The hospital was eerily quiet and the silence was eating me up from the inside. We were waiting for the doctor to come out with the results. George was sitting with his head in his hands, shaking due to silent sobs. I let him be. Mom used to tell me, if you're sad let it all out because bottled emotions will rot you from the inside.
After what seemed like hours of waiting -
"Mr. Kroft?"
False alarm, I think and sink back into my chair.
"Yes?" The cracked voice of George asks. I look up in shock. Oh well, I was on a first name basis with them.
"Your wife is stable now. Just try not to take her out for tiring activities when it's cold, given her condition." He warns and walks away.
"Condition?" I ask, hoping I'm not prying.
"Oh it's nothing too serious, she has a lung condition but it only gets bad if it's cold out. We didn't think last night was all that cold though." He shrugs and walks into Haley's room. I wait outside for a couple of minutes before going in.
"Hey sweetie, you're still here." She beams up at me.
"Well, I couldn't just abandon you." I reply with a smile.
"I'm sorry scaring you like that." She says to George. He runs his fingers through her hair and gives her a peck on her lips. I let out a silent sigh, I hope someday I'll have something like this.
_______
"Tidy up fast!" Mom shouts from the kitchen.
"I swear Mum turns into Godzilla every time Nana comes home. Look at poor Shane slaving around." Cole says in a hushed tone. Jesse snickers at his comment. I stop dusting to look at Shane with a broom and dustpan, he had a bandana around his head, the sight was comical.
I saunter over to him and tell, "Cinderella, scrub the floor once you're done sweeping."
"Not funny Mel." He deadpans.
"I thought it was." Jesse says, after another fit of laughter.
"I don't understand why we had to come when you're grandparents are coming over for the weekend." He huffs, bending down to sweep under the couch.
"Because we're family." His Mum shouts from the foyer. She was wiping down all the artifacts Mum had put on display, which had caught dust over the years.
Shane mumbles something under his breath and continues sweeping. I plop down next to Dad. "What are you supposed to be doing?" I ask.
"Supervising." He states and continues to look around, laughing at everyone occasionally.
"Mum." I shout. Dad quickly jumps to his feet and grabs my duster, dusting off an imaginary spider web.
"What?" Mum answers, popping her head out from the kitchen.
"Wouldn't all this be easier if we had a vacuum cleaner?" I ask.
"And throw away the delight of seeing your kids do some hard work? I think not. Besides, the age old way of cleaning is good exercise." She says, sounding just like Nana. She then narrows her eyes at me. "What are you doing?"
"I'm supervising." I shrug and turn to Jesse, "Stop whipping the lamp with that cloth, dust it properly."
He sticks his tongue out at me and continues to whip at the lamp from a feet away. I shake my head and look at Shane trying to sweep around Dad who was dusting the corners of the ceiling. He swept and a few seconds later came back to another pile of dust. I muffled my laughter and turned to Cole, "Well atleast someone is doing proper work."
All heads turn to me simultaneously. "What?" They gasp together. Then they narrow their eyes at me, taking threatening steps forward. "Who put you in charge?" They ask together again.
"Me. Surprising how all of you are in sync." I say, as I pull my feet up to put more distance between me and the intimidating men. They continue to move forward. They point the dusty artifacts at me and come towards me.
"Let's see how you get out of this situation." Shane smirks.
I lie down on the couch, smirking up at them. "Let's see you explain to Mum how the couch got dusty." I taunt. They look at me for a couple of seconds and then turn to continue their work.
_____
"Finally!" I say looking around the house. It was glistening.
"You contributed absolutely nothing." Dad states.
"I did the cleaning before you took the duster from me. And who do you think sacrificed herself by making sure no dust fell of the sofa?" I retort. All that hard work and no one appreciates me. Sigh.
"Standing with the duster and playing Star Wars with Ari doesn't count as work. Also, the couch can fend for itself." Cole shot back at me. He is grumpy when tired. Spoil sport.
"Playing Star Wars? I'll let you know, reenacting awesomeness is not called playing. One more jab against Star Wars and I'll obliterate you with my trusty light saber." I say.
"You're still a kid. I can't believe you're turning 18 in half a year." Dad says rubbing his face with his hand.
"Uh huh. Forever five. What my birth certificate says does not matter, it's false accusations." I declare and take the lollipop Ari is giving me.
"Heard Nana is coming over." Ryan says as he walks into the living room. "I don't see the enthusiasm. It's Nana people she has more life in her than Malia, that's saying something."
"Well you're not family, so you don't get to see her." I say as Jesse says, "Try cleaning the entire house, then we'll let you see Nana."
"Then Shane isn't family either and I'm just a shout away, you could have called me you know." Ryan says, defending himself.
"Shane's family." I say, standing up.
"Yeah I guess it's better that way." He mumbles and walks to the kitchen. "Something smells delicious."
"Suck up." I mutter.
"He just wants an in on all the food tonight." Cole smirks.
"And Nana's stories." Jesse smiles at the memory.
________
"Where's my favorite grandchild?" Nana shouts as she walk into the house, dropping her bags.
