Evangeline
The meal is finished in silence. Asher starts clearing the plates, and everyone chips in to clean up. "After this, how about we get to know each other better, seeing as we'll be living together from now on?" Asher's eyes flick up to me for a nanosecond before dropping them back down again where he has been looking at his feet the whole time.
"Don't get too eager, little brother." Christopher and Max say in unison while patting his head patronisingly. He scoffs and rolls his eyes. "As if!"
Fifteen minutes later, all of us are in the living room. I am wedged in between Lucas and the arm of the sofa, while the twins are sprawled on the other side with Asher reluctantly joining us on one of the beanbags.
"How old are you?" Lucas starts the ball rolling.
"Thirteen." I reply. His brows raise.
"How about you guys?"
"Seventeen here. Asher's a year your senior., and you know the twin's ages already."
So, they're not much older than me after all. "Horoscope?" Christopher fires a question. "Taurus."
"Virgo." He hooks a thumb at Lucas. "Scorpio." Asher scowls.
" Then Gemini and Cancer." When I incline my head slightly, he explains. "Mom birthed me first, followed by Maxie here a little after midnight."
"You're joining Peachtree Middle school in Autumn, right?" Max cuts in. I snicker inwardly. Peachtree! "Peachtree High, actually." His brows furrow. "I actually got bumped up a grade back in middle school, so yeah." I fiddle with the hem of my sweatshirt. I got teased about it all the time then. The kids thought it was weird for a child younger than them to be at their level. The fact that I was small for my age and motherless didn't help at all.
"That means you'll be classmates!" Asher sends Christopher a 'shut up' look and scowls.
We continue on with the game. At first, Asher is still super hostile, and answers with grunts or monosyllabic answers. Eventually, he softens and relaxes a little as the game progresses, but still refuses to talk directly to me.
I learn that Lucas and the twins also attend Peachtree, among a tonne of other things. The twins are on the soccer team, Asher has a thing for designing women's apparel, like dresses, although its not well known because people judge him for it. When his hobby was mentioned, Asher's face turned a violent shade of red. He opened his mouth to say something, but was silenced by the twin's glares.
I kinda know what that's like. Lucas and the twins both work part time at the nearby to save up for college. Not that they need to, though. Mariam is loaded and has more than enough funds to send all of her children to college twice. Thy do it for the experience, I guess, and I admire that.
After our game, they settle down to watch a movie. "Any preferences?' Max asks as he picks up the remote and fires up Netflix. "Nope. Watch whatever." I stifle a yawn. "Ooh, can we do scream?" I've been thinking about it since you quoted it earlier. Christopher chuckles. A smooth, mellow sound. "Heck yeah."
I barely make it past the first ten minutes. The next thing I know, the credits are playing and the boys are quietly murmuring amongst themselves. I open my eyes a crack.
"...it's almost eleven. Do we wake her?" Max. He's probably recalling how he already disturbed my nap earlier this evening. Hmph.
"Nah. Just get Lucas to carry her up or something." Christopher.
"Or, we could just leave her here. Duh!" Asher retorts in a snappy tone.
Christopher lounges on the sofa, watching the scene play out before him with amusement while Lucas pinches the bridge of his nose in exasperation.
My cheeks heat. I decide to speak up. "I'm awake already. Thank you for your concern."
They all turn in my direction, startled. Now, they look bewildered and embarrassed too. "Goodnight," I squeak before anyone says anything and dash upstairs.
