Diane Young [Camp NaNoWriMo July 2014]

Diane Young [15]

15

I wasn't surprised when Elijah West kissed me.

We were sitting in his happy place, and I had just convinced him to try and eat a strawberry on a graham cracker. Obviously he enjoyed it, they were delightful. He gave me a tuna and ham sandwich which I ate gladly, considering I was still very hungry.

"What did your mom think of the vase?" I asked him.

"She hated it and proceeded to fill it with ugly flowers."

"How lovely."

And then he kissed me.

It wasn't anything special, nor was it anything ordinary. God forbid anything Elijah did to be ordinary. It was just simple, sweet and soft, and I guess, quite lovely.

When he moved away, we acted as if nothing had changed, but something in the air had definitely changed. I guess the sexual tension that he claimed was always in the air had dispersed - only a little bit - and we were more relaxed.

What did surprise me was the fact that he did it again before he left me at my apartment. I was in the middle of an anti sexism rant geared towards every gender, and he literally stopped me just so he could kiss me. Which sparked off another section of my rant, but whatever.

"Diane Young, I'll see you tomorrow." He interrupted once more and turned around to leave.

"Elijah West! Don't tell me you don't -" he put his hand up and waved, still not turning around and I rolled my eyes. "Forget it."

I opened my door and went to turn on the lights, except that switch was already turned on. This meant that my mom was home, which couldn't be, because it was only five.

"Ma?" I called out anyway. The blaring noise of the TV echoed out through the house and I suddenly knew who it was. "Ruben?"

In the living room, my brother sat on the arm chair, comfortably watching an episode of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. His keyboard was already set up, the bag discarded in the corner. He saw me only when I stepped in front of the television.

"Ah! Dia, I didn't hear you come in!" He said, standing up and giving me a big tight hug. I grinned into his chest.

My brother was six years older than me . He was blonde, skinny and practically a giant as he stood at six foot something - I never bothered remembering exactly the height. The last time I'd seem him was Christmas because his job meant he couldn't come home for Easter. I didn't even know what he did, but it was probably important.

"What are you doing back?"

"My company has given me a job at a musical in town! It's going to run for just over a year, so I'm here until next summer!"

"That's great, Roo?"

He ruffled my hair. I asked him if he was hungry and offered to make some pasta.

The next day, my brother was up before I was. He demanded we go and have a movie day at the theatre and see as many as we could before my mom got home. He also had to start working the next night and claimed he'd need as much rest as possible the next day which is why we couldn't go on a movie binge then. I thought about Elijah before agreeing. He wouldn't mind. He had Duke and his sister to play with.

I wondered if I should tell him though, but I didn't, because he'd probably rope into one of his maniac schemes. Besides, I wanted to spend time with my brother.