AN: GAH! This one has driven me NUTS. Get off my desk, foul chapter! Enjoy.
Chapter 2: Creation is Awaking
Cam wheeled the dolly over the threshold of his little sister's new dorm room, managing to catch one corner of the mini-fridge on the doorjamb.
"Oh, Jesus," he muttered, glancing behind him to make sure he hadn't been caught.
Abby was struggling down the hall with her 19-inch TV, unaware of his blunder. He'd just take the fridge out of the now-crumpled box and hope that it wasn't scratched or anything. Because, knowing Abby, she'd make him go back to Lowe's and exchange it again. Last time it was because it had been white, and she wanted black. Before that, because it didn't have the little round racks for cans. So Cam just cut the tape holding the box together and unfolded it from around the refrigerator, inspecting the corner carefully.
Determining that there was nothing wrong with the fridge, Cam listened to his sisters' tandem grunts rang out as they dropped their burdens to the floor. Marie collapsed onto the still-unmade bed groaning,
"Oh, for Christ's sake. Tell me that's the last of it."
"Two more boxes," Abby sighed. "And then we have to set up the computer, figure out where to put the TV and the fridge-"
"Ugh!" Marie's anguished groan cut her sister off as she stood. "I'll get the boxes. I just want it done."
"Nope," Cam interrupted, satisfied that the fridge was fine. "You set up the computer, and we'll get the boxes and lock up the Suburban." Marie grinned brightly and began unpacking the various boxes that held the mysterious cords and plugs that she handled so efficiently.
As the two older siblings clattered down the three flights of stairs and out to the loading dock, where Cam's beloved SUV was parked, Abby sighed heavily.
"I still don't see why I couldn't bring the Beemer."
"Because freshman have to have a, quote, 'valid reason', like a job or something, for having a car on campus."
"Saturday evening shopping trips are a valid reason!"
"Besides," Cam continued, ignoring his sister's only half-teasing whine. "God only knows what kind of trouble you'd get into with a BMW, and away from Dad's watchful eye no less." Cam teased as he hefted the heavier of the two boxes in the backseat. He snorted at the idea and at Abby's struggles with the other box, which seemed to be mostly magazines. "Watchful," he sneered, "You notice he's not here to inspect your new roommate?"
"He's working," Abby said, tossing her blonde locks and fixing her brother with a defiant stare.
"It's Sunday," Cam shot back, elbowing the door to the stairwell open. "And even I, defender of the innocent, healer of hurts, asked for today off so I could help you move in."
"Yeah," Abby agreed her lips quirking at her brother's sanctimonious tone. "You're a regular Mother Theresa."
Conversation was temporarily halted as they struggled up three flights of stairs and down the long hall to the very last room on the left. Nearing the room, they could hear some very suspicious beeps and chirps, and sure enough, when they had deposited their burdens, Marie was happily playing Minesweeper on Abby's new laptop, the desk pushed against the right wall and the bed made.
"Nice," Cam drawled, startling her. "Did you fold the clothes too?"
"Please," Marie sneered, looking very much like Cam himself in that moment. "Abby would kill me if I touched her precious cashmere sweaters."
"You got that right," the older sister agreed easily as she began rifling through her now-full closet, pulling garment bags off of some items and transferring them onto others. "You have to take care of your clothes. They make the woman, you know."
"Especially when they cost more than my weekly paycheck," Cam snorted, screwing the various parts of a floor-lamp together, as Abby shot him a glare. "What?" he demanded. "It's true!"
"It doesn't have to be," Abby taunted as she turned back to her closet. Marie sunk farther down into her sister's desk chair, her eyes focused firmly on the computer screen.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Cam asked cautiously, unsure if he really wanted to open that can of worms.
"I'm just saying that you're smart enough to do anything you wanted, but no, you didn't want to go to medical school, you're just too impatient for that, aren't you, and now you're stuck in that crappy apartment-"
"Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore." Cam interrupted his sister's single-sentence tirade, hoping that she would remember to breathe between scoldings. "I moved out."
That shocked Abby into dropping onto her newly made bed to stare at him.
"You did?" she breathed incredulously. "You broke up with Mark?" Marie plopped next to her sister, and both pairs of eyes focused on him, pale green and cool grey.
