Brightly Grim

Lora: Family Reunion

"Are you alright?" I ask, gently touching the red mark on Damien's brow.

"Yeah, it's nothing." He says pouring us whiskey in two wide glasses.

"It was all rather scary..." I say.

"Maybe... Until everybody burst out naked to the hallway." He smirks and shakes his head.

"Yeah, it broke the tension." I reply.

"Fucked up though..." Damien says, and takes a sip.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that Cassie managed to nail her therapist."

"It's rule breaking, yes. But maybe it's not so messed up?"

"Come on Lora, it's known that patients develop feelings for their therapists. The therapist isn't supposed to go down that road."

"True, but maybe it makes sense for Cassie to be with the man she managed to open herself to."

"Maybe..." He sighs. "I hope it'll work out."

"Me too. They looked cute together. And I did notice Cassie is in an especially good mood."

"Yeah... She was suspiciously nice."

I snicker at him, and Damien smiles and kisses me. I run my hand in his hair, lashing my tongue to his.

"Ooo." John's voice snaps me around, and I see him with a big smirk smeared over his face. Stephanie gives him a smack on the shoulder.

"Don't embarrass them." She scolds, but can't help her grin.

"He mostly embarrasses himself. Thanks to you I can never hear a Johnny Cash song again."

"My pleasure brother." John pats him on the shoulder, and takes the whiskey.

"Speaking of your horrible pleasures, are you two together now?" Damien asks.

"Yes." John says, simultaneous with Stephanie's: "No."

They look at each other, and the tension takes over the room in an instant. Jesus, they're still at it?

The silence breaks by the key turning in the lock. And the front door creaks open.

"Tada!" A man in a tailored suit steps in with a spread of an arm. His pale blue eyes widen at us in surprise. He quickly runs his hand back through thinning silver hair.

A woman makes her entrance in a flutter of a deeply split, bright green dress, and long locks of black hair. It takes me a second to believe I'm seeing her standing in front of me, after getting so used to her dancing and singing in everyone's' screens. Jessica Star.

"You got to be kidding me..." Damien mutters. Stephanie narrows her eyes, and John looks as if he saw a ghost.

"Oh my god," Jessica almost yells in a high-pitched tone, runs and jumps on John. She wraps her arms around his shoulders. And she was about to do the same with her legs when John puts her down.

"Hey stud." She bites her bottom lip with a smile. I see Stephanie's eyes screaming murder.

"Jessica... And father..." John's gaze turns from the pop singer to the older man. "That's just lovely."

"No... You gotta be shitting me..." Jessica puts her hand on John's shoulder, and looks over to her companion. "Roger this is your son?"

"Yup, that's John." Roger closes the door behind him, and walks in the room. He looks from John to Stephanie, and his lips twist in a smile. "Stephanie, it's a pleasure to see you again."

"Sure Roger, you too..." Stephanie rubs her elbow, and John frowns. Roger approaches them, and reaches for the whiskey in John's hand. John moves it out of his reach.

"Don't be an ass." Roger says, with patience.

"Right back at you." John says as he hands him the bottle.

"I am just loving this!" Jessica laughs, stroking them both along the arms. Then her eyes find Damien.

"And who is this cutie?"

"My boy Damien, of course." Roger smiles, sips from the whiskey, and lights himself a cigarette.

"Your father talks so much about you!" Jessica looks at Damien with her shining eyes and her predatory smile. I kind of regret I didn't put a shirt on him.

"Really? I haven't heard from him in a year."

"Wow, so this is like a family reunion!" Jessica looks to John and brushes her fingers down his chest. "We should talk about everything..." Her red lips spread in a smirk.

"No thanks." John replies.

"Oh, I forgot you aren't much of a talker." She bites her bottom lip. Stephanie almost snatches the bottle out of Roger's hand, and takes a slow, long sip.

"So..." Roger's eyes shift to me and Damien, then back to Stephanie. "You and Damien are no longer together..."

"She's with me." John says with a firm stare at his father. Stephanie doesn't object this time.

"Oh wow, John's girlfriend." Jessica finally takes her hands off John, and steps over to Stephanie. "He's a keeper, you know."

I hope Stephanie won't lose it.

"Uh-uh." Stephanie smacks her lips. "Jessica, is it?"

"Yes, what was your name again?"

"That's Stephanie, Jessica. I told you all about her. She's absolutely amazing." Roger smirks at himself, and receives the bottle back from Stephanie.

"Ah, I must've forgot." Jessica shrugs. Her eyes fix on John again, and I notice her lips curling towards another provocation. But instead, I hear Cassie, exclaiming the same words for the second time tonight.

"What the fuck is going on here?"

"Uh-oh." Damien mutters lowly as his sister and Peter come down the stairs. "Shit's about to hit the fan."