Break of Day

15) Late Night Conversations

It had been a long time since Mare had needed to creep into my room, keeping the door silent, rather than simply turning over in her bed to annoy me from mine. "I found a couple of DvD's in my nightstand if you want to come downstairs. I found Aaron's movie night stash," she sounded hopeful as she sat on the side of my bed, careful to not disturb any of my papers. "I thought Aaron helped you with this Monday?"

"He did," I sighed, pulling my hair away from my neck. "The rough draft was only 6,700 words and the first edit shrunk it by a few hundred."

"I get that this is technically less work than doing all of the essays," my sister's eyes flickered towards the open window. "But, I think it's harder on you to do it all on one topic." With a shiver, she moved around my bed and stack of books to slide the window close, locking it before she pulled to curtain to hide the outside world. "Either way, if I have to make zero out one more matrix, I am going to find a bridge. And," she moved around my bed. "If you spend much more time working on this paper tonight, I swear your brain will explode."

Accepting her hand, I closed my computer and climbed from my bed, sighing as papers fell. "You're probably right."

"Honey, I'm always right," flicking her hair from her shoulder, she grinned at me. "So," she started as she sat on the couch. "We have Pirates of the Caribbean, Princes Bride and Ella Enchanted. Which are you feeling like right now?"

Falling onto the couch next to her, I crossed my legs underneath of myself. "I won't say no to Johnny Depp," I responded, leaning forward to grab the pink Marie from Aristocats mug that sat next to the Ariel mug. "I thought Dad would have gotten rid of these by now." The first time Mare and I lived with him for a school year, we had wandered past a yard sale of an old widow who had just gotten remarried and was moving to Romania. She had loved Disney, but felt like it was time to start new now that she wouldn't have any grandkids to visit. He bought the Marie cup for me, the Ariel one for Mare, and himself a Bambi one.

"I don't know if he knows how to get rid of things," she sighed, pulling herself off the couch to put in the DvD. "He still has the picture of Maria holding us in the hospital on the mantel near the door."

"It was the first picture he ever got of us," I shrugged. "It's more about remembering us than it is remembering Maria."

Remote in her hand, she pulled the popcorn on her lap as she sat back down. "I think he's still in love with her. Why else wouldn't he have remarried yet?"

I love my sister, but she reads far too many romance books. In her mind, everyone who has fallen in love once must inevitably do it again within the same decade. There may be a few cases where it is allowed for them to wait until they are older, but not very many. "Maybe he doesn't want to be hurt again?" Perhaps he wants to keep this house the same as it always was. When the world changes at an unstoppable pace, this house will only change when we are ready for it to do so.

"Speaking of, has Theodore asked you to the Winter Formal yet? Ella and Millard have a bet going on. Ella swears is too scared to ask, but will find a way to take you on a date anyway and Millard is convinced that he's waiting until you have let him know that you want to go." Taking a handful of popcorn, she offered the bowl to me.

Taking my own handful, I shook my head. "Theodore and I are just friends, Mare." I really do need to take away her romance novels, they are not healthy for her dose of reality.

"I don't know about that, Leia," she cooed, her smile dreamy and delusional. "You're the only person he really talks to outside of his brother. I mean, come on, Leia, isn't that classic love at first sight."

She is utterly ridiculous. "Darling, I am going to say this once and then we are dropping the subject forever. Theodore and I are not and will not ever be anything more than friends." Sighing as she opened her mouth to interject, I added, "Even if he does think of me in a different way— which I am positive he doesn't—, I am not interested in another relationship. You of all people know how terrible my track record is."

"If you say so." Her tone clearly stated her opinion on this matter would not change. Laying her head on my shoulder, she pressed play.