'Dude, my sister...', chapter 2
My legs swung from side to side as I stared hard at her closed door. From my bed I could see the white painted wood reflect the bright light from the hall. My bedroom door was wedged open with a shoe and I could clearly hear mom and Bradley muttering downstairs. I was frowning curiously; she'd been in there for the three hours since she'd arrived. What is she doing in there? Girls never cease to amaze me but something about her closed door bothered me. I don't know why. I just wanted to crash it open and yell something. I guess the silence from the interior wasn't very comforting.
This girl was going to be related to me in a matter of weeks and we haven't even spoken. Still, I guess then I'll never have to worry about scaring her. I continued to swing my legs from left to right, right to left, trying to conjure up a good excuse to go barging into her room. I've always been bad at giving people privacy and I've always been bad at staying still. I need to be doing something and at the moment that something is opening that door. Despite my obvious interest in her door I remained seated on my bed, rolling my tongue around my mouth thoughtfully.
It was as I was wallowing in these thoughts that her door suddenly opened. I was so used to the silence I was sitting in that it startled me to the point where I yelled out with shock. She probably hadn't been expecting to see me staring at her door and yelling as she opened it and so, she too yelped in fright. Once we'd stopped shouting and closed our mouths we stayed quite still and stared at each other. Her eyes squinted wearily as I looked at her expectantly. After a moment of acknowledgement she opened her mouth and asked,
"Where is the bathroom?" I swallowed heavily and raised my finger, pointing to the right I replied,
"The door at the end of the hall," she nodded a silent thank you, half-smiled nervously and walked out of sight. I remained seated, going over the last minute in my head. Well I bet I made an excellent second impression. My legs had stopped swinging and now I was completely still. Within the next few minutes, she re-appeared, reaching for her door handle. She obviously sensed I was still there and turned her head to make sure. I grinned and gave her a friendly wave sensing that she would probably think me weird and ignore me. For a split second I thought I'd scared her and lowered my hand slightly, but then she lifted her hand and waved back.
Queen of hearts, seven of spades, ace of clubs, king of spades, two of diamonds, two of diamonds...
"Snap!" I cried as I slapped my open hand onto the huge pile of cards littering the table.
"No, Billie Joe that's not fair," she whined childishly.
"What's not fair? Oh, you mean it's not fair that I just beat you again," I scoffed, laughing at her expression.
"Re-match," she demanded forcefully, snatching the cards from the table and shuffling them with determined fingers. I handed over the rest of my cards and watched as she scowled at me and shoved half the pack to me and kept half the pack for herself. I chuckled to myself as we began quickly flicking our cards, one after the other, into a messy pile.
King of hearts, three of clubs, five of hearts, queen of diamonds, ace of spades, nine of clubs, nine of clubs...
"Snap!" we yelled at the same time, only my hand was on the pack of cards miles before hers. I smiled confidently.
"Best two out of three," she growled.
"You sure, I'm actually feeling quite guilty now. I mean we've been playing for about half an hour now and frankly, you suck."
"Oh come on it hasn't been that long; there's not been enough time for my talent to kick in."
"You mean your talent that is non-existent?" she thumped me in the arm and continued dealing out my half of the cards.
"Ok, get ready to be whooped," She jeered.
"Whooped?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"Can't pull it off can I?" she smirked as I shook my head and flipped the first card of the game.
Queen of spades, jack of clubs, five of diamonds, ace of spades, nine of hearts, six of clubs, six of clubs...
"Snap!" I bellowed before she had a chance to open her mouth.
"Dammit," She threw her hand of cards onto the table and pulled the face of an upset child. I laughed at her as I removed my hand and pointed tauntingly in her face. She slapped my hands away and grumbled,
"I'm going to get a drink." I watched her walk from the room and set about picking up all the cards to shove back in the battered cardboard box.
