Chapter 81

"None taken." I chuckled. "I mean we're friends." She gave me a look. "What?!"

"You do realise that you are the only person he's ever let in."

"That's probably because I'm the only person who's really gotten to know and understand him." I argued.

"Yes, because you two are such great friends." I shot her a glare and she teasingly smiled.

"He talks about you all the time too." I retorted.

"Yeah, because I'm sister dumbass and I'm amazing and I'd be disappointed if he didn't." a cheesy smile overcame her lips. I laughed and finished up the rest of my painting.

"Can I ask you something?" a question suddenly came to mind.

"Sure." Skye chirped.

"I thought your hair used to be red?" I remembered that time I nosily flicked through the Lawrence's photo album and saw the picture of Skye when she was younger. She looked awfully a lot like her mom.

"Ever heard of hair dye? I like to have fun, but my hair was strawberry-blonde, not red." She explained, putting emphasis on the last part. "I bleached my hair to die it pink, but the hospital took away the pink die before I could, so I'm now stuck with looking like frosty the snow-girl." She laughed.

"When you're allowed out, I'll take you to a real salon to get it done." Her face glowed as I said the words.

"Really?"

"Yep."

"OMG, you're the best!" she squealed excitedly, being careful of the paint as she leaned over to hug me.

After a few seconds, footsteps approached the door and Roman awkwardly coughed. "Am I interrupting something?" he stood in the doorway with two cups of coffee in his hands.

"Nope, just some girl-talk." Skye let go and beamed back. He shook his head with a small smile and handed me my cup.

"Chai tea latte. Carefully, it's hot." I took it between my hand and let the warmth seep into my palms.

"Thanks." I smiled and smelt the deliciousness through the lid.

"Sienna and I should get going soon." He then announced and Skye pouted.

"Five more minutes?" she widened her eyes likes puppy and pressed her hands together hopefully.

Roman sighed, "Sorry, sis, but we have school tomorrow. She can visit another time."

"Urgh, fine! But I'm taking that as a promise." She pointed a stern finger at him. Climbing off the bed, I gave Skye one last hug before collecting my things, waving a goodbye as she mouthed a 'text me!'. She hugged Roman, him having to pick her up because she was so tiny but I captured the scene in my mind as a sweet sibling moment, wondering what their life was like before all of this. Did they do things together? Did they annoy one another like other siblings did? Did they have matching pyjamas for Christmas when younger? So many questions. So many things I couldn't stop myself from thinking about.

Going down the elevator, I turned to Roman and said, "You should be a little easier on her, you know. Maybe you could talk to the hospital and see when they can let her out – with people to watch over her of course." If Skye believed she didn't have too long to live, I wanted to give her a life. I wanted her to experience everything before it was all snatched away.

He only looked back at me and smiled down at me softly, "When she gets better, she can go out as much as she wants." I didn't think a sentence could break my heart as much as that did, and I tried to force a smile on my face to give him hope. False hope. Hope that'll be gone and leave him crushed. Yet, it was still hope and I'd be a fool to not have it too. 

***

"And I will add onto your 'ANT' to make 'IMPORTANT'." My dad happily moved the small tiles across the board to add onto the word. Yes, I know what you're thinking, but who doesn't like a good game of Scrabble?

"You're such a one-upper." I shook my head and laughed but my dad grinned wickedly. I never classed my dad as a competitive person, he was also very chill and generous, but when it came to family boardgames, the claws came out.

"Then I'll add onto your 'FAN' to make 'FANTASTIC'." I smirked as I placed the letters down.

"Sienna, you're missing an 'A'." Roman called out. What? No way.

"What?!" I stared down at the board and saw what he meant. My 'FANTASTIC' spelt 'FANTSTIC'. Motherfucker. "Nooo! That's not fair, I take it back!" I demanded.

"Sorry, no re-turns. You made your shot, sweetheart." My dad smiled triumphantly. "Roman's on my side now." He grinned.

"No! Roman's on my side! Quick, help me find a new word!" I begged, nudging Roman's side.

"Can I go?! I've been waiting forever." My mom complained.

My dad chuckled and gestured for her to. "Go ahead, honey." She smiled happily and placed two letters down.

