Taboo_(7)

“We’re going. There are pizzas in the freezer and please clean up after yourselves this time. I don’t want to come home to a sink full of dishes again.”

There was mumbled acknowledgement from within the house and their Mom sighed as she closed front door behind her, knowing full well that left up to two teenagers that would never happen and moments later the sound of the engine firing up came in from outside. The gearbox whirred as the car reversed out of the driveway and then the engine became distant as it headed further on down the street until it faded out completely.

Her brother was sat on the armchair when she walked in, plonking herself on the arm next to him and watching as he played whatever it was he was playing hooked up to the TV. When asked what she wanted she said she was bored and did not like being upstairs on her own.

She watched him for a little longer and then asked if he was hungry. When he said he was she offered to make tea if he would clean up. He told her that was fair and she scuttled off to the kitchen. She brought it out to him half an hour later and they ate while watching some trash on the TV. There was little on and they spoke desultory about nothing in particular.

Afterwards he washed up while she watched something on the TV and then joined her with a drink. They spent the next few minutes flicking through channels before deciding nothing was on. He pulled up the box sets on Prime but she shot down everything from X-Files to Bosch with the same “I don’t really fancy that” tone. In turn she floated the idea of a film and he mumbled something that sounded like an “OK” and she headed over to the DVD cabinet in the corner. As she read out title after title from Hitchcock and Spielberg, Cameron and Scorsese, Tarantino and Coraci he rejected each one as either “too girly” or “too boring” or “too long” or “not in the mood” and his sister grew increasingly frustrated.

“Well what do you want to do, asshole?” she asked him.

“I don’t know,” he confessed. “It’s just one of those nights isn’t it!”

“Yeah, I guess. I don’t know what I want to do, I just know I want to do something.”

That was the crux of it. He said; “Sounds about right. Got to love sociable friends, right?”

She laughed. “Preach that.” Then, “Guess this explains why we’re both single though. We’re not much better. Left alone for a few hours and we can’t even entertain ourselves.”

Her brother laughed. “Truth. I’d quite like to be entertained by someone right now to be honest. Or would that be, do someone rather than something?”

She looked up at him over the case of a The Burbs DVD. “Hmm.”

She read out a few more titles and he dismissed them quickly. When she looked back over he wasn’t even paying attention to her. His eyes were rooted to his phone and she stood, hands on her hips, glaring at him. She made up the name of a film and he gave her the same dismissive one word shutdown. “Oh, I’m sorry. Am I boring you?”

“When don’t you?” he said, eyes still fixed on the screen.

“Dick,” she said, launching an empty case towards his head. It missed, and from his lack of reaction she didn’t even think he noticed.

What happened next was out of pure boredom and frustration.

“That’s a bit ru—“ he went to say. The words were lost though and he grunted aloud as two hands from behind him shoved him clean off the chair and he landed in a heap on the floor, his phone skidding off under the table. Her uncontrolled laughing greeted him from behind the chair and he rolled himself over to see her laughing at him.

“You prick,” he said, on his back, laughing. “Not cool.” He extended his arm towards her and waved it impatiently. “Well help me up won’t you?”

She walked over to him. “Pick a film then, doofus.”

She took his hand, leaned over started to hoist him up. When she was off balance he yanked her arm into him and lifted up his leg so she fell directly towards him. He was already laughing when she hit the floor next to him. She let out an expletive and then hit him hard with her elbow. He laughed again and rolled away from her reach before sitting up. She too was getting up and she reached over to the chair and slapped him right across the face with one of the cushions.