❝later that night, i held an atlas in my lap, ran my fingers across the whole world and whispered 'where does it hurt?' it answered 'everywhere, everywhere, everywhere.'❞
the twilight saga / embry call
eclipse ― breaking dawn pt 1
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CHAPTER THREE: CONSTELLATION
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A WEEK HADPASSED since the Cooper-Song family arrived in Washington. Mae woke one overcast morning to the smell of smoke, thick and bitter in the air. A woman's voice cursing the frying pan resonated from the other end of the house, causing a groan to slip from the sleepy teenager's lips as she rolled onto her back, the blankets swamped around her thin frame.
"Since when do you sleep in?" Lina asked from her bedroom door, causing Mae to gasp in surprise.
"Jesus, Lina, do you not know how to knock?" she sighed, slumping back against her pillows as her sister smirked. "And since I stayed up all night watching Back to the Future."
Thankful it was Saturday, Mae wrapped her blankets tighter around her body, bracing herself when she heard Lina approaching her, "Oh, no you don't. Rise and shine, Mae."
"Go away," she grumbled, but Lina wasn't having it.
She ripped the blankets away from Mae, ignoring her whines of defeat as she dumped them at the end of her bed. "Come on, breakfast is almost ready."
"That's what Kira's doing?" Mae wrinkled her nose as another waft of smoke drifted into her room, followed by a curse Kira Song would normally gasp at in disapproval.
"You know mum," Lina chuckled in fond amusement. "She tries her best, but cooking anything that isn't traditional has always been James' forte."
The girls made their way to the kitchen where they found Kira hunched over a blackened pile of bacon and an equally burnt stack of toast. James was sitting across from his wife with a fond smile tugging at his lips, sipping at a mug of coffee he'd fortunately made himself.
"Good morning, girls," Kira greeted at the sight of her daughters, nudging the platters of food towards James as if to pass on the blame to him. "Did you have a good sleep?"
"I did," Lina beamed, skipping forward to press a kiss to her mother's cheek. "Maeve, on the other hand..."
"Back to the Future again?" James asked as Mae dropped onto the stool next to him.
"Mae," Kira sighed, though her scolding was light as she smiled down at her step-daughter.
"What? It's the weekend," Mae shrugged carelessly, to which Lina rolled her eyes. "So what's for breakfast? Charcoal?"
"Very funny," Kira grumbled, though there was no malice to her tone as she looked down at her ruined breakfast in defeat.
"Us three will have toast," James announced as he rose to his feet, pressing a soft kiss to his wife's pouting lips. "You, my love, have to get to work."
Mae groaned at the sight, covering her eyes and curling her lips in distaste, "Save it for when we're not in the room."
James chuckled, ruffling his daughter's hair before he took Kira's place by the oven. The woman in question ducked out of the room to clean up, coming back a few moment's later with her pencil heels on and her handbag slung over her arm. She moved to stand by James' side, the two sharing another kiss despite Mae's playful protests.
