Hearts and Headstands

Chapter 2

"Children! I require your presence." David's mom's voice echoed through his and Alexis's room, which wasn't that hard since there was a door adjoining their room with their parents'. A cozy, little, nightmare-fueled, Brady Bunch setup.

"Ugh." Alexis threw her magazine on her bed. "Can't you come in here? I'm busy."

"Reading about skincare routines for people in their thirties? I've noticed some new, um, texture around your eyes." He waved a finger around his own eyes. "Good to catch it before it gets more out of hand. I'd be happy to share my nine-step routine with you." David resumed swiping through vendors at the Elmdale farmer's market to try and find a diamond among a pile of shitty coal. He bit the inside of his cheek when Alexis groaned. She was so easy to irritate.

"I am the elder in our family dynamic and it is customary that you acquiesce to my request."

David and Alexis parroted an eye roll as they pulled themselves from their twin beds separated by a lamp whose shade was the color of nicotine stained teeth.

They reached the open doorway separating their rooms at when David tried to walk through, the doorway slammed into his shoulder.

Alexis shouldered him out of the way and went through the doorway first. "Ladies first."

The corners of his mouth turned down and he gestured with a flourished hand, muttering, "After you."

"Do either of you have a ring light?" His mom sat at her make-shift vanity and adjusted Monique on her head.

David looked at Alexis and gave an annoyed shake of his head. "Sure, when we had ten minutes to pack our most precious belongings, that was the second thing I grabbed after my tripod."

His mom sighed. "There's no need for your weaponized sarcasm. My agent emailed an audition and the lighting in this room is worse than a troll's underpass hideaway."

Alexis dropped into a chair at the plain wooden table. "What's the audition for?"

"I don't know. She said she would be emailing details soon. Maybe it's a one-woman show on Broadway. I've wanted to revisit Patty Hearst's story." She looked wistfully in the distance then her eyes clouded over. "I'm open to anything except an ad for one of those devices elderly use to call for help when they've lost the battle with being vertical. I shall not stoop to that level."

"Obviously," Alexis said as she checked the ends of a chunk of her hair.

David felt a buzz in his hand and he looked at his phone.

Hi David, I'm Patrick (Wendy's step-nephew). She gave me your number and said you might be looking for some business support.

David scoffed. Business support? Hardly. More like bribing him to get some sort of résumé cred for her just-out-of college relative. He was probably twenty-three and drank energy drinks all day so he could vape all night. David's nostrils flared. He probably smelled like Axe body spray.

"Why do you look like you were forced to wear Crocs?"

David slowly turned his head toward Alexis and stared at her with wide eyes. "First, how dare you even throw out something that horrific into the universe." He closed his eyes for a moment to clear the offending thought from his mind. Disgusting, rubber shoes. Even worse than rubber sheets.

"Did another one of your faux friends uninvite you to a soiree?" His mom puckered up her lips as though she had sympathy to offer him.

David glared at his mother. "My friends are real, thank you very much."

Alexis and his mom looked down at their hands. Ouch. Maybe the texts and phone calls had dried up a bit, but they were still his friends. Friends who appreciated each other's space.