And that is what happens every Sunday night. Our parents go out to some church group meeting, leaving me and Lee to have some quality sibling time. By quality sibling time, I mean that we play snap until she can't stand to be beaten any longer and then we'll talk about completely pointless stuff until we fall asleep.
Ami-lee is my step-sister, although in all honesty, the 'step' part needn't be there.
I think it's quite ironic that the only person who helped me through my mom's marriage to some crank called Bradley was in fact the crank's Kid. Lee's really my best friend; I can honestly be myself in front of her, though I don't really know why. She's special, well to me anyway, and I'm the only one she really talks to. We've got something really good going on and I don't think I'd change it for the world.
"So," she appeared in the doorway with two bottles of root beer, "senior prom's coming up, taking Chel?"
"What, don't be stupid woman, I ain't going to no prom."
"Oh come on, don't be a baby, this only happens once in your life."
"But I'm dropping out at the end of this year anyway, I can't be bothered to go all dressed up like a knob and dance to shitty music."
"You're so cynical."
"Do you even know what cynical means?"
"Not the point Beej."
"Yes it is, you can't call me something and not know..."
"The point is that your girlfriend is going to be alone and unhappy on her prom night, do you want to be the cause of that?"
"No, but can't I just take her out to dinner or somethin'?"
"What? Take a girl away from her one and only prom? You're worse than I thought," she shook her head and tutted in a motherly tone.
"You're not gunna sway me on this one Lee, I hate prom it's so lame," I grumbled and crossed my arms.
"How would you know? You've never been." She was waving her arms around.
"I don't get why you do this."
"Meh meh, meh meh meh."
"Shut up."
"You shut up."
Ok, so we sometimes have something good going on, hey we're not perfect.
"You're so pathetic."
"Me? Oh whatever Beej, you wouldn't even kill that spider on the wall."
"I just didn't want spider muck on my shoe."
"Come on, I've heard better excuses from a bathmat."
"I've heard better insults from my mom."
"That was just lame."
"You're lame."
"You're lamer."
"I think you're both equally lame," we both looked up to see Mike slouching against the door frame.
"How do you do that?" Lee asked.
"Yeah how long have you been there?" Mike chuckled,
"Hey I didn't come here for the third degree; I just wanted to see my friends." There was a second of silence before Lee broke it,
"Hey, one of us has to be at least a tiny bit lamer than the other." I laughed and pulled her into a hug,
"It's ok to be the lamest; it doesn't mean we love you any less."
"Your such a... "
"Language."
"It's really annoying when you do that."
"Your face is annoying."
"Well quite frankly, you're both annoying so I'm gunna head off." Mike stood up from his post against the door but was stopped by me,
"No, don't. Sorry dude, we're done."
"For now," Lee grumbled.
__
"Snap!"
"You've got to be kidding me," Lee groaned as Mike smiled triumphantly, "I must be the worst snap player on this planet." My friend and I nodded simultaneously. She furrowed her brow and took another sip of root beer.
"Right kid's I'm off." Mike heaved himself from the floor and turned towards the door, "'Night Bill, night Lee."
"Night," Lee yawned in return as Mike disappeared from our house. She looked back at me and smiled.
"Hey Beej, you know I love you right?"
"Yeah," I replied and glanced at her from where I was sprawled across the floor.
"Could you carry me to bed then?" I rolled my eyes.
"What, you can't say anything nice without you getting something out of it?" she shook her head.
"Urgh," I sat up and watched her bat her eyelashes.
"Don't do that, you look stupid," I teased.
"Shut up and carry me, fool." She reached her arms up to me as I slowly got up and stood over her.
"Ok, but this is the last time." I pointed at her. I slid my arms under her and lifted her off the floor with ease. She was light enough that I could shift her over my shoulder.
"That's what you said last night, and two nights before that." Her head was banging against my back and it was evident in her voice that she was upside down. I stomped up the stairs and with difficulty, opened her bedroom door. I plonked her onto her reasonably sized bed and turned to leave.