"Yes," he answered simply, screwing a light bulb into the lamp he'd been working on and plugging it in.
"Great!" Marie exclaimed before her sister could shush her. "Does this mean I don't have to be nice about him anymore?"
"That's exactly what it means," Cam laughed as he finally turned to face his sisters. "Abuse away. Go ahead! Make fun of his accent, tell me he sounds like a reject from a bad mob movie. Or his hair! His hair's just screaming out to be made fun of. It's huge, he looks like a Chia pet. And don't forget his taste in beer, I make fun of that all the time. And his hypocritically health-conscious ways. Obviously it was ok for him to eat greasy French fries, but if I touched a slice of pizza, the world was ending."
The girl's eyes got wider and wider throughout this speech, casting glances back and forth between them, wondering if their older brother had finally lost it.
"Or how about his dancing? He was completely incapable of any dance other than some sort of weird Flashdance/Snoopy Dance hybrid!"
It was this, combined with the impression that Cam indulged in, throwing his arms to the ceiling and jumping up and down, that sent them off giggling madly. 'Good,' Cam thought. 'At least somebody's having some fun due to all of this.'
He had stopped 'dancing' but the girls were still laughing, when he heard a timid voice from the door of the room.
"Hi." He turned to see a girl who must have been Abby's new roommate standing in the doorway, clutching a huge army-surplus canvas bag and a few smaller bags. Her nondescript brown hair hung nearly to her waist and she was wearing a grey wife beater tee, jeans and combat boots. "I'm Elise."
Abby immediately brushed past her brother, knocking him off-balance and scrambling towards the shorter girl, who was dropping her bags to the floor, and wrapped her in an exuberant hug. Cam had to intervene when the surprise on her face shifted into near-panic when she realized that Abby had no intention of letting go as she babbled on about room arrangements. The grateful look she shot him as she stared to open the huge olive-green duffle was comical, and he exchanged a giggly glance with Marie as Abby introduced them to Elise.
Elise seemed much more at ease with Marie, joking and shooting her an exasperated, eye-rolling look that clearly said 'Ugh! Older siblings!' But when she turned to shake his hand, the slightly overwhelmed wide eyes returned, and she blurted out,
"You have really pretty eyes." Cam couldn't help but laugh at that, as it was something he heard all the time, but he shifted tactics, trying to reassure his sister's roommate that he was not laughing at her.
"Thanks!" he enthused, "You have a very cute accent." And it was true; her slightly shy demeanor and unremarkable appearance melted when she opened her mouth. The Louisiana twang was irresistible, especially when she blushed and turned away at his comment. Cam leaned towards his sister and whispered,
"You should ask if she needs help with the rest of her stuff."
"Huh?" Abby asked. "But we haven't finished unpacking mine!" Cam's smile became a little forced as he replied, sighing with annoyance,
"Honey, it's just good manners. And if you're not going to, then I am." When he got Elise's attention, Abby cut in to finish his question, and Cam thanked whatever god was in charge of younger siblings that she'd gone along. A little thoughtless his sister might be, but there wasn't a mean bone in her body.
"Um," Elise started, coloring prettily again, "the rest?"
The awkward moment that followed, as the three siblings realized that Elise didn't have any more luggage, was broken, predictably, by Marie.
"Fucking awesome!" Cam was so grateful to her that he didn't even have the heart to correct her language. With the ice broken, all four of the room's current occupants settled into an easy unpacking rhythm. Elise pulled her meager shoe collection out of her duffel and put her clothes away as Abby did the same (but it took her much longer), Cam set up the surge protectors and extension cords and Marie lounged on her sister's bed, snarking at Abby's dorm-décor ideas.
When he looked up from testing the new fridge's 'cold knob', he caught Elise pulling a manila envelope carefully from her purse. She slid the contents out, laying them on her desk and deftly catching the Scotch tape Abby tossed her when she asked for it. As he watched, she reverently began taping up newspaper clippings, website printouts, and at the center, three grainy pencil sketches, like the ones police used to identify suspects.
Oh thank god that's over. Lol. This one kicked my butt. So make my day and leave a review. :D Also, super-major thanks to MKOLO for not letting me slack off! Happy Early Halloween, folks!