"Okay, so I turn your 'LIE' into 'LIELY'." We all looked around the table confused, dithering on whether we should say something or not.

"Erm, mom." I eventually broke the silence. "'Liely' isn't a word." I hesitantly spoke. She looked back at me and gawked in frustration.

"No! I swear it is." She protested.

"Honey, I'm afraid it isn't." my dad carefully consolidated.

She threw her hands into the air and groaned. "Urgh, this isn't fair! I'm not smart, you know that!" we all broke into laughter. "At least it would have been an eight-letter word."

"Six-letter." My dad correctly.

"Shit, you know I'm not good at math either, carry on." She waved it away.

It was currently Saturday, and my mom had a nightshift at the care home instead an afternoon shift which meant she was able to stay home for most of the day. My dad didn't have any clients today too but had a meeting with future ones tonight to discuss a whole garden upscale they wanted him for. It would be his biggest project yet and he was already researching tons of new and colourful flowers he had been dying to plant.

Roman had more family visiting this weekend for Skye's sake and so he asked if we could study at mine. I was fine with it now that he knew everything but studying soon came to an end when my mom started to interrogate him and then my dad walked in suggesting we played a boardgame instead. There was no protesting. Now, we have been playing for over an hour.

"Okay, Roman. Give us your best shot." My dad challenged.

I could already see the smirk Roman was trying to hold back as he placed the letters down. "Okay, I turn your 'METER' into 'HAEMATODYNAMOMETER'." We stopped and stared at him, jaws hitting the floor. Well, shit.

"What the hell does that mean?" my mom suddenly spoke in complete confusion.

Roman chuckled softly and replied, "It's an instrument to measure arterial or venous blood pressure."

My dad ran a hand across his face. "Well, damn boy, you have some smart genes in you."

"If I were twenty years younger you would be doing my math homework –"

"Mom!" I cut her off before we all broke into laughter. I gazed up at Roman who sat by my side, his eyes sparkling with amusement and when he caught my eyes, he smiled.

"Okay, okay. My turn." My dad started as he pushed his letters into the middle. The game went on for another hour before my mom had to get ready for work and my dad said he'd put on some dinner. My mom was very picky about who she let cook in the kitchen especially since I certainly did not get any cooking genes and my dad... well, let's just say instructions confused him at times. There were alone a few things he could cook perfectly fine alone.

Roman and I sat at the dining table, trying to finish off the rest of our work we postponed for the Scrabble game.

"D'you like risotto, Roman?" my dad called over.

Roman looked up and answered, "I'm afraid I haven't tried it, Sir." 

My dad chuckled. He didn't get called 'Sir' very often, so this must've been amusing to him.

"Well, I hope you like it." He chuckled. "It's pawn and mushroom, are you allergic to shellfish?"

"No, Sir." Roman shook his head.

"Sienna loved seafood as a kid. We used to have to make her pawn or crab sandwiches every day for school."

"Dad." I groaned.

"Really?" Roman's eyes lit up mischievously. Oh no. "What else was she like?"

"You don't have to –"

"Did you know she had an obsession was the colour green as well?" my dad began. Oh god. 

"Dad, please don't –"

"Bright, neon green too! She had this one T-shirt of the colour and I swore we had to wash it every single day so she could wear it!" he bellowed out a laugh. My face was burning as Roman laughed too. "She also loved mermaids. She used to wrap her legs in a towel and hop around the house and –"

"Okay! That's enough!" I cut him off, my face beaming bright red. This was officially embarrassing. Roman was already laughing to his heart's content at my dad's comments and the fact that my face probably looked like a tomato didn't help with the matter. 

"Aww no! I think it's cute." He argued and my face burned even hotter.

"Let's just... carry on with work." I buried my face into my Chemistry homework, refusing to as so much as glance up as I heard my dad humorously chuckle to himself. He must be proud to have totally humiliated his daughter. I swore parents had too much fun with it. 

My mom came down the stairs in full care home attire with her hair tied back in a neat, sleek bun. My dad handed her a box of pre-heated pasta to eat when she got there, and she kissed him on the cheek. I always loved their relationship. It was the small, caring interactions I'd catch between them that made my heart melt.