34B. |raylijah

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Elijah watched as Jasper played a friendly game of soccer with a few boys, chuckling at the boy's short temper. He got that trait from his mother, he chuckled to himself. Tessa sat beside him, watching the scene unfold as well—she frowned, watching her son shove a kid. "Y'know, you've passed that sore loser trait straight to my damn nephew." He teased.

"Save it." She snapped, laughing at the joke as well. Jasper began to play again, this time actually seeming to enjoy himself. Oddly enough, the mama's boy didn't resemble her—the kid looked a lot more like Elijah than he'd like to admit. And oftentimes, he was mistaken for the boy's father.

"So what's up with you and Rayan?" She asked, glancing over at her sibling—he smiled, chewing a pretzel he'd gotten.

"We're doing great," He started, his eyes scanning the cloudy sky. "He's still an asshole to people though." The man chuckled, squinting as the sun began to peek through the clouds.

"Does it bother you?" Tes asked seriously, focusing on her sibling. "I know that's like opposite of who you are as a person."

"Honestly, yes." Elijah frowned and took another bite out of the treat. "But I understand—he's been through a lot, I can tell. I try to give him the benefit of the doubt most days; not everyone grew up like me." Tessa pursed her lips at this, nodding. She looked visibly upset at the reminder.

Growing in a completely different environment than her younger brother seemed to steer her path in life—she noticed the obvious differences between the two. Elijah went to college, she didn't—she couldn't. Elijah was net, well dressed—she had to fend for herself most days. She never quite understood her mother's hostility. "Tell me about it," She huffed, pushing her hair out of her face. "You talked to mom since she acted all crazy on you?" Elijah chuckled, shaking his head.

"No. She sends me little Facebook quotes every now and then but we both know she's too stubborn to ever apologize for her behavior." It grew quiet for a moment. "You should really talk to her though—I feel like you guys have a lot to work out." Tessa furrowed her eyebrows, glaring at the suggestion. Elijah noticed and averted his gaze to the large field. He was also on the confused end when it came to Tessa and his mother.

"It's not like I don't want to, Eli." She muttered, watching as Jasper scored. "The woman is stuck in her damn ways—and I don't want to force her to be in Jasper's life if she's going to bring negative energy around us. He's too sweet of a kid for that." He nodded, sensing his sister needed a change of discussion, he attempted to change the subject.

"Ray's performing at this speakeasy tonight; you should come." Tessa raised her eyebrows before shrugging. Elijah glanced at his phone, chuckling at the message.

"You must really like him," She commented. "Ray's got you all giggly." Elijah shook his head at the comment.

"No," He laughed. "We got this new hire recently and he uh...sent me this meme—it's a tech thing. I don't think you'd get it." He attempted to explain. Tessa raised her eyebrow at this.

"Oh," She said, lingering on his answer for a moment. "Anyway, I didn't know Rayan...performed." She joked. "I thought he was just a tattoo artist."

"Same thing I said." He laughed. "He said it was a surprise but he wanted me to attend; you should come out." He pleaded. Jasper jogged towards the two, a satisfied grin on his face.