"Here Nana." I say as I run to hug her. But what I didn't expect was Jesse, Cole and Shane were standing around her with the same expectant looks.
"I'm her favorite grandchild, now if you could give us some privacy." I say as I go to hug Nana, who looked amused.
"No, I am." They say and narrow their eyes at each other.
"As much as I love all of you, I have only one favorite." She says walking towards me. I stick my tongue out at them, stretching my arms to hug her. She walks past me and picks up Ari. I glare at the boys, who were snickering. With I huff I turn around and go to the kitchen.
"Nana is here." I grumble. Mum drops her pot pie on the counter and runs out the kitchen. Leaving me alone with Ryan.
"What's got you in a foul mood?" He asks.
"I've been overthroned by my own sister, I'm no longer the favorite grandchild." I sigh.
He walks over and hugs me whispering, "You'll always be my favorite."
Those words do something weird to me. My heart hammers in my rib cage and I fear it will break out and fly, a bloody mess into the hands of Ryan Faux. Feeling weird I move away from the hug pretending to be hungry, looking through the cabinets.
"If you feel awkward just tell me." He says and walks out the room.
"Look who's back." I hear Nana say but I was too focused on what Ryan said.
_________
"We have a problem." I say, as I drag him up the stairs towards my bedroom. After entering my room, I continue to throw him on my bed.
"What's the impending problem that was so important that you had to drag me, mid conversation with Nana and throw me like a bag of beans onto your bed." Shane asks sitting up.
"Cause you're my bag of beans." I pout.
He rolls his eyes and looks at me expectantly.
"So a weird thing happened in the kitchen today." I start, unsure of how I'm gonna spill my feelings.
"That is?" He urges.
"Well I was grumpy about not being Nana's favorite grandchild and when I told this to Ryan, he hugs me and says that I'll always be his favorite. I know I'm reading too much into a very kind gesture and I'm acting like it's a huge deal but I don't know why I'm making a huge deal out of it. When he hugged me my heart almost broke free and went into his hands and no, I'm not exaggerating for the first time in my life, it genuinely felt like that and sometimes when I'm around him I feel breathless but at the same time I feel he's the reason I'm still breathing. It's a mix of two contradicting feelings and I'm not liking it one bit. I feel he's rooting me but I can soar. I'm happy to be with him but I'm sad cause of the limited time. I'm a mess Shane and I absolutely hate it." I say in one breath and plop down on the bed.
Shane opens his mouth to say something but I cut him off. "And there's Ashton, he's so sweet and fun and nice but slightly wild at the same time. I feel secure when I'm with him. He makes me feel like I'm capable of anything and don't get me started on that jaw line. He's my safe haven I've had my share of crazy to last a lifetime. Harry was just that and I don't want someone replacing him, so Ryan is out of the picture I guess. I need calm and refreshing right now. Not hot and wild. So it's settled, I'm going for Ashton. Thanks Shane, you've been no help in figuring this out." I decide as I get up to leave, when a hand wrapped around my wrist stops me.
"You talked about Harry without hyperventilating." He says in shock.
"Really Shane? I ranted for fifteen minutes and that's all you get out of it?" I respond.
"Yes, that's all I got out of it because that's what matters the most." He says looking me in the eye, challenging me to dodge his unspoken question.
"It's nothing really. Ashton took me out to the skating arena and abandoned me." I roll my eyes. "That's when I met Guy-who-helped-me-up. He was teaching me to skate but his words about letting go and stuff like that got to me, I realized that I was pulling myself down and if I didn't let go anytime soon I'll get consumed by a darkness created by me. It also occurred to me that I was dragging everyone around me into that darkness too." I shrug.
Shane envelops me into a bear hug. "You'll break me." I protest but after a second I give in. I love his bear hugs they are the best. After a long time of just sitting there and hugging, I pull back when I realize- "Ashton was talking to some girl at the arena they seemed pretty cosy." I gape.
Shane pulls me back again. "Sometimes you can be really blind." He mumbles.
"Malia, everyone's rea-" Ryan stops mid sentence as he opens the door.
"Way to ruin the moment Faux." I taunt as I pull back from the hug, giving Shane a quick kiss. "I love you." I smile and walk downstairs.
______
Half an hour later in the living room.
"It's getting really heated up there." Jesse mutters looking up to the ceiling. When another crash sounds through the house.
"I hope my teddy and Harry Potter merchandise are left alone." I say. The shouting was getting worse with every passing second.
"Whose brilliant idea was it to semi-sound proof all the rooms in this house? Everything sounds muffled from down here. If it wasn't, we could have had a bowl of popcorn and enjoyed this whole thing." Nana complains. We all point an accusing finger at Dad, who glares at us.
"I'm going up there." Cole says as he rises up.
"I'm coming with you. The elder wand is first edition." I say as I stand up.
"No you guys sit down. I know what it's about." Jesse says as he stands up and runs upstairs despite our protests.
A couple of crashes later, the three of them come down. Shane had a bloody running nose, a swelling jaw and a cut across his cheek. Ryan had a throbbing black eye, a cut on his forehead shaped like a lightning (which I personally found extra attractive), a bleeding nose and a smile? Wait what?