3. Chapter 3

So I've mentioned in a few correspondences with readers I intended to switch POVs a few times throughout the story. It's for narrative reasons, mostly; one character will notice details another won't, or a character won't acknowledge their own flaws when it's from their perspective. Plus, I want experience writing the other abominations for future stories.

Also, a thank you to the anonymous viewer Rising Sun, not only for his splendid reviews (and suspicious forsight), but for also pointing out that I did in fact forget something during the dinner part of the last chapter I always intended, but somehow missed during both writing and reviewing. It's been amended.

Onto the story

Being surrounded by girls all the time sucked. Lemy hated it. They were annoying, they smelled weird, and they never wanted to do anything fun. But he was constantly surrounded by them. They always wanted to do boring stuff, they always had those "no boys allowed" talks, and they were always whining about him leaving the toilet seat up. It sucked. Girls sucked.

Except mom. She was cool. And Lyra…maybe…sometimes.

He'd been just a little excited when mom said that they were visiting their uncle. His aunts were okay (okay, aunt Leni was a lot of fun), and most of his cousins weren't that bad. Still, he really got tired or bored of them quickly. Aunt Lucy's house was just dull. Aunt Luan's was in a constant state of warfare that was only fun for the first few minutes. And while there was a lot of sports stuff at Aunt Lynn's house, it really wasn't worth getting into any of it when you'd inevitably be challenged instead of just having fun. The rest usually wanted to do girly stuff. So yeah, he'd been hopeful. A guy's house, and without a girl cousin! He wouldn't be outnumbered for once.

Things didn't kick off so good. Mom had gone on and on about how cool her brother was, for years now. So Lemy was expecting someone awesome. He was expecting the kind of guys he saw in mom's band or at her concerts- big, strong, tough looking dudes in awesome clothes. Uncle Lincoln, instead, was about as scrawny and plain as could be. And it didn't help that he immediately seemed to kick it off with Lyra.

Lemy didn't hate his sister, but she could really get on his nerves. Part of it was obviously just because she was the senior sibling and his caretaker, which meant she was always telling him what to do. And she stuck to him like glue. It was so annoying.

And she was a goody-two-shoes, always so nice and polite. And of course, her Bible and Religion. Lemy didn't buy into any of that; he liked his mom's description of it- "rubbish". And even though she'd stopped trying to get him into it, it didn't stop her from going on and on about it on her own. God has a plan for everyone and yadda, yadda yadda.

But what probably drove the biggest wedge between them was mom. Lemy was sure Lyra hated her- he had been for a while now. Oh sure, she kept her in her prayers (along with dad, the deadbeat), but he was certain she didn't really mean it. He didn't know why. Mom was cool, rich, and had fun for a living. She was freaking awesome. But Lyra just didn't care. She'd rant about mom's job and what she did to her face (she'd pretty much given that up in the last few years, thankfully). And even at 9 years old Lemy recognized what contempt was, and it dripped from so many of the words his sister said to their mother. He wouldn't be surprised if part of the reason mom sent them to stay with family was just so she wouldn't have to listen to her.

But what would really make him seethe was how she tried to keep him away from her. He did miss mom a lot, but he understood she was busy. You had to work to be that awesome. So he really wanted to take advantage of what time he could see her. Buy Lyra always seemed to get in the way.

Some mornings, after mom would wake up, Lyra would instruct him not to bother her for an hour or so, telling him she was still tired. He knew that was a lie because he'd do it anyway when she wasn't looking and mom would be just fine with it. Actually, they used that time a lot to practice guitar. Then whenever Lyra saw she'd get this little frown on her face, and Lemy would stick his tongue out at her while mom wasn't looking.

And some mornings mom would wake up feeling sick from partying too much, which sounded cool to Lemy, like eating candy till you puked. But he wanted to help her get better. Lyra would tell him no, shoo him away, and do it all herself. He didn't even know why, since she clearly didn't want to and just insulted her while she did.

And it was her fault he didn't get to see mom's career on anything but T.V. She offered them to come watch her shows or stay backstage, but Lyra would decline. Lemy couldn't go on his own because then no one would be there to keep an eye on him. Even mom was insistent on that. It sucked.

