Even More Grump

Chapter Two

Chapter Two: A New Day

Things went better the first night than she thought they would. Even with Arin and Danny yelling and laughing while they filmed, she slept peacefully for a long time. In the morning, Suzy came with a cup of tea and inquired about whether or not the young Hanson wanted breakfast. She sat up, smiling at the beautiful woman that was her brother’s wife and shook her head, thanking her for the tea. Suzy smiled back and left her to it, telling her she was going to finish her laundry.

“Suzy,” she squeaked, “I can do my laundry, don’t worry about it."

“It’s no problem.” She shrugged, “I’ve already gotten it started anyway.”

Arin’s sister shrunk down a little. “Alright then, thank you.”

Suzy smiled and continued on her way. She listened to the quiet around her from a long time, wondering if Danny had gone home or if he and Arin were passed out in the living room from gaming all night. She slowly climbed out of bed and shuffled off to investigate. She sipped her tea and smiled to herself, taking in the warm invigorating scent and the peacefulness of the house so early in the morning. Mochi and Mimi scurried around, paws pattering across the floor. She grinned to herself and gazed around. The boys didn’t appear to be in the Grump room, and she wasn’t about to go barging in to Arin and Suzy’s bedroom. Instead, she went and sat in the kitchen and finished her tea before cleaning up the few dishes that had been left behind presumably from the boys last night.

“What are you up to?” Arin’s voice startled her, causing her to drop a plate in to the sink and splash herself with soapy water. This caused Arin’s laughter to break out loudly in the morning air, crushing the silence.

She glared, “thanks a lot.”

“Oh don’t be like that,” he moved passed her to grab a drink from the fridge, “how’re you feeling?”

“Fine.”

Arin sighed, smile dropping from his face. Just fine? She still insisted on keeping what was going on to herself. She was never like that when they were kids and it bothered him. She would usually tell him if she had a problem, she was always outspoken and would tell anyone if she had a problem. Arin knew his sister was not the type to keep something that bothered her to herself, she was a lot like him but it didn’t seem that way anymore. Sure she had grown up now, but she was still his baby sister and he expected nothing less of her. It was frustrating, giving her this so called ‘time’. She could be sad and still tell him about it, couldn’t she? Why did it have to be so frustrating and hard to get anything out of her? She talked to Suzy just fine, and Dan nonetheless. What was it about him that made her suddenly so closed off.

“Arin,” her voice brought him from his thoughts for a moment and he looked up. “Just drop it for now, okay? I told you I needed some time to just get it out of my system alone. You can worry about me and everything but don’t expect I’m just going to spill my shit to you.”

“I don’t know why you won’t.”

“Because I’m an adult and I can handle my own problems. I just need you to be my brother right now, but my brother who doesn’t bug about my issues. You don’t know how much it means that you’re letting me stay here right now, and I’m sorry if I’m pissing you off or whatever, but I just wanna have some time to myself and I just got back. Can’t we have a week where we don’t worry about problems and just enjoy each other’s company?”

Arin put an arm around her and tucked her in to his side. “Alright, you got it kiddo.”

“I really missed you, Arin.” She muttered against his shoulder, closing her eyes as she leaned in to his one armed embrace.