The Hush Society Presents..., Izzy Matias [cat reading book .TXT] 📗

Oh boy. That’s a loaded question.

Me: They’re both geniuses. I’m the only one disturbing the peace at home.

Cassie: You’re the life of the party then.

I chuckle.

Me: Hardly.

Me: How does it feel to be an only child?

Cassie: All right, I guess.

Me: Liar.

Cassie: It can get too quiet and lonely…that’s why I need music on full blast.

Me: The right way to listen to music.

Cassie: Haha.

Me: You must have pretty cool parents who let you listen to music at max volume.

Cassie: There’s loads of space around the house and I make sure to have my solo concerts at the right time.

Me: I may have a solution for when it gets lonely

Cassie: Pray tell

Me: You need a party during those moments

Cassie: Are you saying that you’re the solution?

Me: ;)

Eric enters the room. "Ready to confess yet?" When I don’t answer, his grin turns into a smirk. "It’s Cassie, innit?"

I sigh.

"I knew it!" He jumps on me, knocking my mobile to the floor.

"Oi!" I shove him to the floor and reach for my mobile.

"Lover boy." Eric teases, getting up from the ground.

My mobile vibrates once more. Another message from Cassie. I keep it in my pocket.

"I told you. No secrets in this household," he says, satisfied.

"You’re absolutely sure that your Mum’s all right with me staying with you for a while?" I ask, not really wanting to talk about Cassie to anyone yet.

"Mate, you’re like a brother to me," Eric says and sits beside me. He offers me a bowl of crisps, which I accept. "‘If you haven’t already noticed, it’s not like she’s home enough to notice how long you’ll be here."

"Still out on those business trips a lot, ey?" I ask taking another crisp. "Thought it was this week only." The night I arrived at his house, his mum was loading the last of her luggage into her BMW. After checking up on us and making sure our food situation was covered, she said her good-byes.

The video game’s ominous audio plays on loop—albeit at a lower volume. The air down here is cooler compared to the rest of the house.

"More than ever," Eric says in a tone that implies this has been the fact for the last couple of months. "She’s home for a couple of days every other week."

"I thought she was doing better?" I ask. The divorce has been hard on all of them, especially his mum, but the last couple of weeks I’d been over, she was always home and seemed happier.

"That is her definition of better. She’d rather bury her denial and pain by swamping herself with work, rather than facing the changes here at home. My sister’s the same way…except she floods herself with slumber parties and ‘social interactions.’"

I’d also only seen Eric’s sister a handful of times since I started occupying one of their guest rooms. The times I did see her, she’d have a couple of mates over, so we’d never had a chance to have a proper chat.

"She’ll come to terms with it in her own way," Eric says. "She’d rather talk to her mates than me, but least she has them to talk to about it. You know how much of a pain in the arse I was when I found out that Mum and Dad split up."

"A total diva," I reply, smiling.

"Only at first." He grins back. Eric was a bloody mess when his Mum kicked his Dad out of the house. He was constantly having rows with her. If he wasn’t sulking in his room, blasting hardcore music, and necking down the bottles his Dad had left in his bar cabinet, he’d drag us out with him. We couldn’t go out often especially since we were preparing for our A-Levels, so on some nights, he’d go off on his own.

"Your sister took it so much better than you did," I say, teasing him. "I’m really glad you were able to emerge out of that dark hole."

"We know who to thank for that," he says grabbing another handful of crisps. In between the crunching he continues. "But I have music to thank, aside from you lads. Didn’t notice until Benji pointed it out one time. You know how he helps out those kids at the youth rehabilitation centre? Said he saw the same transformation with me… How I somehow managed to use my negative emotions as fuel, how I transformed that negativity into something positive with my drumming. Bones and Ashes is no more, but at that time, my band helped get me through some tough times. Music became that healthy outlet for my darkness." He taps at the bowl of crisps as if it’s his drum kit, and smirks.

I give his back a gentle pat.

I appreciate him telling me that I’ll get through this rough patch with my family, but I don’t know how music is going to mend it. Music is the cause of this riff.

I glance at my mobile and catch a preview of Cassie’s message. She asks which sibling is my favourite, if I do have any favourites. There’s no way I can tell her about getting kicked out of the house. What will she think of me then?

"Right now," Eric says, "things seem unfixable or like you might not be able to mend your relationship with your Dad. He’s always been a hard egg to crack, but he’ll come around."

"What if he doesn’t?" I say, setting my mobile aside.

"Come on, mate. Even if he had the oddest way of showing it—or in your case, not showing it—you know he cares about you."

"Since when have you been so good at giving advice?" I quip.

Eric laughs. "After a decade of having your best mates yap at you about seeing the silver lining in every situation, it catches on after a while."

"We’ve brainwashed you," I say with a mischievous smile and rub my hands together.

"Give your Dad some space," Eric reiterates. "He’ll come around."