Running from You

8

"My aunt Rita is visiting by the way".
I nod, not very interested. We're on the bus, going to his house once again.
"So my cousin Elle is coming too".
I look up, and groan.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier" I say.
"Because then you wouldn't be coming" he says with a smile. "We'll go to my room immediately, don't worry".
His cousin Elle seems like a sweet girl at first glance, but from experience, I can tell she's not. She's eight years old, and she hates me. I don't know why, but she does. Maybe it's because she loves Lucas. A lot. And whenever I get too close to him, she screams.

"But if you go to your room, Elle will go to your room too" I say.
"I'll tell her not to" he says. "Look, my parents don't mind if I'm not downstairs, as long as I just say hi to them once".
I sigh, and lean my head against the window.
"You know I could still go home" I say. "I could get out at the next stop".
"But you won't" he says. "Because you love me".
"I hate you".
"Same thing" he shrugs.

He's right though, I don't get out and go home. Mostly because I really have nothing to do at home. My mom's at work, and I already did all the cleaning I can do yesterday. I don't particularly enjoy cleaning, but when I have nothing to do, it's a nice moment where I can just sort my thoughts out. I've already finished my homework too, I did that at school during health class. So I'm stuck in a house with three adults, one of which I barely know, my best friend who's annoying as shit, and a small demon child.

When we arrive, his aunt isn't there yet. I say hi to Lucas's parents, and quickly follow Lucas upstairs.
"I don't have to greet them too, right?" I ask nervously.
"Of course not" he assures me. "Maybe say hi from upstairs. I promise I'll leave Elle downstairs when I come back".
I sigh and nod.
"Okay" I say.
He gets a smile on his face.
"Let's watch Friends now" he says, turning on his TV.
"Sure" I say, already grabbing his physics homework. He watches Friends while I occasionally ask him a homework question. Whenever I do his homework for him, I try to ask him all the questions that seem important. He still has to learn, he's not great at studying, I don't want to make him do everything in one afternoon.

After two episodes, I'm almost done. The bell rings downstairs.
"Oh, that's probably them" Lucas says, and he pauses the TV. I put his book aside, and follow him to the hallway. I wait by the stairs, watching as Lucas opens the door and is immediately tackled by his devil cousin.
"Lucey!" she yells in Lucas's ear. Poor boy, he's probably deaf now.
"Elly!" he tells back, and he hugs his cousin tightly, spinning her around. She giggles, and wiggles her legs, occasionally kicking Lucas on his knees. He doesn't seem to mind very much though, as he's still laughing when he puts her down on the floor.
"You've grown so much since the last time I saw you" he smiles, as he ruffles her blonde hair. "How old were you again?"
"I was six" she says, with a slight lisp in her sweet as sugar voice. "Now I'm eight, and I'm way more mature".
Her mother laughs, and shakes her head.
"She learned that word three days ago, she can't stop saying it".

Lucas strokes Elle's head again, and then looks up at his aunt.
"Hi aunt Rita" he says. "How was the journey?"
"It was great, thank you boy" she says.
"Well, I'm going back upstairs" he says.
"Oh, so soon?"
"Yeah, Dean's here".
He points up at me, and Elle and Rita look up. Elle's face changes from her angelic little smile to a frown. She puts her hands on her hips, and pouts.
"I don't want you to go upstairs Lucey" she whines, and tears are beginning to form in her eyes. More mature, yeah right.
"I'm sorry sweetie, I'll be back for dinner".

He finally manages to pull himself out of Elle's surprisingly strong grip on his waist, he walks back upstairs.
"Sorry that took so long".
"That's okay, I get it. Demon children are hard to shake off".
"She isn't a demon child Dean" he says. "Let's just go to my room and play some Mario Kart. I wanna do coconut mall".
"No, not coconut mall" I say. "That's the worst one".
"You're just saying that because that's the one where I always win" he says, grinning.
"But I don't want to play coconut mall Lucey" I whine. He rolls his eyes, but smiles.
"You're just jealous".
"No I'm not" I say, maybe a little too quickly. His smile grows a little, a certain kind of smugness in his eyes. It's a little weird.

After three hours of playing and one hour of watching Friends, Lucas's mom calls for him to eat dinner. We walk downstairs.
"Dean!" his mom says, and I look up.
"Your mother called, she told me that she has to work a night shift tonight".
"Oh no" I say, and I frown. "That's awful".
"Yes, she works so hard. Anyway, she asked if you could eat with us".
"Oh" I say, and I almost agree. But then I see two eyes staring at me from the living room. Two angry, fiery eyes, practically glowing with hatred.
"I can just eat a pizza, don't worry" I say, and I stop looking at Elle.
"Nonsense dear boy" Lucas's dad chimes in. "You can come eat with us, we're eating pizza too!"

I look at Lucas for help, but he just smiles at me, clearly excited.
"Come on, she said she's more mature now" he says. I sigh, and turn back to Lucas's parents.
"Thanks, I'd love to eat pizza with you" I say, and I force a smile on my face. They smile back, and Lucas drags me into the living room. Elle sits in the spot where I usually sit, and she's glaring at me angrily. I would do the same, but then I'd be a sixteen year old glaring at someone half his age, and that would just be a little bit pathetic.

The dinner goes fairly well. I try to communicate with Lucas as little as possible, while I listen to the adults talk about work and life.
"There's another branch in Paris, but I think it's a lost cause by now" Lucas's dad says. "I'm looking for another job in finances, but I haven't found anything that's interesting to me".
"School isn't interesting either" Elle says, forcing herself into the conversation. Her mom just laughs and strokes her head, before returning to the adult conversation.

I sit through it fairly well, occasionally glancing at Elle before quickly turning back to my microwave pizza. Finally, the dinner comes to an end, and Elle falls asleep on the couch. I decide it's time to leave, as Lucas has started talking about family memories, and it makes me feel very awkward. Apart from my mom, I don't really have any family. My dad has a sister I think, but other than that and the fact that he exists I know next to nothing about him.

"I'm leaving" I whisper in Lucas's ear, and he pouts.
"Okay" he sighs, and we I get up.
"See you tomorrow" I say.
"Yeah, see ya" he says, and he waves. The adults all wave too, and I walk out the door. I breathe in the cold night air, tuck my hands in my pockets, and start my way back home. I'm just glad the devil girl didn't kill me today. I stare at the tiles beneath me as I think about what Lucas said. I definitely wasn't jealous of an eight year old girl. Pfff. That would be ridiculous.

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