Rainy Days

Chapter Sixty-Three: So, This Is, Like, Terrible

But now, with the sun drifting overhead and nearly everyone awake—the sounds of the stove and the teapot could he heard from the kitchen—Ron was still in his room.

Five took a deep breath, cursed everyone he'd ever met, and crossed the hallway quickly.

"Ron?" He called out, knocking gently on the door. "Are you awake?"

"Go away," Ron said. "I'm not in the mood for talking."

"Fine," Five scowled and sighed, grabbing the doorknob and yanking it open. Ron scrambled, pulling his shirt down and glaring daggers. Five gaped.

"Stop fuckin' staring," Ron hissed. "Yeah, I've got boobs. So what?"

"You—you know what?" Five took a step further and Ron folded into himself, brown eyes cutting around the room. "That's unimportant. What is important is your brother. He's like, really fuckin' upset because you're hiding away and not talking to him."

"Well, I'm not gonna talk to him. He should've told me about you guys! He shouldn't have hidden it all away!"

"I agree," Five said. "I do, Ron, I do. But Jordan feels terrible. He didn't talk at all last night. Even if you're mad at him, you have to get out of your room. Go eat breakfast with us, take a shower, sit in the living room and brood—whatever, Ron, just come out of your room."

Ron frowned and the two stared at each—both eyes, rolling hills of meadow green and the lush dark brown of dirt after rain, met and clashed like boxers fighting in the ring.

"Fine." Ron said through gritted teeth, shoving his way past Five. "But you're a dick."

"I'm aware," Five replied, but a small, relieved smile crossed his face. He followed Ron down into the kitchen.

"Ron!" Jordan exclaimed, smiling like an idiot. "You're awake!"

"Don't shit your pants," Ron grumbled, grabbing a piece of toast from Allison. "I'm still not talking to you."

"Okay," Jordan said, but he was still smiling. "Okay."

Five went over to Jordie and slipped his hand into the others, their fingers interlacing.

~{}~

The soapy water felt good to Allison. It reminded her of summer days, watching Klaus and Diego plot against Luther while Ben, Five and Vanya sat on the grass and talked about celebrities or music and she sat inside with Mom, helping her clean up before running up to join he siblings.

"Here," Klaus deposited a few more plates into the gray water, splashing a little onto her. "Ronald McDonald found these in the living room."

Allison sighed. Her memories of warm summer days where replaced by the drizzly cold of April outside, and all but one of her siblings helping to clean the house up.

"We got lucky that my mom didn't explore the house," Jordan said from his position on the floor; he was scrubbing the blood from the kitchen tile. "If she saw any of this? We'd be so fucked."

Allison scoffed and continued scrubbing away at the dirty plates.

"Attic is finished!" Ben announced as he and Luther run downstairs. They stand proudly next to each other with matching grins—both of them look gross from dirt and dust and sweat. Jordan laughs.

"How much did you clean up there?" He asks. Ben shrugs.

"We may or may not have cleaned the entire attic." He admitted. Jordan laughed again, smiling up at them.