Lust

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Elijah groaned and reluctantly rolled over under mangled, twisted covers. He lazily extended him arm straight up and let gravity harshly tug it downward, his palm slamming several buttons on the device next to his bed – one of them thankfully being labeled off. He nearly let slumber overcome him again in that awkward position; body half-turned toward his alarm with his arm sprawled across it. With a sigh, he sat upright and slumped over sleepily, an early-morning frown painted on his face. As he gradually came to his senses, he took in the sweet cadence of dawn – the birds chirping only quietly, the sound of a light breeze ruffling through a freshly-mown lawn. This rhythmic flow of noises was the only thing that made him not entirely regret setting his clock so early. It was one of those brief, brief moments when the city was at peace – thank God he didn’t live precisely in the heart of it, or he’d never hear this; he rather dwelled on the beginning of the outskirts of NYC.

He slowly made his way through the long hallway that isolated his room from the rest of the house, rubbing his tired eyes, careful not to disturb the blanket of slumber that fell over the rest of his family.

Crash.

A thick mass of fiery, auburn-red hair blinded him and he felt the tiny frame of somebody hurl them self at him, causing his open mouth to be suddenly filled with the hardness of the floor and thousands of little fuzzies from the carpet. “THE F—“ But the ambusher merely clamped a dainty little hand over his mouth and wrapped her fingers around his wrist, crawling on her hands and knees into a room with the door left ajar.

Figuring it easiest to just stay quiet, he hobbled clumsily after her on his hands and knees. Once his feet just barely crossed the line that separated the room from the hallway, the assaulter donkey-kicked the door shut and blinked at Elijah. There was a moment’s silence before her voice filled his ears.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!” She shrieked. Elijah shouted out in shock and alarm, covering his ears with a grimace.

“Luc, shut—“

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!”

“LUCI, SHUT THE—“

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR ELIJAH—“

“LUCINDA! SHUT UP!” Instantly, she was silenced, glaring daggers through slits of striking green eyes at the full use of her first name. There was a few seconds of silence and finally, underneath his sister, Elijah sighed. “Thank—“

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!” He groaned and closed his eyes, hearing her screeching echo in his ears. She giggled and rolled onto her side and off of him.

“You probably woke up the whole house, you know,” he said casually, getting to his feet. She sat up with a half-smile.

“Stupid, you’ve forgotten we’re in my room.” That couldn’t have been more obvious. The rooms all around the room were bright and happy with decoration, but Luci’s was different. The walls were painted black, but that you could hardly tell because of the many, many posters and pictures taped to the wall – in fact, they were like wallpaper, and the paint wasn’t even visible. Her clothes were strewn messily across the floor and there was a large stereo system against the wall opposite of the door, and the blinds were wide open but the window wasn’t cracked (she said the wind would drown out her music). There was a small iPod dock at her bedside, and an overflowing bookshelf between her two windows. Then there was a bin of messily placed CDS in her open closet, her small black TV hooked up in the corner of her room just below the ceiling, and finally, her favorite part of the whole house – the corner with her acoustic guitar. She stood up and leaned on the dresser that was piled high with hair products and temporary color as well as make-up and finished with a mirror that had writing in nail polish, marker and lipstick all over it.

“Ah, smart child,” he concurred. Luci was all about her music – even now, in only the fifth hour of the day, there was an acoustic track of some mix she’d made playing on a low volume. Although when it was more appropriate, the whole house would practically shake with the noise and her singing, so she managed to convince her parents to soundproof the room. It wasn’t hard, however: Now nobody would have to keep a pair of ear plugs handy and she never got into arguments about turning it down a notch.

She smiled at him. “Alright kiddo—“ He raised his eyebrows, seeing as he was the junior and she was the freshman. She ignored him. “Go take your shower and look real pretty today, I’m taking you out.” He laughed at how authoritative she thought she was, reaching up on her tippy toes to ruffle his hair and usher him out of the room.

As he reached out to turn the plastic knob in the shower and began to undress, Elijah realized just how calm the house was and how much different it was from the regular hours of the day.

*

As Elijah hopped out of the shower, he changed into a red and white plaid shirt that was rolled up by his elbows, a wife beater underneath, jeans and his red and white Nike sneakers with black laces. He grabbed a black hoodie and headed out of his bedroom, the loud clatter of pots and pans issuing from the kitchen, the argument of Luci and their younger sister filling the house.

