Sam and the Spies

Chapter 3

Tyler's kind brown eyes sparkled at me from above. He picked me up by my waist and twirled me around like I weighed nothing. Jeez, he's strong. 

"I can't believe you're here!" I cry, as he puts me down. I mean, I know he's strong but it's not that easy to carry a fourteen-year-old. He turns over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of Jazz and Josh, who were both smiling and hugging Jayden and Lana. And, this may be my imagination, but I'm sure I saw a tear in Josh's eye. 

A year ago, when Jazz, Josh, and Tyler turned 18, they all decided to move to Australia. Jazz found an apprenticeship as a fashion designer, Josh worked on his architectural dream in university and Tyler pursued his dream of art. They all live in the same building and each of them owns their own flat. 

They stumbled inside and Jayden, Lana and I were pushed to the back as the parents hassle their way to the front and start a whole symphony of lectures about 'we haven't seen you in ages' and 'it's about time' and everything else that annoying parents say when their young adult kids come home. 

I realize that Jade doesn't know that Tyler is here, so I quickly zoom upstairs and call her down. 

"Jade, Tyler's here."

"Tyler?!" she cries, jumping out of her soft toy pile and rushing downstairs like Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny was down there instead of our brother. 

As I come down the steps, I see Jade in Tyler's arms and her mouth's moving up and down as she blabs on and on about her day and all the stuff she did when he was gone, plus a whole lot of annoying questions. To be fair to her though, when Tyler left for one-week camp when he was ten, I did the same thing.

After everything calmed down, all the parents sat in the living room and Tyler, Jazz, and Josh started a  'mature' conversation with them, at least that's what they said. Jade was acting like she'd had more than a dozen bars of pure chocolate and Jayden, Lana and I sat in my room acting like this was no big deal, but to be entirely honest, my brain still couldn't process that they were here.

When they left, I remember them being way younger and way more scared of the big world, but when I saw them standing at the door, they looked all grown up and way too different from the people we waved goodbye to as we watched them board the plane, almost exactly a year ago.

 I mean, Tyler's grown in height and to be honest, he looks a whole lot fitter, I mean so does Jazz and Josh, they all look like they've been to the gym more than they've been to work or school. Jazz used have short, shoulder curls, like Lana, but now her hair's bob-cut and ironed straight. Josh's blond-brown hair used to be a mop on his head, like Jayden's is now, but instead, it's transformed into a gelled side comb, which is what I hear the trend is now...somewhere. 

Tyler and Josh have got a tan now, like a really perfect tan. They're like one of those male fashion models of front cover magazines. Jazz got taller and skinnier, but not like the starving skinny, the fit kind of skinny. The Robinson's share the same bronze skin colour, except now I see that Jazz seems to have lost some of that and become a shade lighter. I don't know how she's done that in Australia's quite warm climate, but it appears she has. 

A half hour later, Tyler, Jazz, and Josh come up to my room and they tell us all about their time in Australia.

 So apparently, Jazz got a job at a fashion store that's really popular, all because of her amazing designs. She even offered to make me and Lana matching purple dresses. She showed us a design and I was all up for it,  but Lana stuck her tongue out and said, "Dresses aren't my thing." I guess they aren't. Oh well, Jazz still seems excited to make it for me. 

Tyler showed me a picture of an art exhibition that he went to and showed me one of his paintings. It was a beautiful eye-catching piece of a soaring bird over a village and there was so much detail, I just thought that some super high-end professional painter had done it or something. I'm so proud of Tyler. 

Josh showed us a blueprint design of some super fancy hotel that he designed for a project for the university that he was studying at. He said it would be a long time before he could become a real money-earning architect but he thought that it was worth the wait. 

We spent a lot of time talking and just mucking around, making up for the year that we hadn't seen each other. There was a whole lot of laughs and a point where Jazz, Lana and I were in tears, even though Lana denied it afterward. Tyler, Josh, and Jayden just looked awkwardly at each other before trying to get us to calm down. 

***

Saturday, August 24th 9:17  

After finishing five whole boxes of pizza, Josh, Jayden, Mr. Hall, Mrs. Hall, Jazz, Lana, Mr. Robinson and Mrs. Robinson went home for the night. Jade was already conked out on the couch with pizza stuck to her face and coke dribbling down her arm. 

"Mum, I'm taking Jade upstairs." After I hear a distant-sound 'okay' from Mum,  I pull her sticky jacket off her tiny body, remove the stale piece of pizza from her cheek and lift her into my arms. She looks very peaceful in her sleep state as her small head lolls over my arm. 

I tuck her in bed and say goodnight, even though I already know she's in Candyland with magical unicorns, elves, and most likely fairies. Tyler tip-toes into the room and gives me a fright as he taps me on the shoulder. I make a high-pitched squeak and hastily check to make sure that Jade's still asleep. She makes a barely audible grunt and goes back to her quiet snoring. 

I whack Tyler on the shoulder and give him the 'I can't believe you almost made me wake up our sister' look. He grins cheekily and he follows me out the door as I make my way to my room. As I'm about to shut the door behind me, he sticks his foot in between the frame and the corner of the door and I look at Tyler confusedly and he flings open the door and shuts it behind him as he enters my room.

"What's this about? I ask, completely lost until he pulls out a small green parcel from behind his back. He hands it to me and smiles happily and makes a small laugh as he see's my excited face. 

"This is for you." The small green parcel feels warm in my hand and I try to act not as excited as I am, but on the inside, I'm screaming with joy. I grin widely and stare at the parcel, wondering what mysteries it holds. Well, actually, more to the point, what's inside.

"Thank you Tyler, you didn't have to bring me this," I say modestly, even though I would be a bit wounded if he hadn't. I latch my finger underneath the shiny paper and remove the tape on each side. The paper falls off in a shiny heap onto the floor and a box the size of my palm is left in my hands. I expect to see a fancy watch as I lift off the lid, but I am gobsmacked as I see that inside this small, insignificant box, is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.