He shrugs. “I mean, I feel better now than I did on Monday?”
It will have to be enough, Darlene thinks, and surges forward, ignoring how tight he goes under her hands. “Stop it,” she says into the prickly start of his hair. “I’m your sister and I love you, and you can hug me once in a while. You already tried to kiss me.”
Elliot laughs a little. “I won’t do it again, I promise,” he says, but his body goes quiet in her arms, and he actually reaches up and hugs her back, just a little. His hands on the backs of her shoulder blades. His hands warm on the curves of her shoulders.
“Now that you have all that figured out,” Tyrell says from the kitchen, “Darlene, would you like to join us for breakfast? Or, maybe we should call it an early lunch. …show more content…
And then she grins, and shoves at his arm. “Absolutely, I’m starving. What have you got?”
Elliot’s ordered spring rolls and lo mien and orange chicken and some sort of stir fry deal with what look like snow peas and bits of beef, and Darlene immediately empties half the orange chicken onto one of Elliot’s sad, college-kid plates, then perches on the windowsill because there aren’t enough chairs for all three of them. She doesn't bother with chopsticks. She uses her fingers, and looks out the window as she eats.
The sun has risen fully by now, at nearly eleven, a clean bright light that makes the city look different—less lived-in maybe, or less filthy. She has to squint against it, and can’t see whatever trash she’s probably actually looking at. Traffic isn’t bad either. There are people out on the streets, on bicycles and scooters and occasionally in cars, but the gas stations aren’t taking credit cards anymore, and people are starting to run out of cash. The city’s atmosphere has changed since Monday. She can sense the precipice a few steps out, even if she can’t see it, or how long the drop is; at the bottom is where the world will start to fix itself. Where it will have to, or fall apart
It will have to be enough, Darlene thinks, and surges forward, ignoring how tight he goes under her hands. “Stop it,” she says into the prickly start of his hair. “I’m your sister and I love you, and you can hug me once in a while. You already tried to kiss me.”
Elliot laughs a little. “I won’t do it again, I promise,” he says, but his body goes quiet in her arms, and he actually reaches up and hugs her back, just a little. His hands on the backs of her shoulder blades. His hands warm on the curves of her shoulders.
“Now that you have all that figured out,” Tyrell says from the kitchen, “Darlene, would you like to join us for breakfast? Or, maybe we should call it an early lunch. …show more content…
And then she grins, and shoves at his arm. “Absolutely, I’m starving. What have you got?”
Elliot’s ordered spring rolls and lo mien and orange chicken and some sort of stir fry deal with what look like snow peas and bits of beef, and Darlene immediately empties half the orange chicken onto one of Elliot’s sad, college-kid plates, then perches on the windowsill because there aren’t enough chairs for all three of them. She doesn't bother with chopsticks. She uses her fingers, and looks out the window as she eats.
The sun has risen fully by now, at nearly eleven, a clean bright light that makes the city look different—less lived-in maybe, or less filthy. She has to squint against it, and can’t see whatever trash she’s probably actually looking at. Traffic isn’t bad either. There are people out on the streets, on bicycles and scooters and occasionally in cars, but the gas stations aren’t taking credit cards anymore, and people are starting to run out of cash. The city’s atmosphere has changed since Monday. She can sense the precipice a few steps out, even if she can’t see it, or how long the drop is; at the bottom is where the world will start to fix itself. Where it will have to, or fall apart