Wed or Dead

LVII

Next Eliana woke up with a killer hangover. She and Rafael might have had too much wine the night before. This is why it was particularly brutal that she was woken up to her sister's screaming.

"Holy shit! This place is rad!" Casey yelled in an excited voice.

"Language!" Remi yelled back in mock-outrage.

"But look at this stuff and this one" she was pointing at random things around the house, Eliana had to give her that this place decor was a piece of art.

"Yes houses usually do have furniture" Milo responded flatly.

"Casey, don't run around the house!" Eliana was scolded after walking out of the room in her pajamas.

"Eliana!" Casey's face lit up even more when she saw her sister, she missed her terribly even thought she would never admit it. She ran upstairs just to fell in Eliana'a arms.

"Hey Eli" Remi said, Milo gave her a quick wave.

"Hi!" Eliana said in a bright voice. "How are you doing guys, is the house still standing?" Eliana asked jokingly.

Everything went quiet, Casey took a few steps back away from her sister just in case. Eliana crossed her arms over her chest and asked "What?"

"Casey broke a window," Remi said pointing at her rudely

"You broke the window. I was just trying to dodge the ball you threw at me!" Casey responded with irritation.

"Well, you kicked it, and you broke the window in the process," Remi said feeling no remorse for throwing her under the bus.

"I hate you" she responded with frustration.

"I don't recall starting a kindergarten," Rafael said, interrupting their typical banter. 

Eliana could see that despite his harsh words he was looking at the kids with fondness. Emotional cues Rafael was sending were always so settled, invisible for people who don't know him. But she knew him, and she enjoyed reading his expression. "How did it happen?"

"So we were kind of bored so we started kicking the ball and at some time I kicked too hard, Casey kicked back but completely lost control over where the ball is going and it landed outside of the window" Remi explained now partly putting the blame on himself.

"Aren't you going to yell?" Casey suggested, she actually looked scared.

"Yell?" This word sounded unnatural in Rafael's mouth. "Why would I yell?"

"I broke the window" Casey reminded him.

"It's just a window," he said once again reminding everyone that he had little care for material things.

This is when something surprising happened. Casey hugged Rafael. At first, Eliana thought she's experiencing hallucinations but no. She was really hugging him.

Casey's relationship with Rafael shifted from fierce hate into reluctant acceptance now the third shift happened it seemed as if she felt something akin to sympathy to her sister's husband.

"Eliana, why are you crying?"

Why was she crying? Because finally Rafael and Casey were getting along and when she saw him petting her hair in the fatherly gesture she felt so moved tears started flowing down her eyes.

Oh, how lame. She's never going to admit it.

"I-I am just happy you guys are here"

"Damn it's a chick flick moment I'm going to my room," Remi said, Milo followed him. "Cas you coming?" Remi yelled and Casey followed them quickly.