Edge of Seventeen

The next morning I woke up on the couch, snuggled into Matt’s side. We had stayed up late watching every episode of Firefly. Out of all of the foster siblings I had had over the years, I think I connected with him and his friends the quickest. Zack, much to Matt’s dismay, had fallen asleep with his head in my lap; so when we woke up his face was directly in my crotch. I found it hilarious, but Matt had no sense of humor on the subject. After yelling at Zacky and waking up the whole neighborhood, Matt’s parents took us out to a nice breakfast before we went out shopping for my room. I told them that they didn’t have to bother, but they insisted, so I wasn’t complaining. My new parents bribed Zack into coming with and helping us paint my room. I wasn’t exactly sure how, but I’m pretty sure it had to do with free food.

After three hours of shopping, we came home with two cans of black paint, two cans of tiffany blue and silver spray paint for my walls, a brand new black comforter with white swirly designs and tiffany blue silk sheets and much to my dismay, more clothes. After a quick lunch at the pier, we set about clearing my room so we could begin painting. Mostly it was Matt and Zack doing the heavy lifting and me giggling at the stream of profanities they let loose about every five seconds.

Finally we got the room prepped, everything set and began painting. Within five minutes, we all were covered in paint and laughing at how ridiculous we looked.

“Oh my Zeus,” I giggled, falling to the floor after Zacky snuck up behind me and put two multicolored hand prints on my ass when Matt wasn’t looking, “I think this is the most fun I’ve ever had painting.”

Zack chuckled, plopping down next to me.

“You’re something, you know that?” he grinned, “Why do you say Zeus?”

“It fits my religion and I dunno… it’s different. I like different. Status quo is so last century,” I shrugged.

Zack laughed and Matt finally came back in from the bathroom.

“What’s so funny?” he asked. I couldn’t help but burst out in laughter at the paint mustache he had forgotten to wash off his face.

“Nice face dude,” Zack laughed, answering Matt’s question for me.

Matt looked at us like we were crazy. He took a few steps back and looked in the bathroom mirror before cursing and moving to scrub it off. Zack and I laughed even harder.

“All right, all right!” Mat groaned, walking back in with a clean face, “Let’s get back to painting so Ellie can actually sleep in her bed tonight.”

Zack and I pouted, but stood up and got back to work anyway. Surprisingly, it didn’t take us all that long to finish. The wall where my bed would go was painted the gorgeous tiffany blue, as was the wall across from it and the other two were painted black. Zack used the spray paint to add unique swirly designs to each wall. Over all, I loved it, and it was the first time I had ever had a room that fully fit me.

After we finished, we decided to jump in the pool to clean off before dinner. I could tell that Matt wanted to ask why I kept a shirt on over my bikini, but thankfully he didn’t. Kim and Gary weren’t exactly happy that we were wiping the paint off in the pool, but I guess when they saw how much fun we were having; they let us have at it. After we were cleaned off we all climbed out and I ended up snuggled next to Matt on the hammock while Zack sat on the grass strumming randomly on a guitar.

“So,” Matt asked, stroking my hair back in a soothing motion that I loved, “Did you have fun today?”

I nodded and snuggled closer to his warm body, “Yes. It was perfect. It was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.”

“Good, then I’m doing my job right,” he grinned. I couldn’t resist reaching up to poke his dimples. He shook his head and rolled his eyes at me.

“I just wanna know how much your parents are bribing him to be this nice,” Zack grumbled not even looking up from his guitar.

Matt growled and threw a pillow at Zack who just pouted.

“Don’t listen to him. He’s just jealous that I’m a cooler older brother than he is,” Matt whispered to me. Now it was my turn to roll my eyes.

“You’re both losers,” I said. Both boys started pouting and I couldn’t help but giggle.
“Kids come and eat!” Gary called from the grill. I tried to jump up, but ended getting caught in something and fell… landing face down in the grass.

“Nobody saw that!” I exclaimed, pushing myself up quickly and dusting the grass off of the shirt Matt let me borrow and stood up. Both boys were laughing their heads off at me so I just huffed and stormed over to the food.

“It was a little funny dear,” Gary chuckled, handing me a burger. I just stuck my tongue out at him and walked to the table, sitting down and adding my condiments to my burger and waited for everyone else to get their food.

“Peace?” Matt said setting a glass of some clear bubbly liquid in front of me, “I’m sorry for laughing.”

“S’Okay,” I smiled, “It was pretty funny.”

Matt grinned and sat next to me, immediately biting into his food. I rolled my eyes and continued to wait for everyone else to get their food before starting on mine. It was one of the best burgers I ever had.

“So Caitlyn told us that you had already graduated,” Kim said trying to start up a conversation.

I nodded, swallowing my bite of burger before talking, “Yeah. I was bouncing around so much I enrolled in an accelerated homeschooling program and just got it out of the way so I wouldn’t have to worry about switching schools so often.”

“Damn, I barely even graduated normally,” Matt grumbled his mouth still full.

“Well, it wasn’t all that hard. I had my two of my best friends helping me so I got along fine,” I shrugged, “High school is pretty much busy work anyway. It’s regular everyday life that you really learn from.”

“Very insightful,” Gary commended, raising his glass to me.

I smiled, raising my glass and took a sip. My brows furrowed in confusion when I realized that it wasn’t Sprite like I had thought, but delicious champagne. I looked over at Matt and he just winked. I shook my head slightly but didn’t complain. I swear, he’s so random.

“So are you planning on going to college?” Kim asked. I was kind of surprised by her line of questioning.

“I wasn’t planning on it… I don’t exactly have the bank for that,” I said quietly, finding great interest in my food.

“Nonsense, if you want to go I’m sure we could make it happen,” Gary objected, “It’s not like Matt’s using the money we had set aside for his college.”

Matt glared at his parents, “Hey, I like my job.”

“Yes because it’s obviously paying you so much,” Kim said sarcastically, “You just choose to live with your parents just because you love them so much.”

I giggled; Matt was obviously defeated.

“Speaking of which, how is the album going?” Gary asked.

“Pretty damn good, if I do say so,” Matt said pridefully. I rolled my eyes.

“I still say you scream too much,” I cut in. Zack and Matt had played me their first CD earlier and where the instruments were awesome, but the screaming just hurt my brain.

“Finally someone who agrees with me!” Kim exclaimed joyously.

I chuckled as she began arguing with her son back and forth. Soon enough, Gary was in on the bickering, leaving me and Zack watching them spar back and forth like a tennis match. After a while, Zack gently nudged my side with his elbow. I turned to him and he smiled at me.

“So, why do you wear a shirt over your bikini?” he asked, “You defiantly have a nice body… Just don’t tell Matt I said that. He’d kill me for looking at his little sister that way.”

“I don’t get that,” I said, purposefully avoiding his question, “Why would he freak out? He’s only known me about two days.”

“It’s an older brother thing,” he chuckled, “But I won’t tell you, unless you answer my question.”