E T H A N
October 6th
"I'm back," Ethan called, trying to close the door behind him with his foot because his hands were currently occupied with heavy bags full of groceries. An apple fell out and on the floor, rolling down the halway. Ethan huffed in annoyance, blowing a loose strand of hair out of his eyes. The Seong-Sibling-Pact-For-Grocery-Shopping stated that the loser of rock-paper-scissors had to do said shopping. Either he was on a really bad losing streak or Lillie had cheated in some form or another, because Ethan had done the shopping for two weeks in a row. But then again, how could you cheat in a game of chance?
Speaking of which, the other resident of the apartment was nowhere to be seen. Typical. Ethan unloaded the bags onto the kitchen counter and went to look for his sister.
"Lillie? You home?"
Rounding the corner to the living room, he found her sitting on the couch in sweats, loose hair and crying over Pride and Prejudice. With how much money she spent on her make-up, you'd think she'd care about ruining it more.
"Hey, Sadako," Ethan called and stepped in front of the tv, "How about you come help me put back the-" he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw what she held between her hands. "Is that my chocolate chip mint ice cream? Damnit, Lillie!"
She looked up from the remains of the stolen ice cream and shrugged. "You bought more at ALDI, right? Where's the problem?" She shoveled another scoop of ice cream into her mouth.
A muscle in Ethan's jaw twitched. One that only ever twitched when his older sister was involved, so he took a few deep breaths. In and out. In and out. In and out...
"The problem is," he elaborated through grit teeth, "I thought there was one full tub left, so I didn't buy a new one." He snatched it out of his Lillie's ice cream stealing claws, an action that was met with a whiny protest. "How did you eat the whole thing in only thirty minutes?"
Sulking, Lillie crossed her arms over her chest. A bit of ice stuck to her nose, making it hard to believe that she was already twenty-seven. "What, like it's hard? Besides, I had a rough day, okay? Not like I expect a Gemini to understand my Cancer moods," she muttered.
Ethan rolled his eyes. While his sister was obsessed with zodiac signs and horoscopes and whatever else there was, he himself didn't know too much about it. Even if Lillie acted like he did. What was cancer mood even supposed to mean?
His question was answered, when his gaze fell on the fresh flowers on the coffee table. They were sitting in a glass of water. Not a vase. A glass. Because Lillie was currently using all their vases for all the other flowers she kept buying from the small shop downtown.
There was one reason and one reason only for Lillie's cancer moods.
"What, your crush wore tight jeans today?"
Lillie made something akin to a choking noise, as if only the thought of Marisol in tight jeans could stop her heart from working properly. "Worse!" Dramatically, she draped herself over the armrest of the couch. "She had this really cute flowy dress and this cute-ass headband. With flowers! And her lipstick matched them."
Ethan sighed. "A tragedy, truly." He went back to the kitchen where the groceries still waited.
"You don't get it," Lillie said, ending her performance of a dying swan to get up and follow him. "You've never been in love."
Ethan's muscle twitched again. Lillie really had a talent for getting under his skin without even trying. But he didn't want to discuss this again, so he swiftly changed the topic. "You wanna go out tonight?" Lillie stuck her head into one of the bags and rummaged through it.
"Damn, you really didn't bring back up ice cream." Her head appeared again. "And no, I don't feel like going out tonight." Another dramatic sigh followed.
Ethan did what he did best; roll his eyes at his sister's antics.
"So you'd rather stay here and mope because of your probably unrequited crush?"
"Yes."
"I don't get it. You haven't even talked to her."
"Yes, obviously. You just don't understand," she whined. "She is so pretty. Like, so, so pretty. Beautiful. And breathtaking. Breathtakingly beautiful. I can't just go and talk to her, I wouldn't even know what to say. Her beauty straight up short circuits my brain." She paused. Ethan thought he might know what would come next. "Probably the only straight thing about me." There it was.
Ethan snorted. This was ridiculous. His sister was ridiculous. And yet, he still somehow put up with her. He'd even moved to London for her. Heck, he'd moved in with her. And somehow he hadn't lost his mind - yet.
