Sitting in a living room you are not familiar with is weird. Sitting in a house you are not familiar with is weirder. Staying in a state you are not familiar with is the weirdest.
I heard Indra crying and it breaks my heart to hear her cry. I want to go up to her, but she told me to sit here. It is not my place to go there. However, I stop thinking about her when I hear door open to see some guy walk in. He is tall and broad and scary for a matter of fact. He has a bag of groceries in his hand and he looks like he just came back from work.
He looks at me for a bit. I just sit here stiffly before he walks away to all the noise. Not long after that a kid walks through the door. He has a box in his hand and he comes into the living room. He put his box down and walks over to me.
He sticks his hand out for me to shake and says. "Hi, I am Deon. What's your name?" He speaks like a robot. I am hesitant at first, but I shake his hand. "Luke." I say.
"Nice to meet you Luke. What are you doing in my house?" This kid is very straight forward and confident. He must be her step-brother. The seven year old.
"I am here with your sister, Indra." I respond. He looks shocked when I said her name. "She is here!" His eyes light up like a Christmas tree. He starts jumping with joy and takes a seat next to me on the couch. "Why are you with her?" His face goes all serious once again.
Okay stick with the title. She said you were her boyfriend. Say you are her boyfriend and do not let it get to your head. "Uh... I am her boyfriend."
"Why did you hesitate?" This kid does not even let me breath. His answers are so quick. "If you did not know I am a therapist. I am Deon 'the therapist' Benton." He looks me up and down. Am I about to get a therapy session from a seven year old?
He sits on the couch cris cross and clasps his hands together. "What are your intentions with my sister?" He leans closer to me.
"Isn't she your step-"
"What are your intentions with my sister?" He repeats himself. What are my intentions with his sister? I don't even know myself? Fake date her until I graduate I guess, but I cannot tell her brother that. "I guess my intentions are to date her." I tilt my head to the side.
He stares at me for a bit like he is torturing me for answering, but I don't have the answer. "If you did not know I can tell when people are lying." Can he really? This kid is kind of scaring me. "Do you like my sister?" I just nod. "Answer!" He leans closer.
"Yeah, yeah I do." Is this kid bullying me? I feel like I am being bullied. He gets off the couch and walks out of the living room. Thank god he is gone.
I close my eyes and relax a bit. I felt a little tense with that kid around. When I open them again he is standing in front of me with a Nerf Gun. "I also have a pistol locked and loaded."
"Why?" I ask him. "Because you are ripped and I need protection." That was the best compliment I have ever received.
"I want proper answers this time. I didn't want to do this, Luke, but you left me with no choice so I have to point a gun to your head." He states. He's got a cowboy hat on and a lot of Nerf Bullets in his other hand.
"I am going to ask you a series of questions about my sister. I want you to answer them all correctly and quickly, okay?" I just nod. I lay back waiting for his questions.
"What color are my sister eyes?"
"Green"
"What color is her hair?"
"Black."
"What color is her shoes?"
"Black" he shoots me in my shoulder. "I don't know the answer to that one." He says, reloading his Nerf Gun.
"Where is she from?"
"Denmark."
"What's her name?"
"Indra." He shoots me in my other shoulder. I got it right, why did he shoot me? He reloads his gun again. "Her full name." He stares me dead in the eye.
"Indra Stella Naese. Did you do this with Ethan?" I ask him. I lean closer to him and he gets defensive with the Nerf Gun.
He nods. "Yes, how do you know him?" I could easily take that Nerf Gun out of his hands, but he is seven and I am twenty-two. That does sound like bullying.
"He is my roommate." He shoots me in my arm again this time my shirt was not protecting me and he hit my bare skin. It feels like someone is flicking you on your arm.
"What was that for?" I ask him. He lets out a disappointing tsk and it confuses me. Why am I being asked so many questions?
"Just for fun. Why are you smiling so much?" He lowers his Nerf Gun. "Because I really like your sister." He nods.
"You can continue to date my sister." What? I have never been speechless like this before. I also have never been interrogated by a kid before, so that is a first time for both. He sits back down beside me not taking off his cowboy hat. I look at the box he brought inside, it has a sign sticking out. It is a lemonade stand sign.
I eye him for a few moments and it makes him furrow his eyebrows. "You were selling lemonade?" He nods at me. I am trying to make convo with this kid without being shot.
I hear screaming coming from the kitchen. Specifically Celestia screaming. Deon covers his ears with the palm of his hands and brings his knees up to his chest.
I try to get up to go see what is happening before he grabs my shirt. "Does this happen often?" I ask him because he seems so alert to this by covering his ears. He shakes his head and I sit back down next to him, I wrap my arm around him to bring him some sort of comfort. It is not just like I was held Nerf Gun point by him a minute ago.
Not even seconds later Celestia and Indra storm into the living room grabbing a sort of jar and walking outside of the house. I try standing up again, but Deon grabs my shirt. "Don't." He says and I hear the sound of glass shattering on the floor. I want to know everything is okay.
