Teach Her, The Ways Of A Heart

Family

"I'm not cooking today Ken." "Fine, we'll go out then." My brother and I argued about food. I wasn't really up to standing in the kitchen all morning. "Pizza then?" I offered as he strode off to the lounge not giving me any response.

I was ready to dial for a pizza delivery but Izzy called as soon as I laid my eyes on the screen. "Yana, split banana." She spoke, this was how she'd greeted me every time she'd call. "Hello Izzy." I laughed. "What are you and Kenlan up to? I've got a surprise. We're on our way over."

After that, Izzy dropped the phone. "What's the use of asking what we're up to?" I mumbled as I dialed the number for the pizza place and ordered four different types. Kenlan and I already ate a lot. Having more people over would mean extra food.

I just about sat down after showering for the second time today because of the heatwave we were currently experiencing when the doorbell rang. Kenlan however came to my rescue and got up to answer the door. "Hello, cousin!" Izzy squealed. "Izzy, who is this?" Israel laughed as if he couldn't ask a question as stupid as that one. "They're your cousins silly."

I jumped to my feet by the word cousins. My father had a sister who only had two kids. The twins were my favourite. Well, they were everybody's favourite. Caine and Raine each shook a hand of my brother's.

They were stereotypical twins, they looked the same, unintentionally did the same thing and they'd even had some telepathic thing where they felt each other's pain. Not necessarily accurate, but they felt it.

Thankful for my observant skills, I was the only one who could tell them apart. Caine had a scar pretty hidden to notice, on his eyebrow. This is why they regarded me as their favourite too. I allowed them the chance to greet Kenlan, who was heavily confused, they weren't my parents so I allowed him to wreck his brain.

Their conversation didn't last long because one of the twins spotted me. "Oh, hello Honey." I smiled and walked towards them, tugging on each of their necks so I could hug them at the same time.

I then observed them, looking for the scar on the eyebrow. "It's been ages, Honey." The twin I had bent over to my height spoke. "Yeah, I'd think Izzy was more important than I was." I whispered. "Nah, you're always our favourite, Honey." He winked, exposing the scar.  "Your scar is almost gone, Sugar." I said before pecking Caines lips as a greeting.

Then we settled down in the lounge again. There wasn't a lot of space on the couches for us all. Well, there were two single couches and a three seater, which regardless of the space provided,

I didn't fit comfortably on.

"You guys have gone huge." I said shifting beside Caine to find comfort. "Nope, you've just shrunk, even Ken is taller than you are, Honey." He spoke, lifting my legs over his. 

Izzy brought the pizza into the lounge. After answering the door for the delivery guy. I felt pretty lazy today. To make up for that though,  I did the dishes while Raine helped me out.

He cleared his throat.  "Hey, uh Honey?" He called me by the nickname he and his brother had come up with after the first and the last time they heard me sing when we were thirteen. "Yes, Drizzle?"  I asked him. Giving him the plate to pack away. 

His eyes danced with hesitation before he spoke. "The reason Sugar and I are in town... Your mother called." "Raine, it's alright. I'm not going to dwell on the fact that they don't love Ken and I." I answered. "Yes, I see that. But Eli, we love you and we uhm... We thought that if we stayed here, with you guys, it would fill the gap between family and friends."

I smiled. Even though the twins were only four months older than I was, they'd always treated me like I was something fragile, like a porcelain doll or a fine China collection. "We're not going to live here for free, we'll pull our weight, bills, rent, groceries. We just don't want you and Ken to feel that because your parents left you behind you haven't got any family."