Hopelessly Flawed

Chapter 33 - Family Affair

"Who?" He set down his phone and met her stare.

"My sister-in-law." She cheesed causing him to say "Ahh" before letting a chuckle loose.

"Come where? Here?"

"Well yeah. I can't have my eighteenth birthday party without my entire family, cuz that's what she is now, family." What she was saying sat well with her ; if Robyn could make him happy after all this time, she earned nothing but love and respect.

He wet his lips as his eyelids squinted and eyebrows furrowed, trying to dissociate her true intentions.

"Just give it a thought. Just not too long..the party is in a couple of days."

"She's a busy woman so I'm not sure she'll enjoy the last minute invite," he ran a hand through his growing beard, "but I'll ask her about it."

"Okay.." she smiled while tearing her eyes from her laptop for a split second. She was focused on whatever was on that screen.

Minutes passed, Iris was seated with her back to the headboard and Dean sat across the room so he had no idea what she was nibbling her fingernail at.

"You always used to do that," she spoke up, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Always in the headlights thinking about God knows what." She giggled before shaking her head.

"Out of us both, it's good one of us can use our head once in awhile, don't you think?"

She scoffed before throwing one of her pillows at him, only for him to catch it mid air and throw it back playfully.

Once their laughter ceased, she looked to her computer screen again then back to him before turning it.

"You also always did look like both mom and dad." Her screen showed a picture of a painted portrait of their family. "I tried capturing mom's features as best as I could..."

It was possibly the only family portrait they all had together. Yes there were modifications done to her version of the portrait but he could clearly picture the original.

It was in their last year as a whole, their mother's birthday to be precise. He remembered the day as if it happened not too long ago ; it was all still so fresh in his memory, more than a decade later.

That day, his father had cleaned himself up real nice, even sobered up and everything. He had taken them out for a picnic in the park by the lake. It was one of the best days of Dean's childhood in all honesty.

He could practically recall almost every detail of how his mom looked, how her smile radiated, what dress she wore, how happy she was with his father who was actually treating her with love and kindness, and how over the moon she was for those short-lived, bittersweet hours of her birthday.

"Mom looks great though.." she added quietly when he did not say a word in response.

Her older brother set down his device and moved closer to her computer by sitting on the edge of her bed.

It was not his intention to hurt her feelings but, he could not help but reminisce upon looking at the so similar painting. The modifications made his stomach flip. He had an idea about what her encrypted message meant.

Iris was an extraordinary artist when it came down to paintings, drawings, sketches, and anything having to do with the art of the pen, brush or dance... She must have been reluctant in showing him this.

"How long did it take?" he questioned after slowly sliding the Macbook Pro back to her.

"Couple of months..." she laughed nervously, "My longest piece yet and also my end of the year project that I've been telling you about..well, barely." She shrugged while toying with her thumbs.

Knowing her brother, his mind had most likely taken him on another planet.

The seventeen year old was not surprised at how he reacted having that she has always been aware of the burden he carries on his shoulders, regarding their belated mother.

At the time, she was young but far from stupid. He had not been the same ever since the crash..hell, she was not either.

In the digitized version of the painting, their mother was portrayed as some angel meanwhile everyone else had some sort of dark aura around them. Their surroundings had some sort of gloomy affect ; the streaks of grey enforced an uneasy vibe to it.

"That," he pointed towards the broken wing that glowed on their mother's back, "what does it mean."

"I was going through her things a couple years ago and she had all these books and stories about Angels and Demons and God..you know how religious she was."

He smacked his lips, "Well when push came to shove, where was he that night huh? Her almighty God."

She cut her eyes at him. "Don't."

She furthered as he forgot then recalled his boundaries. "Mom kept all those books in a box. I read through some of them and it just made me think that the 'Angel' in 'Angela' reflected her character. She was our guardian or..she tried her best to be. The double meaning was undeniable."

"Well..it's beautiful Ris." he smiled faintly, "She would've loved it..I just know it."

"That means more than you know."

They shared a sweet moment of silence before footsteps on the upper level were heard.

"Looks like she's here," he said as he stood up from his seating position, "we should leave before we're late."

The teen just remembered her hunger.

"Yeah good, I'm starving!"