The Marx Brothers

Chapter Fourteen - 'Invitation'

"What time will she be here?" Penny asked me as we sat inside my living room, waiting on my sister Grace and her arrival.

"Any minute now" I answered

"Why are you pacing?" She questioned, watching me move back and forth on the tiles

"I don't know" I shrugged "I haven't seen her in a while"

"I thought you'd be more relaxed after confronting Phoenix yesterday" She sighed, my pacing over

"I am" I told her, nodding

"You really put him in his place" She smiled, her legs hanging over the edge of the lounge

"Did I?" I scoffed

"Yeah, you did, why do you doubt yourself?" Her eyebrows crossed

"I didn't prove anything"

"You did" She snapped, sitting up "You proved to yourself that you have more power over him and yourself, you can make the right choices, especially when it comes to avoiding him"

"Am I really the one in power?" I stood in front of her, biting my bottom lip

"Yes!" She snapped, standing up, glaring at me

"Right" I nodded "I am"

I began pacing again, unsure of myself, unsure of how much longer my sister was going to be.

Five minutes later, the front door opened.

I closed my eyes as I embraced my sister, the smell of her perfume the same as my mothers. Her hair had grown since the last time I'd seen her, her skin was a slight shade darker too. Her face remained the same, oval shaped with her bright blue eyes staring back at me.

"I've missed you" I whispered into her neck

"I missed you too" She replied, puling me back, looking me over "You look different"

"Different?" I questioned

"Yeah" Her eyebrows crossed "Different"

Her eyes then averted over my shoulder towards my best friend, Penny, where she moved to embrace her like she had me.

"Penny" She greeted, pulling her close

"How you been Gracie?" Penny responded

"Good, and you?"
Penny nodded "Great"

"You look different too, what's gotten into you girls?" Grace narrowed her eyes

"I met a boy" Penny refused to hold back her tongue and her smile, and I could understand, she had met a boy, a lovely boy, lucky her.

"A boy?" Grace repeated "Well we better sit down and you better tell me all about him"

Penny nodded, and the pair of them sat at the dining room table together as I volunteered to make coffee and tea for the reunion.

"What's his name?" Grace began, crossing her legs, her attire neat and tidy, intimidating

"Brad" Penny answered, eager to reveal every detail of her love life to my sister, and that's how it was for the next hour.
I sat opposite Penny, listening to her happy tale, depressed.

"What about you Eden Skye?" Grace turned on me once Penny had ended her story

"What about me?" I shrugged

"I know why Penny looks different, she's in love" She winked to Penny "And what about you, why do you look different, have you met a boy too?"

I scoffed, amused "If only"