Lost in the city

1 Theodore

When I was younger, my only dream was to become a shop owner one day. Why? Because of the family business I was born into. My uncle, Richard is the owner of it. No one else but our family has ever worked here and no one ever will, unless you’ve gotten married into it, I suppose. My father used to be a cashier at the shop when I was a toddler. He died before I started school, though. At least he was able to get me a younger brother before he had to go. Daniel is there years younger than me and he is the biggest douch bag U have ever met. His only dream is to get away from the family business, get rich and fuck every girl he think looks pretty.
Me?
I like to paint rocks, read silly romance books that my cousin Elina throw my way and hangout with my cousin Monica While she trains and walks her dog.
Me and my Brother has always been different, different goals but also different veiws on life. He didnt witness what I did as a child, at least I could spear him from that.
A quick knock hits my door and before I get the chance to respond, Daniel yanks the door open and rages in my room. He is about to talk until he sets his eyes on me While I am painting a big eye on a flat Stone. Okay, it really is not my biggest work. I wanted to outlining and the Black paint kind of got everywhere.
“what the fuck is that?” he asks as he creeps over my shoulder, looking at the Black outlines that I accidently smudged out over the rest of the eye. “it kind of looks like a dick, Nice Brother”. He says with the biggest smirk on his face. I Just stare at him with No emotion, “what do you want, Daniel?” I put the pencil im holding in my hand back in the water, what used to be a light blue color is now a brown Black. “what were you trying to draw?” unimpressed I Just glare at him as I stand up from my hair and lay out defeated on my bed.
I might be 26 years old, but I still like the feeling of being home. This is where my family are, my only friends. It’s not that I dont want friends or a friend group, even. I Just feel like the best versione of myself when I am around Elina and Monica. They are my best friends and will probably always be. I don't need much more than that. “Okay so,” he says, sitting down in the chair I Just stood up from. He grabs the Stone I unsuccesfully painted and stare at it as he keeps talking. “I overheard mom speaking with uncle over the phone,” I let my gaze fall on his body as he spins around in my chair While studying the Stone piece. What can be so special about mom talking with Richard?
“Basically, you know how Sandra’s mom is not, like,” dead? Is what I expect is gonna come out of his mouth. “blood related to us.” he says. I grow more and more suspicious of what this is all about. “Well, she has a niece, who is gonna come live with Sandra and uncle Lucas for a while,” he explains, and now I finally understand why he had to bargin here and tell me that mom spoke with Richard over the phone, we are getting a girl who is not already in the family into the family business.
I don't let him keep talking before i drag him out of my Stone painting chair and push him towards the door “Hey!” He yells as I give him a final push through the door. “I wasn't finished!” and he gives me the look of a sad puppy who Just wants a second treat. “I am not gonna have you talking about how you hope the girl is pretty and that you want to fuck her. Bye” I slam the door shut and go back to my chair. He keeps yelling through the door, but thankfully I have my headphones and rock music to keep the sounds away.

“Did he really come to you just to talk about his fuckboy thoughts?” Monica laughs as she shakes her head. I give her a knowing look and she takes a sip of her lemon iced tea.
Every sunday, I meet up with Monica and Elina for card games. For a month we play the same game, Elina always giving us a new to try out. It really is just to please Elina, she is the only one who actually enjoys doing them. In the beginning I kept turning her down, until Monica gave me an hour long explanation of how her little sister feels lonely and we could cheer her up, so I finally gave in. And she was right, two sundays in and she finally started being her happy self again. I have no clue what happened to make her in a bad mood to start with, but I have a feeling she would tell me if she wanted me to know.
“Daniel is never gonna grow up,” Elina rolls her eyes as she lays another card out on the stack in front of us. Monica’s jaw goes to the floor. “an 8? I swear you are cheating,” She says, looking at her own cards in agony. Elina’s already big grin grows even sider and prouder. She flops her golden hair over her shoulder, showing more sassiness. “I’m Just better”, she says and I laugh at that. Every card game we have ever played, Elina is always winning. I swear, if you can have a talent in card games, thats Elina’s talent. Even though most of these games are really Just pure luck, but she seems to get them right every single time. She keeps on going about strategies every single time, but I Just dont get it. I have never been good at these, I should probably do my research on a new card game that I can win myself.
I have never won anything in my life. If I could ever take over the family business, my child self would count that as a win. But as I’ve grown older, I’ve gotten more and more tired of the idea. Now I have no clue what I want to do, I never studied anything in hopes of learning everything I need through the business. The only talent I do have is my creativity to paint rocks, but I cant even do that right, apparantly.
"I hope Sandra's cousin is kind," Elina days out of the blue as we all look over our cards. Apparantly nulber 8 is a good card, but a 3 is really bad. "I should have invited her today," she sighs. She did invite Sandra once, but she got bored rather quickly with our card games. Sandra is the social butterfly of the family, she usually goes out every weekend with her friends, drinking, partying.
"Elina," Monica says, putting all her cards down at the table. She takes Elina's hand with both of jers as she States through her soul. "Sandra's cousin is gonna like you, you need to stop worrying so much," there is probably more to the story behind this conversation, but I have no intention of saying anything. I know Elina had been struggling with bad anxiety her whole life, but I don't know the full story. She is one of my closest friend but as far as I know, she is not too open with her feelings if the person isn't her big sister. I wish I had a big sister, or Brother. At the same time, I do hope I did something right with my own little Brother. I hope I spared him the awful feelings of witnessing what I did.