easy come, easy go ⇾ joe mazzello

iii

      OLENA WAS AWAKENED BY all three of her cousins flopping onto her where she lay in bed, going limp to allow that all of their body weights would push her down. she let out a hollow groan, eyes shooting open as all air left her lungs. "you guys feel like a fucking elephant," she wheezed.

      "rude!" lily exclaimed, moving to stand.

      "it's orion," cassiopeia accused.

      "it's probably the weekender bag of middleswarth that cass consumed," orion pointed out, ruffling his little cousin's hair.

      she sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, squinting at them in the bright sunlight filtering through her window. "what time is it?"

      "noon, dear cousin," lily answered softly, perching on the top of the dresser in the corner of the room. "which is odd, because you never sleep in this late."

      "you present a good point," orion chimed in, plopping in a rocking chair beside the bed. "what kept you up so late, olena? a gentleman caller, perhaps?"

      "why do you guys talk like that?" olena mumbled, crawling out of bed, stretching. "and no, i do not have a 'gentleman caller.' i just couldn't sleep last night, that's all. now get out, the lot of you, so i can get dressed."

      the three laughed, heading out of her room and down the stairs to where everyone else was gathered in the living room. she shut the door rather loudly behind them, then turned to look at her reflection in the mirror. her first move was to snatch her hair brush up, yanking it through the mop on her head with gusto. she changed into one of her bathing suits quickly, avoiding looking at the mirror, then tugged one of her sweaters on over top. heading down the stairs, she was greeted by laughter, kateryna smiling, "good morning, olena."

      "dobroho ranku (good morning), titka," she grumbled, moving to sit on the kitchen counter.

      "what has you so grumpy?" james asked, arms crossed over his chest.

      "i'm just tired, that's all. and y'all's rotten kids just slammed themselves atop me to wake me up."

      "calliope," alexandria warned.

      "sygnómi (sorry)."

      "are y'all going down to the beach today?" mia asked from where she stood at the island, squeezing oranges to make fresh juice to go along with their late lunch.

      "no," her twins answered as lily shook her head 'no.'

      "what about you?" alexandros asked as he nodded to olena, slicing up apples so that his sister could make dumplings and pie.

      olena nodded, playing with the bottom of her sweater.

      "kóri," alexandria frowned. "don't you think you should help around the house? maybe spend some time catching up with the family?"

      she looked to kostyantyn, giving a small, "bat'ka, please."

      "alex, i think it's okay if she spent a little bit of time down there, yeah?"

      "besides, theía," cassiopeia spoke up, shrugging. "we have all the time in the world to catch up. well, the next two weeks, at least, and that's plenty of time."

      "parakaló (please), mitéra," olena pleaded one last time.

      "what's so important at the beach?"

      "i... i made a friend, okay? and i'd like to spend time with them before they leave. can i go now?"

      "what's her name?"

      "his name is joseph."

      everyone froze, turning to look at her. "iosif?" she asked in disbelief. "a boy? you actually befriended a boy? without scaring him away?"

      "nai, nai, polý asteío (yes, yes, very funny). can i go now?"

      "go on," damianos smiled as he came into the kitchen. "kala na pernate (have fun)."

      "efcharistó (thank you), pappoús," she kissed his cheek, sprinting out the door.

      "patéras," alexandria drew out. "why did you do that?"

      he shrugged, giving her a coy look. "she's young, alexandria. you've got to let her live."

      "but family -"

      "kóri, did you not hear the spark in her voice when she said his name? i have not heard that spark for years. did anyone else notice?"

      "i noticed," kostyantyn spoke up.

      "efcharistó (thank you), kostya." he nodded to his son-in-law, then left the room.

      "i'm so tired of being the bad guy," alexandria mumbled, leaving the kitchen.

      as kostyantyn ran after his wife, olena made it safely onto the beach, a forlorn joseph awaiting her. she took a seat next to him wordlessly, slinging an arm around his shoulder. "what's with the melancholy attitude, mazzello?"

      he lit up immediately when he saw her, in turn snaking her arm around her waist. "i was afraid you decided to not come down today," he admitted.

      "i slept in," she shrugged. "didn't wake up until the brats jumped on me."

      "i'm assuming the brats mean your cousins? how old are they that you refer to them as brats?"

      "they're older than me, uh, lemme think... lily is twenty, and orion and cassiopeia are twenty-three. yeah, that sounds right." she nodded along with her words, fingers flitting about about as she counted on them.

      "orion and cassiopeia - aren't those constellations?"

      "yeah." olena shook her head as she gave a small laugh punctuated with a miniature groan. "my theía mia, my aunt, when she married into the family she got really into the whole greek thing. my dyad'ko james, my uncle, however, when he married into my family he was cool with a ukrainian middle name but they gave lily an american first name to make things easy."

      "i love when you start speaking in your other languages," joseph blurted, resting his head on his free hand as he peered at her. "your voice almost deepens and the accents, it's perfect."

      he face grew bright red, causing her to hide her face in her hands. "i'm literally begging you to stop. you're killing me entirely."

      "dramatic," he laughed. "hey, would you... would you like to come over for dinner tonight?"

      "i - no, with my family finally all being together, it's going to be a greco-ukrainian feast. could i... tomorrow?"

      "yes!" he exclaimed a bit too loudly. "sorry, sorry, but yes, that would work."

      thinking for only a second, olena blurted, "would you like to come over for dinner?"

      his eyebrows knit. "but family -"

      "joe, they'll drive me crazy. please. they won't be mad, i promise."

      "o-okay," he agreed, nudging her. "what should i wear?"