It Began With a Smirk

4: Settling In

“Thank you for preparing dinner for us Rein.” Michael said with a nod from where he sat at the end of the table. My mom sat on the other end across from him and she beamed brightly. So much smiling. Since when did she start smiling so much?

I picked up my fork and took a bite of the beef stew I had spent the majority of the afternoon hiding I the kitchen making. “I’m used to cooking meals. Maruesa wasn’t much of a cook.”

I could see Michael mouth the word “Maruesa?” across the table to my mom. Is it that odd I call my father by his last name? “So did you get all of your things unpacked dear?”

“Most of my clothes, yes. I have some books in one of the boxes somewhere and I can’t find my laptop, but those can wait. For a few seconds I played with one of the chunks of meat pushing it around with my spoon.  I ignored the light chatter that my mom and Michael made as I finished the rest of the stew. Kale had plans and wouldn’t be joining us that night. He and I are going to have problems I can already tell.

“May I be excused?” I asked as I finished eating. To my relief Michael seemed to understand that I wasn’t interested in family dinners and everyone sitting together to talk.

“You don’t have to excuse yourself Rein. This is your house too.” Michael chuckled with a warming smile. My hair fell in front of my face as I pushed in my chair and picked up my plate. “Leave it, Marie cleans the table.”

“Okay.” I said with an awkward nod of my head. Maids? What have I gotten myself into? My feet thudded against the stairway as I made my way back up to my room. I opened my door, flipped on the warm yellow light and laid down across the bed. A TV sat upon the dresser but I didn’t feel like turning it on. Had I found my books I would have taken out my sketchpad and started sketching out characters to my friend’s book she was writing. I wasn’t much of a writer myself, in fact I couldn’t write worth a damn.

My eyes fluttered closed and I lay in silence with nothing but my thoughts to surround me. I wonder how dad is doing. He must hate having to deal with crappy frozen dinners all the time. Well he is a military man; he’s used to crappy food. A soft yawn escaped my lips and I rolled onto my stomach and dug my cellphone from my jeans pocket. For a second I hovered my index finger over the call button before finally clicking it.

“Hey this is Opal I obviously am not at the phone so do your thing and I’ll do mine.” It went straight to answering machine and I hung up. So she still has me blocked after all. I sighed again and closed the phone.

A soft knock sounded on my door. “It’s open.” I sighed without looking over my shoulder towards the door. Whatever my mom had to say I was sure it would be quick.

“So Rein, what kind of a name is that?” Kale’s snide voice asked from the open door.

“Christine was hopped up on drugs to ease the pain of my premature birth and when Maruesa asked her what they should name me since I wasn’t the boy they had planned on she answered with “rain” because of the storm outside so Maruesa took that and changed the spelling.” I replied in a cool tone. He probably didn’t even want to know but I told him nonetheless.

I could hear the door close but got the feeling he hadn’t left. “Why do you call your mom by her first name? Isn’t that a little weird?”

“We aren’t close.”

“So did you decide to live with her once you found out she had a rich fiancé?”

At this I rolled over and sat up on the edge of my bed looking him square in the eye. “I found out yesterday when I walked up to her house that we were moving. I don’t know what type of a person you think I am but I find that a very insulting question.”

His expression remained cocky and arrogant and I gave up on looking him in the eyes. “So you got played.” He snickered.

Mental note; ask who is at the door before granting entrance. “What do you want anyways?”

“I dunno. Bored I guess. Hey you want to go out to the bluffs or something? There’s always a bonfire up there on Fridays.”

“Actually I think I’m just going to go to bed.” His offer had caught me off guard and though I did want to start meeting new people so I didn’t go to school a completely out of place stranger I was tired. “Alone.” I added when it looked like he wasn’t about to move.

“You sure? You look kinda cold I could help warm you up. . .” his eyes glistened as he made a show of slowly scanning my body with his eyes.

I stood up and made a shooing motion with my hands. “Out. Now.”

“I can help you slip into one of those sweet lacey little-“

“Now.” I repeated giving him a shove, my hands connecting his sturdy muscular chest. I opened the door for him and pointed with a soft jerk of my head. Kale passed by still eyeing me and I closed the door behind him making sure to lock it.

Loaded Gun - Saving Abel