When Silas noticed my poor attempts at keeping a straight face, his own mouth turned upward. “Your sister’s so fucking mean, man.”
I burst out laughing then. Kai finally glanced over the top of his book at us, mouth pulled in a tight line. He looked even more annoyed when Silas playfully shoved me, and I dished it back.
“Why don’t I mold you this time?” Silas offered and tried to grab my cheek.
I swatted his hand away. “I don’t have the bone structure.”
Kai’s book slammed close, making us both stop play fighting to look in his direction.
“Do either of you ever shut up? For five minutes. I dare you.” My brother pushed off of the couch, pissed, and started out of the room.
Silas held up his hands like he was innocent. I rolled my eyes at Kai’s dramatics and got up to follow him.
“What’s your problem?” I asked once I caught up to Kai in the kitchen. He was removing fruit from the refrigerator, prepping to make a smoothie.
He glared at us. “I thought I was pretty clear.”
Silas hopped up to sit on the counter while I took a seat at the bar. Silas shrugged. “We were just joking around.” He peeked in one of the cabinets near his head to see what snacks he could steal.
“Well, it was ticking me off,” Kai informed.
“When does us joking not get under your skin?” I placed my chin in my hand, watching as he organized his ingredients on the table. I don’t know why he did it. Why was it necessary to line up the fruit by color even though they were going straight into the blender to be mush? There was no point to it, but he always did it and I always watched. The attention to detail was oddly satisfying.
“When you don’t do it in silence.” He started cleaning out the blender even though Dad had washed it this morning.
“Fine. We’ll give you five minutes.” Silas mimed, zipping his mouth closed.
I would do no such thing. “I think you should join in some time and relax.”
Kai nudged his chin in the direction of his book. “What did you think I was trying to do?”
I scoffed and hopped off the barstool to retrieve his mammoth of a book. “You call readingThe Canterbury Talesrelaxing?”
“It’s funny,” he retorted.
My eyes widened as I flipped through the pages. Lines and lines of old English I could barely wrap my head around stared back at me. “Funny? I have yet to see you crack a smile since opening it.”
“Sometimes, things are funny but don’t require laughter, Em.”
I snorted and looked at Silas for back up, but he was still observing his five minutes of silence. He reminded me of such as he “re-zipped” his mouth.
“Your understanding of humor baffles me.” I chucked the book back onto the table. “You know, if you want to be voted captain this year, learning to be a little more relaxed might benefit you.”
Silas pointed at me, in agreement. Kai didn’t look as receptive.
“I’m not taking advice from two people who can’t plan for more than two steps ahead of them.”
I touched my chest. “For your information, I’ve actually been doing a ton of planning lately.”
Kai didn’t look convinced. “Have you now?”
“I have.” I placed my hands on my hips and nodded as if trying to convince myself as well. Silas held his thumbs up in my direction for moral support.
Kai made a “come on” motion with his fingers. “Well, let’s hear it.”
“I’m filming a doc,” I confessed in a quieter voice. Telling my family about my films was weird, especially after their reaction to my — admittedly atrocious — first film. Sure, I’d been thirteen, but you’d think they’d be kind enough to hold back their harsh criticism.
“I’m impressed,” he noted in a tone that was far from it.
