Thursday, August 25, 2022

the fortune of the misfortunate



 Tristan could only hope for some peace and quiet now. The girls were settled in their new place. Oh, to have his own room alone.

Of course, he hadn't said one word to Rico when he was at Jade and Mona's. He just couldn't think of anything to say. What was he supposed to do? All apologetic at the tiniest of things, going around bowing his head as if he'd been instructed by his own buddha? 

There were just times one had to speak their mind. He was slowly learning this. Just not now. 

Still, there was this other thing that bothered him. He had never seen Cat. Although, he had heard movement in that room. What if there was an actual cat in the room?

Actually, he liked cats. He decided he'd just relax and find something on Animal Planet. Domesticated Cats. Yes, he'd start there and maybe watch some wild-life documentaries.  He turned the sound off though. Wondering if he kept quiet all night, if maybe somebody would come out of that room.

Of course, he'd have to fight to stay awake.

"What are you doing?" Nic came out of his room sometime after midnight.

Tristan hushed him. Told him to sit down. Nic brought a bag of popcorn with him.

"We're not supposed to eat this in here," Tristan whispered. It was Nic's rule. Nic only shrugged back with a sigh and plopped himself down to see what was on the screen. 

By this time, it was wolves with gnashing teeth, ripping a wild goat a part in the dead of winter. Nic only grimaced and dug into the popcorn. Tristan grabbed some too. Before he knew it they'd wolved the whole bag and Nic was grabbing sodas and another bag.

Moving girls into their own place took a lot of work. Tristan's back ached. Nic looked as if he might drop off to sleep as he was staring at the TV.

And then it happened. Like a mouse might be unaware of its surrounding. Someone was heading for the kitchen.

Tristan cut off the TV with the remote and stumbled right behind whoever was going to the kitchen. He switched on the light while someone opened the fridge to look inside.

It was not a girl. 

"Who in the hell or you?" Tristan wanted to know as somebody was grabbing a soda. Of course, Nic bumped into Tristan as if he needed to be in control of the situation.

The guy couldn't have been out of high school. He gave them a funny look.

"I'm Cat's brother, Weezer," he gave way to a sheepish grin as he took a sip of the soda.

"Weezer?" Nic and Tristan said in unison.

"They always called me that," he shrugged as if he was ready to give them a novel about his name. "Wesley never stuck. Cause, I've been listening to the band since I was two."

"Well, where's Cat?" Nic wanted to know.

"She left a while ago." He shrugged.

"Like weeks ago?" Nic winced as if he didn't get it.

"Something like that, I guess." He nodded ever so easygoing. "I was going to split man, by the end of the month, but you know, I haven't found a place." 

"She didn't say where she was going?" Nic was still stuck on Cat, as if he was responsible for her, somehow. 

"We don't talk that much," he shook his head. "She was just doing something nice, she said for her little brother. I mean, we didn't grow up together. I guess she's like ahalf-sister, you know. Anyway, I had met up with her last month and said I got into the University. You know, we tried our best to catch up and stuff. She hasn't talked to dad in over a decade or so. It was his idea. Next thing, I know she's like stay here for me, a while. Just don't let anybody know you're there. It'll be free."

Tristan couldn't help but bite a grin. Yeah, he knew if somebody said FREE he'd do the same thing.


8 comments:

  1. "Weezer"? :) Both at the same time!

    So they must be renting rooms somewhere sounds like? Maybe there'll still be a cat slinking around somewhere... :)

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  2. When I saw "It's time I got back to the . . . good life" in the collage, I never dreamed that it foreshadowed a character named Weezer! And that he'd be Cat's sort-of squatting brother! So funny! I also really enjoyed the part where Tristan thinks that Cat might actually be a cat. Finally, your line about Tristan here is so clever too: "All apologetic at the tiniest of things, going around bowing his head as if he'd been instructed by his own buddha?" It all makes me wonder what's going to happen in this apartment next!

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