Dancing in the Dark ✓

06 | theo

"Theo? Is that you?"

My mom's voice greeted me from the dining room as I returned home from another hectic day. It had been jam-packed with meetings regarding formal assemblies, student events, and so on. Marching band practice had been particularly exhausting as well. 

"Hey, Mom," I replied, finding her setting the table for dinner. "Where are Faith and Ellie?"

"In here!" Noelle called out from the kitchen. 

I placed my bag down and joined my sisters in the kitchen. 

"How was work?" I asked Faith. 

"Intense," she sighed as readjusted the clips holding her bangs back. As the eldest child of the family, she had to grow up the fastest, especially when we lost Dad. Straight after high school, instead of heading to university, she picked up short courses to get employed as an emergency call operator, which was in short-staffed at the time. It helped Mom a lot, who didn't have to work extra reception shifts at the pediatric clinic. 

We didn't have much after Dad passed, but it was enough. Especially after getting to know Deandre Williams, it helped me shift my perspective and gratitude for the life I had. We still had each other. 

I craned my neck to see what they were cooking. "Ooh, is that shrimp pasta?" 

"It's gonna be bussin," Noelle said, winking at Faith who groaned. 

"I'm feeling the age gap."

I chuckled and decided to get some iced tea out to go with dinner. Once the table was set and the pasta was on the table, we settled down eagerly. 

"I'll say grace," Noelle volunteered. "In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen. Bless us, O Lord..." 

When Dad was still with us, he was the most devout Catholic out of all of us, but never really forced it on us. When he passed, each of us had different relationships with the faith -- Mom stopped going to church, whilst my sisters only went on special days of the year. As Cree people as well, we had a tension with the Church due to its hurtful part in the history of Canada colonisation, but it was something I was working through myself. Praying at home was a start. 

"Amen."

"Amen," I echoed, feeling slightly guilty for spacing out in the middle of the prayer. 

"Anyone have any fun stories from the day?" Mom probed. 

"Mine are quite depressing, including a stabbing case today," Faith sighed. "Ellie?" 

"I'm sure I want to pursue digital art now," Noelle replied. "Not sure about comics or films yet, though." 

"That's good," Mom replied. "Though do you know the concrete steps to get there? Maybe Theo knows people in the film field to help you?"

I offered a small smile. "I mostly have contacts with directors, rather than in the animation field, but I can definitely ask around."

 "If we're talking film, the big dream is to work at Disney or Marvel kinda vibes. I spoke with my teacher on the best way to build a portfolio. Anyways, we can talk about that some other time -- for tonight's Family Fridays, I've prepared a presentation." 

Mom raised her eyebrows. "On what?"

"Which of Faith's guy friends would be suitable for her to date." 

Faith choked on her food. "Ellie!"

Noelle grinned. "Don't worry, I stalked all of them and chose the ones who are single as the candidates." 

"Must've been quite a wide pool," I joked, earning a kick under the table from Faith. "Ow!"

Noelle nodded teasingly. "99% of Faith's friends are guys. I spent so long doing research for this one."

Faith slapped her forehead. "It's going to be a long night."

The presentation was to feature five of Faith's single friends, listing the 'green' and 'red' flags, with Mom being rather vocal about agreeing or disagreeing. Faith groaned throughout the entire thing and I hadn't laughed the belly-aching laugh in a long time. 

My phone buzzed at when Noelle was passionately advocating for Friend #4, 'to be taken or not taken out of friendzone'. Out of curiosity, I glanced down at the message. 

👩🏻: Hi, Theo, it's Sasha. When do we start?

Shock washed over me, momentarily stunning me. I must've had stared at the phone screen for a while, because Noelle started laughing. "Who got you looking like that, big bro?" 

Faith smirked. "Ellie, see if it's a girl." 

"Wait!" I yelled as I dodged Noelle's attempts to grab my phone from me. 

"Okay, children," Mom chuckled. "Settle down." 

Faith's eyes twinkled with mirth. "Who is that?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Sasha Li, from school. She'll be helping us with the Film Festival this year."

Noelle cocked her head to one side. "I haven't heard of her."

"That's because you're always in the art room, and she's always in the library," I replied. "Let me reply her really quickly before she changes her mind."

"Whoa, breaking the no-phones-at-family-night I see," Faith chuckled. 

👦🏽 : Hey, Sasha. Thanks so much for getting back to me. We'll start on Monday, could you join us then? 

👩🏻: Sure.  

👦🏽 : :) 

Once the presentation concluded 

"Can we watch a movie now?" Faith asked with a sigh. 

"Big Hero 6!"

"That's sad, life is sad enough," Faith argued. "Why not one of those cheesy inspirational sports movies?" 

Noelle pouted. "Come on, Into the Spider-Verse?" 

"Could do. Or Lord of the Rings? Another one to escape reality?" I suggested.

"Way too heavy," Noelle countered. 

"We could watch Harry Potter again," Mom suggested. 

"Always a good go-to," Faith agreed. 

"Can't complain," Noelle sighed. "Wait, let me get my Ravenclaw Oodie!" 

We settled as the movie started playing. Surrounded by my family and the decision of Sasha agreeing to lend her help with the Film Festival in my mind, I rested contented that night.