Inciting Investigations

Chapter 15

She had noticed that a bit. She was pretty sure that her sister had a little crush on Merica. She noticed all the telltale signs that she noticed with all of her classmates when they liked each other. Holiday always was super excited and nervous when the other girl came over even though it was never to see her. It was always to hang out with Cyrus. If Merica ever needed anything, she was the first one offering to do it, whatever it was. She constantly blushed around her. She even stuttered sometimes. Birdy kinda thought it was a bit funny.

Plus, Holiday always wanted to impress Merica, like now. Merica asked about one little thing that had to do with Jiu Jitsu, so now her sister was trying to impress the other with her lengthy knowledge on the subject. It was clear as day to her what Holiday was trying to do.

But, she sometimes thought that she was wrong. One time, she had told one of her teachers that she thought her older sister liked the other girl, but her teacher had just laughed and said she was wrong. The woman, Ms. Funin had told her that that couldn’t be true because they were both girls. Birdy had been confused at first what she meant by that.

Ms. Funin had explained to her that girls liked boys and boys liked girls, so her sister couldn’t like another girl. She had told her that her sister didn’t have a crush on Merica but that it had to be something else. Maybe Holiday looked up to her or saw her as someone fun to hang out with. So she wanted to just be close friends with the other girl.

Birdy still didn’t understand why Holiday couldn’t like Merica, just because they were both girls? She still held her silent opinions that they would be cute together if they did have feelings for each other. But they didn’t, no matter how much she thought they did.

“Wow, that’s kinda badass Anders.” Merica might also like Holiday if she liked girls. If she had been a boy, then she probably would’ve.

Birdy tried to hold back a laugh as Holiday got out of her seat to give Merica a demonstration of what the specific move that she was describing looked like. It seemed a bit awkward, and her sister blushed when one of her hands accidentally brushed one of Merica’s cheeks. Their faces had been so close together that if she hadn’t known better, she would’ve expected them to kiss.

“Alright, I think I’ve got everything. Vanilla dipped in bubblegum for Birdy, vanilla and chocolate swirl for Merica, strawberry for Holiday, and mint chocolate chip for me.” Her brother said.

That was why she had been so impatient because he was taking so long with their orders. The heat was starting to die down from the summer, and this would be one of the last days that their favorite ice cream place would be open until the spring. So, of course, they all had to go down there one last time to get their favorites before it closed down for the season.

Birdy licked the edges of her cone that was already melting in her hands before her eyes. She giggled while she watched Merica and Cyrus talk about their classes while Holiday not so subtly stared at a certain someone there. She knew that they couldn’t be together nor could they like each other, but she still found it funny to pretend and tease her sister about it.

“Why don’t you talk to your girlfriendddd instead of just staring?” Birdy smirked as she whispered the question to her older sister, who subsequently kicked her under the table.

Birdy had been doing that a lot lately, jokingly calling Merica Holiday’s girlfriend or calling Merica her future sister-in-law. Holiday always blushed furiously when she did that and gave her a death glare before returning to trying to look cool in front of the other girl.

“What are you guys whispering about?” Merica quietly budged into their conversation with a smile on her face.

“Oh nothing, just some stuff with our parents. What were you saying about your art class?” Holiday tried desperately to deflect the attention and change the subject quickly.

“Oh, our project that we’re doing now is to paint someone who inspires us to create. I was actually wondering if I could do you if you’re fine with that.” Merica looked expectantly for an answer.

“Oh yeah, I would actually be really happy with that!” Holiday beamed at the small compliment that Merica wasn’t even aware that she had given her sister by saying that she was at least one of the people that inspired her to make the amazing works of art that she did.

Birdy watched on as the conversation between the two of them continued to blossom. Talking about poses and lighting and taking pictures for reference. It was kinda nice.

“Hey, why don’t we give them a bit of privacy.” Cyrus whispered down at her and nodded his head to a tree off to the side. “Well, I don’t know about you two, but Birdy and I are getting real hot. We’re just gonna go over there and enjoy some shade. But you two enjoy your quality time together, alright.” Holiday looked at him like he was crazy for leaving her.

Her and her brother silently cackled on their way to the large tree and only let their laughs become audible when they were far enough away that they wouldn’t be heard.

The both of them crashed down in the shade that was provided by the nature around them. They laid down their thin jackets on the ground and spread out near the base of the tree. They were both propped up just slightly on the trunk so that they were sitting up just barely enough to be able to easily see her sister and Merica talking enthusiastically.

Her brother looked over at her with a bright smile lighting his lips as they continued to make fun of their sister while she stumbled over her words and became flustered in front of his friend. They both thought of it as comedy gold to see Holiday trying to act all chill and everything when they both knew she was internally dying from embarrassment.

They made funny faces at her and smiled innocently when Merica looked over. Holiday glared at them, but they didn’t stop because it was just too much fun. She still saw Cyrus’s smile out of the corner of her eye as he continued to stick his tongue out at their sister.

If Birdy had known back then what was going to happen in just a little while, only a couple of days past that point, then she would’ve done things differently. She would’ve taken longer to appreciate hanging out with her brother and seeing the way his smile lighted his still boyish face. But she hadn’t known what would happen, so she took it all for granted.

She felt like they were invincible. No one could hurt them in that moment, no one. Besides, who would want to hurt her or her brother anyway. Her brother was so nice that she couldn’t wrap her head around anyone wanting to do that. So, she just assumed that they would be safe forever. She just assumed that she would never ever have to deal with losing her brother.

Birdy sighed and looked at the clock. It was early in the morning, around four o’clock, but it didn't matter. Besides, while she was taking a stroll down memory lane, she had completely forgotten to process any of what she was actually reading, so she had just read multiple reports without retaining any information from them whatsoever. Birdy groaned in frustration.

She shut off her computer and went to bed.

(New chapter featuring Birdy's homophobic teacher!

Hope you enjoyed! Bye!)