Wonders of the Eye

He was woken up by the sound of a car pulling up across the street. He could only assume it was Jared’s cousins because no one would be driving down the street at this hour. He rolled over to look at the clock to see it was four in the afternoon. He decided that maybe people would be driving at such an hour.

He got up much to his disdain and padded over to his off-white shades. Peeling them back and looking out he saw a strawberry blonde girl standing in the Monaco’s driveway. She looked lost; he couldn’t deny that as she slowly turned around in the driveway, surveying the typical Arizona neighborhood. She seemed disappointed like there was something missing here. Not that he could disagree- he was the type of guy who always had the big dreams of big fame. But as she turned towards his house he saw her beautiful features and involuntarily gasped. Her eyes began to tilt up to the window and he quickly ducked behind the wall so she wouldn’t think her new neighbor was a creeper. As he slowly peered out again he saw her turning away to walk inside. He had to say he had a nice view of her walking away.

“John, mom wants you come downstairs and help fix dinner” John jumped and turned around quickly to see his younger brother, Shane.

“Can’t you and Ross handle that on your own there’s only like five of us,” He snapped.

“Mom said you'd say that and she wanted me to tell you that you’ve been asleep for 36 hours and she’s not in the mood for your arguing. The Monaco’s will be here in half an hour and she wants the house to look nice.” He sniffed the air. “And for you to look and smell nice too!” At that John threw a pillow at his ten-year-old brother, as he watched him run out as fast as he could.

He went to take a shower at his mother’s request, and because he knew that if the Monacos were coming so would the strawberry blonde girl. He spent a good twenty minutes trying to fix his hair, after being thoroughly pleased with the “it looks like I don’t care but I totally styled this shit” hairdo, he left the bathroom just in time to hear the familiar chime of the doorbell. He went to answer it but Ross, his other younger brother, was quicker than him.

“Well hello there deary” Mrs. Monaco wrapped Ross in a hug and John was suddenly relieved he hadn’t answered the door.

“Hi Mrs. Monaco the family is all out back ready with dinner” Ross turned around and led her and her husband out back. John emerged from the staircase to shut the door when he saw the familiar face of his close friend, Jared.

“Hey man, I’d like you to meet my cousins, this here is Austin he’s our age I’m sure you’ve met him a while back, and this little one is Conner he’s Shane’s age I think maybe a year younger.” John nodded his head as a greeting but noticed the girl was missing. To say he was disappointed would have been an understatement.

“Cool, well dinner’s out back so mom is waiting and you know how she gets when she’s left waiting by us boys,” He joked to hide his emotions and shut the door behind them.

They all sat around for a while talking and getting to know the new residence of the Monaco household. John got along pretty well with Austin and they all laughed as Shane and Conner, who were now the best of friends, made fools of themselves on the swing set near the picnic table in the backyard. During their shenanigans he completely forgot about the girl. That was until the gate to the backyard swung open and she appeared in a yellow sundress and wet hair that showed that she had just showered. She gave a light smile as she noticed that all the occupants of the O’Callaghan backyard were staring at her.

“You’re really pretty!” Shane broke the silence with a sudden outburst. She gave him a small smile as she turned back the picnic table, like she was waiting for further instruction.

“Oh you made it! Everyone this is my lovely niece, Alice” Mrs. Monaco gushed as she ran up the girl wrapping an arm around her shoulder and ushering her towards the table. John noticed how Alice visibly cringed at her Aunt’s voice and couldn’t help but smirk.

“Actually Aunt Carol she prefers to go by Monet at least for the moment." Ross choked on his drink.

“Like Claude Monet the painter” Ross sputtered.

“Yeah like Claude Monet, I’m happy to see Arizona boys are better educated than I remember, and Monet is just a phase just like the Renaissance. I mean next week, for all I know, I might want to go by Van Gogh again.” John looked around the table to see the entire Monaco family in shock and awe, as if her sudden outburst was something far from normal. But the way she held her self and kept her voice at an unwavering pitch John couldn’t help but shake away the thought.

“No Van Gogh for you that means back to cutting ears off” Conner joked with an unusually stiff and nervous tone voice for a ten-year-old, like it wasn’t a joke. John peered back over to Alice or Monet and saw her sink back into the shy girl who had walked in a few minutes ago.

“So you're an artist then? I mean, if you have interests in such names” John’s mother piped in.

“Yeah I do all sorts of art but mainly I paint, I guess that’s what I’m sort of good at. Once we get settled in Aunt Carol said I could paint Conner’s room” She said in a soft voice that lacked it’s earlier confidence as she tripped over her words. As if she was unsure of herself.

“She’s selling herself short, she’s really a good painter- I mean Monet is good at all art but she excels at painting” Her brother, Austin added. Monet blushed and looked down at her plate.

“Yeah we set up a studio up in her room so she could adjust to her new home easier” Jared said warmly, making Monet give him a warm smile, a smile that made John’s stomach do an unexpected flip.

“Well I would love to see your work sometime” Mrs. O'Callaghan added softly.

The rest of the dinner had gone in an awkward way. With a few conversations about schools and weather sprinkled in all of which didn’t interest John. The only thing he wanted to hear was Alice’s sweet as honey voice, which she used rarely, only to answer questioned directed to her personally. It all but left John craving to hear more, know more, and crack the code that was this mysterious girl. Even after all the neighbors had left and John had finished doing the dishes he couldn’t stop repeating her words over and over in his head. Whether or not they were profound he found something addicting about her voice. That night he spent it writing a song, it came out far from perfect and mainly just a bunch of gibberish he couldn’t make sense of. And once he had thoroughly tired himself he finally got to sleep only to have sweet dreams of her.