"Beej," I turned grouchily, wondering what she was going to ask me to do this time.
"You do know I love you right?" I held her gaze for a few moments, waiting for her to order me around. A smile appeared on my face as she stayed silent.
"Love you too."
This girl was going to be related to me in a matter of weeks and we haven't even spoken. Still, I guess then I'll never have to worry about scaring her. I continued to swing my legs from left to right, right to left, trying to conjure up a good excuse to go barging into her room. I've always been bad at giving people privacy and I've always been bad at staying still. I need to be doing something and at the moment that something is opening that door. Despite my obvious interest in her door I remained seated on my bed, rolling my tongue around my mouth thoughtfully.
It was as I was wallowing in these thoughts that her door suddenly opened. I was so used to the silence I was sitting in that it startled me to the point where I yelled out with shock. She probably hadn't been expecting to see me staring at her door and yelling as she opened it and so, she too yelped in fright. Once we'd stopped shouting and closed our mouths we stayed quite still and stared at each other. Her eyes squinted wearily as I looked at her expectantly. After a moment of acknowledgement she opened her mouth and asked,
"Where is the bathroom?" I swallowed heavily and raised my finger, pointing to the right I replied,
"The door at the end of the hall," she nodded a silent thank you, half-smiled nervously and walked out of sight. I remained seated, going over the last minute in my head. Well I bet I made an excellent second impression. My legs had stopped swinging and now I was completely still. Within the next few minutes, she re-appeared, reaching for her door handle. She obviously sensed I was still there and turned her head to make sure. I grinned and gave her a friendly wave sensing that she would probably think me weird and ignore me. For a split second I thought I'd scared her and lowered my hand slightly, but then she lifted her hand and waved back.
Queen of hearts, seven of spades, ace of clubs, king of spades, two of diamonds, two of diamonds...
"Snap!" I cried as I slapped my open hand onto the huge pile of cards littering the table.
"No, Billie Joe that's not fair," she whined childishly.
"What's not fair? Oh, you mean it's not fair that I just beat you again," I scoffed, laughing at her expression.
"Re-match," she demanded forcefully, snatching the cards from the table and shuffling them with determined fingers. I handed over the rest of my cards and watched as she scowled at me and shoved half the pack to me and kept half the pack for herself. I chuckled to myself as we began quickly flicking our cards, one after the other, into a messy pile.
King of hearts, three of clubs, five of hearts, queen of diamonds, ace of spades, nine of clubs, nine of clubs...
"Snap!" we yelled at the same time, only my hand was on the pack of cards miles before hers. I smiled confidently.
"Best two out of three," she growled.
"You sure, I'm actually feeling quite guilty now. I mean we've been playing for about half an hour now and frankly, you suck."
"Oh come on it hasn't been that long; there's not been enough time for my talent to kick in."
"You mean your talent that is non-existent?" she thumped me in the arm and continued dealing out my half of the cards.
"Ok, get ready to be whooped," She jeered.
"Whooped?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"Can't pull it off can I?" she smirked as I shook my head and flipped the first card of the game.
Queen of spades, jack of clubs, five of diamonds, ace of spades, nine of hearts, six of clubs, six of clubs...
"Snap!" I bellowed before she had a chance to open her mouth.
"Dammit," She threw her hand of cards onto the table and pulled the face of an upset child. I laughed at her as I removed my hand and pointed tauntingly in her face. She slapped my hands away and grumbled,
"I'm going to get a drink." I watched her walk from the room and set about picking up all the cards to shove back in the battered cardboard box.
And that is what happens every Sunday night. Our parents go out to some church group meeting, leaving me and Lee to have some quality sibling time. By quality sibling time, I mean that we play snap until she can't stand to be beaten any longer and then we'll talk about completely pointless stuff until we fall asleep.
Ami-lee is my step-sister, although in all honesty, the 'step' part needn't be there.