He pulled an apple out of the bag and put it on her head. "If every beautiful woman would short cut your brain, you'd never be able to use it."
Lillie pursed her lips in thought, not bothered by it. "True," she hummed. "But Marisol is the one! My one true love. It was love at first sight." With another sorrowful sigh she placed the apple in the bowl with the others.
Ethan didn't believe in love at first sight.
Attraction, yes, and sure, he believed that people could grow to love, really love someone, but not right away. It took time to get to know and trust someone. It took time to see all their sides; the light ones, the greyer ones, and the dark ones. It took time to discover all their dirty secrets and hidden skeletons and learn to accept them regardless.
For Ethan, at least, that was what love was about.
If you asked Lillie, she'd ramble about every romantic trope and cliché under the sun. You would get to hear that love was all about intense eye contact from across a room full of people. That time stopped, sparks flying and turning into whole damn fireworks when two star-crossed lovers finally shared their long awaited first kiss. She'd finish it up with something about your foot popping, whatever the hell that was supposed to mean.
After living with Lilly for 15 years, Ethan had seen his fair share of cheesy rom-coms and apparently tear inducing historical dramas. From A Cinderella Story to Zombieland - if you could call that a romance movie -, he'd seen it all. And after all these years of watching Hollywood's sometimes bizarre portraits of love, Ethan could say one thing: Love at first sight was, in fact, not real.
He told his sister as much, but it was a fruitless effort. And because he actually didn't want to see his sister mope around for the rest of the evening, he made a change of plans.
"Guess I'll go to Pip Dreams-your favorite club-alone then." That piqued her interest. "While I have fun without you, enjoy crying over Elizabeth."
"First of all; it's PipeDream, doofus." She narrowed her eyes at him. "And you wouldn't dare!"
"Like I wouldn't dare to read your diary back in middle school?"
"You read my diary?" she hissed.
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't." Ethan shrugged. "You wanna try me on going alone to the club then?"
Lilly made a shocked but very fake gasp. "Betrayed by my own brother!"
But she was already sashaying towards the bathroom. "I'll be ready in thir- forty...I'll be ready in fifty minutes."
Ethan grinned. Sometimes Lillie made it way too easy to ...'gently' point her in the right direction.
The bathroom door slammed shut and Lille yelled: "You know what, make it an hour. Also, don't think I don't know you're trying to manipulate me. You're years too early to trick your great big sister, Lillie Soeng!"
Ethan's grin fell and the muscle twitched again. He just flipped off the door - and Lillie behind it.
A few hours later Ethan already regretted his decision. It was a chilly October night, and the queue in front of PipeDream seemed to be endless. Lillie had mentioned that the club was very popular, especially with the LGBTQI+ community, but Ethan hadn't thought it would be this popular. Now he was here, proved wrong, and the queue seemed endless and it was cold. Screw that, it was almost freezing.
Lillie didn't seem that bothered, although she was shifting from side to side, most likely to keep at least somewhat warm.
"How long do you think it'll take?" Ethan muttered.
His sister shrugged. "A bit, I guess."
'A bit' turned into twenty minutes, and then into thirty. When only four other people were in front, Ethan checked his phone again. They'd been waiting for 45 minutes, but at least now there was the end in sight. He sighed in relief.
Ethan looked up when the people ahead started complaining someone had just cut the line and the bouncer had let them through. All Ethan could catch was a mop of unruly sandy curls that disappeared through the door.
"Who was that?"
"One of the regulars," Lillie mused. "Happens sometimes. This place is like a huge family for some, so there might be some nepotism, if you wanna call it that. But hey, we're almost in anyway."
They showed their ID's to the bouncer who just nodded. He hadn't much height on Ethan, but his entire posture and aura made him quite the intimidating guy.
Ethan followed Lillie to what appeared to be the coatroom. A pale looking kid with bags under his eyes took their coats and handed them small metal plates with numbers in return. They were close to the dance floor now and the bass thrummed through the walls.
Lillie grinned at him and wiggled her eyebrows and Ethan smiled back. Time for a fun night out with his sister!
HELLO BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE. If you liked what you've read, please don't forget to vote or comment. That can make a little bookmoth's day ;)
xx Motte