Beloved

darker then gold

2018
Ryan Matson

He forked up the piece of cobbler into his mouth, chewing slowly. His stomach had been growling for a while before his mother had yelled for them to help her set the table up for dinner.

He glanced around the table, chuckling as Angela wolfed down her second serving of the apple cobbler while her friend was daintily picking at the leaves in the salad, their mother had just left the table to argue with their father who had yet to return. He insisted it was work related but his job ended by seven, and now the clock was ticking dangerously near ten. But it was daily occurrence, ditching them for work as he called it. Ryan had many theories for his absence but none of them were worth telling anyone. So he kept them to himself, silently cursing at their crazed father who had had crazily avoiding them for three years now.

He absently ate the cobbler and in a matter of minutes he had cleared the plate of the crusty dessert. He shot a glare at the vacant chair again before pulling himself up, his hands holding the dishes he had recently used. He silently padded into the kitchen, tying to catch the heated argument of his parents. I don't understand you, not since you got that stupid job. But once his mother noticed him standing their guilty of eavesdropping, she shot him a small smile as she cut her husband off. " Ryan, be a dear and tell Angel to get the extra mattress for Ciara, okay? And give me that". And even though he protested against his mother taking the dirty dishes away, he heeded to her command and left, looking at the angry frown etched on his mother's face.

Shouting his mother's instruction to his sister, he followed the dark female upstairs. He was just about to slip inside his room when a mumble made him turn back, confused at his sister's friend. "Yeah?"

She cleared her throat, her eyes darting everywhere while she fiddled with her small hands. Her glasses had slipped and sat crookedly on the tip of her small nose. She seemed nervous. "C-can you be my date to the event tomorrow?"

Tomorrow was a national holiday, celebrated to some what stress on the likelihood of mythical stories. Monster Friday as it was nicknamed was a lot like Halloween except for trick-o-treating and the candies which didn't make into the celebration. Although horror stories were shared around campfires or at a sleepover, the main event was the stalls opening at The Square , where after the st rock of midnight the storytellers would gather and tell all those horror stories surrounding the myth of vampires and werewolves. Each time, they had a new one, tales so vivid and bloody that left many teens with nightmares. It was again somewhat of a tradition to take a date and mostly He and Angela had gone together as Caira always paired up with her twin brother, Steven. But Steven had a girlfriend this time around, leaving Caira to find herself a date.

He shrugged. "Sure". And that's how ladies and gentlemen, you answer. Not really. "Have you asked Angela yet?"

She frowned, her eyes drooping in an unknown emotion. Her dark curls were pulled back in a messy bun, the gold choker glimmering at her small neck." Yeah, she's going with her chem lab partner, Luke".

"The guy with the shaggy blonde hair and slobbery personality to match it?"

She looked up in surprise, not having him seen diss anyone before him. But he was quite good at it. In the confinements of his home and room at least. In its safety so those popular types couldn't get anymore reason to hate him. "Yeah, that's Luke".

"Good to know". Frowning slightly, Ryan leaned against his door waiting for her to say something. But she still seemed tense and kept opening her mouth and closing it. He was quite surprised at his sister for finding a date to the event. She was quite picky, even though she had less than five boyfriends in the past. All of them coincidentally jocks, playing with her heart. She finally muttered something like she was getting tired and ran away, just in time for Angela to come upstairs. She shot him a quizzical look, her eyebrows furrowing. "What was that about?"