“Brat, give it back!”

Narrowly avoiding a messy collision of three, Elijah scooted back into the door way so as to let his two sisters whiz by, the smaller one clutching a notebook in her hand, the older sprinting after her. He grinned widely as his house resumed its usual string of slightly neurotic noises – the running of two siblings fighting over something, the ungraceful bangs sounding from the kitchen as a clumsy mother made breakfast, the smooth conversation of a college boy home for the week and a father discussing the ball game from last night.
Ruffling his hair a little, Elijah jumped off the bottom step of the staircase and walked into the kitchen.

“Luci, Kierslin, quiet down!” Scolded his mother while she whipped French Toast mix in a container.

“Tell her to give it back!” Luci yelled as she lunged at her little sister, who was scrolling through the sweet privacy of Luci’s phone, giggling maliciously.

“Ooh, who’s Lover Boy?!” She squealed.
“Oh, Elijah!” Anna, his mother, exclaimed as he entered the kitchen. “Kierslin, dear, whip this for me – oh, for Heaven’s sake, give your sister her phone back!” She cried as she thrust the container into Kierslin’s hands and bustled over to Elijah.

“Morning, mom,” his words were muffled as she enclosed him in a hug.

“Good morning and happy birthday, sweetheart!” She said and kissed each of his cheeks.

Smack.

“Stupid, she meant stir it quickly!” Conceded Luci as she smacked a dumbstruck Kierslin over the head.

“Stupid, she meant stir it quickly!” Mimicked Kierslin with a horribly ugly expression and a high pitched voice, earning an outstretched tongue from Luci. Elijah laughed. Anna threw her hands up in the air dramatically and seized the container back.

“This family, I swear!” She cried. “Where’s your father in this mess? ALAN!”

“He’s in here, mom,” Called a male voice from the piano room.

“I’ll go get him,” Elijah offered, walking out of the kitchen, through the living room and into the piano room. He smirked when he thought of the name – it was just an extra room, like a smaller living room, but with a piano that nobody used.

“Happpppppy birthday!” Chorused his older brother, Valentino, and his father, Alan. Elijah smiled. Valentino rose and shared a brief hug with his brother, who he hadn’t seen since he left for his first semester of college at UCLA. The commute was awfully long, so it was really good to have him back for a little before he ran off to the other side of the country again. Though they didn’t talk about it too much, both the brothers missed each other – being only two years apart and the only two guys against their sisters, they’d been best friends since Elijah was born.

His father, Alan, smiled up at him from his spot in the chair opposite of the couch which Valentino had been on.

“Happy birthday, son,” he said as he folded out of the chair, clapping Elijah affectionately on the back. Elijah grinned.

“Thanks, dad. Mom’s yelling for you in the kitchen.” Exasperated, Alan shook his head.

“That woman . . .” Only the effect was kind of ruined by the uncontrollable smile that spread across his face at the mention of Anna.

*

Elijah twisted his arm at the elbow and grabbed his school bag, untwisting his arm and flexing smoothly as he swung one strap onto his back. With the other hand, he swooped down and picked his crumb-and-syrup-filled plate and lowered it into the sink, turning and crouching to place a kiss on his mother’s cheek.

“I’ll be home late today, there’s basketball practice,” he conceded as he nodded in goodbye to Valentino and popped a brief squat to kiss Kierslin’s forehead, ruffle her hair, and tickle her a little. “See ya, kiddo.”

He turned toward his father, who was making his way upstairs to change for work. Anna was a stay-at-home mom, while Alan owned a small sports store in the smaller part of town. “I’ll probably make it around to work after practice.”

“Nonsense, Eli, it’s your birthday, we’ll go out to dinner tonight.” His father waved the comment away with a lazy flick of his wrist and disappeared to the second story. Luci bid her farewells after Elijah and caught up to him on his way out the door. She nudged him and grinned perpetually.

“See?” She asked, gesturing toward the sky, which had been stormy and hurling harsh rain storms at the city and outskirts for what seemed like an eternity. Only now, sun shone down on them and a wind ran through the air, but not enough to be bothersome. It was even considerably “warm” for this time of year in the north.

“Hmm?”

“Not even the angels can cry today.”