I think it's quite ironic that the only person who helped me through my mom's marriage to some crank called Bradley was in fact the crank's Kid. Lee's really my best friend; I can honestly be myself in front of her, though I don't really know why. She's special, well to me anyway, and I'm the only one she really talks to. We've got something really good going on and I don't think I'd change it for the world.
"So," she appeared in the doorway with two bottles of root beer, "senior prom's coming up, taking Chel?"
"What, don't be stupid woman, I ain't going to no prom."
"Oh come on, don't be a baby, this only happens once in your life."
"But I'm dropping out at the end of this year anyway, I can't be bothered to go all dressed up like a knob and dance to shitty music."
"You're so cynical."
"Do you even know what cynical means?"
"Not the point Beej."
"Yes it is, you can't call me something and not know..."
"The point is that your girlfriend is going to be alone and unhappy on her prom night, do you want to be the cause of that?"
"No, but can't I just take her out to dinner or somethin'?"
"What? Take a girl away from her one and only prom? You're worse than I thought," she shook her head and tutted in a motherly tone.
"You're not gunna sway me on this one Lee, I hate prom it's so lame," I grumbled and crossed my arms.
"How would you know? You've never been." She was waving her arms around.
"I don't get why you do this."
"Meh meh, meh meh meh."
"Shut up."
"You shut up."
Ok, so we sometimes have something good going on, hey we're not perfect.
"You're so pathetic."
"Me? Oh whatever Beej, you wouldn't even kill that spider on the wall."
"I just didn't want spider muck on my shoe."
"Come on, I've heard better excuses from a bathmat."
"I've heard better insults from my mom."
"That was just lame."
"You're lame."
"You're lamer."
"I think you're both equally lame," we both looked up to see Mike slouching against the door frame.
"How do you do that?" Lee asked.
"Yeah how long have you been there?" Mike chuckled,
"Hey I didn't come here for the third degree; I just wanted to see my friends." There was a second of silence before Lee broke it,
"Hey, one of us has to be at least a tiny bit lamer than the other." I laughed and pulled her into a hug,
"It's ok to be the lamest; it doesn't mean we love you any less."
"Your such a... "
"Language."
"It's really annoying when you do that."
"Your face is annoying."
"Well quite frankly, you're both annoying so I'm gunna head off." Mike stood up from his post against the door but was stopped by me,
"No, don't. Sorry dude, we're done."
"For now," Lee grumbled.
__
"Snap!"
"You've got to be kidding me," Lee groaned as Mike smiled triumphantly, "I must be the worst snap player on this planet." My friend and I nodded simultaneously. She furrowed her brow and took another sip of root beer.
"Right kid's I'm off." Mike heaved himself from the floor and turned towards the door, "'Night Bill, night Lee."
"Night," Lee yawned in return as Mike disappeared from our house. She looked back at me and smiled.
"Hey Beej, you know I love you right?"
"Yeah," I replied and glanced at her from where I was sprawled across the floor.
"Could you carry me to bed then?" I rolled my eyes.
"What, you can't say anything nice without you getting something out of it?" she shook her head.
"Urgh," I sat up and watched her bat her eyelashes.
"Don't do that, you look stupid," I teased.
"Shut up and carry me, fool." She reached her arms up to me as I slowly got up and stood over her.
"Ok, but this is the last time." I pointed at her. I slid my arms under her and lifted her off the floor with ease. She was light enough that I could shift her over my shoulder.
"That's what you said last night, and two nights before that." Her head was banging against my back and it was evident in her voice that she was upside down. I stomped up the stairs and with difficulty, opened her bedroom door. I plonked her onto her reasonably sized bed and turned to leave.
"Beej," I turned grouchily, wondering what she was going to ask me to do this time.
"You do know I love you right?" I held her gaze for a few moments, waiting for her to order me around. A smile appeared on my face as she stayed silent.
"Love you too."