But despite all that, he couldn't bring himself to ever be really mad at Lyra. It was hard to be mad at the person who took care of you and fed you. At most, the worse she sounded with him was stern. She'd never blown up at him like she did mom (he was glad too; she was pretty scary when she got preachy). She just had some disarming quality about that her that kept Lemy from genuinely hating her, even if he tried to will himself to be. The most he could ever force himself to act was annoyed.

The weirdest thing was mom didn't seem to care, taking everything her daughter threw at her in stride. In fact, she stayed perfectly friendly. Even weirder to Lemy, there were time her and Lyra seem to get along just fine, his sister taking an interest whenever mom talked about family or even laughing sometimes at the stories. And now she'd gotten hooked over those pictures or her with mom. It was all really confusing. He wanted to ask, but he didn't think trying to talk to her about anything to do with mom was a good idea.

But yeah, he'd hoped it wouldn't be like with his aunts where they took an immediate liking to his sister over him and those got shot on the first day.

But his uncle had gained a few points back, mainly because of the video games and sticking up for him on the matter. Lemy hadn't expected anything beyond that though. The guy would just sit at his desk all day drawing those comics (Mom had bought him some before, they weren't his thing). Lyra had told him to be polite, but you get what you put in. If he was going to work instead of interacting with them and be no different then their aunts, he saw no reason to change his behavior either.

The changed on their fourth full day there. Instead of heading straight to his desk after breakfast, he announced with enthusiasm he was going to show them around town so they could find something they might like to do, since mom had given them some money before they left. Lemy barely suppressed groaning out at the announcement. He didn't want to go out. He was out enough as it was. It wasn't very often he could sit around and play video games all day. He could barely get in an hour at an arcade before Lyra would drag him off again. He wanted to do that.

"Have an open mind." Lyra told him, following him to the bedroom to make sure he actually put his shoes on. "You might find something you like." He said nothing in response. "And at least it isn't Aunt Lynn making us go outside." She added, and he shuddered. So much running. So much leg pain. He wanted to bring his music player along to help the day go by faster, but Lyra wouldn't let him.

So rather than do something fun, at 10 in the morning he was following his uncle and sister down the stairs to go outside, only half listening as he went on and one about the city. Despite that he was wearing a vest and it was late June, it wasn't all that hot when they stepped outside. He wondered how cold it would be in August, when they had to go back to mom. When you traveled a lot, you could never get use to the weather.

When they climbed into his old car, Lemy in the backseat again, Lyra turned around to say one word to him before their uncle got in. "Behave." He nodded in confirmation. Their uncle climbed into the driver seat, and their little tour started as they left the front of the apartments.

"That-" Their uncle pointed to a store on the corner at the end of the street. "-is a Flip's Food and Fuel. You can walk down and go get snacks if you want. It's one of those new automated stores. There's a few of them around town. There used to be only one. I actually worked at it when I was 11."

"You had a job when you were eleven?" Lyra asked.

"Well, it was more an internship." Their uncle corrected. Lemy had no idea what that meant. "Me and my friend Clyde- this guy used to be my best friend; we did everything together. Had a lot of adventures…" He trailed off. Lemy wondered what it would be like if I had someone different to hang out with. "Anyway, yeah, we got an internship there. Lasted a whole day. A lot of fun, actually." He had a weird idea of what was fun.

"There's a bus stop right there." Lincoln told them as they turned the corner. "You can go anywhere in town from there." Lemy yawned and leaned back in his seat, wishing his sister hadn't snagged his music player while his uncle droned on and on about some of the nearby stores.

"We're about in the middle of the city." He kept on explaining. "Anything you want to do is close by. You get on the highway and you'll just go to the city and you'll just get lost in the suburbs if you go too far in any direction."

"The rest of the family live out there, don't they?" Lyra asked.

"Huh?"

"Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Lily." Lyra clarified.

