Winter Hearts

Kerb Appeal

Siana awoke when the van lurched to a stop outside their building.

In her sleep her head had dropped on to Leo's shoulder and she had turned to put her arm across his body. She was practically drooling onto his chest and she sat up quickly to wipe her mouth, checking to make sure that he hadn't noticed. Thank goodness she hadn't thrown a leg over him and hugged him like a bolster.

He was asleep too, his arms crossed over his slouched body and his face turned towards the window. No drooling.

How was it that he was sleeping perfectly poised like that? She heard a little snicker from the front and turned her tired sleepy head to see.

She was aghast to find Kkomae and N had turned to look at them all in the back, and were watching her with amused expressions.

"Comfortable, Siana-ssi?"

Siana looked at N as he wrinkled his nose in an attempt to look prudish. She cleared her throat and smoothed back her hair.

"I slept very well, thank you."

"I am sure of that," N drawled, turning back and gasping suddenly. He froze, looking out the window.

Siana turned to look, and saw that her father was standing on the kerb, watching them all.

She sat up, pulling her jacket close and blinking the sleep out of her eyes. Her father smiled and crooked his index finger at her, beckoning for her to come out.

"I can't tell if he is in a good or bad humour," N said out of the corner of his mouth.

"He's fine, my dad's okay," Siana said, although she was just as unsure as N. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, but from experience knew that her dad was accepting of all kinds of behaviour.

N and Kkomae got out of the car, greeting her dad respectfully. N immediately got chatting to him, and Siana felt a little like he was trying to allay any fears her father might have by distracting him with chatter about what they had done that day and how tired they were from the drive down.

She stepped over Hongbin's feet and unlocked the door to slide it open. The noise didn't even wake him as she hopped onto the kerb to approach the others. She wondered if Hongbin would be making it back to Arachova this evening after all.

Mikhalis stared her down as she approached, ignoring N's chatter.

"How was your day?" He looked at her with a mixture of concern and reserve. Perhaps he didn't like what he had seen in the back seat of the bus? Although she knew he was fairly open, she had never been found sprawled across a boy's body by him before. A man's body, she corrected herself. She felt a little embarrassed, but not for having done it, just for putting her father in the position of finding her like that.

"It was good. Tiring."

"Then it will be an early night for you, yes?" Mikhalis said, reaching an arm out to put around her shoulders. Siana stepped into his embrace and gave him a sideways hug, her smile radiating warmth as she squeezed him back.

"Yes, but we haven't eaten yet," she said, a little sleepily. Mikhalis looked into the bus.

"Well, we can remedy that straight away. But where are the others?"

"They stayed on to go clubbing. Later Panos will come pick up Hongbin and join them too."

N walked over to the boys and shook Hongbin, who opened his big eyes one by one, looking at N with stony silence. Siana saw Leo stir, but all he did was turn to his side and curl up a little more.

She sighed as she watched him get more comfortable, he looked so contented. Then she met eyes with her dad, who waggled his eyebrows at her.

She giggled. So he had caught her mooning over a sleeping man, so what?