Lethargy

I enter the house, expecting to be bombarded with questions about the sudden appearance of the Guitar, only to be met with... Nothing. Now that I think about it, I didn't see Rouge's car in the drive... People are still heading out of school so Trish is probably still there... I can probably sneak this into my room before-

"Where the fuck did that come from?" Echoes Rosie's voice as she comes down the stairs.

Son of a bitch. So close. "Hey, little sister, look at what they gave me at the bake sale I was running for sick orphans!" I greet her with an undue level of flair.

"Hilarious. You know Mum and Mama said no more guitars." She replies, unimpressed, now heading towards one of the doors. I've only been in kitchen and upstairs, I'm not sure what's behind there.

Tentatively, I follow her into what I find out is a living room, with a sofa in the centre, and two chairs at angles facing it. There's also a TV in there, pretty old too, guess Grandma never bothered to upgrade to 64K. "Think about it Rose, how likely am I to break a second one?" I ask, leaning the case against the wall as I take up one of the chairs, and she lays down on the sofa.

"It's not the point, it's supposed to remind you to not take things too far. Our parents aren't idiots, you know." She points out, turning on the TV.

"Yeah, well, they're not here, besides, it's not like I have a choice, Ty and Echo decided I'm their new bandmate." I explain, realising how insane that sounds.

Rosie looks at me for a minute with a confused face. "As in, Ty that tried to knock you out and potential psychopath Echo?" She tries to confirm, as if I've just mentioned flying pigs.

"Thought you didn't believe that rumour." I smirk, causing her to blink and turn back to the TV.

"I don't, but either way she's bad news, him too." She retorts.

"Who is?" Poppy asks as she enters the room. While Rosie and I hadn't bothered to change, Poppy is already in her pyjamas, a big tank top and oversized shorts... She looks... Wait a second.

I look Poppy up and down before replying. "Are you wearing Trish's clothes?" I ask immediately. Even Rosie looks confused by her apparel.

"I... Well, I just thought she looked so good in them, they might suit me... And she said I could borrow clothes if I needed to." Poppy explains, turning her gaze to the floor. Really stretching the definition of need there... Damn it, I can't bring myself to tell her off.

Rosie finally intervenes, standing up and moving over to Poppy, putting both her hands on her sister's shoulders. "I think you look great, Pops, but they look a bit big on you. Why don't we go shopping after school tomorrow? We can buy some that are more your size." She tells her soothingly.

"Okay... I should probably go change." Poppy admits, turning around to leave, looking like an underfed basketball player. Bless her, I suppose we do tend to baby her, maybe this is her way of saying she wants to be more of an adult? Either that or she's just cosplaying Trish.

Can't say I blame her.

*

Playing guitar really is like riding a bike. I'm pretty good with sheet music, I read a load of Mama's growing up, it's almost like my third language... This has an alternate issue, however. I'm so damn bored.

I exit my room and head down the hall, until I hear a tapping sound from Marie's room. Guess she's playing games again... She wouldn't mind if I joined her, right? If in doubt, act like you own the place.

I open the door and wander inside the dimly lit room, of course, Marie's in her chair tapping away on the controller in her hands. I notice she's already changed into a black pyjama top and matching bottoms, more organised than me, I guess.

"You need something?" She asks without looking at me. I take this as an invitation to flop down on her bed.

"Just bored." I groan. I have a look at the screen, looks like some kind of shooter, I don't really keep up with this stuff, looks fast-paced though.

"You didn't knock, I could've been masturbating." She argues without missing a beat. Trying to disarm me with inappropriate talk? Not gonna work a second time.

"More's the pity." I smirk. "Would've really livened up the afternoon."

This appears to catch a now blushing Marie off guard. "You know I'm your cousin, right?" She responds, giving away more than she intended.

"So are half of the royal couples in history. Still, interesting you go with that route rather than saying you're not interested... Says a lot." I counter. I definitely made the right call coming in here, this is too fun.

Marie sighs at my ribbing. "Sienna's gonna love you." She states wistfully. Sienna's my other cousin, Uncle Jasper's daughter, I hear she's some model, I dunno, she's a few years older than us, I've never really met her. "You're both morons." She adds for context.

"Hey, blame your Mum, she made me." I chuckle, laying on my back.

"Mother." Marie corrects me. "She prefers to be called Mother... Which is fine, it makes it less confusing... Makes logical sense." She continues, with a tone I haven't heard before from her... Sadness. Something tells me it's too soon to pry into something like that, it just seems too raw.

I settle on changing the subject. "So, turns out I'm in a band now, Echo and Ty kinda **** me into it." I tell her.

"That's a good idea, girls like guys in bands." She replies, not acknowledging the Echo part.

"Hmm... Do you like guys in bands?" I ask, my curiosity peaked at the vagueness of her statement.

Marie smirks for a moment before replying. "I am my Mother's daughter." She grins. That's... Even more vague.

What the fuck is that meant to mean?