"No." Lincoln said, suddenly serious. "No…they…moved a few years ago" He started nodding to himself. "Yeah, dad was a really great chef. Had to be to feed thirteen people. He always wanted to open his own restaurant. By the time everyone was moving out, he'd finally saved up enough and opened one in the city. They moved there with Lily."

"I see." Lyra nodded. Lemy only found the story slightly interesting because it was about people he barely knew. Mom hadn't talked about them, or any of his other aunts.

Things got quiet after that and dragged on for a couple of minutes of driving till they drove past something familiar.

"I recognize that park." Lyra looked to the other side of the street. "That's where aunt Lynn takes us sometimes." Lemy followed his sister's gaze at the fenced in expanse of green. It looked different from the road, but he recognized it too. "Her and Lacy live two blocks from here." Lyra went on.

"Yeah, they do." Lincoln confirmed. Of course they knew they lived here, but Lemy didn't think they lived so close. Waking up early while they stayed there sucked, and Lacy was easily the most annoying of all their cousins. She always chose to bug him over Lyra for whatever reason. But Aunt Lynn did talk to them a lot, and he did secretly like the idea of looking buff.

"Actually, Luan and her live within 10 miles of my apartment. Lucy's on the edge of town, maybe half an hour away." He said. "How many times have you guys come to visit them?" Lemy didn't keep count of that. Lyra probably did though.

"Hmm…I think maybe eleven times between all of them." She answered.

"And they never talked about visiting each other?" Their uncle asked. "You never saw another while you were visiting one?

"Never." Lemy's sister shook her head.

"Huh…weird." Lincoln muttered, almost to himself.

"Our cousins mentioned visiting you though." Lyra stated.

"Yeah, I watch them every now and then." Their uncle confirmed. "Let their moms have a night for themselves."

"Hmm." Lyra acknowledged. Lemy rolled his eyes. He'd heard her make that noise a million times. She wouldn't outright say if she thought something was stupid. She'd just make that stupid sound and raise her head slightly. Because, again, she had to be a goody two shoes.

Their little tour around the town continued for at least an hour after that. He showed Lyra a church a few streets over she could walk to if she wanted. Another time, they passed some place called Gus' Games and Grub, an arcade and food place their uncle highly praised.

Among the other locations he showed them were more stores, a cinema, a mini-golf place, and even a mall (talk about a relic) on the edge of town. Lemy had to admit that by the end he was getting a little interested- that was a lot of stuff he'd never done.

He was starting to day dream too. It boggled his mind that his mom and all her siblings had so much freedom. He started to think about what he'd do if Lyra didn't shadow or pull him along everywhere. Maybe find some other kids and start his own band? He actually smiled at that, at least till Lyra looked back and he immediately stopped.

Once the tour was over, their uncle treated them to lunch at a burger joint he said was his favorite- Burpin Burger. It looked like any of the hundreds of places they stopped at when they were on the road with mom. Seen one, seen all. But food was food.

"So, did you see anything you wanted to do?" Lyra asked him. Their uncle was at the front counter ordering while they sat at one of the tables.

"Maybe." Lemy shrugged. Okay, some of it did sound interesting. He just wasn't sure if it was interesting enough to leave the apartment for. Arcades were cool, but they weren't as good as what you got on consoles. They could just buy movies on DVD. There wasn't a point in buying a whole lot of other stuff either, because that just meant having to lug it around all the time. Golf and bowling, he guess he could give a try.

"Just let me know." She told him, and he rolled his eyes. Because obviously she'd have to come with.

There uncle came back with a food-laden tray a few minutes later and started to talk while they ate. "Funny story: the lot of us almost had to spend the night here. There was a contest here to meet this racecar driver your aunt Lana really liked, and she dragged us all along to help her win. A snowstorm rolled through though and snowed us in."

"How'd you get out?" Lyra asked.

"Lana won, but she traded it to someone so they'd give us a ride out of there. She still got to meet her hero in the end though."

"That still doesn't sound like very much fun." Their uncle shrugged.

"It's one of those things that changes if you look back at it later. It definitely wasn't one of the worst adventures we all had."

"Oh yeah, what was the worst?" Lemy asked. Both watched, suddenly concerned as he got a far-off look in eyes, the burger starting to slip from his slacked hands.

