Roll the Dice

two. valentine

{Dedicated to Alayna, who forgot that she told me she was going for a bike ride for the 4th of July. Also, she's pretty funny and brilliant.}

"He had absolutely no respect for the show whatsoever," I griped as I stood on my tippy toes, reaching up for a glass in one of the kitchen cabinets. "It was absolutely appalling to think that such uninformed people live in the world today."

After several seconds of watching me struggle in vain, my brother, Carter, finally stood up, letting his chair clatter back behind him, and got the cup for me. "Here," he muttered, placing the cup firmly in my hand. He yawned widely, stretching with one arm in the air as he ran the other hand through his ruffled hair. "Good Lord."

"Thanks," I said. I made my way to the fridge to take out the orange juice, which I swished a couple time in its container pouring it out into my cup. "But Carter, don't you see how annoying—"

Carter cracked his back loudly. "Sis," he said groggily, "please shut the hell up."

"Don't you be a butt too!" I called back to him, setting the orange juice down with a loud clink. "I need a male figure in my life to understand and empathize with me, regarding magnificent musicals like Guys and Dolls."

Instead of replying to me, my brother trudged back to the kitchen table, pulled out his chair with a screech, hurled himself down on the chair, and placed his head on his arms. Therefore, I found myself rolling my eyes at his bird's nest of dirty blonde hair. I sighed. With more than a little grouchiness, I took my orange juice and my bowl of cereal with me to the kitchen table chair facing my brother.

After I sat down, I poked his hair, which felt like an overly unruly field of grass. His face appeared behind his hairy arms. "What?"

"You have to listen to me!" I stuffed a spoonful of cereal in my mouth. I continued thickly, still chewing, "Besides, it's not like you're even doing anything later."

Carter yawned.

"God, you're no fun," I muttered.

There was an awkward silence in the kitchen for a couple minutes as I continued to consume my breakfast and Carter continued his sleeping session on the table. Then, luckily for him, our mother came into the kitchen, her high heels clacking and a couple files in hand. (She looked impeccable. I really did wish I had her sense of style...but again, I wasn't a London-born, fast-talking lawyer.)

"Lottie, dear, good morning." She kissed me on the cheek. "And Carter." She ruffled my brother's hair.

I grunted out something that could pass as "good morning" and slurped my orange juice loudly.

Mom went to the fridge, grabbing a yogurt container and a smoothie bottle before she turned around, frowning at my brother and me. "Lottie, it's only 8am. Don't you want to sleep in?" She paused. "And Carter. Lottie, did you wake up your brother?"

I finished my cereal with a flourish, setting down my spoon with a cutting clink. "Actually, Mom, I didn't. If I had to be exact, the alarm clock woke him up. Besides, he isn't doing anything anyway, so I think I'm doing him a favor by waking him up; that way, he won't die in college this fall when he has to get up for his classes."

Carter mumbled something from behind his arms.

"Sit up, Carter, and please repeat that for all of us to hear." My mother took a seat next to me at the kitchen table. She'd probably be leaving for work in a couple minutes, however.

"She woke me up to rant about some guy," Carter grumbled, rubbing his eyes moodily. "I fucking didn't go to sleep until 4am last night."

Mom shot him a sharp look about the language, but she didn't comment on that. (She was no angel herself, so, as she explained to me one day, she felt as if she had no right to reprimand someone for doing something that she did.) Instead, she turned to me. "Charlotte, I'm sure you're excited that your brother's home from college, but you should let him rest in peace for the first couple of weeks."