Roan Matthews is a pirate-legged junior in high school ; Ellery Thompson just wanted to survive the last two years of high school. Something they both had? : insomnia. A play, a wrong number and a competition bring the two of them together. Could th...
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"So, while I was talking to Jackson, I see Jessica and Arnold.." Riley's voice was drowned by Roan's thoughts on what to do later in the day. It's not that he didn't want to listen to what his sister was saying, but the entire day he was wondering on what to do different than yesterday, so he could sleep early. Maybe that would help him stop thinking at night?
It hadn't worked in the past, but he felt that today might be the day.
The school day was pretty normal for him, but seemed to have been eventful for Riley. His sister was a grade below him, and was telling him about something that happened to two of her classmates as they walked home from school. He tried not to think about what happened in geography.
"Anyway, how was your day?" Riley asked, shoving the phone she'd taken out in some part of the conversation back into her pocket.
"Huh?" His eyes remained on the stone he was pushing with his shoe, looking up when his sister pushed it out of his path. "Sorry. It was okay."
"Did you talk with Sophie?" He winced at the remembrance of the geography class.
"Uh, kind of? She smiled at me, a small one, but still a smile so that counts for something?"
"I guess, did you wave or smile back?"
"I just looked at her with a blank face, not realising until it was too late."
He could see Riley looking at him with a face she'd make towards him whenever he did something dumb. "Dude-"
"I was thinking of something else and kinda forgot to react, leave me alone." Riley let out a short laugh. "Wow, you find this amusing?"
"A bit, maybe."
Roan let out a sigh, running his hand across his hair. He was gonna say something before his sister stopped in her tracks. He turned back to look at what she was staring at and let out a groan when he noticed the thrift store.
"Please, you can come later, can we go home?" He didn't think he could survive another visit to the thrift store with his sister.
"Come on, buddy," Riley smiled, pulling him inside. 'I have the keys home and you can stay for 15 minutes."
"Last time you said that we missed the movie."
"Shut up"
The thrift store wasn't that bad, it was everything you'd imagine one to have. Clothes in racks, the ceiling covered with small and big chandeliers. A few clocks made the back wall invisible, and his sister made her way to the jewellery section. He smiled at the lady in the counter, but her nose was in a book, so he decided not to wait for her to react.
"Do you think mum would like this?" She asked, pointing at a silver bracelet that was hung on a miniature rack. He looked at the bracelet, a faint memory of his mother having something similar to it inking its way to his mind. He didn't have to tell her, she'd already moved on.
Their mother's birthday was in December and though it was still July, Riley wanted to buy their mum a present beforehand, not wanting to forget like she did last time. She started telling him about what she was thinking of getting when Roan's eyes wandered beside the silver bracelet they just saw. It was a gold one, with pearls placed in equal distances. He turned it slowly, his fingers moving across the designs as if they were afraid he'd break them. He stared at the the dragon symbol in the middle.
Not his mom's taste, but it was someone else's.
"Thinking of buying it for Sophie?"
He turned to see his sister browsing through clothes, clearly not satisfied with the jewellery. "Don't think she'll accept it."
He followed her as she went deeper into the store. "I wasn't going to, it just.. reminded me of her."
"Just talk with her," she suggested, as if it were so simple, and removed a jacket from the rack and turned to the mirror behind her. "It's been a few weeks, I'm sure she'll be open to listen."
"Maybe.." Roan wanted to believe her, but it wasn't convincing. He messed up, and if she was that upset when it happened, who knows how upset or annoyed she was with him now?(even though she smiled at him)
"How's this?" Riley asked. Roan turned to see his sister wearing an olive green jacket with dark green buttons, similar coloured thread on the cuff of the sleeves. He walked to stand behind her, and viewed the two of them.
Riley used to be shorter, but now she was almost as tall as him. The white highlights on her curtain bangs of her brown hair were still prominent from last year, and her skin was was little lighter than his. She looked like their mom in the overcoat, the green coloured eyes the two of them shared the same shade as her.
Then he looked at himself.
Last year, Riley made him watch that Netflix show, 'Young Royals'. He didn't love it, but one mention about Willie's haircut in season one was enough for her to tell their mom and cut his hair. Thinking about it now, he wondered why he didn't argue. Maybe it was because of Sophie.
He ran his hand through his hair and sighed when he looked at himself. People had been telling him he looked tired - well they were lying. Roan looked _dead_. His face was pale and his eyes seemed duller than usual. He had the compulsion to run his fingers through his hair again, and tried to not show his irritation when the bangs fell over his eyes, the hair longer than he wanted. He'd lost weight over the past few months, and stared at his gaunt figure.
"Yeah, that's the same expression I have everyday I look at you," Riley whispered to him, giving him two pats on his back. She turned around to examine the racks again, while Roan continued to look at the mirror. He smiled at the mirror, and continued to shift the expression, playing around with his eyes to make them seem genuine. He tried to figure out how to make it seem like he didn't just get out of a grave and was smiling because he meant it. He dropped the expression when he saw a few girls snickering behind him, running away when they noticed they'd been found out.