"April Fools." He muttered absentmindedly. He suddenly shook his head, immediately looking more upbeat. "There aren't that many, actually. Not compared to the fun ones, anyway. Did you guys know your mom got us together in a family band for a talent show once?" Both shook her head. Lemy tried to imagine his mom and aunts all trying to make music together, and it seemed impossible. "It was a lot of fun. Who know what we also did? Nearly destroy a hotel."

Both of them sat there listening to him tell stories for the next few minutes, sometimes forgetting their food. They were that entertaining. Some of them were so over the top though Lemy was sure he was pulling their legs, and a lot didn't match up with what he knew of their family. Aunt Luan was a joker, but she never came off as a psychopath. He couldn't imagine Aunt Lucy being into anything that wasn't dark and miserable (seriously, he fell over things in the dark all the time in that house). He had to be exaggerating a lot of it.

Still, they were entertaining. How come he never got to have adventures like that? Or any at all? How come he had to have a boring sister and cousins that never wanted to do anything? He was starting to feel a little envy. Still, he listened to the stories in interest.

Their uncle ended up getting a little too into one of his stories though (one about a comic he wrote for a contest his sisters helped him submit) and brought his hand down on the table directly onto a ketchup packet. The result was it bursting and the sending the contents flying at the person opposite of him, which happened to be Lyra.

"Sorry!" Their uncle said quickly, reaching for the napkins. Lemy broke out in snorting laughter. His sister just looked down at the stain on her button up shirt, seeming only the slightest bit annoyed.

"Don't worry." She accepted the napkin. "Excuse me while I go clean up." She got up and headed to the restroom, by which point Lemy had gotten over his laughing fit. Actually, he clammed up quickly when he realized it was just him and his uncle, a man he barely knew. So he just sat there, unknowingly sporting an expression like he'd just sucked on a lemon.

"Sooo…" Lincoln tried to start a conversation with him. "Your sister said you don't like new places?" Oh, had she? What else did she say about him? But he at least remembered what she said to him the other night.

"Eh." He shrugged. "I'm used to it." He admitted. What exactly was Lyra expecting him to say and act like? Polite? "Mom always said you were a cool guy." He offered. Aside from things like "thank you" that Lyra enforced, compliments and the like weren't something he did often. "Your place is pretty cool. The rest just suck because I'm surrounded by girls all the time."

"Oh, believe me, I know." His uncle assured him, smirking. "I had to live with ten of them. In one house. With one bathroom." Okay, that sounded like it definitely sucked. The most crowded they ever got was the tour bus since mom travelled separate from the rest of the band. Around 10 hours a day with just them, mom, and sometimes Sam (mom's girlfriend was pretty cool too. She'd actually helped him make the vest he was wearing now) together in one space. Having to live constantly with one girl was bad enough, but 10?

"Bollocks to that." He quoted something his mom said from time to time, and his uncle laughed.

"Got to work on your accent, but you're almost as good as your mom." He told him. "You going to be a Rockstar like her?"

"Yeah." Lemy nodded. He wanted to, anyway. He knew he had to get a lot better at guitar…and learn how to come up with song lyrics…and learn run a band. Actually, there was a lot he needed do if he wanted to follow in her footsteps. He'd imagined playing in front of huge crowds like mom did, and the thought kind of scared him. But he thought he could do it too. Mom had helped him get better at guitar, and maybe she'd help with the other stuff too. It was still daunting though; mom always said she'd started early.

Their uncle was a lot more conversational then their aunts. Well, about stuff they cared about, anyway; Leni would ramble on about a lot of things, Luan put a pun or joke in everything, and Lynn never shut up about fitness. None of the rest had talked to them much, let alone about each other or mom.

Lemy wondered…

"When did mom really start playing?" He asked. His uncle took a moment to collect his thoughts.

"Well, she didn't actually always want to be a Rockstar. She only got into that when she was…11 or 12, I think."

"The Mick Swagger concert." Mom had told him the story 100 times about how she found her calling.

