I'M BACK BITCHES! Sooooooo I wanted to get this one out as soon as possible, so it's a bit shorter than the rest :( Still quality content though! ... Well, maybe.
Bad Days by The Flaming Lips
Rocket Man by Elton John (You give me the most hardcore rocker, and I guarantee that they too, like Elton John. Everyone likes Elton John. Everyone.)
Contact High by Architecture in Helsinki
Wonderlust King by Golgol Bordello (Gypsy Punk, motherfuckers!)
Last of the American Girls by Green Day
Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys
SCHWAANNNNG!
CHAPTER THREE: IN WHICH ADRIANA HAS ANOTHER VISITOR
I was right the first time – Her hair was the most intense shade of green that I had ever seen grace her thick mane. And believe me, there had been a few hues before.
It took me a moment to recover from seeing the black and purple clad girl on my doorstep.
"...Tazia?" She gave me a dazzling white smile.
"The one and only." Taz craned her neck to see the stubborn man behind me. "Who's the dude?" I positioned myself so that I was blocking her view.
"He... He's not important. Taz, why are you here?" Her smile disappeared and was replaced with a slight pout.
"Mom and dad sent me to help with the move." She stated. I sighed.
"They still don't trust me alone, do they?" She grinned at my dismay.
"Nope." Her mouth formed the word a bit over dramatically and embellished it with a resounding pop from her lips. She ducked under my arm and went inside.
Completely disregarding my rude guest, she looked around the room and whistled.
"This place got pretty shabby didn't it?" Taz ran a few fingertips over one of the bookcase shelves. "Ugh. I'd hate the poor fool who has to dust this place."
"Has to...?" She looked up at me and held up her fingers.
"It's filthy." She didn't get to see me slap my hand onto my forehead and groan. She immersed herself into digging through her studded black leather purse. Her eyes lit up and smiled as she dug out a massive colorfully decorated camera. She pointed the lens towards the stranger and I and grinned as she clicked the shutter. A bright flash filled the room for a nanosecond.
"Gah!" My guest covered his yes with his hands and stumbled back a bit. "What is that thing?" Taz only smiled more.
"It's a Canon EOS Rebel T3i. I painted it with acrylics the other day. Isn't it grand?" Taz tucked it back into the gigantic bag. I'm pretty sure I heard the man growl at her.
She marched over to the disturbed man, completely oblivious to his pique.
"Hi, I don't think I've introduced myself," She stuck out her right hand, and when he didn't take it she snatched his own right hand from his side and shook it with great enthusiasm. "I'm Tazia, Taz for short. I'm Adriana's sister. And you would be...?" He blinked at her without a trace of any identifiable emotion. The man just stared at the ever-present smilie on Taz's face.
I snorted quietly to myself. And he told me he knew his name. A small smile of satisfaction spread across my face. It quickly disappeared when I remembered that I had a crazy man in my house. Oh boy.
I watched him blink a few more times. Tazia started to notice the pause too. She raised her eyebrows questioningly. "Hmm?"
"...Loki. My name is Loki." Taz's smile dropped from her face and she was struck silent – until she burst into a fit of violent giggles, that is. The jovial juvenile prodded one extended finger into the center of our guest's chest.
"You're funny! I like you." Loki shot me a confused look. My hand slapped onto my forehead with a prominent smack.
There were two completely batty individuals in my household now. Fabulous.
"Oh!" Taz withdrew herself from the perplexed man and turned towards me. "I brought food! I know you don't eat much, but I'm famished." She bounded back to the doorsill and out to her car and started to bring in plastic bag upon plastic bag filled with groceries. Instead of helping, I simply stood there, quite amused my her franticly elated movements. Apparently Loki was engrossed as well. I had not seen my baby sister for about a year, and I found that I severely missed her antics.
When she was finished unloading the trunk and back seat of the small Ford car, there must have been over twenty full bags. Taz concluded her endeavor by lugging in a large blue cooler. She let out an accomplished puff of air and kneeled down to open up the container. Her hands, abundantly decorated with rings, pulled out a glass bottle, full of amber liquid. Tazia proficiently used the side of the Igloo to pop off the crown cork, letting the carbonation fizz. She lifted the neck of the bottle to her lips and took a long sip.
