Page 14 of Quarantined
Tessa's moods come and go. There are days when she is lucid. But lately, she has been retreating. Days go by without Tessa coming out of the room. Occasionally, I will bring her a sandwich and leave it on the nightstand. They are often untouched or barely nibbled on. Once in a while, I can trick her into taking a shower. Today is one of her harder days.
It doesn't seem like it.I shake my head with my own silent response.
He frowns and then rolls his eyes. Out of everyone, Reid has the least patience with Tessa. Reid is hot-tempered and gets easily annoyed, especially at Tessa. Years of resentment have severed any ties between him and Tessa.
As he is about to walk out, I see another tiny little head poke in. My whole face lights up.
There she is, my little angel. Mia is my sunshine. When we were younger, she started tagging along with Reid on his visits to Boston. She quickly became my own sister, a little doll for me to love and adore.
She is four years younger than us but refuses to be treated as such. She makes me put makeup on her and begs me to let her try on my heels. She looks so darn cute, with her little feet barely filling my shoes.
Growing up in a household filled with boys, she was ecstatic when I moved in. Even now, she follows me around, asking me all sorts of "girl" questions. She is a force to be reckoned with.
I can be in the worst mood, but she will relentlessly talk to me till I give in and start hugging the crap out of her. Mia's optimism in life makes it bearable for cynics like me.
Tessa has struggled throughout Mia's life. At least Reid and Milo got to experience Tessa's love before her mental illnesses took hold. Mia never had that experience.
Still, Mia loves her fiercely. She is capable of unconditional love. I crave that love from her. My relationship with my parents deteriorated so fast, I didn't have a chance to identify the difference. Parents are supposed to love you unconditionally. But mine loved me with conditions.
Mia's love is not like that. The people she loves, she loves with all her might. After Milo, she loves me the most in the world. Her little face lights up every time I walk by, and my chest swells with pride. Pride that I can get a human being to look at me, the way she looks at me.
It's the same way I look at Milo. Like he is the sun itself, the light at the end of my dark tunnel; my hero, my idol, my savior.
"Rave! Can we watch the movie now?" Mia whines.
"Yes, ma'am. Let's do it." I put the trash I collected in one of the black garbage bags. I drag the trash bag out and Reid immediately grabs it. He starts walking down the stairs to put the trash outside.
I smile. That's so Reid. Whenever Milo gives us chores, Reid finds a way out of it or gives him a hard time. Wanting to keep the peace, I volunteer to take care of Reid's chores. Reid immediately steps in and ends up doing all of his chores, along with mine. He acts difficult, but he is such a marshmallow.
Reid is Milo's "problem child." I think that's why Milo loves having me around. Reid's loyalty to me makes life easier for Milo. And I am always eager to make life easier for the Sinclairs. To be more specific, I am always eager to make Milo Sinclair's life easier.
Milo! Just the thought of him brings a smile to my face. He is coming home tonight. It's only been a few days, but I miss him like crazy. Officially, Milo lives in his dorms. Unofficially, he really lives at home with us.
We sit back on the couch and prop our feet up on the coffee table. This is our common position during movie nights. We turn on the movie. The coffee table in front of us is full of take-outs, popcorn, and candy.
Milo does not approve of Mia eating candy at night. I have to negotiate portion control with her. Usually I devour all the candy, so Mia doesn't stand a chance at eating too much of it anyways. If there are sweets in my vicinity, I have to stuff my face with it. Thank God I take dance classes. If I didn't dance so much, I'd be five hundred pounds.
Mia cuddles up to me as Reid throws an arm around me. I lean back and grab a candy bar. I am so freaking content. I love our little family and all our traditions. A lot of my girlfriends also wished they had my "little family" and my living arrangements. But for a very different reason.
Most of my friends swoon over Reid and Milo. Last summer, Reid joined Milo on his dedicated gym routine. He gained at least twenty pounds of muscle within the year. And the girls noticed.
Before we finished freshman year of high school, Reid had only ever kissed one girl. Now, he has a rotation of girls coming in and out of the house. I catch him making out with a different girl every week.
It actually works out really well for me. It's an easy way for me to make friends with more girls. And they are all eager to be my friend, to be on Reid's good side.
I think it's amusing. Milo doesn't think so. He is uncomfortable with Reid's new-found popularity. Milo gave him the sex talk and suggested that he wait to have sex. Reid was pissed. He started yelling, calling Milo a hypocrite.
Reid's not exactly wrong in his assessment.
After we turned fifteen, Milo allowed us to start attending his infamous parties, thrown in the bottom floor of this house. He didn't want to fight with Reid anymore, and he trusted me to keep him in check.
We made friends with a variety of people, including some of our family friends and Milo's college friends.
Through the grapevine, we found out that Milo was only fourteen when he lost his virginity. It also became clear that Milo has a very active sex life. I overheard a few girls talk about his lickable six-pack and fuckable dick.
Too Much Information!
I did not need to know that. Yes, Milo is good looking. He is more than good looking, if I am being objective. With his shark cheekbones, strong jaw, dark hair, green emerald eyes, and a tall athletic build, Milo can turn heads. He is also a really good dresser. Girls swoon all over him. As a result, his sex life started young.