"Right." His uncle nodded. "That concert completely changed her." A thought crossed Lemy's mind, and he interjected.

"What was she like before that?" He asked, curious and unable to imagine her as anything else.

"Before?" Lincoln smiled slightly. "She still had a interest in music, just not rock. She used to sing lullabies to me and the others when we were little."

"Who now?" Lyra asked, returning to her seat beside her brother. Lemy's mood soured again.

"Your mom." Their uncle explained. "Before she got into rock, she was into classical music and had this really soft singing voice."

"Oh?" Lyra sounded interested. Lemy was sure she was faking it to be polite.

"Yeah. I'll have to dig around my closet later, but I'm sure I have a picture of her before she was into rock. But yeah," He turned back to Lemy. "She was already playing with friends when she 13. Not exactly sure when she started performing in front of other people. Might've been that talent show I mentioned. I know she and her friends were the opening act for some real bands at the arena. You know, they let the amateurs have a chance to shine? I'm pretty sure that's how she got her start." A talent show? Huh, mom really had started small. Could he find something like that to get kickstarted?

"She had a solo career here in town for a little while." He recalled. "Her and her friends sent all their demos out and they got picked up. But Luna decided to stay living at home for a few years." He smiled at Lyra.

"I was born?" He nodded.

"She dropped everything to take care of you. She didn't even perform again after you were born till you about two, I think. Mom and dad always volunteered to watch you."

"Hmm." He watched his sister nod. Oh, what was her problem with that? He glared at her, and he was sure she noticed out of the corner of her eye.

"So uh…you guys ready to head home?" The uncle asked awkwardly.

"Yes."

"Whatever." Their uncle would glance between them in the mirror the whole ride home.

Later that night…

The day had been an interesting one. Lyra had enjoyed her uncle's tour of the town. All the times they'd come here, and they'd never really seen it. She was particularly interested in the church he'd shown them. Obviously, she'd never had time to attend one regularly, especially when she had to watch her brother. It wasn't necessary for her faith, but if there was an opportunity while she was here, she'd take it. He'd shown and talked about a lot of stuff.

Like his parents- their grandparents. Clearly their uncle wasn't fond of discussing them in the present as he was in photos. Maybe he'd had a falling out with them same as mom. But other then that, she'd learned more in one day from one relative then in nearly a dozen visits to many. She was actually getting somewhat curious about her family history.

It was a wonder their aunts hadn't made even a little mention of any of that. Then again, their uncle had gone on and on about the freedom they all had even when they were young that let them have such fun. Look what it did for the lot of them in the end. Perhaps they'd wised up to the dangers of it.

She hoped Lemy had found something that interested him and took this chance while it was here. She'd take time out of her day if it meant him doing something other than watching tv or guitar.

He'd actually spent an hour or two quietly practicing when they got home, no doubt encouraged by their uncle's story about mom's early career.

Lyra didn't have a problem with rock music; she didn't buy into the view it was satanic or the Devil's music or anything like that. She realized a lot had okay messages and stories in them. She'd never gotten into it though like her mother or brother; it just didn't interest her. Her mother had tried to get her into Christian Rock Music in the last few years, and while it didn't suit her, Lyra appreciated the effort.

That's what a lot of her goodwill to her mother came down to these days- she tried, even if it didn't always work or was as often as she liked.

It was the lifestyle associated with rock music. The indecency, the substances, the overt rebellion against peace, quiet, and order. It all disgusted her.

It didn't surprise her Lemy took so closely after mom in interests. It wasn't just that he was surrounded by that culture 24/7, but he'd always been really close to her too, and what child didn't try to emulate their parent? He'd try and squeeze in time to talk to her even at inappropriate times. Even though he was 9, there were still mornings she woke and up and discovered not only that mom had come home safely in the night, but at some point Lemy had crawled into bed next to her.

Lyra knew that for all she could do for her brother, she wasn't going to turn him off that path if he chose to take it. She just hoped he wouldn't end up as one of those really bad artists. She knew enough about that world to know her mother, for all her vices, was still far from the worst lifestyle. At least she knew he wouldn't have to start his career the same way mom did- panhandling for travel money to get to California so she could bum on a friend's couch for a few months while trying to be noticed.

