Esther, Be Tender With My Love

Five

The Next Morning

Last night was just a dream. I frowned as I told myself this and slowly began to flutter my eyes open. My eyes burned as they met with a beam of light from the early sun glaring into the room. After taking a few moments to wake myself up, I left my room and walked downstairs, just to make sure it was all a dream.

When I peered into the downstairs bedroom, it was completely empty. The duvet was made nice and neat as if it hadn't been touched since my older brother moved out four years ago. Tears formed in my eyes as the disappointment set in. I'd kept telling myself it was all a dream but expected it to be real. I sat on the stairs with my head in my hands and silently cried. It all felt so real. I didn't even get to say goodbye to them.

"Esther why are you crying? Are you alright?" My head shot up and I tightly wrapped my arms around Barry. Without a second of hesitation, his arms wrapped around me and he just let me cry for a moment. "Esther, you're kind of scaring me. What happened?" He let go and moved his hands up to my shoulders, examining my face to make sure I hadn't gotten hurt or something.

"Sorry, I just had a bad dream last night and I can't get it out of my head I guess." I lied. He hugged me again to make sure I was okay.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He whispered.

"No, it's alright. Where are Robin and Maurice?"

"They're still sleeping on the couches."

As if on cue, a snore was heard from the movie room. Barry and I laughed as we came up with a plan to wake them up.

"We can go dump a cup of water on their faces." I suggested. Barry nodded his head in approval as we ran upstairs quietly to get cups of water.

"Okay, I'll get Robin, you get Maurice." He ordered.

Once again, Maurice was snoozing away peacefully. He's going to be so mad at me. Slowly, I dumped the cold water onto his face. Immediately, he shot up off the couch and gasped. From beside us, Robin mirrored his exact actions. Barry and I were laughing so hard and holding onto each other for support while the twins just glared at us. I made eye contact with Maurice who was smirking at me like he did last night. Meanwhile, Robin was complaining about how he hated the feeling of having wet hair which just made us laugh harder.

When we'd finally calmed down we all sat on one of the couches tightly packed together. I don't know why we'd all decided to sit on the same couch but oh well. I was sandwiched between Maurice and Barry.

"Do you guys want to watch something on the tv?" I questioned, getting up to search for the remote.

"Sure. I'm curious to see how much the tv quality has improved." Robin remarked.

The remote to the projector was dead so I'd have to turn it on with the button on the actual projector. Just with my luck, it was right above Maurice. I was too short to reach from the ground so I had to jump up on the couch. Being the clumsy person I am, I lost my balance as I reached up and began to stumble. I braced myself for the hard fall to come but instead I landed softly in a par of arms. Maurice smiled down at me cheekily and sat me down in my seat next to Barry. With him being taller than me, he easily reached up and pressed the on button. I thanked him, my cheeks still slightly red from the moment we'd just shared. 

Pointing the remote at the receiver, I flipped through whatever was on satellite. Nothing seemed interesting. That is... until I found Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

"Hell yes! I don't care what you guys say, we're watching this!" I shouted in excitement. The boys were taken aback by my sudden outburst. "I just want to let you guys know that this is THE BEST movie franchise ever."

"Whatever you say." Robin supposed snarkily.

Luckily, the movie played from the beginning. Despite being from the '60s, the boys seemed to be just as into it as me even though I'd already seen it a gazillion and a half times. It made me so happy to find out that they're potterheads too. And probably potheads.

"Please tell me there is a second one." Robin pleaded as the movie finished. I laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, there are actually eight of them."

"No way! We have to watch them!" I chuckled at his excitement.

Just then, my stomach grumbled, signalling how hungry I was.

"Well boys, shall we find ourselves something to eat? My parents are at work all day until seven tonight. So it'll be safe to travel through the whole house."

We all got up off the couch. I jumped ontop of the couch again to shut off the projector, praying that I wouldn't fall again. Maurice laughed and held onto my waist jokingly. The sound of Robin and Barry's footsteps sounded through the halls of the basement as they ran up the stairs. Maurice stopped me and stared into my eyes again. Everytime he did this I felt as though he were melting me away. It was weird how a person could have that affect on you.

"Just so you know, I prefer the way you woke me up last night rather than how you did so this morning." He asserted, bringing up the cold water that was splashed on his face.

"I don't know. Seeing you in misery like that was pretty entertaining." I joked.

"Okay, we'll see how you like it." He said with a devilish smirk. I took that as a sign that he was going to do something mischievous, so I booked it for the stairs to escape whatever it was he was going to do. His laugh echoed through the staircase.