Neighbors

          Octavia yanked her hand out of the warm soapy water, a reflex to get her hand as far away from that knife as possible.  It was a little cut on her fingertip, nothing too serious but bad enough to pay attention to it.  Calling out for her brother, she wrapped her it in the last clean dishtowel and asked him to bring the superglue and some tape.

            Even though they had different fathers (and who really knew either identity? Surely not their mother...), you would think they would resemble each other a little bit.  They didn't.  Bellamy was tall; an inch under six feet but his sister was barely five and a half feet tall.  He was muscular and bulky whereas she was lean and slight.  His eyes were so dark brown it was hard to tell pupil from iris unless you were close.  Octavia's eyes were a beautiful shade of green that you can't imitate with contacts or paint if you wanted to.  She had a smooth ivory complexion that never had a blemish and tanned so perfectly that she wore a constant glow every summer.  His was olive toned and covered with freckles.  The only thing physical that they had in common was their hair color.  Both of them had thick, dark as night hair.  Of course hers was so straight and sleek that Cleopatra would've been jealous but his grew out with curls so wild it was a task to tame them.  Most often he didn't even try.

            Bellamy sat down on one of the bent metal chairs that had been pushed up to the kitchen table.  Octavia pulled the other one over so that she could sit right in front of him.  He held the towel tightly until the bleeding stopped and then gently pulled the fabric away, careful to make sure he didn't aggravate the wound again.  

            "I thought you knew better than to throw knives into the dishwater." He scolded as he pulled the thumbtack out of the superglue tube.  He pinched the underside of her finger to distract her a bit from the chemical burn as drops of the glue fell into the cut.

            Octavia drew in a sharp breath but held steady in her brother's grip.  After he'd filled the cut with glue, he pressed the edges together and cut tiny strips of duct tape to make small butterfly bandages.  It burned like hell, but she knew there wasn't money to go to the emergency room for stitches so there weren't any other options.  She was just glad knew how to take care of themselves without having to depend on anyone else.  She didn't want to address the knife issue.  She knew she'd messed up; there wasn't a need to hash it out.  "Dinner should be done soon."

            He nodded and went to the sink to finish the dishes while his sister tended to the pot on the stove.  Through the window, he had a direct line of vision into the neighbor's house.  Their kitchens faced each other but theirs was bigger and brighter, their window larger with double French doors opening up to a beautiful three-tiered deck outside.  Inside the house, he could see the blonde girl standing at the sink.  She was facing him but her head was tilted down just a bit; low enough that she didn't see him, but not too far that he couldn't see that one side of her face was red and she was crying.  Through the French doors, he could see her mother with her perfectly coifed hair and neatly pressed business suit leaning against the oak table with her arms crossed in front of her body.  He couldn't hear a word she was saying but he could see the look of anger on her face and saw her mouth moving as though she were spewing a tirade fit for...  Hell he didn't know who would deserve being yelled at like that.  He turned his attention back to the dishes and finished them up just as his sister wrapped up dinner.  They quickly ate and he made sure she was settled for the night before he left for work.

~*X*~

            Bellamy never had a hard time staying awake in class even though he didn't get off work until around one in the morning on a good night.  The only thing he loved other than his sister was learning.  It didn't matter if it was history, math, or science.  His mind yearned to soak in whatever it could.  His blonde neighbor was two years younger than him by age but shared a few of his classes.  She remained quiet unless the teacher called on her and then she always, always had the correct answer.  Today she spoke with a more timid voice, but maybe if he hadn't seen her crying last night he wouldn't have noticed the difference.