I was not enthralled with everything that Tazia was doing, not nearly as enthralled as our visitor was. The pale man had a strange way of watching every little move and item in the room as if he expected something to assault him. It was almost as if he was nonplussed by this very environment. He remained completely silent as his eyes shifted from place to place, item to item, me to Tazia. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Taz spoke up.
"Dude, are you okay?" She turned her head from her relaxed position leaning on the cooler. Taz glanced at him while taking another gulp of the chilled cola. He raised his eyebrows slightly.
"...What?" Her soprano voice pried him from his focus.
"Um, it's just that you've kinda been staring at me... Can I help you or something?" He shook his head a bit before gasping in what I assumed was pain. His mouth twitched and brought two fingers up to his face to pinch the bridge of his nose. Loki exhaled sharply from his nose and made his way back to the chair he was sitting in before. He sat with his head in one hand and breathed loudly.
Our new acquaintance sat like that for a for a few seconds before Taz and I exchanged glances; hers, one of worry, and mine pretty much expressionless. My unpleasant occupant was in pain? Fine. It didn't bother me in the least.
Seeing my indifference, Taz let out a bothered noise and shot up from the side of the cooler. She strode over to the apparently tormented man and placed a sympathetic hand of his shoulder from behind. He did not lift up his head like I presumed she was expecting, nor did he shrug her off. He seemed too occupied to care about her solicitude. To get him to regard her, Taz leaned herself over so her head was somewhat more noticeable. Her lengthy lime green pigtails cascaded down to the arm of the blandly colored chair. She ever-so-slightly shook his shoulder. In spite of her efforts, all he decided to do was grunt in a fitful manner.
"Hey – Do you need anything? Like, some water or something? Hey..." She shook his shoulder a bit more this time. He dropped his hands reluctantly from his face and slowly lifted his head up to give my sister an irate glare. She frowned. "Dude, you have some intense bags under your eyes!" Tazia moved herself so that she was standing (or rather hovering) over him. He didn't seem to appreciate her compassion – all he did was keep the same, steady scowl. After a few moments of pursed lips, Taz patted him on the shoulder encouragingly.
"C'mon. Get up," She commanded. His eyes simply narrowed further (if that was even entirely possible). "By the look of those bags, you are in dire need of some sleep." He sighed at her ignorance.
"Oh, he's slept enough." I jeered. Taz looked up form her convalescent and attempted to withhold a smirk – and failed.
"And you would know?" She shot me a knowing look. I joined Loki in glaring at her.
"Oh please." I scoffed. My goading sister let off, placing her focus back on the dark-haired man.
"Let's go – Guest room's upstairs." There was no movement. Taz pulled forward on his arms. "You're not gonna feel any better if you don't get any rest!" She kept on smiling at him. His nose twitched. "C'mon, I'll take you up-"
"Oh for the love of God, just go with her!" My sudden outburst caused even the obstinate guest to turn his head.
"...Will she not rest until she is satisfied?" He groaned with notes of exhaustion. Man, even with two days of sleeping... What could have caused a man to be so damn drained?
"I'm afraid not." I answered. Loki turned his head back to the beaming youth. He sighed one last time before begrudgingly getting up. Tazia flashed an even more radiant smile.
"There you go..." He rolled his eyes and started towards the stairs. "It's just up the-"
"I know where it is." He hissed. Taz held up her hands defensively.
"Okay, jeez... What is this yell at Tazia day?"
"I believe it's a complete season." I offered. She turned her head and stuck her tongue out at me before disappearing up the staircase behind Loki.
With the two of them gone, I made my way over to the chaise lounge and plopped myself down and whined.
My sister is here.
And she seems to have a soft spot for Loki.
Shit.
I sat there with my hands covering my face in utter frustration. I heard Taz's footsteps come back down the stairs. She strolled over to me contently and sat in the chair opposite me. Her fingertips drummed in a row as she grinned. The old beige chair made a slight creaking sound. I took my hands away to find my sister leaning right over me – an irritating tendency of hers.
I waited for her to say something, but she just smiled.
"What is it now?" I groaned. Taz smiled a bit more deviously at the sound of my exasperation. She gestured her thumb towards the stairs.
"Your boyfriend?" She half-accused. I rolled my eyes and shifted so I wasn't looking her in the face.
"No." I answered coldly, practically scolding my sister of even thinking of the possibility. She pouted for a split second before her whole face broke into a hopeful expression.
