Snow on the Beach - S.CONKLIN

06

I jolted awake, a door closing loudly startling me. I hear footsteps and only then, do I start to open my eyes, slowly as I try to get them used to the daylight again. It's definitely morning now but I can't pinpoint the exact time. However, I can say that it's too early for the time I fell asleep last night, or we can even say this morning. I roll on my back and my eyelids finally unstuck themselves to look at the ceiling. I hear a sigh coming from the corridor and turn to see Susannah, a plate of muffins in her hands. I blink my blurry vision away and almost jump out of bed, wishing to catch up with her.

"Mom?" I yawn. Perhaps, I imagined Susannah and I'm just confused, either way, I'm blaming it on the lack of sleep. My mother puts down the plate of muffins on the counter and turns around, her eyes narrowed. She's angry.
"Morning, Noelle." She says, her tone cold as usual. Even with the sun warming my cheeks through the window, the air in between us is still freezing. I glance over the oven's clock, it's almost ten. I've succeeded to sleep five hours, more or less. "Your hair is all messy, you should probably get ready for the open house."
"I'm not helping you." She sighs, resting a hand on her hips as her head tilts in annoyance. I gaze around the house before speaking, stepping closer to whisper, "I'm going to postpone college for a year."
She scoffs, "No."
"You said that you were only selling the house to be able to sent me to Columbia, and I'm telling you that I'm not going. Not for at least a year, I'll raise the money myself."
"I'm not letting you ruin your future for some stupid house, Noelle. You're going, end of discussion."
"I already called the dean." I lie. She glares at me, her whole face is darkened by anger, her nostrils are flaring as she tries to calm down her breathing. I know she's trying to intimidate me but this is my choice, I'm not letting her sell this house for our benefit. It means too much to too many people. And me. As she takes another heavy breath, the backdoor opens, and Jeremiah and Conrad, in their beach wear, joins us in the kitchen, their eyes widening at their aunt's early presence. Conrad goes straight for her as Jeremiah stands by me, flashing me a short empathetic smile while crossing his arms.

"Boys." My mother nods, her gaze flickering between the two.
"Isn't it a bit early to start ruining people's life?" Conrad deadpans, making my mother chuckle to his sassiness.
"Like it or not, I get to choose what happens to this house and I choose to put it on the market." She sighs. "You boys should get on the road. Beat the traffic back to Boston." She adds while grabbing an empty vase and filling it with water.
"There's no chance, we're staying for the open house." Conrad firmly replies.
"Uh, no, no, no." She waves her hand to the boys, disagreeing with everything like always. "I can't have a bunch of teenagers chasing everybody away. Call your father, because this isn't an Aunt Julia problem."
"Except it is." Conrad steps forward, his hand clutching at the counter. I swear if it wasn't the only thing separating them, he might have his hands around her neck right now. He's getting angrier the more they talk and I'm worried that he might trigger another panic attack. I step forward, placing a hand on his bare shoulder, it's still wet from the ocean. "Con." I call out but he shoves my grip away, turning his head to face me. "It is her problem," He looks at my mother, now. "You are the problem."
"I don't have time for this." She sighs, grabbing the flower bouquet and putting it in the vase, leaving it on the counter next to the muffins before stepping out of the room. Conrad scoffs while twirling to face us, both Jeremiah and I give him a knowing look.

"What?" He complains, throwing his arms in the air. "I know she's your mother but-"
"She's also our aunt. Family." Jeremiah interrupts him. Conrad is now frowning. I don't want them to fight about this, my mother already came between us before, I can't let her do that again.
"Con, I know you're angry. We all are but this isn't the way. We already tried talking to her, she's not going to change her mind. Let's just wait and see what the rest of day has in store for us." I say, uncrossing my arms because I suddenly don't know why I'm protecting my mother, perhaps it's the daughter instincts kicking it, despite me. Even with all of her flaws, she's still my mother and I don't like the way Conrad just cornered her. He sighs, throwing his head back and I know he's rolling his eyes at what I just said. "One day at the time, Connie." I add in hope that this will put the hope back in his heart. "Remember she says we couldn't stay for the open house?" I smirk to him and that catches his attention, and so did Jeremiah's.
"Let's fuck some shit up." Jere rolls his tongue on his teeth, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. We both now look at Conrad, waiting for his approval on today's plan.
"Let's fuck some shit up." He snorts, the smirk on his lips growing wider the more he thought about it.