Kyra Meets Adrian

“So who am I meeting?” Kyra asked, getting into Nathan’s car.

“My cousin Adrian and his family.” he replied as he turned the car on, backing up.

“Your cousin?” asked Kyra as Nathan pulled out of her driveway and onto the main road.

“Yes, my cousin.” replied Nathan, as if it was a well known fact.
“Well, is there anything I should know? I mean-”
“Just, don’t ask too many questions. I’m not sure how much he wants others to know yet.”
They pulled into the driveway of an old brick house with forest green shutters and a matching picket fence. When they entered the house, the smell of breakfast was everywhere. Eggs, bacon, and waffles filled the air. “Auntie?!” called Nathan.
“Kitchen!” answered a voice, a voice that sounded to young to be someones mother. “You guys hungry?” She was a beautiful woman, with long red hair and freckles, just like most of Nathan’s family.
“Yes please.” answered Kyra, understanding now why Nate had recommended not eating before they left.
“Ah, you must be Kyra. Nate’s told us a bit about you. My name’s Rachel. It’s good to meet you.” she said, offering her hand.
Kyra took it gladly, “It’s good to meet you too.”

“Is Adrian up yet?” asked Nathan. His aunt only replied with an exasperated look that said, As if.

“Could you go and see if you can get him out of bed.... gently?” she added the last part after thinking about all the other times she’d asked Nate to wake Adrian up and one of them would always come down the stairs with a bruise.

“I can try.” he said, a mischievous look on his face.

After he had mounted the spiral staircase leading upstairs, they waited a few minutes, hearing a thud hit the floor upstairs as well as yelling and cursing.

“Language!” shouted Rachel up to them, given a ‘Sorry!’ in return from both boys, all three of their accents, a thick, deep Irish. “Now,” she said, turning to Kyra, “would you like to see some pictures of the boys from when they were little?”

Kyra lit up at the chance to see Nate as a kid, he didn’t often speak of when he was younger. “Yes please.” At that, Rachel left the room, soon returning with a dark gray photo album titled Family. She pointed out a picture that had Nate and a little boy she identified as Adrian. He was dark tan with strawberry blond curls. If Adrian hadn't been addressed as "he" and "him", she would have assumed he was a girl.

Another picture caught her eye. It was apparently taken when they were in high school, probably freshmen. They were all cut up and bruised, a real mess, but they were smiling big toothy smiles none the less.

“What happened here?” asked Kyra, pointing to their grins. Rachel turned to the picture and laughed a little.

“Those two had gotten in a fight with some boys that were bullying Adrian. They lost of course, but that never seemed to make them sad.” she said, seeming almost sad herself. The thought left when Nate came clamoring down the stairs, followed by a boy that must have been Adrian. He looked just like he did in the picture, except his hair was slightly straighter (though still curly) and down to his chin. That and he was about five ten. Apparently, Adrian had won, because Nate already had a bruise forming on his jaw.

“Auntie, not the pictures again.” Nate says, laughing. “Well,” he started, “Kyra, this is Adrian. Adrian, my girlfriend, Kyra.”

“Nice to meet you.” says Kyra, holding out her hand. He takes it but doesn’t say anything.

“Don’t worry dear.” says Rachel, noticing Kyra’s confused expression. “He’s not fully awake, so he’s not very aware of anything quite yet.”

---

After breakfast, they all gathered in the living room. Rachel asked Kyra questions like, “How long have you known Nate?” and “What are you studying to be?” It went on like that for a while until the questions ran out.
“So, do you have any questions for us?” Adrian asked, more awake than he had been, “I’ve got some stories about Nate here.” he said, turning to give Nathan a cheeky grin, which was returned with a slap to the back of his head.
“Well,” she started, “Nate said I shouldn’t ask too many questions so-” but she didn’t get to finish because he started laughing.
When he stopped laughing, he said, “Ignore that advice. I love questions, so ask away.”
“Ok, then,” she thought a moment about her first question, “What was school like for you?” she asked, remembering the photo of the two of them.
“Ah, school.” he replied, pretending to think about something he already knew the answer to. “It’s... not something I would want to experience a second time.”
When nothing more came, she asked, “Well, what happened?” curiosity getting the best of her.
“Uh, people weren’t all that accepting of me.” he replied.
“‘Accepting’?” she asked, feeling lost of the meaning in this case.

He stopped, looking curiously at her, and then to Nathan. “She doesn’t know, does she?”

“Uh, no.” replied Nate, looking away.

“Let’s see. How to say this.” said Adrian, thinking to himself. “Ah!” he exclaimed, figuring it out. “Ok, so I’m a boy, right?” he asked, to which Kyra nodded. “Well, when I was born, my name was Katherine.” he said, waiting for her to understand, which she did.

Reviews

[VannahBanana]

Alex, this is a very strong beginning. And, I usually don't say that very much. I liked this a lot, it was good to introduce us to everybody. The only thing I would add is, try really, really hard not to repeat words like "ask" "replied" "said" over and over, just so more vocabulary can catch the reader's eye. There weren't any mistakes that I saw. This was really, really good. I can see this is a matter that you are really devoted to and I hope you're encouraged to go through with this. And, if you don't mind, I'd like to read the rest and give my input on it, but you can message me any time you want if it gets a little bit annoying.