Elise, Mina, Darcia, and Avanon sitting at a table, playing a hand of cards. The room that they were in was most likely a sunroom with a door into the backyard. “Hello?” Mathieu said.
Elise looked up from her cards and smiled brightly. “Mathieu! What are you doing here?”
Grinning at not being sent away, he came fully into the room and approached them, grabbing a chair to sit in along the way. “Oh, you know. I was bored as hell at Nathan’s house, so I came to visit. Is that okay?”
“Of course, sweetie. I always love guests.” She laid her cards on the table. “Gin.”
“Damn it.” Mina threw her hand down, frowning. “I can’t win with you. Cheater.” Turning to Mathieu, she gave him a long look before saying, “Where is Solomon?”
Avanon snorted, but didn’t say anything. She shared a look with Darcia.
Mathieu shared in the look. Mina lived with Elise and didn’t see the mood swings her brother went through in a given day; nice to one person one moment, an asshat to someone the next. “He’s off being a jerk to someone else. Why do you ask?” He looked down as Nikola slid off his lap and slunk outside of the propped open door into the backyard.
“You two are fighting, are you not? I can feel how disgruntled he is with you. What have you done?” Mina asked as she collected up the cards, starting to shuffle them.
He shrugged one shoulder and watched as he was dealt into the game. “Can we not talk about this? I get enough of it at Nate’s home. Let’s not bring it up.”
Elise laughed and leaned over, patting Mina’s head. “Little Mina, are you and Solomon fighting, too?”
She pulled back her top lip, showing slightly pointed teeth. “Don’t do that. My brother and I are fine.”
Darcia laughed. “Gin still or something else?” He asked, picking up his cards. His eyes examined them shrewdly. “See, Avanon, I told you that you weren’t the only one having love problems.”
Mathieu hummed tunelessly, organizing his cards. “Gin is good for me. And what is going on with Avanon?” He raised an eyebrow.
“She tried to make a move on Elric and it didn’t go well at all.” Darcia said with a smirk.
Even Elise seemed interested. “Do tell, dear.”Avanon turned about eight shades of red, and drew a card; she resolutely didn’t look at any of them.
Mina put her hand over the discard pile. “You can trust us. And we can’t continue playing until you spill.”
With a determined look, Avanon began to try and force the card under Mina’s hand. It was to no avail. Finally, and in something of a temper, she threw the card on the table. “Fine. Fine, I’ll tell you people. Darcia, I curse you to the deepest ring of hell. I hope Zanika and Zerieve want you back to wash the toilet until the day you die.”
“Yes, yes. Now tell the story.” He said, resuming play.
Tossing her multi-colored hair over her shoulder, she coughed to clear her throat. “I tried to ask him to dinner, he misunderstood. The end.”
“How exactly did he misunderstand?” Elise asked, trying not to laugh.
Darcia seemed to feel as though he could tell the story better and took over. “What actually happened was that Avanon asked Elric if he wanted to get a bite with her, and he said ‘that’s nice of you, but I’ll just wait for dinner. If you’re hungry, though, there are leftovers in the fridge’. Then he just walked away, nose in a book.”
They all started to laugh; even Avanon chuckled. “I swear, I need a sign; it’ll read ‘Available and willing, Elric. Just ask’. But at least I can be in the same room as the guy I like.” She gave Mathieu a pitying look.
He smiled and shrugged one shoulder. “Just lay one on his and I think he’ll get the message.” Elise smiled mysteriously, and Darcia raised an eyebrow before shrugging and saying something along the lines of ‘sounds like a good idea’. Mathieu nudged the older man. “Hey, let me ask you guys something?”
Elise smiled at him. “Whatever you’re going to ask, Avanon quite likes the idea.”
“I do?” Avanon asked, her brow furrowed in confusion. “What were you going to ask?”
Flushing as he discarded, Mathieu rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Well, I was wondering if maybe anyone wanted to go to the beach or something; I knew that we can’t be too far from the ocean...and I mean, I haven’t been at