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I woke up later than planned, having lost sleep earlier on in the morning. The light isn't as bright, so I can heave myself out of bed without grimacing every time I face my window. I have family coming over today and because I'm late up, my shower time is cut short. I don't know about you, but having long showers is pretty much how I get my body to fully wake up in a morning. This means that when I drag myself downstairs 45 minutes later, my body is still aching slightly and my bum-length hair is pretty much soaking. When my mum's sister arrives at 10:00am, my hair is still damp and hangs limply around my cheeks. I arrange a welcoming smile on my face, and try to look a little less exhausted.
"Hi Alex, how are you?" I hug my cousin, who is two years younger than me, and grin at her. Alexis is one of the bubbliest people I know, and her bouncing hair matches her personality. We are pretty close even though we only see each other on occasions such as birthdays, but just being around her can instantly make me happy.
"Yeah I'm good thanks! Happy birthday Rach!" She laughs and thrusts a card and a wrapped box into my hands.
"Aw thanks Alex!" We hug again, my smile become more genuine.
"Do you wanna come up to my room for a bit?" I offer. She turns round to see her younger twin brothers chasing each other down through the kitchen, and her older brother slouching in my favourite armchair, completely absorbed in his book. Alexis raises her eyebrows in exasperation.
"Please? Anything to get away from my crazy brothers." We both laugh and dodge the twins as we tiptoe along the hall to the stairs. In my room, Alex perches on my unmade bed whilst I dump a pile of washing off of my chair so that I can sit opposite her. She pinches a matted strand of hair between her fingers and looks questioningly at me through chocolate coloured pupils.
"Oh yeah, erm, bit of a lie-in. Sorry." I look at her sheepishly from underneath my eyelashes. Her curly brown hair flows softly onto her shoulders as she shakes her head at me and flicks the piece of hair back at my face.
"Hey!" I exclaim. She giggles at me, but soon stops when I flick more long strands at her, spraying her freckled cheeks with water droplets. Before it can progress any further, Matthew, (Alex's older brother), slides into my room. Alexis turns to him and scowls at him in a friendly way.
"You couldn't even knock?" He smiles lightly, but ignores her, his dark orange eyes scrutinizing my extremely messy room; the hastily drawn biology revision notes and the old, pale blue wallpaper that has this odd 3D effect where it looks like it is covered in water. He steps over a stack of books in my doorway, and narrowly misses pieces of Lego. I blush and hide behind a fringe of scraggly white hair as his fiery gaze comes to rest on my sapphire eyes. I've always thought him to be really handsome, he was even cute when we were kids, but obviously he is way out of my league. And, being my cousin, me thinking that he is attractive is the furthest it will ever go, and I don't think he even knows how good looking he is.
"The cake is ready. Are you two coming?" His voice is of a serious, almost monotonous tone that suits his deep voice well, but his eyes are crinkly at the edges and a ghost of a smile fell upon his lips so I know he is being playful. I think the collected airs he sometimes takes on are just to appear cool in front of his baby sister, because around me he is teasing and sweet. Even though he was talking to the both of us, it felt like he was looking only at me. Well, it is my birthday. I nod and am about to reply when Alexis tells him to shoo, but adds in a rude word and sticks out her tongue for good measure. He really grins now, and Alexis' face matches his. But when he leaves, her expression falls slightly. Ever since Matthew got accepted into this private boarding school abroad, they have become more distant with one another. Luckily, the distance of his school means that he is rarely around and that means that in the moments they are together, it's a lot less arguing and a lot more of the sibling love. Although, I do think that she is just a bit jealous of him, despite her constant denial and reassurance that she would hate to have to spend most of the year away from all her friends and family. I roll my eyes at them when Alex avoids looking at her brother. I gesture at the door, so we stand and head outside the room. At the top of the stairs, Matthew is leaning against the banister. I mouth "Hi" at him. He inclines his head towards me, and runs his hair awkwardly, which is a gorgeous thick shade of chocolate brown like his sister's, but his has prominent streaks of red in. The twins, Jake and Daniel, have completely red hair, so Matthew gets the best of both worlds. He turns and heads downstairs, and I am about to follow but Alex grabs my arm and holds me back.
"Earth to Rachel: He is your COUSIN and my brother. Don't." She looks at me, her eyes hard.
"Wait, what?" I am genuinely stunned. What is she getting at?
"You have a massive crush on him. It is SO obvious Rach." Wow. Was not expecting her to think that. But I probably could have guessed that all my drooling over a cute guy would make her believe that.
"Well, Earth to Alexis: I do NOT fancy my cousin! Ew!" I turn away, slightly annoyed, and make my way downstairs and into the living room. I guess I was a bit sharp with her, but she did wrongly accuse me. I grin, embarrassed, as I walk into the living room to find most of my extended family sat waiting. I guess that some people were unable to make it because of the unfortunate weather, but over the years I'd gotten used to it. Immediately, as if on cue, they burst into song. My pale cheeks brighten even further. Alexis walks past me and joins in singing, and Matthew hovers behind me, poking me toward the cake. My back tingles, warm, where his finger touched my spine. Okay, I admit, I guess I do sometimes wish we weren't related. I step towards my 16th birthday cake.
It is a circular chocolate cake, with two layers crammed around a layer of thick chocolate butter icing, (I love chocolate, who deosn't?), and a flat top. The whole cake itself, has a grey layer of royal icing that completely coated it all. Sounds pretty plain and boring, right? Wrong. On the flat surface is an accurate, (I'd iced it, so I would know), representation of the Death Star in all its Imperial glory. Six green candles are placed in a circle around the energy port where the laser of planetary destruction gets fired out of in the original Star Wars trilogy. Another ten black candles run along the trench through the middle of the edible space station, to make the sixteen. A lot of detail for a mere cake, but Star Wars is a big part of my life, so get used to it. I close my eyes as the song reaches the end, and take deep breath, savouring the moment you only get once a year. I open my eyes and gently blow out the candles. I cringe as they flicker before extinguishing; I never did like fire. As I turn, I catch a flash of light, like a spark, coming from Matthew. He just grins and waves at me, winking. I blush again, and push my hair back over one shoulder as I breathe and clear my mind. My family descends on me, handing me cards and gifts as I repeatedly thank them for my kindness. I suspiciously shake a large box from my parents. Looks like I got that new Lord of the Rings Lego set I wanted. When I get a chance, I sneak a look at my older cousin, but he has returned to his book.
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Opinions? I do have a vague plan for where I wanna take this, so even though the beginning is shit I hope that it will get better when I reveal the main plot :P
