Hard to Get

Eurydice {1} December 4

"Hey, Mom!" I called, taking off my winter jacket and scarf.

"Kitchen," she called back.

I removed my boots and walked to the kitchen. I hugged my mom as she did dishes.

"How was school?" she asked after planting a kiss on my cheek.

"It was good, I guess. Hey, is Lucas coming home today still?" I asked as I grabbed an apple.

Mom nodded. "I just got off the phone with him, he's less than ten minutes away." She was excited, but I rarely got along with my brother.

I giggled. "Do you think he has a college girlfriend yet?" I wondered aloud, and my mother huffed.

"Althea Margaret Petrakis, when your brother walks through that door, I want you to be nice. You two haven't seen each other since last summer." My mom and I usually got along amazingly; just not when I was teasing my brother.

I rolled my eyes. It wasn't my fault he didn't come home for Thanksgiving. She favored him in most disputes, though, while I was Dad's favorite; his moró, his baby. My father was raised in Patras, Greece until my grandpa got a job opportunity in the States when my dad was fifteen. He met my mom at school, she was his tour guide around the school.

Now, my brother was nineteen and in college, I was seventeen, but my birthday was coming up later, after the holidays. My parents were still deeply in love, and only ever fought about mundane issues. They owned a gym together, but my mom only went in when the receptionist was out for one reason or another.

"So, today in poetry, Ms. Todd was droning on about Edgar Allan Poe for the twenty-third time this month, stuff I already knew, obviously, and Luz threw a piece of paper at my head so hard that I accidentally said ow out loud. So Ms. Todd picks up the paper, right, and she reads it. Do you know what Luz wrote? 'You look like that girl fish from Shark Tale, the gold digger'. Obviously, she didn't get a detention or anything, but she gave her the note back and when she turned her back I started laughing, but you know, quiet, but my face was so red," I ramble as I pulled out my phone to show her the picture that my best friend took of me.

My mom chuckled. "You have a nice laughing face, even if you are crimson. Send that to me," she said.

"Don't post it on Facebook," I pleaded. I messaged the picture to her and then she winked at me.

I pulled out a stool to tell her about the new school gossip – one of the volleyball players got caught with weed in her car, and one of my acquaintances from the school musical got a girl pregnant even though he's a born again Christian – but just as I sat down, there was a knock at the door. Mom jumped out of the stool she was on and all-but ran to the front door.

"Lucas!" I heard my mom shout happily but muffled. I sighed and figured I should greet my brother before I went to the basement for my workout. I didn't anticipate getting a moment to talk to my mom until Lucas went back to school in January.

"Hey, Lu- Wait, who are you?" I asked, as I saw an unfamiliar face standing next to my brother. His hair was curly and dark brown, and his eyes, well his eyes were gorgeous, no was around that. The most beautiful eyes I had ever seen; dark brown, russet, a twinge of red hit the light.

"Thea, this is my friend from school," Lucas introduced. "Cos, this is my little sister, Thea."

He smiled, and I noticed his two front teeth were slightly crooked. "Hello, I'm Cos," he  began. "Cos Traka."

Mom nudged me with her shoulder, "It's very nice to meet you, Cos. Are you Greek, if you don't mind my asking?"

He chuckled, and I watched his shoulders bounce. "Yes, Lucas mentioned you were perceptive, Mrs. Petrakis."

"Lucas didn't mention a plus one."

They all looked at me, Cos and Lucas, unaffected, and my mother widened her green eyes, silently scolding me. "Did I not fill you in, Thea? He told me on the phone."

"Sorry, Thea, I figured Mom would let you know. I didn't think it was that important to you," he chuckled, coming over to give me a hug. Just when I thought maybe college changed him, he reverted right back to his asshole self. I hugged back regardless; he was still my brother, and I had missed him.

"I really hope it's no imposition, ma'am. Lucas offered after I told him I couldn't get a flight back to Greece for the holidays."

My mom waved him off, sympathetic. "We have plenty of room, Cos, it's no problem. Lucas has a pullout under his bed."

Cos smiled and thanked her.

"I'm just gonna show him around, Mom, we'll be back down in a little," Lucas kissed her on the cheek and the two boys struggled with their bags up the steps.

I noticed an antique looking bag that I had never seen before resting on the floor. "That must be Cos's. I'll go bring it up to Lucas's room," I thought out loud.

"Play nice," Mom chided, returning to the kitchen to get dinner ready.

I gingerly grabbed the bag; I didn't want to rip it or damage it. I made my way up the stairs and opened my big brother's door.

"What?" he asked when he noticed me. He had been setting up Cos's bed when I entered.

"There was another bag downstairs, I brought it up," I replied.

Cos beamed. "Oh, thank you, Thea. I didn't even notice I had left it." He took it.

"It looks old, is it?" I asked, trying to obey my mother.

He smiled. "Very. It was my great-grandfathers. He was an architect, he carried every plan he ever worked on in this bag. I use it to carry my drawing pads." He placed the bag down next to his others. "Thank you, again." he reiterated and grabbed the pillows to help Lucas.

"Anything else?" Lucas asked.

I shook my head and walked to my room, even though I had more questions. I closed the door behind me when I got in and the scent of cinnamon and mistletoe hit me like Santa's sleigh. It didn't feel like Christmas without Ben.

I pulled out my phone and called Roni, my best friend.

"Ello, love," she said in a God-awful British accent. It made me chuckle.

"Hey, Veronica," I sighed, sad once more.

She groaned. "Veronica? What is this, Heathers? You'd totally be Heather Duke if it were, by the way." Roni was just as much of a theater nerd as I was. She noticed I hadn't responded, so she asked, "You're thinking about him again, aren't you?"

"It just doesn't feel like the holidays without him, Roni."

"Do you want me to come over? We can watch Harry Potter or something, aren't we on The Goblet of Fire?" she suggested, kindly. As silly as she was, she had the kindest heart ever.

I smiled. "Yeah, why not. Let's invite Luz and Chanel, you can spend the night," I began.

I texted my mom, 'Can the girls spend the night?' and she texted back almost immediately with the thumbs up emoji.

"'Kay, you can come, see you guys later, love ya!" I said, excited to see them again, even though I just saw them at school.

She kissed the speaker and hung up, and I quickly texted the girls to see if they could come. They texted that they'd be over before dinner; they loved my parents' cooking.

I put on a sports bra and sweat pants – as well as my sneakers – to head to the basement for some quick exercise before my friends arrived. Just as I cracked the door open, I slipped a zip-up over my sports bra; I had forgotten about Cos.

(Word count: 1358)