JOY RIDE, elio perlman

i

One small lace bra in a deep shade of orange landed on a head of dark pink, almost red dyed hair as a family of five, minus one, stuffed cases and bags into the trunk of a small pale yellow convertible. The rumbling echo of a ruby red motorcycle running up through the lengthy road towards them and the large cottage behind their congregation- type hustle and bustle grabbed all of their attention. Murky blue eyes caught sight of the familiar grin of Jagger Dunbar yanking his helmet off before continuing to speed up the dusty road. Shaking his head, Murray Dunbar lifted one last case and flung it onto the top of the car, helping the freakishly tall Bowie Dunbar with tying a rope around it. "Urgh Lennon!" Paddy, or Patricia Dunbar as her birth certificate says despite her despise of the name, smacked her younger sister and pulled the delicate bra off her head.

The evil laugh from Lennon Dunbar made the other four shiver slightly as she took the bra back after smacking her sister with it. "Will you be careful young man!" Screeched Iona Dunbar as she removed her last velcro roller from the ginger- in some lights- birds nest she called hair. Unable to hear his Mother but see her mouth moving rapidly, Jagger slowed down slightly until he was finally facing his family and climbing off his beloved motorcycle. "Sorry I'm late, Nana wouldn't let me leave without our special pound coins" He snorted, throwing a gold coin at each of his siblings. "They don't use our money in Italy though" Bowie raised a brow, not seeing the roll of Jaggers eyes. "State the obvious why don't you dickhead" Lennon scoffed and kicked him behind the leg earning a squeal of pain from him.

"Right stop that Lennon and get in the car, you, who are you taking?" Directing his question to Jagger who had his Mother holding a mirror for him whilst he scraped the side of his hair backwards, Murray sighed and flicked his oldest son in the arm. "Ow! Prick" Jagger mumbled before turning to his Dad, comb still hanging from his mullet. "I don't care- Paddy you're coming with me you didn't piss me off this morning." Unable to hold back a smile when his little sister jumped up with excitement and ran to the motorcycle, Jagger raised a brow when he heard Lennon mumble something out of the window of the car. "Problem there little miss?" He asked, making his way to where she hung out of the window, cigarette in hand which he also snatched up quickly.

"Why can't we go?" Bowie asked for her as he stood beside his brother. "You found my mags last night and threatened to tell mum and you stole my cigs, is that enough? Good? Good." Flipping off Bowie then Lennon, Jagger popped the cigarette into his mouth after kissing his Mums cheek. "Right then, see ya' partners" He winked, hugging Murray quickly before heading back to his motorcycle where Paddy leaned against it. "Wear mine alright?" He mumbled, grabbing his helmet and placing it on her head. By the time his family had drove away with Iona screaming to 'be careful', Jagger had switched the motorcycle on and was off down the dirt path with Paddy clinging to him and whispering prayers she heard from friends in school under her breath.

Jersey Airport was packed, Jagger hated it but still let Paddy drag him around some shops and helped her get anything from tall shelves using his genes of being 'fucking huge' just like his Dad and brother, who speaking of, he hadn't seen since arriving, only his Mum and Lennon who was being forced to find a new suitable swimming outfit considering she brought her wetsuit from surfing when Jersey wasn't freezing cold. He liked the quiet time with just Paddy though, out of all his siblings he related to her the most, he was closer to Bowie and was scared of Lennon in general. Patricia or 'Paddy' was nicknamed that by Jagger when he was six and she was five and after that the name had stuck making her dream of legally changing her name to Paddy. Being a big brother was a job he took seriously, even if his siblings were annoying as fuck most of the time, but Jagger purely babied Paddy since he knew Bowie didn't need it as everyone already babied him and if he was to even give Lennon a cute little pet name he would be left with a black eye.

"Can I get Elio this?" Paddy snapped him from looking through a normal magazine that so happened to have good looking men in it. "Hm? Y-Yeah I guess you could" He smiled, chuckling through his words slightly when Paddy lifted a 'Jersey' fridge magnet and placed it in the small basket she held. The family they were staying with were named the Perlmans? Jagger couldn't quite remember but he was aware from letters and phone calls between his parents and Samuel Perlman, that they were a family of three with Annella the Mum and Elio the son who was ages with Jagger. It was crude he knew that but when he found out a boy his age would be living with them for a while summer and in the same room as him due to lack of many bedrooms, Jagger was filled with excitement and hope of the boy being gay and pretty. He hoped and prayed.

When they had finished in the shop, Jagger had been once again dragged someplace else, eventually ending up separated from Paddy who ran off after seeing Bowie and he was left with his Dad. They sat next to each other in the waiting area, complete silence between them making Jagger inwardly die of embarrassment. "You might find a boyfriend over there, that'd be good?" Murray smiled awkwardly, breaking the quiet as Jagger looked away from a large window, turning to face his Dad with a grin spreading across his face. "Let's hope so." The conversation fell quiet after that. Jagger was never too sure how his Dad felt about him being gay, they never really spoke about it at all and caused their relationship to become quite strange as he described it. "Here darlings, some energy for you." Iona trailing towards them with two paper bags in her hand, passing them to the pair as they looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Donuts, sugary ones. Now I have to find Lennon she's ran away so if I don't make it onto the flight you'll know why" She rolled her eyes before speeding off leaving Jagger and Murray alone once more, unable to contain their laughter. "I don't know how she deals with Lennon"

It was only fifteen minutes later that they were being called for their flight, Jagger had been stuck with Lennon as they waited to board, the young girl jabbing a pencil into his arm causing him to snap. "Do that one more time and I'll shave all your hair off, ugly shit" He sneered quietly, gripping her neck tightly as she continued to smile innocently and go back to attacking his arm. "Fucks sake!" He exclaimed, grabbing her shoulder and pushing her forward to where a young lady held her hand out expecting their tickets, a scared smile on her face at the evil look Lennon gave her. "Enjoy- Enjoy your flight" She stumbled over her words, watching Jagger yank Lennon with him by the scruff of her neck and shove her down the skin corridor towards the plane door.

As expected, Jagger had to sit beside Lennon for the seven hours of the flight. Seven full hours he spent shoving her away from him when she attacked his arms with inanimate objects and shoving a neck pillow over her face in attempts to kill her. He spent five minutes in total away from her when Bowie offered to swap but his peaceful minutes were ruined when the blonde boy ran back to him, bubbling like a baby and showing the harsh marks up his arm. He couldn't pray any more for Italy, he needed to be there.