Starboys

S T A R B O Y 3|4

E T H A N

October 6th

"I'm back," Ethan called, trying to close the door behind him with his foot because his hands were currently occupied with heavy bags full of groceries. An apple fell out and on the floor, rolling down the halway. Ethan huffed in annoyance, blowing a loose strand of hair out of his eyes. The Seong-Sibling-Pact-For-Grocery-Shopping stated that the loser of rock-paper-scissors had to do said shopping. Either he was on a really bad losing streak or Lillie had cheated in some form or another, because Ethan had done the shopping for two weeks in a row. But then again, how could you cheat in a game of chance?

Speaking of which, the other resident of the apartment was nowhere to be seen. Typical. Ethan unloaded the bags onto the kitchen counter and went to look for his sister.

"Lillie? You home?"

Rounding the corner to the living room, he found her sitting on the couch in sweats, loose hair and crying over Pride and Prejudice. With how much money she spent on her make-up, you'd think she'd care about ruining it more.

"Hey, Sadako," Ethan called and stepped in front of the tv, "How about you come help me put back the-" he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw what she held between her hands. "Is that my chocolate chip mint ice cream? Damnit, Lillie!"

She looked up from the remains of the stolen ice cream and shrugged. "You bought more at ALDI, right? Where's the problem?" She shoveled another scoop of ice cream into her mouth.

A muscle in Ethan's jaw twitched. One that only ever twitched when his older sister was involved, so he took a few deep breaths. In and out. In and out. In and out...

"The problem is," he elaborated through grit teeth, "I thought there was one full tub left, so I didn't buy a new one." He snatched it out of his Lillie's ice cream stealing claws, an action that was met with a whiny protest. "How did you eat the whole thing in only thirty minutes?"

Sulking, Lillie crossed her arms over her chest. A bit of ice stuck to her nose, making it hard to believe that she was already twenty-seven. "What, like it's hard? Besides, I had a rough day, okay? Not like I expect a Gemini to understand my Cancer moods," she muttered.

Ethan rolled his eyes. While his sister was obsessed with zodiac signs and horoscopes and whatever else there was, he himself didn't know too much about it. Even if Lillie acted like he did. What was cancer mood even supposed to mean?

His question was answered, when his gaze fell on the fresh flowers on the coffee table. They were sitting in a glass of water. Not a vase. A glass. Because Lillie was currently using all their vases for all the other flowers she kept buying from the small shop downtown.

There was one reason and one reason only for Lillie's cancer moods.

"What, your crush wore tight jeans today?"

Lillie made something akin to a choking noise, as if only the thought of Marisol in tight jeans could stop her heart from working properly. "Worse!" Dramatically, she draped herself over the armrest of the couch. "She had this really cute flowy dress and this cute-ass headband. With flowers! And her lipstick matched them."

Ethan sighed. "A tragedy, truly." He went back to the kitchen where the groceries still waited.

"You don't get it," Lillie said, ending her performance of a dying swan to get up and follow him. "You've never been in love."

Ethan's muscle twitched again. Lillie really had a talent for getting under his skin without even trying. But he didn't want to discuss this again, so he swiftly changed the topic. "You wanna go out tonight?" Lillie stuck her head into one of the bags and rummaged through it.