Mystery Boy

"I still love you and your mother, Airea," Dad said.

"I know," I told him, again.

He sighed because he realized that he wasn't getting through to me. I wasn't about to let anything be resolved. Not yet, anyways. I wanted things to work them out and their own and I wasn't about to pretend that everything okay between my father and I. They weren't, and I didn't want to push down my feelings to make him and everyone else feel better.

"I'm not grounded anymore?" I asked when he didn't speak.

Dad nodded. "No, you're not grounded, but you have to promise me that you won't be sneaking out and spending the night at your boyfriend's house anymore. You have to be in the house by eight o'clock every night."

I bit my lip. "I won't sneak out, anymore," I promised, running my fingers through my hair and pushing the blonde strands out of my face, "But do you think you can get rid of the curfew?" I crossed my fingers against the back of my leg.

"Airea-"

"Please, Dad?" I asked, putting a pleading look on my face.

He sighed but still shook his head. "No, Airea, but it can be nine o'clock on the weekends."

My jaw dropped, "Nine o'clock. Really?"

Dad shrugged, "Take it or leave it, Airea. Call it probation."

As Dad stood up to walk out of the bedroom I called after him. "That means it wears off eventually!"

When Decklan came in and threw himself down onto his bed, I followed after my Dad, deciding that if I wasn't going to be grounded anymore than I didn't have to spend all my time locked in the bedroom with Decklan.

Out in the living room Ina and my father were sitting on the couch, talking quietly to one another. They looked up as I stepped up onto a chair and then sat down with my feet tucked under me.

I didn't smile when I asked, "Is it a boy or a girl?"

Ina spoke before Dad could. "We don't know yet."

I nodded and settled into the chair. "What do you want?" I asked Ina, watching as she brightened just a little bit at the fact that I might be accepting this unborn child.

Ina tucked her dark hair behind her ears and smiled at me. She turned her body so that she was facing me, slightly, before she answered. "I'd love my baby either way, but I want a girl of course. We've already got our crew of boys so a little sister would be nice."

"Yeah," I murmured, "Nice."

Ina seemed oblivious to my thoughts as she continued to gush about her pregnancy. I learned that she had a doctors appointment next week, Wednesday, and she was about a month and a half along. They hadn't talked about names yet, but Ina had a couple that she liked.

I didn't bother to ask her what those names were, but instead we ended up watching the television in silence. After a little while I started on my homework, letting the glow from the screen light my way as I started with math and then moved onto grammar in english.

When I started packing my things back into my school bag my father slid out from under his girlfriend and followed me down the hall. I stopped in the hall before going into the room and turned back to face him.

"Thank you," he said, "For being nice to Ina."

I shrugged. "One of us has to be the bigger person," I told him, letting malice creep into my words.

Dad bit his lip. "Well thank you, anyways."

I shrugged and pushed the bedroom door open. I pushed it closed behind me and glared at Decklan as he played a game on my laptop. "You could ask, you know," I sneered, grabbing the silver machine away from him.

"Hey!" he shouted, "We're basically siblings! Siblings share!"

"Oh get off it, Decklan," I growled, closing the laptop and pushing it under the bed.

I grabbed shorts and a tank top from my dresser before retreating to the bathroom to change. I left my dirty clothes in the basket and then crossed the hall to the bedroom.

I hit the light switch on the wall and climbed into bed. Decklan scoffed and told me that he wasn't going to sleep yet, and as he crawled out of his own bed to turn the lights back on, I glared at his darkened figure.

The lights turned on, causing my eyes to snap shut quickly. "Decklan!" I yelled, throwing my blankets off and jumping out of bed, "Turn it off!"

Decklan jumped in front of me when I tried to get to the light. "No, I'm going to read," he said with a chuckle.

"Then go somewhere else," I growled, reaching out and smacking the light switch. The room went dark for just a minute before Decklan was turning it back on. I reached out and shoved him away from the door so I could turn it off.

Decklan pushed me away before I could.

"Stop it!" I yelled at him, shoving him as hard as I could.

He laughed as he barely stumbled and he shook his head. "It was my room first," he taunted with a cocky grin.

"I don't care," I said as I pushed the light switch again.

We resumed shoving each other and yelling until the bedroom door burst open and Dad stood in the door way with Taite awake, but sleepy, in his arms. "What is going on in here? You're going to wake up the whole neighborhood." He motioned to Taite who we'd obviously woken up, and said, "Exhibit A."

I folded my arms over my chest quickly. "This idiot," I motioned to Decklan, "keeps turning the light back on when I try to go to sleep." I jumped backwards as Decklan reached his leg out and tried to kick me. I kicked him back quickly, causing him to grunt as I landed a blow on his shin.

"Knock it off, you two," Dad warned while kicking out between us with his own foot. Then he turned halfway towards the hallway and nodded towards the living room. "Out, Decklan. You can hang out with your Mom and I if you don't want to sleep yet, but bedrooms are for sleeping so turn the light off and get your butt out to the kitchen or the living room," he said as he gave Decklan a hard look.

I nodded and glared at Decklan as he glared at me. He banged his shoulder into mine as he passed, causing Dad to kick him lightly in the back of the leg. "Knock it off," Dad warned as Decklan walked out of sight.

Dad turned back to me as Decklan began complaining to his mom in the living room. Dad rolled his eyes at Decklan and then shifted Taite, who had fallen asleep again, in his arms.

"Do you mind putting him back down?" Dad asked as he handed Taite over to me.

"I guess," I told him, because my half-brother was already back in my arms.

Dad smiled and kissed my forehead, and Taite's, before turning around and heading back into the living room to fend off Decklan.

I sighed and carried Taite down the hall and back to his bedroom that he had wandered out of when Decklan and I had been arguing. I walked to the last door on the left and pushed it open. Easton was asleep on his bed, dressed in just a pair of shorts as he laid on top of his unruly blankets.

I went over to the empty bed and laid Taite back down on his blue blankets gently. His sheets were blue too, but had designs on them that matched his pillows. When I laid his head on his pillow he cracked his eyes open slightly and looked up to me with the same blue eyes that were mirrored in my skull.

"Airea?" he asked tiredly.

I nodded and pulled his comforter up around his shoulders, "Go bad to sleep, Taite."

He nodded and rolled over on his stomach. I smiled lightly and tucked his blankets around him before standing up and turning to fix Easton's sleeping conditions. I pulled the boy's red blankets out from under him and covered him up, chuckling when he didn't move a muscle. His hair was snarled and messy from all his tossing and turning while he slept.

I pushed his hair back out of his face before turning and going back to the dark room that Decklan and I shared. I climbed into my bed and pulled my black blankets up around me. I fell asleep quickly and only roused when I heard Decklan clambering into the room and throwing himself down onto his bed.

"You could be a little bit quieter next time," I whispered.

"Nah, then I wouldn't get to hear your lovely voice."

I didn't even have the energy to glare at his sarcasm as I drifted back to sleep.