitchen to get a drink from the fridge.

"Hi, Calvin." Olivia politely said. Without turning around to acknowledge her, Calvin simply raised his hand as a little wave before saying "Hello."

"Nuh-uh. Put that back." Orson said as he pointed to the thing in his brother's hand.

"What? It's just a drink. And it's only one!"

"It's an energy drink. You're too young for those. Put it back."

Calvin rolled his eyes before putting the larger can back into the fridge and grabbing a plain can of cola.

"Hey, Calvin. Did you know that it's Toby's birthday today?"

"Hey, Olivia. Did you know that I don't care?" Calvin replied in a slightly hoity-toity fashion to mock Olivia.

"CALVIN." Orson said as he was getting ready to shut down his younger brother's attitude for the last time.

"I'm sorry... I guess what I meant to say is that I'm no longer friends with him." Calvin quietly said.

"Oh? Did you two have a fight?" Olivia replied, noticing that Toby wasn't talking about Calvin at all over the past week.

"No. When I got grounded, thanks to Mr. Stranger Danger over there, Toby pretty much decided that he doesn't want to be friends with a 'punk' like me."

Orson sighed at his little brother's minor insult.

"Don't be silly, Calvin. Why would you think that Toby hates you? Who else would dress up as a panda for Halloween just to make him happy?" Olivia replied.

"Exactly. But now he's all about that Lucas guy, who's perfect and does absolutely nothing wrong."

"Pup. Friends come and go all the time. Just because you've been put on the back burner for a little bit doesn't mean that Toby hates you. You know, you should find some other friends to run around with. Expand your horizons, so you don't have to rely on just one friend." Orson added to the conversation.