Chapter Three #2
“Should I leave?” Xavier stands, but Lily grabs his hand and pulls him back down.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“Hey, dude,” I say. “How’s Spencer doing?”
Xavier’s grandfather, who lives next door to us, has been diagnosed with cancer, and doctors claim he only has a few years to live. It sucks so much. Spencer has always felt like a second grandfather to me and my siblings.
“He’s doing okay,” Xavier tells me with a brave smile. “Some days are good, some days are bad. But overall, he’s doing all right.”
“That’s good to hear. How was book club, Lily?”
Her eyes light up. “It was awesome! We finally finished that fantasy book and started a Regency. Finally. The hero and heroine are sooooo sweet together.” She spends a short while gushing about the book. I don’t care for Regencies, but I love how animated Lily gets.
“I’m glad you found another book to love,” I say. “Where’s Liam?”
“He went over to Chloe’s. They’re going to cook dinner together.”
“I hope we get to eat some.”
“Duh. They’re cooking for both of our families.”
“Neat.” I grin. “Can’t wait. The two of them cooking together is like…”
“Fireworks,” Lily says with bright eyes. “And they got even better once they got together.”
“Yeah, yeah. The love they have for each other seeps into the food they create together. It’s totally romantic.”
Sibling Two gives me a face. “It is totally romantic. Ugh, Evie, do you even have a romantic bone in your body?”
“I prefer to put all my love into my art.”
She shakes her head with a frown. “Your love is wasted on your art. If you’d love a guy as much as you love your art, you would be the happiest girl on the planet.” She says to Xavier, “I’ve never seen anyone so passionate before. Imagine all that passion put into a guy instead.”
Xavier nods. “That would be great.”
“Hello? Standing right here. And that’s nonsense, little sis. I don’t need a guy.”
“Of course you don’t need one. But it’s amazing to have one. Because being in a relationship?” She locks her fingers with Xavier’s and kisses the back of his hand. “There’s nothing as awesome and beautiful as it.”
Xavier smiles and rubs her nose with his.
“Uh huh. Pass on that one. Now, can I go back down and leave you two here alone, or do I need to call Willow to set up a spy camera?”
With a scowl, Lily reaches for the remote and turns on the TV. “You can go down. Xavier and I will watch a movie or something.”
“Okay, cool. No kissy face, got it?”
“Whatever,” Lily grumbles, still with that scowl.
I grab a water bottle from the fridge and disappear back into my studio. I finish the painting and start working on another one. Again, I have no idea how much time passes until I hear footsteps coming down the stairs.
“Evie?” Mom calls.
I turn my head and find her pushing her way through all my stuff.
“Evie, you really need to clean this place up before you leave for college. It’s so cluttered I can barely see where I’m going.”
I wave my hand. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll get around to it at some point.”
Mom sighs as she stands next to me with a bag. “You need to try to be cleaner, sweetie. You can’t be this messy in your dorm room, especially when you have a roommate.”
“The idea is to scare her away with my mess and then I’ll have the room all to myself.”
She gives me a look.
“I’m just kidding. I’ll try to be less messy.”
“I bought your favorite snack.” She passes me a bag of gummy worms.
“Sweet, thanks!” I pry it open and reach for one, trying not to get paint on it. I almost swallowed paint a few years ago, and Mom and Dad almost lost their heads.
“This painting is beautiful,” Mom says as she admires it. “Is that Dad’s motorcycle?”
“Yep.” I nod to the photo attached to the corner of the canvas. It’s a picture of Mom and Dad making out on Dad’s bike shortly after they were married.
Mom’s eyes widen. “How did you find it?”
I chuckle. “Uncle Zane gave it to me. See the sunset in the background? The way it kind of casts a halo around the two of you? It’s gorgeous.”
Mom’s face softens as she takes it in. “I didn’t know he took this. It brings back so many memories.”
Her eyes get a little unfocused, as though she beamed herself to the past, when she and Dad met in high school and fell in love.
When she gets like this, she can be gone for hours, just reliving her amazing years.
She and Dad tell us so many stories of their past, though I think I can attribute that to Lily.
She’s constantly begging for more info. But now that she has a love story of her own, she’s not as insistent as she used to be.
When Mom finally returns from her journey to the past, she leans forward to kiss the top of my head. “The painting is beautiful, sweetie.”
“Thanks.”
“Don’t forget to do your homework. Remember, you have an essay due. It needs to be in my inbox before midnight tonight.”
I try not to groan. I may have missed an assignment or two over my high school career, and Mom has always given me crap about it. She doesn’t want to treat her kids any differently than her other students. Which is totally fair. Still sucks, though.
I salute. “Aye, aye, cap’n.”