Chapter Three: Movies:

Once we were all settled, Erica headed over to our DVD collection. "So, what do we want to watch tonight? Romance, action, comedy, chick flick, martial arts or musical?" she asked, rifling through the different genres as she called them out.

"I want an action movie," Marcus said, sitting down in one of the stadium seats that filled the big room.

"We watched action last time, Marcus. Let's watch a comedy instead," I said, sitting one seat over from him.

"How about we just combine several genres and watch Twilight?" Erica said as she held up the case, a grin on her face and her eyes sparkling with laughter.

"That works. It's always good for a laugh!" Marcus and I said together as we smiled back at Erica.

"Ha-ha! Okay, Twilight it is then!" Erica laughed, getting up and walking over to the DVD/VCR combo that was in a corner of the room. She placed the movie in the player and turned it on after turning on the flat screen behind her. Erica ran back to her seat beside Marcus and curled up with her plate in her lap. Marcus placed one arm around her shoulders, pulling her as close to him as he could.

We all began to eat as the movie started. I settled back in the chair, crossing my legs. Whenever we wanted a good laugh, we would watch this popular vampire movie. To be truthful with myself, I liked the movie because it was good but the way it presented vampires was all wrong. Vampires do not actually sparkle in the sun, even though that is a good way to romanticize them. My internal musings stopped when the movie actually started after all the previews, something Erica always wanted to see even if we already had the movies being advertised.

Marcus and I humored her, only for the fact that we could never win in arguments against her.

"Hey, Ant. You think you would ever fall for a human like Edward Cullen does in Twilight?" Marcus asked me after the movie was over.

"I don't know. If she was my soul mate, maybe, but I don't see that happening anytime soon," I told him, standing up and stretching lithely.

"Come on, Marc. That isn't a fair question. Antony will find someone, human or vampire, that completes him at some point. Plus, you've been a vampire for eighty-five years and Ant's only been one for twenty years," Erica said, poking Marcus in the side and sitting up.

"Whatever," Marcus replied with a grin.

I grinned at my siblings, glad that we all had such close relationships. We could easily tease each other like this and not get mad. It was funny, Erica and Marcus weren't my biological siblings, my little sister was dead now, but that was what they had become in the last twenty years.

Erica grinned over at me as she gathered up our plates and glasses. She walked out of the room to take the trash to the kitchen and wash the dishes before we started another movie.

"Eri seems to be in a good mood after your shopping trip. It must have gone good," Marcus commented as he went to pick out the next movie. He help up the Rush Hour trilogy and asked, "How about these next? Action and comedy together!"

"It did. You saw how many bags I was carrying! The sad thing is, you didn't even offer to help! Perfect!" I replied, grinning and walking over to look with my brother. We smiled mischievously, knowing what Erica's reaction would be to our choice of movie once she got back. She preferred chick flicks and musicals to our action and comedy movies.

"Good! We get to make Erica sit still and watch this with us! Sorry, man, but you looked like you had those bags under control," Marcus gloated, looking happy. He took my teasing in stride and turned around with a good comeback. I laughed with him as I changed out DVDs. Just then, Erica danced back into the room carrying refilled glasses and a tray of snacks.

"So, what did you guys choose?" she asked, setting everything out in front of us.

"Rush Hour One, Two, and Three," Marcus said as he sat back down in his seat.

"Fine with me. I made Antony suffer by going shopping so I can suffer through these three movies for you two," she said with a sigh as she reclaimed her chair.

"It'll be okay, Erica. You know you'll be asleep by midway through the first movie anyway," I said as I quickly started the movie and took my seat.

We spent most of the night finishing Rush Hour, and finally went to bed about midnight. When I made it to my room, before crawling into bed, I hung up all my new clothes and got out my new shoes. I finally got into bed around one and fell into a dreamless sleep.