“My big sister’s little obligation,” he elaborated, and the penny finally dropped.
“You’re Vee’s brother?”
He laughed, but there was something missing from it. “Not what you expected?”
“You don’t look alike.”
“I take after my dad,” he said flatly as he flicked the cigarette butt to the ground and stubbed it out with his boot. Now he looked at me again, but this time it was slower. His eyes started at my feet and travelled all the way up until finally arriving at my face.
I quirked an eyebrow and repeated his own words back at him, only mine were whispered, “Not what you expected?”
“No,” he answered before muttering something under his breath. The only word I could pick out was ‘uniform’. Crap, was it really that bad? I knew it had gotten tight, but I hoped it might last me until the end of the year.
I was still standing there, gripping the straps of my bag firmly, when a taxi arrived, idling out on the road. The front door opened, and Vee stepped out. Unlike most days, she’d actually made an effort to dress up nicely. Her short, red hair was clean and washed, and she wore a spangled dress that made her look like a flapper from the 1920s.
I hadn’t seen her look so polished since Dad was alive.
“I see you’ve met Estella,” she said with a hint of disapproval as her gaze landed on me. “We’re going out. Irene left early today, so you’ll need to keep an eye on Sylvia. Her catheter needs changing,” she said, and I nodded, internalising my grimace. “Oh, and would you please clean the oven. You’ve left it so long the grease is inches thick now.”
Vee’s brother, whose name I still hadn’t been told, cast his gaze on me curiously. Maybe he was wondering why I was taking orders from Vee like a meek little mouse. He didn’t realise it was a survival tactic, and as soon as I graduated, I’d be waving goodbye to Vee and her orders. I might even give her a little piece of my mind before I went.
“Nice to meet you, Estella,” he said, eyeing me again as Vee strode toward the waiting taxi. “I’m Noah.”
“Like Noah and the Ark?” I asked. Ugh, why did I say that?
He laughed once more, and again there was something missing. “Yeah, except I wouldn’t waste my time saving the animals.”
Vee barked a laugh as she slid inside the car, like it was the most hilarious thing she’d ever heard. I stood there, oblivious to the joke, as Noah turned and joined her.
***
“Vee’s gone out. It’ll be nice to have the place to ourselves,” I said to Sylvia while I removed her catheter strip and replaced it with a new one. She stared at me with wise green eyes, the same eyes both Vee and Noah had. She didn’t speak though. She rarely did these days since it was hard for her to get the words out. Whole sentences took her a lot longer than they did the average person.
Once I was done, I put some dinner on for both of us. I left mine in the oven, feeding Sylvia first. As far as I knew, her MS had presented in her fifties, and she’d slowly deteriorated since then. She had bouts when her hands were extremely shaky, so sometimes it was hard for her to eat without help. I always encouraged her to try though, because there was something in her eyes that told me she found the activity of being spoon-fed humiliating.
Since it looked like Vee and her brother would be gone for the night, I took the opportunity to spend some time in the living room. I didn’t want to force Sylvia to watch something without having any say in the matter, so I held up DVDs until she saw one she liked. Funnily enough, Buffy the Vampire Slayer caught her eye, but I didn’t complain. I’d always had a soft spot for Spike.
I took a quick bath, since Vee’s en-suite was the only bathroom in the house with a shower, and I was forbidden from using it. Once I finished bathing, I got into my pyjamas and settled on the couch, hitting play on the DVD. We were about four episodes in when I heard a key turn in the lock.
I tensed.
Laughter drifted into the house, announcing Vee and Noah’s return. I glanced at Sylvia, and strangely, she appeared to be just as uncomfortable with them being back early as I was.
I was wearing panda print pyjamas for Christ’s sake.
The siblings practically tumbled into the living room, both intoxicated. I tucked my legs under me and focused on the TV screen. What I really wanted to do was flee to my bedroom, but I was determined not to give Vee the satisfaction of knowing she scared me.