"So he's free then?" Indifferent to her optimism, I looked her hard in the face.
"Tazia, I let you goad him into staying here another night, but that doesn't mean I like him being here. In fact, I rather despise this whole ordeal." Her smile turned into a slight pout of the lips. "Taz, he's leaving tomorrow." The girl's pout mixed with the wrinkling of her brow had taken the usually ecstatic face and made it into one of sadness.
"Why? Dria-"
"No. Taz I don't like the vibe this guy gives off. So far he's been nothing but cold to the both of us."
"So you two should get along famously – You're both curt and cold!" She offered. I frowned at her overly-accepting nature.
"I'm sorry, but he has to go. I don't take kindly strangers Taz, you know that – and neither does my..." I trailed off hesitantly.
"Your what, Aidie? Your condition?" She lifted her hands to put quotations around the word. I swallowed with the beginnings of ire.
"Yes, Taz, my condition. I will not be responsible for anything that I can prevent. As I said, I don't like him, and that's not a good start for keeping him unscathed." Taz had an ever-so-rare look of seriousness to her.
"You underestimate yourself Aidie." She muttered the words like she expected to be struck for them. I turned fully on my back and stared at the decoratively carved ceiling panels. There was a long pause, and I sensed Tazia's slowly growing hope. The more it grew I feared her grief from me striking it down, but I feared letting her have her way.
"...No." The one syllable made her shoulders slump.
"Adriana!" She whined pleadingly. I sat up, still refusing to look her straight in the face.
"Tazia Gallo, do not fight me on this. This may have been our grandmother's house, but it's my house now, and-"
"..." She muttered something under her breath, and I barely caught enough of a breath of it to take notice.
"What was that?" Her gaze locked onto me.
"Grandma would have let him stay." That – that of all things silenced me. My hands should have been piping hot for anyone else, but my little sister disarmed me completely. She never made me angry, only ever dejected, like now.
"...Taz - " I started.
"Grandma loved the thought of having people in her house! You remember – she was always rambling on about how she wanted the whole place to be spic-and-span for company."
"But there was never any actual company Taz. You know that." She looked to the ceiling with pursed lips.
"That's not true - when she had that gardener dude Leo he stayed her when he worked too late-"
"Taz-"
"-And then there was that one time she let some exchange students stay here when their families canceled on them-"
"But she invited-"
"-Aaaannnnd don't forget those hitchhikers she picked up once – they stayed for like a week before she let them go! Adriana, please, in the spirit of our loving, kind, batshit crazy grandmother, please let him stay." The young girl clasped her hands together and stared at me imploringly.
"..."
Her eyes got wider.
"..."
And wider still.
"...I suppose... I suppose I'll consider it." Her grin made a dashing return as she wrapped her arms around me and squealed. I could only pat her lightly on the back seeing as how she had a death grip on my arms with her own. After a solid seven seconds of squeezing, Taz let me go and trotted back to one of her suitcases, hoisting it up and running up the stairs, presumably to her own room.
"You won't regret this!" She called over her shoulder. "These things come full circle!" She and her voice disappeared behind the twisting stairs.
I was still for a moment, taking in what had just happened with a loud groan.
My sister is staying here.
Along with that stranger.
Oh joy.
Ugh, I feel like this chapter was a bit messy... Well I did kinda rush the hell out of this...
REVIEWS!
It's 437 AM and I'm dazzled - Yeah, I didn't want Loki to be that OOC, and I do not think he would be softened up by someone kicking him out and all. One of these days I'm gonna have her blow up so you can see Adriana's full potential ;) Her uncontrollable flameyness will be a big part of this.
Alerix Slynn – Eh, eheh... I'm interested too... -slinks away with shifty eyes-
szynka2496 – I hope I got your name right... I'm glad you like it so far! The importance of the house will come into play more in some of the later chapters, so stay tuned!
Lokiandfriends – GAHHH YOU'RE BACK! :D
Berianireth and Lorien – Aww, shucks.
Guest – GAAAAHHH THE WAIT WAS KILLING ME TOO! Lawl, so many punny opportunities :)
Guest – O-o I am most curious as well...
I wrote a lot of this chapter half asleep (amongst other things... . _ . ), so cut me some slack... :3 And no, the word 'ire' was not a typo for 'fire.' It means anger pretty much. Also, I once again apologize for the long wait. I hated it as much as you guys.