Unusual Circumstances

Chapter 18

I sat on my bed in my comfy cow pyjamas, eating toast and staring at the idiot in front of me.

"Alex, honey, stop frowning, you'll get wrinkles," he says and steals a piece of my toast.

I growl, still upset that he woke me up at stupid o clock on a Sunday.

He sighs, and swings his legs back and forth over the side of my bed, and drawls out, "I would have thought you've have been more excited to see me, cuz."

"I am," I sigh tiredly, "but you woke me up. Therefore, I hate you. It's kinda a thing," I shrug.

He just shrugs back and eats the stolen piece of toast. "So, any gossip for me, jelly?"

"Sorry bean, no can do." I shake out my bed head and try to walk out of my room.

Cousin Edward is probably my closest family member - until he wakes me up. It's nice for a relative to be a similar age as you; makes getting along easier.
Like me, Ed has black hair that flops into his green eyes, so it's not really abnormal for someone to mistake us as brother and sister. However, he has the height and freckles that make him look like my aunt.

The girls love Ed, so whenever he's around it's rare that we get a couple of hours to talk alone and catch up. We're always with the girls, or with Lily, or our immediate families.

"Jelly! Come back!" Ed yells down the hall, but I can't hear him coming after me, thank god.

He has this bad habit of tackling me and tickling my sides until I'm crying - something Imogen taught him for when I 'misbehave'.

My elbow has a bad habit of greeting his chin when he does that.

I go into the bathroom to wash and get ready, ignoring the sound of Ed singing some rubbish pop song that I could've lived without hearing.

I open the door and walk straight into Ed, who was just standing there waiting.

"Finally," he sighs dramatically, "I thought you were giving birth in there, you took so long."

He pushes me aside and heads straight towards the mirror, combing his hair with his fingers.

"You know jelly, you really need to put more effort into the hair. The hair has feelings you know, they call it hair-ology. You love the hair, the hair loves you back." He says this while opening tubes of hair gel and body wash to sniff them.

I roll my eyes, "Yeah, sure. Maybe if you didn't love your hair so much, you might have some sort of love life - then I wouldn't have to hear you complaining of your lack of attention."

"Hun, I get attention. I mean seriously, I'm totally fierce," he pouts and winks at me. "So what if I'm not in a relationship? I'm more of a relaxed, non-committal kind of guy."

He struts out of the bathroom and towards my hobbit hole.

"Liar," I say. "You're as desperate as an Edward deprived Bella Swan."

Ed sighs and flings himself on my bed dramatically. "Alas, it is true. But, it appears no one is interested in a loving relationship with me, although I have always promised that I would keep myself to myself if they were to spontaneously start a cheese-making business."

"Cheese making?" I ask and sit next to him.

He shrugs unapologetically, "You have your preferences, I have mine."

I shudder slightly and lay back, my head next to Ed's feet.

"Nice socks," I say.

He wiggles his toes to show off the unicorns embroidered on them. "I know, aren't they fabulous!?"