A Random Chapter
Upon reaching our house again I found Maglor bouncing around (despite the fact that he's meant to be a mature twenty-one-year-old) and yelling excitedly with a letter in his hand. He nearly bowled me over as we came through the door.
"Dude! This is friggin' awesome!"
I raised an eyebrow. "What's awesome?" I asked.
"I've been asked to sing at the Alqualonde Music Festival!" he shouted. "Free hug!" and proceeded to hug Avasarie.
"Congrats, Maglor—eugh!" she said, trying to disentangle herself.
"Haven't you already sung at stuff like that before?" I queried. "What makes this one different?"
Maglor gave me a look of utter disbelief and dropped Avasarie. She squealed and clutched at his arm to stop herself from slumping to the floor. "Dude, the Alqualonde Music Festival is only, like, the biggest deal in the music world!"
When I thought about it, I should have known that. Even the most music-illiterate people in Tirion know that. Before I could reply he'd rushed off to his room and in his ecstatic state Maglor proceeded to belt the living crap out of his lyre with the loudest and most energetic song he knew, the walls nearly collapsing as a result. Dad, needless to say, was not too pleased.
"Maglor!" he yelled over the sound. "Will you turn that down?" Despite the fact that Maglor rocked, and that it was apparent even when he was a little kid that he had a serious flair for music, for some reason he never received Dad's approbation. Apart from the being famous part – Dad at least gave him some credit for that.
Still, the only approval Maglor needed was from his fans, and those were in no short supply.
"Heyyy, Avasarie," drawled Celegorm, sauntering into the kitchen.
"Apparently I'm popular today," said Avasarie, looking somewhat confused. It was understandable – after all, being accosted by my brotherswould be a frightful experience.
"Wanna go hang out or something? I'm bored," he said.
Panic seized me for some unexplained reason. Some strange feeling always seemed to crop up whenever I recognized that lovelorn look on his face, the one he'd worn in her presence ever since Avasarie and I were five years old and Celegorm was seven. Even as a five-year-old it had irritated me immensely. I didn't fear that he would do anything worse that ask her out – Celegorm is many things but he's not a complete arsehole when it comes to girls. So what was it? I didn't know. Whatever it was, it frightened me out of my wits. I wondered if it had something to do with the fact that I'd noticed she was pretty.
"No, Avasarie's hanging out with me today," I said hurriedly, dragging her outside and away from my psycho brother. Avasarie shot me a strange look.
"What's up with you?" she asked, somewhere between puzzled and amused.
"Haven't you noticed anything weird about the way Celegorm's been treating you for the last, I don't know, twelve years, maybe?"
"Not really."
The nonchalant reply was somewhat exasperating.
"Has it ever occurred to you that he likes you?"
"No – does he?"
"Yes, and it's blatantly obvious."
"Huh." Her dark hair blew around her face as she considered this last statement with a pensive air. I couldn't believe it had never occurred to her before. Celegorm was so damn obvious.
"Why should it matter to you at all if I did?" she asked at length.
"Because Celegorm is my brother, and besides that, he's weird."
Avasarie's eyes darkened. "Yeah, but at least I've known him for ages." Her voice held restrained anger in it. "You are such a hypocrite. You already like Menelya after talking to her for one day."
"How did –"
"Because I do." Her mouth quirked up in a terse smirk that was half-knowing, half-annoyed. "And if I did like your brother I'd be fully entitled to, because he's not some random guy that I just met."
"So do you like him, then?" I asked quietly, still stung that she'd called me a hypocrite. She looked taken aback by the question.
"Um, I haven't actually –" she began.
"Uh, Caranthir?" Curufin appeared out of nowhere. "There's this girl at the door who wants to see you."
Thinking it might have been Menelya I promptly forgot everything and went round to the door, only to find Bob standing there. Apparently there was a conversation that took place between Curufin and Bob that I only found out about a lot later, with words to this effect:
Curufin: What do you want?
Bob: Hey. Are Avasarie and that goth guy around here?
Curufin: Caranthir? Are you sure that's who you're looking for?
Bob: Yeah. You one of his brothers?
Curufin: Yeah.
Bob: I thought so.
Curufin: What's that supposed to mean?
Bob: What's what supposed to mean?
Curufin: The whole 'I thought so' thing. What, do you think I'm as weird as he is?
Bob: No, just a whole lot ruder.
Curufin: Whatever. Who are you anyway?
Bob: I'm Bob.
Curufin: What kind of name's that?
Bob: My hair, idiot. Bob. You?
Curufin: Curufin. Not so nice to meet you.
Bob: Same to you, dude. Now tell me where your brother is before I slam you into that wall and kick your arse from here to Taniquetil.
Curufin: Alright, alright, I'll go get him. No need to get so shirty.
At this point I turned up. Avasarie stalked behind me and began heading to the kitchen.
"What's up?" I asked casually, not betraying my curiosiety.
"Party at Vorondil's. You and you," she replied, nodding at me and Avasarie's retreating figure. Avasarie stopped mid-step and walked backwards.
Apparently Aeron had at length seen fit to admit Avasarie and I to the group. Just one thing –
"Who's Vorondil?" I asked. Bob rolled her eyes.
"Vorondil. Brownish-red hair. On the tall side."
Of course. I hadn't actually talked to the guy – he'd hardly said a word during the whole time we'd been there, and to be honest I'd barely noticed him.
"Okay, we'll be there," said Avasarie brightly, speaking for the both of us, not thinking at all about how we were going to get there without Mum or Dad knowing.
"Awesomeness!" beamed Bob.
"Is Menelya going to be there?" I felt a hard nudge from Avasarie, whereupon I stomped on her foot.
"Of course! She actually asked me whether or not you were going, so that's when I came round here to find out."
Inwardly I was yelling 'Boo-yeah!'. Outwardly I said calmly, "My brother wasn't too much of a pain in the arse?"
She shrugged. "Nah. He's kinda cute, actually, beneath all that hostility."
"How old are you, exactly?"
"Fifteen."
"Aren't you a bit young to be hanging out with us and going to parties and all that?"
"No. I'm only two years younger than you lot. Anyway, I'm gonna choof off. See you tomorrow night!" With that she walked off. I found myself wondering what on earth Curufin could have said to Bob to make her think that he was cute. Must have been something truly romantic. But that was highly unlikely – Curufin was almost as incapable as Celegorm of showing any nicer outpourings than blunt rudeness. As I was contemplating this Curufin himself came slouching into view.
"Who was that, anyway?"
"One of my friends," I said.
"And if you want to know, she called you cute," added Avasarie.
Curufin's face was a study in surprise as he said, "Really? She said that?"
"Yeah, which means she has a weird taste in guys," I said, employing my usual sarcasm without thinking.
Expecting to have some missile thrown at me I instinctively moved back. But all Curufin could mutter in reply was, "Shut up, dude."
I just grinned to myself and walked off. If only I had seen that faint shade of crimson suddenly tinge his cheeks.
