A Greek School Boy

Chapter three

The storm raged on for hours, and it was prettier than I could have imagined. The black darkness with the soothing sound of raindrops hitting the roof, the loud booming cracks of thunder, the flashes of lightning, it was heaven. The flickering noises from the fireplace and the contrasting light released from the flames only added to the euphoric environment. The pitter patter released by the rain had Lovi and Toní asleep almost immediately. Sadiq was sobering up at this time too. He wasn't nearly as drunk as I had perceived him to be. He sat next to me, we were both wrapped up in the same blanket. Mom went to bed hours ago. I was nodding off to sleep myself. Sadiq must have noticed as he let me rest my head on his lap. He softly petted my head as we watched the storm. We exchanged stories from when we were younger and how storms were then. He told me this interesting story of how he'd only met his parents once, and how it was on one of the stormiest days of his life. He told me another story of how after a large storm, he and his grandfather decided to take a walk, but he almost got swept away by one of the flooded areas.
I smiled softly, petting his knee as he pet my head. My sleep was peaceful. I felt truly at ease in that moment. The stress of the day faded away. None of the bad memories ever seemed that hard to live with when I was around Sadiq. I know that at that time, we hadn't known each other for very long, but when there's a connection like ours, time felt nonexistent. I wanted that moment to never end. His soft voice, his warm lap, the sight outside, everything was perfect.
I fell asleep, but not for too long though. I woke up later when he was leaving my room. I was curious as to why we were in my room, but I remembered that he could carry me with ease. I watched him carefully close the door. He was trying his best not to wake me up, not knowing that I was already up. I felt the blanket that covered me, it was the same one from the living room. I smelled it and was enamored by the smell. He might have been drunk, but he still smelled better than anything else I'd ever smelled. I softly drifted off to sleep again.
I woke up again, my room was blindingly bright. I got up and looked out the window and was startled to see how bright and sunny it was. I got dressed, brushed my hair, and made my way to the living room, it smelled sweetly of food. I walked into the kitchen and saw mom and Sadiq cooking. They were making a French food by the name of crêpes.
"Good morning Hera, how'd you sleep?" Mom asked in her usual bright and chipper voice.
"Morning mamma, I slept fine. What time is it?"
Sadiq glanced up at the stove's clock, "10:45, dude." He smirked, "so, what should we do today?"
Mom smirked back, "I don't know, but since it's a certain person's birthday today, I was thinking that he should decide."
I let out a playfully aggravated sigh, "Really? I told you when I was seven that I didn't want my birthday to be celebrated anymore. You'd think that after eleven years of me trying to avoid it would have taught you something, Mom."
"How about we visit a cat shelter?" Sadiq suggested.
My eyes lit up at the mention of cats. It was smart of him to suggest something like that the get my attention.
"That's right, Sadiq. We should. I also know that we don't exactly have any pets other than Lovi's turtles."
I scoffed, "that's playing dirty. You know I can't say no to cats!" I heard a noise erupt from behind me.
Lovino and Antonio were up. Lovi especially because I knew he liked to brush his hair first thing in the morning but he honestly looked like he just walked through a tornado. Antonio's hair was always a mess, so it was hard to tell how long he'd been up.
Lovi made his way to the cupboard where we had our coffee cups, "do we have any coffee?" He asked mom.
"Well yeah. Sadiq helped me make some. By the way kiddo, how many crêpes do you want?"
"Just two."
"Toní, Hera, how about you?"
He and I both replied with, "two". Mom got out the plates while Sadiq finished making the last three. The two served it up. You could tell just by tasting them which ones mom made. One of mine was one that she made and the sides if it were runny but the middle was burnt. But at least she tried.
I ate my food quietly as Sadiq and mom made plans for my birthday. I knew that protesting was just something that didn't work for mom, and while I wasn't too sure about Sadiq, I knew by that point that he was probably one of the most stubborn people I'd ever met. Lovino just flirted with Antonio all breakfast.
I noticed about mid breakfast that Sadiq was wearing different clothes. I brushed it off though as I saw that as unimportant at the moment.
After breakfast, as we were cleaning up, Mom told us to get our socks and shoes on. We did as she asked. I'm not sure if Lovi was even awake enough to know what we were doing, so I sat him down in front of me and brushed his hair for him while Mom and Sadiq finished cleaning. Once we were all done, mom had us all get in her van.
Sadiq offered to drive, I sat in the passenger's seat, and everyone else just kinda sat in the back. Lovi offered to connect his phone to the auxiliary cord since he had playlists customized for everyone based on what he knew we liked. I told him of few of the songs Sadiq liked a few days ago, and knowing Lovi, he added them.
We dove to an animal shelter, and began looking around. I wandered around for a little, petting the cats through their bars. I found this fluffy white cat with milky brown patches. He seemed to like me best out of all the other cats. The tag on his cage said his name was Vic, but i knew that wasn't his real name. Who knows what a cat's named themselves. But whatever it is, that's their real name.
Mom walked over to me, "so, you like him? Why not get a kitten or something younger?"
"He's only three. Honestly Mom, older cats need homes just as much as the younger ones. Besides, kittens have interchangeable personalities due to the fact that they're still developing. Adult cats however, you get what you see."
Sadiq walked over, "oh, he's a pretty kitty. It says his name's Vic? Cool. You should totally get him."
Mom shrugged, "well if he's the one you want then go ahead. I'll fill out the papers."
We were allowed to hold him and pick out a collar while Mom adopted him. None of them looked right for him though. We decided against it.
The ride home was nice. Sadiq's driving is so much better than mom's. He dropped everyone off at my house. Afterwards he decided to take me to the local shopping center. We walked to his house and got in his car.