Velvet Walls

Chap.12, Racing

As I come upstairs, Lorah comes running up to me. The first thing I notice is her hair, which is cut into a bob.

"Lorah! Your hair!" I exclaim.

She smiles shyly, "Do you like it?"

"Of course! It makes you look very mature."

Lorah beams at that. "Thank you. I took your advice."

"Well, it looks great."

Delia comes up behind Lorah. "I told her I wasn't sure the next time we'd be going into town, so if she wanted to do it, she better do it today."

Not sure the next time they'd be going into town? Wonder what that means. I shrug it off, and help carry everyone's shopping bags inside.

"How was the birthday?" I ask Donivan.

"It was alright. We just went to a local restaurant for lunch. It was nice to see some old friends though."

I nod, suddenly feeling awkward. I don't know what I'm supposed to say after that. I look around for something else to help with, when I notice Alistair looking at us. My guess is he saw the whole interaction. His cold gaze seems to be directed towards Donivan. He really just has something against Donivan talking to me, doesn't he? Why should he care? I feel the awkward tension growing in the air and quickly leave. I'm not in the mood to be in the middle of whatever kind of sibling feud Alistair and Donivan have going on again. I go to find Breanah instead.

I find her sitting on the couch in the basement, she's just turned on the TV.

She looks up and sees me, "Hey girl!"

"Hey. Do you mind if I sit and talk to you for a minute?"

"Not at all. What's up?"

I think about how to phrase my question.

"Do Donivan and Alistair...fight often?"

She thinks about it for a second, "Fight? No. They've never really fought. They butt heads, sure. All brothers do. But I don't think they've ever really had a fight. Honestly, I've fought with Alistair more than Donivan has. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know. It just seems like they've had this weird sort of animosity between them. From what i've seen, at least. The other day, I got caught in between a little spat of theirs, and it was really odd. It felt sort of like it was my fault."

"How so?"

"I'm not really sure. I just feel like ever since I got here, I've thrown everything off-balance. Especially for Alistair. I mean, he even told me the reason he was being so cold towards me was because he just wasn't comfortable with me being in the house yet."

"Well, that's just Alistair. I can assure you, the fact that he was being such a dick to you has absolutely nothing to do with you, and everything to with the fact that he just hates people in general. But yeah, I get what you're saying about the fighting with Donivan thing, that is odd."

"I thought so too, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't overthinking it and it wasn't like a totally normal thing that happens all the time."

"No, definitely. And I guess I have sorta noticed the weird energy between them lately." Breanah sighs exaggeratedly, "Who knows what their problem is?"

I laugh, "Who knows. Thanks for listening to me ramble."

"Anytime. It's nice that someone in this house actually wants to talk to me for once."

"How come people don't wanna talk to you?"

Breanah shrugs, "Because I talk too much."

We both laugh.