Eternal Sunshine ✓

25. Winter Break: The Family

Three days had passed and the group was having a good time locked up in the warm wooden home located in the middle of the woods.

The experience was different than any Tasha had lived. She had never even been camping, talk less at a cabin deep in the woods with horny and reckless teenagers. Let's just say it was...something.

Every morning Malik and Nelson would barge into the girls' room (uninvited), turn on all the lights, and start harassing them until they would wake up. At least, they made sure to have breakfast ready by the time the girls were showered and all cleaned up.

Steven, on the other hand, would be bundled up outside on the balcony, waiting for Malik and Nelson to finish making breakfast. He refused to even be a part of the cooking process, as he knew that was not where his strength lay at all.

Instead, in those early mornings, he stared at the sunrise with a pencil in his freezing right hand has he let the environment around him inspire his illustrations.

Not many people knew of Steven's hobby, despite the fact that he'd been doing it for as long as he could remember. That's how he liked it though, he was not ashamed of art or anything-he just liked to keep it for himself.

It was never really a passion. He liked drawing, didn't love it. The moments when he could find something or someone that inspired him, in those moments, maybe he did love it. Most times though, he just did it to distress.

But something about those early mornings, with snow covering everything and the sun peeking out of the clouds, just brought him a sense of stability to start the day. Since he'd taken his friends' advice to 'detox' from Tasha, he was trying to put his efforts into finding happiness in the small things. The sunrise was one thing.

Before the girls would be downstairs, Malik and Nelson would set up the table with various breakfast foods. Since they had self-designated cooking as their jobs, Steven had assigned himself making Malik and Nelson's beds and keeping their bathroom neat. Also, the girls had promised to always wash the dishes, keep the kitchen clean, and the living room in order.

Things were a little tense between Steven and Tasha but it seemed as if they'd both decided to limit communication between each other, speaking to the other only when necessary. Thank God everyone else had too much to say to pay too much attention to the two.

It took Steven a second to catch himself from staring too long at Tasha, and similarly, Tasha had a hard time stopping herself from inserting inside jokes that only Steven and she understood into conversations with the rest of the group.

There were certain words, phrases, or sayings that she used for emphasis in conversations with Steven so much so that they'd become their inside jokes.

For example, the second day at breakfast, Malik was complaining about the lack of difference in personalities among the girls at Crest High. And at that moment, Tasha was about to say, "I guess we're all Little Bo-Peeps at Crest High."

The phrase, to everyone at the table except Steven, would have made little sense. But Tasha had no doubt that it would have gained a laugh from Steven. Little Bo-Peep had become an inside joke between him and Tasha, referring to particular people.

A stupid girl? She could be considered a Little Bo-Peep. A crazy guy? Yep, in the right sentence, he could be a Little Bo-Peep too.