What had those people really given her mother money for? Her guitar playing, still talented even though she had to awkwardly hold it against her swollen stomach? Or for the little girl sitting on the suitcase next to her mother?

Her uncle's stories had re-ignited some of her dormant resentment against her mother. What had been so bad about living here that she had to drop everything and uproot across the country and embrace an entirely new lifestyle on the road, especially when she was about to have another child? Was she only willing to delay her career once? It hadn't been too bad at first; Lyra could still remember those few months after they moved. Mom would only go out at night after they were both asleep, but otherwise still spent most of the day with them.

Even her early career had been the same way; though they still travelled, and mom was admittedly busier in the day, she still spent time with her children- Lyra could still remember a lot of early homeschooling with her mother- and the only playing she did was after her children went to bed. But they'd inevitably get older and bed time would move up.

Lyra wondered if her mom had looked forward to the days her children became more independent. She'd been teaching her daughter when she was 8 how to properly care for her baby brother, and even started trusting her to watch him alone for minutes at a time. The first time she'd given Lyra complete responsibility was when she was 9, watching Lemy for nearly two hours while she had to go do something or another related to her career. It was easily the most terrifying moment of her life up to that point. She'd spent almost all of it holding her 3-year-old brother in bed even after he clearly started to get annoyed by it and try and get away from her. That didn't actually become the status quo until she was 11, which was also about the time mom would start sending them to stay with relatives.

She'd gone with them to very first time, when they stayed with Lori. She'd insisted it'd be fun for them, and Lyra had been excited. Lemy hadn't- it was a new and scary experience to him. He'd been bawling before they even pulled into the driveway. And she'd stayed for about fifteen minutes, talked to her sister, and tried to calm down her son, but she'd still left before he'd calmed down. Lyra really had to wonder…

Speaking of Lemy, she noticed him not so subtly glaring at her while she said her nightly prayer. He'd been giving her a bitter look since before they got home. "Is something the matter?" She asked as she stood up and walked over to shut the light off.

"No." He turned his back to her. She watched him lay there unnaturally still for a moment before she climbed into bed.

"I'm here whenever you want to talk." She told him. A few moments of silence passed.

"Why do you hate mom so much?" He asked without rolling over. The first words were agitated but tapered off near the end.

"Excuse me?" Lyra sat up. Did he just ask her if she hated mom? "I don't hate mom, Lemy. Don't use such a dangerous word lightly." Where had he even gotten an idea like that?

"Well, you don't act like it." He muttered.

"Sit up and talk to me." He so reluctantly. "When have I ever acted like I hated mom?" He stared at her, tight lipped she assumed, then told her. All the arguments, all the insults, all the glares of disapproval. He flung all his evidence at her, finally ending with a defiant glare as if daring her to deny it. Lyra needed a moment to gather her thoughts.

Yes, she called their mother out on her more severe faults and mistakes. She had a right to. But she didn't hate her. She loved her for what she'd done, and what she still managed to do. She didn't know that's what it had looked like to him.

But she could see how her brother might misconstrue those actions. At his age he was blind to mom's faults or just didn't understand them, something Lyra had tried her hardest to accomplish, so he'd just see her actions as malice. She had no idea how much he really comprehended on the wider subject.

So how could that without actually telling him the deeper truth?

She sighed. "Lemy, listen to me. I don't hate mom. I just get annoyed with her sometimes for my own reasons. You get annoyed with me all the time, don't you?"

"Yeah…" He muttered, clearly not expecting her to turn things back on him.

"But you still love me?"

"I guess…" She leaned forward and pulled him into a hug.

"Family members get annoyed at each other all the time. They argue and fight. But they always love each other. I still love mom even though she annoys me. We love each other even if we annoy each other. And no matter what mom does to annoy you, you should always love her." She had no idea what the future might hold in that regard. "Do you understand?"

"…Yeah." He returned the hug. "I love you too, Lyra."

"Good." She patted him on the back. "Now get some sleep, okay?"