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Saturday, May 22

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     Reese slept in on Saturday morning, eagerly anticipating being able to soon sleep in every day once the school year was over. But then I'll be an adult. Maybe go to college. Or move out. Probably get even less sleep than I do now. He wasn't sure what the future would bring. But as he trotted down the stairs and entered into the kitchen, where his family was gathered - all normal-sized yet significantly taller than him - he wondered if adulthood might look a little different for him at his size. No, of course not. I'm 4'9, I've met girls only a few inches taller than me who do fine. Peter Dinklage is still shorter than you and he's won an Emmy. Stop overreacting. "Morning Reese!" Olivia said cheerily, giving him another one of her signature hugs that pressed him uncomfortably close to her giant breasts. Maybe it's worth overreacting, Olivia definitely doesn't make me feel like I'm normal. He remembered their encounter last night, where she had accidentally fallen asleep on top of him. She had napped for nearly an hour. Eventually, his movie had finished, but he couldn't maneuver out from under her, but he also couldn't reach the remote from his stuck position. So he just shook her gently until she eventually got up, and the two of them went about the rest of their night normally. He was thankful she hadn't just fallen asleep there til morning! She hadn't apologized for trapping him under her last night (possibly because she hadn't even realized what she did), and as she pulled out from her hug just now, she didn't seem like she'd mention it today either. So he just greeted her back like normal. 

     "Hey,” she spoke up again, “you're still making coffee even though you woke up a few hours late, right?" It's a Saturday, what do you mean 'late.' I can sleep til whenever I want, and my waking up will be on time. He glanced at his parents nearby, and caught himself from directing the sass towards his sister, deciding instead to just confirm her request. He wasn't planning on it, but to be fair, he admitted internally that her college-free schedule was the same on Saturdays as it was any other day of the week, so it's understandable that she'd still want her morning cup. 

     Because today was a Saturday, Reese also felt like he had more than a few minutes to make a breakfast. Cereal was fine for on school days, but he really enjoyed eggs and toast more. He just didn’t like taking the extra 5 to 10 minutes to cook the eggs though when his timeframe to get to school was already so narrow on most days. So today, he opened up the fridge and sighed with relief to see a full carton sitting there, and he grabbed a couple. As he turned around, he collided with Olivia’s chest, blushing with embarrassment as he looked up at her. She was peering into the fridge, mouth agape, but looked down after he ran into her. “Oh, sorry Reese,” she said, stepping aside to let him past. “I was looking to see what kind of food I could have besides cereal for breakfast.” It’s like she read my mind… “But if you’re making eggs,” she looked to the two he was carrying, “can you cook me some too? Since you’re already gonna be using the pan and all.” 

     Reese paused for a moment. He was starting to feel like he was really doing a lot for Olivia lately. But he just had to keep telling himself that he wanted to be on good behavior, especially in front of his parents. A few more weeks of making her coffee and eggs won’t kill him. Certainly not if it makes the difference between him getting to live here for another year if he needs to retake his senior year, and being kicked out of his parents decide he should learn adulthood the tough way. “Yeah sure, how many do you want?”

     “Oh, I can just have one of yours since you grabbed two.” His face tilted to the side with an expression that asked if she was serious, and she caught on. “Oh, yeah, you were gonna have two. OK,” she said, opening the fridge back up and grabbing an egg, spinning back around. “Wait, these aren’t yours, I don’t need to just have one.” She spun back around and grabbed another two eggs, setting them on the counter next to the stove. “You can cook them however you were gonna cook yours,” she added, and gave him a peck on his ear before heading to the couch to see what new shows were on Netflix. Reese realized he hadn’t even started the espresso machine yet, so he sighed, turning the stove on after grabbing a pan, and started on his sister’s coffee.

     Eventually he finished cooking breakfast for him and his sister, who was already sipping her coffee on the couch. He plated what seemed to him like a little under half of the scrambled eggs, squirted some hot sauce on them, and headed to the couch to join his sister in browsing the newest TV additions. “Eggs are done,” he told her, holding his eggs up for a second. 

     “Oh, thanks!” She went to grab her own serving, and Reese took his spot on the other end of the couch, where her feet had been resting. Stuart was at his own armchair, feet up on the ottoman with a coffee that Reese had made him too. Reese took the remote and resumed browsing through a new category, as his sister returned, sitting back down and placing her feet in his lap. 

     He looked down, then to his sister, who looked back to him. “Uh… can you like… use the footrest?” 

     She just shook her head, “Dad’s using it.” She was right. Stuart didn’t even look up, and kept on reading some article on his tablet.

     “Well,” he tried next, “can you like, give me some personal space then?”

     Olivia slowly inhaled, thinking of her reply. “Well… I guess I could, but considering I fell asleep on you for an hour last night and you didn’t really seem to care…” 

     Reese was taken aback. I definitely cared. I just couldn’t fucking move. “Well, I would’ve preferred if you hadn’t done that,” he slowly replied, an edge in his voice.

     “Why didn’t you say anything then?” she asked.

     “Well, if… that’s not… you…” he stuttered, trying to find the right words to say, angered by her response. “Just get your fucking feet off me!” he yelled. Their dad sighed and looked up at them. Shit… He had let her get to him. She probably wasn’t even purposefully being antagonistic, but he had blown his cool anyway.

     “Reese, don’t yell at your sister!” Tracy angrily called in from the kitchen. “I’ve been getting sick of your attitude lately.” WHAT?! I’ve been on my best behavior for the last week. She even mentioned it to dad the other day when I did the dishwasher… “Apologize to Olivia. I might need to think of a punishment for your behavior.”

     Olivia sighed, “No, it’s fine, mom. I was just putting me feet up on his lap since dad’s using the ottoman and he wanted some personal space, I get it.” 

     “No, it’s not fine,” Tracy replied. “They’re just feet, Reese, get over it and be nicer to your sister. Maybe your punishment should be doing something for Olivia, like cleaning her room again.”

     Olivia’s eyes widened, she had an idea. “Oh! He can paint my nails,” she called back. “As long as you’re fine with that,” she said quieter, so only Reese could hear. As if I’d be allowed to not be fine with it, he thought with a grumble.

     “If that’s what you want, fine by me,” Tracy replied. “Make sure to do it sometime today Reese, I don’t wanna forget.” 

     “Don’t worry mom, I’ll make sure to remind him,” Olivia replied cheerily. Great. She nestled her body into the couch, getting comfortable, and crossed her legs in her brother’s lap. He sighed. Really starting to feel powerless lately. “So, what do you wanna watch?” she asked him, already moving on from the matter as she wiggled her toes in his lap, looking for something to watch with her brother.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Olivia had decided that the best time during the day to claim her free manicure was at lunch. She sat down, a fork in her right hand eating a tomato salad, while her left hand lay on the table for Reese to paint. She had to teach him a few things about the process behind a good mani, but for the most part, it’s just painting nails. If five year olds can give ones to themselves, she was confident her fully grown brother would be able to manage the meticulousness. She finished up her salad shortly after Reese had finished painting her right hand, and watched TV from across the room, letting her left hand dry while Reese had switched seats to paint her right hand. Because Reese was just painting her nails and not actually filing them or tending to her cuticles, the process took shorter than Olivia’s normal salon, despite Reese’s inexperience. Around 20 or 30 minutes passed by the time Reese finished up, and she thanked her brother for his service to her before transitioning to the couch to finish her show while Reese retreated to his bedroom.