I want to make sure Indra is okay. I want to be there for her. However, I cannot move.
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Everything died down. All the noise, all the screaming everything went quite for a decent amount of time. Everyone seems.....good. Indra comforted Celestia when she was having a melt down on their porch. Deon is running around again. Mrs. Benton is smiling and so is Mr. Benton. However he has been giving me the side eye.
Indra is also just fine. I tried asking her if she is okay, but she just ignored me. They bought pizza and now we are all at the dining table as I force myself to eat.
"Luke what is your full name? Middle and last name?" Mr. Benton asks me. Not going to lie this is really awkward. "Luke Easton Gambit." I say nervously. He nods and turns his head away.
"So Luke, how did you meet Indra?" Mrs. Benton asks me. I am not prepared for this. I glance at Indra and she looks just as nervous as I do. "He is actually Ethan's roommate." Deon says. Everyone looks at him for a second and back to me.
"We- we had a decent conversation." I stutter. "Han er sød." Mrs. Benton winks at Indra and she looks unamused. I wish I could tell what they said, but I have no clue. How do you even pronounce that?
Indra looks at her mom and says. "Stop det." Huh? Celestia starts giggling and Mr. Benton looks just as confused as I do.
"Easton do you speak Danish?" Mr. Benton asks. Sorry, did he just call me Easton. Indra notices my confusion and says. "Jay calls almost everyone by their middle name instead of their first name... it's weird." Oh okay, that makes me feel better.
Why am I lying to myself? I hate my middle name. Who the fuck calls people by their middle name?
"No, sir." I reply nervously. He scares me more than my own dad and my dad is a cop.
"Just call me Jay." I nod at him. "If you calling him Jay you have to call me Laraine." Okay so just call them by their first names while they call me by my middle name.
Never had to do this before. I look over to Indra who is quite. So quite that it's scary. I want to reach out and touch her hand again, but Jay is terrifying me.
We finished dinner and I was about to go to my hotel while Indra stays here in her old bedroom when Laraine suggested I stay since it's so late. I was hesitant at first, but she insisted.
Jay was also hesitant however he agreed as long as I sleep on the couch.
I am finally able to lay on the couch with my phone in hand and head on the softest pillow in the world. I scroll through my phone seeing old photos I've had since high school. Scary memories yet it was the best time of my life.
Soon enough I hear a creak on the hardwood floor. I sit up straight to see Indra walk in. I quickly glance at the time on my phone as it reads 01:34. Her hair wet as she just got out of the shower. She has her pjs on, and the hoodie I gave her a while ago. It just makes my heart start hammering in my chest when I see her in my clothes.
But there is something off with her. I can't tell what it is. She just seems different. I noticed this as soon as she walked back into the house with Celestia. "Star, are you okay?" She doesn't say anything.
She looks down at her hands not moving away from the entrance. "Star?"
"Hmh?" She says looking up at me. I take a step closer to her. "Are you okay?" I ask her again. She looks like she is holding every source of power she has so she doesnt start crying. I thought we were done with that idiot of a father.
I finally stand up, taking a step closer to her and she just starts crying.
Oh shit...I don't know what to do? I instantly wrap my arms around her as she cries.
The thing I love about Indra, well one of the many things I love about her is how selfless she is. She made sure her sister, brother, mom and step-dad were okay before she could even care about herself.
"Hey, hey it is okay. You're okay, I got you. I got you, star." I try to calm, her down as I move her to the couch, never letting go of her. "How could he just abandon me like that?" She's curls up against me and her hands gripping onto my shirt. "You are strong, stronger than I could ever be. You have been doing so well for almost twenty-one years without him, why cry now?"
"I just don't understand why he would leave. Why me? Why Haven over me? I am his first daughter, but he didn't even like me." She says sadly.
Who even is Haven?
I don't like how she is degrading herself, so I take her jaw in my hands so she has no choice, but look at me. "Hey, don't do that. So what of you have a dead beat dad, he didn't deserve you anyways. Why should he be allowed to speak to such an amazing person?" I am not usually good at comforting people. It's one of my cons in life.
"It's not that. It's that, was I not good enough for him?" She asks pushing herself away from me. I pull her back to me, placing a kiss on her forehead. "Indra he was not good enough for you. You deserve so much better." I kiss the top of her forehead again as she tries snuggling closer to me.
I feel my heart skip a beat as she holds onto me. Her hand moves to my hand as she intertwines our fingers, feeling some sort of comfort. Her cries slowly get softer and her body seems to calm down as I tighten my grip on her.
Electricity runs throughout my body. There is not a single word to describe how good and bad this feels. As she relaxes more she begins to shut her eyes, falling asleep on me. I gasp, slowly adjusting myself. I slowly move her off me, getting off the couch and placing her head on the pillow before covering her with the blanket.
My body moves to the floor as I lay my head onto the hard floor. I watch her sleep and her hands search for something. I then stick my hand up for her and she yanks it. She grips onto my hand tightly before adjusting her body to get comfortable which brings a smile to my face. I love you Indra Stella Naese. I always have. I always will.
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