Wish-Upon-A-Star

Chapter 4- My Room?

Alex rushed through the doors of the house, but surprisingly, Natalie wasn’t with him. He held the package of briefs in his hand and he was pretty much soaked. I kept my eye on the motionless Gawain on my leather sofa. He slept as if nothing had ever happened to him.

            “Why is there an unfamiliar man on our sofa?” Alex asked, obviously freaking out. “Why’d you let him in our house in the first place? For all we know he could be a drug dealer running away from the cops! Mom and dad are going to be so pissed! What if he raped you while I was gone?” Alex listed the endless possibilities. “Do you know how worried I was?”

            “Alex, calm down and change your clothes before you ask any more questions. He wouldn’t have raped me anyway. I was with Riccardo.” I defended Gawain.

            “No, we’re calling mom and dad.” Alex picked up the phone and dialed dad’s number. I kept trying to convince Alex to end the call because they aren’t going to pick up anyway. But, for the first time ever, they picked up on the first call.

            “Hello, honeyyy,” my mother drags the ‘y’ in everything awfully long. It’s a bad habit of hers. “What do you need? You never call.”

            “Mom, Angelica let a male stranger in the house.” Alex said plainly.

            “What do you mean?” My father’s voice cut through the silence. “Don’t tell me she−”

            “Not that stuff dad!” Alex screeched. I knew he knew I would never do anything that low. “She let in this stranger in the middle of a freaking rainstorm and she says he needs a place to stay. So, she said he can stay at our house!” Alex yelled at the phone. “That’s not acceptable!”

            “Just let the poor guy stay at our house. I’m sure he’s been through a lot of trouble for your sister to let him in. Your sister isn’t your everyday nice girl, if you know what I mean.” My mother coughed in a jokingly way. “Right, honey? Can he stay?” My dad grunted his grunt of approRiccardo.

            “What?” Alex screamed out-ragingly.

            “How old is the boy anyway? Is he cute?” Mom giggled.

            “I’m nineteen years old,” Gawain said. Obviously, he was listening the whole time. Or he just had perfect timing. “I think I’m pretty cute, if you ask me.” Total eavesdropper.

            “Oh, he sounds nice!” My mother giggled delightfully. “But he can only stay in these circumstances. Only Alex can hear though, sorry Janellie.” Alex took his phone off of speaker and slid the phone to his ear. He slowly stepped away from where Gawain and I were sitting. It seemed fine except for the parts when Alex yelled ‘what’ and ‘why’ into the phone. So, pretty much the whole conversation. The only thing I heard from the conversation was my mother screaming: “I know you love your sister, but you have to do this for her!” Oh, and of course the ‘what’s and ‘why’s.

            Alex padded back towards me while wearing his pout face, obviously losing to my mother. “So, what are the circumstances?” I asked hoping that they wouldn’t be anything outlandish.

            “He’s sleeping in your room.” Alex said, barely audible.

            “What?” I jumped from my seat. “Why would she do that to me?” My world suddenly ended. “Dad didn’t do anything about it?”

            “It’s okay, my kitty-cat.” Gawain purred. “I don’t have to sleep in your room if you don’t want me to.”

            “No, you have to.” I growled. “The queen’s decision has been made. You’re sleeping in my room. I’ll get the spare mattress.” I marched upstairs and Gawain followed behind closely. I opened a guest room closet and dragged out a full size mattress.

            “Let me get that for you.” Gawain dragged the mattress with ease. He looked strong enough to be able to lift the entire mattress over his head, but didn’t because he was too lazy. I opened the door to my room and let him in. My face flushed red in realizing that there were pictures of Riccardo and me everywhere. “Um, who is that?” Gawain asked awkwardly.

            “My best friend.” I answered and ended the conversation. He dropped the bed on the floor right next to mine while I went to get some bed sheets. I got the navy blue set, which was in fact my favorite, but it seemed to match his bright green eyes. But, my taste isn’t that great to begin with. After putting the bed sheets on, Gawain threw himself on the bed. “Is that all you do? Sleep?” He nodded in response and soon enough, his breathing was leveled. He had fallen asleep quickly. I plopped myself in the space in between my bed and his. I touched his oddly colored hair and sighed. “I think you’re pretty cute, if you ask me.” I whispered to myself, almost inaudible. Eventually, sleep fell upon me while watching him sleep. And no, that isn’t creepy at all.