Liam Cokely (wrathrising) wrote in olympianthreads, @ 2014-11-27 18:52:00 |
|
|||
Although he did his best not to think about it, ever, Liam remembered in vivid detail the first time he'd shared a meal with his half-sister. It had been the first time they had ever met, and it had not been a great start. His father had made the family driver go halfway across the city with Liam and Jenny in the back, the windows cracked slightly for 'fresh air', so that by the time they reached the restaurant, Liam was not only carsick but extra nauseous from the traffic fumes. The restaurant was far enough away and obscure enough that Mr Cokely wouldn't be recognised, and Liam was percipient enough to realise that the place was several notches below the social class of where they would usually eat. Though he was barely starting high school - his second one, after being kicked out of the first the day after first hearing Madison's name - he could tell they were there to hide, because his dad didn't want anyone who knew him to see him with his bastard daughter. He'd been almost at his heaviest then, his bottom barely fit on the chair seat, and he'd managed to sprout a full forehead of acne at least a year before all the other kids in his class. He'd sat there in mute fury, kicking the chair legs, wishing he could just be in his room with his books. When Madison came in, a tall beautiful teenager with hair as long and dark as Jenny's was light, he'd almost had a moment of clarity. She looked more like him than his sister or mother did. They were both their father's children, in a way. But then she had looked at him with nothing but hatred and disgust in her face, and because he felt sick and angry and it was practically her fault that he'd had to destroy several thousand dollars worth of school property with a baseball bat, he'd hated her right back. The rest of the meal he had barely looked at her, but kept his eyes on his food, packing it away while Madison and Jenny simultaneously pushed food around their plates and glared daggers at each other. He switched plates with Jenny and ate her dinner too, so that after another two hours' journey in the car on the way home, he'd thrown up on the upholstery. Needless to say, it wasn't a memory he liked to relive. Neither, come to that, were any so-called 'family' holidays from his childhood. Thanksgiving had usually consisted of an amazing feast put together by the servants, most of whom were, as his mother explained, 'from Mexico, so they don't mind working on our holiday'. It was usually the only time of the year they all ate together. The four of them would sit down around the table, come up with some bullshit speech about what they were thankful for, and then eat in silence - the others didn't each much, and Liam did his best to make up for it - until one of them came up with an excuse to leave the table. His dad would sit in front of the TV with a beer for the rest of the day, Jenny would be on the phone to her friends, and his mother would either take a long bath or a sleeping pill, leaving him free to escape to his room, and his books. Every year basically the same, until they'd kicked him out of the house - out of the country - and there'd been no more Thanksgiving. When Madison told him she wasn't really into it, he'd never felt closer to her. It was weird. They seemed to have crossed out of mutual hatred, to indifference, to hesitant attempts at civil conversation, in just a few weeks. He wasn't sure what prompted Madison to apologise to him, other than the sheer weirdness and pain of the dream they'd been forced to share. Maybe it was the fact that they'd gotten through it together; they'd survived something together, when they'd never been able to have as much as a civil conversation ever before. He hadn't expected to be so open to it, either. Maybe that was because after the suspension he suddenly had a lot fewer friends than he had before. He hadn't needed a family before. He'd been just fine on his own, with a new girl every week, with a group of mates he could see whenever he wanted. Now? Maybe it was time he made an effort to keep someone around. So, that was how he ended up hosting Anti-Thanksgiving for his half sister and her boyfriend, and her boyfriend's dog. He wasn't kidding when he said that he hoped the animal's presence would annoy Juro. The forced friendliness he'd adopted towards his roommate by way of apology since the kid had smashed his head in with a chair had largely worn off, and they guy was already starting to grate on his nerves again. So the dog was all right. Geff he still didn't know about. He saw him around, in classes mostly, since they were in the same level - and therefore closer in age than he and Madison were - but that was the extent of his knowledge on the guy, really, other than the dream visions which he kept having to remind himself were fake. Mostly though he was grateful for the extra company. If it were just Liam and his sister, there was the possibility of things getting either highly awkward or violently out of control. Liam didn't feel as though he were likely to lose it, tonight, but then... he hardly ever did. For food, he made sure to steer clear of anything actually Thanksgiving-y. Figuring that Madison wouldn't eat much anyway, he got basic chips and snacks and emptied them into a few bowls on the coffee table. They could sit together in comfort rather than having to worry about table manners, and he could always turn on the TV if things got really awkward. At the knock on the door he went to open it, suddenly - strangely - nervous. This he thought was his opportunity to start things afresh. He might no longer be a fat, spotty child, but in some ways there was more anger and more resentment in him than there had been the first time they met. If he wanted to work things out with the only family he had left; he would have to keep a lid on it. That just wasn't something he was always capable of. "Hey," he said, as brightly as he could manage. "Come on in. Anti-Thanksgiving awaits. Antinksgiving? No-thanks-giving? I dunno. Anyone want a beer?" |