Chapped Lips

Chapter 1: Eos

As Naina emerged from the airport she could not help but feel that she was out of place. The clothes, the hicks, the hats, it all just wasn’t very her. She was used to big city life, fast cars, and 24/7 fast food restaurants, not tractors and mom and pop diners.

Her eyes met those of her father, Mayor Peter Bright, the corners of his eyes slightly crinkling as he took her in with a bright smile on his face.

“Oh honey, look how big you’ve gotten, it’s been what, three years now?” Said Peter

“Closer to seven actually,” quipped Naina.

He frowned.

Preya, Naina’s mother, had never actually gotten married to Peter. They had been high school sweethearts and though they had always planned on getting married, something had happened along the way; Preya had realized she wanted more for herself.

A slightly more demure smile appeared on Peter’s face.

“Well I’m glad to see you sweetie, you have no idea how much I’ve missed you.” He realized she was struggling with her suitcase, and reached out to grab the one closest to him. He started off towards a pickup truck, in which a pretty blonde lady was sitting in the driver’s seat doing her makeup.

“Hurry up Quinn we need to be on our way back home if we plan on reaching before dinner time. I cannot wait to finally have my entire family living under one roof!” exclaimed Peter.

Quinn was her father’s wife. He had met her while running for mayor a few years after Naina was born. Quinn came from a well off family, and occupied her time as a stay at home mom. While there were no hard feelings between her and Preya, Preya had not so secretly been quite apprehensive of Quinn. Quinn was a whole decade younger than Peter, and though she also had a daughter around Naina’s age, Preya had never quite liked that Peter had chosen someone else, even if it had been her fault.

As Naina got into the back seat of the Toyota pick up truck, Quinn turned around and gave her a warm smile. While she had aged since the last time Naina had seen her, her blue eyes and freckled skin were quite the same.

“So kiddo how do you feel about Texas so far. It’s quite the beauty right?” said Peter.

Naina didn’t know what to say. She was conflicted because the truth was that she didnt want to live in the middle of fucking nowhere, because while she had been happy to join her father and finally spend time with him, she could’ve done without the experience of living on a farm.

She instead went for the more moderate answer, and appeased her father with a simple, “It’s nice.” and an accompanying smile.

Quinn, seeing that conversation was stalled, decided to instead start up a conversation of her own. “So Naina what do you like to do with your free time? I’m sure Grace would love to show you around town, in fact they just opened a new bowling alley!” Ah. Grace. Grace was the bane of Naina’s existance, an entity created solely to torture her.

Naina and Grace had been fighting since their first christmas together after Peter and Quinn had gotten married. It had started with the first family portrait they were to take together. Quinn had allowed both girls to hold one toy as to add incentive to keep them still.This had resulted in two broken arms. You see when Grace had gone to bring back her American girl doll Julie, Grace had tripped Naina and with Naina Julie had fallen as well. The doll had never recovered, a broken arm the unfortunate victim of the incident, but neither did Naina and Grace, the possibility of friendship out of the question. Since then both girls had treated one another with barely hidden contempt, being sure to interact as little as possible. They spoke on occasion during birthdays, and even during her mom’s funeral, but other than that neither had talked properly in years.

“I’m mostly excited to see what the town has to offer, in terms of classes and extracurriculars and what not. I was a tutor at my old school, and I’d like to continue doing so, once I settle in that is.” answered Naina.

“Oh that’s wonderful honey! I’ve already told your principal what a dedicated student you are, and I’m sure he would welcome such a wonderful addition to the roster of tutors.” declared Quinn. “Why don’t you take a nap until we get home, it’ll be about two hours, but it should pass in no time!” continued Quinn.

With that Naina put in her headphones and chose to glance out the window. While on one hand the sunsets could be beautiful, the cerulean blues of the skies leaving to make way for a burning sun, the monotonous fields were something Naina could do without. ‘One field of corn, two fields of corn, oh look, yet another fucking field of corn.’ thought Naina. Did she even have a chance of liking it, let alone making it here? It was all so different, not a taxi in sight, or even an Audi. She was so different, and while her mother had grown up in this town, she had been a minority.

Two hours later Naina woke up to a gentle tapping on the shoulder. She vaguely registered her father saying ‘we’re here’ to her as she blearily opened her eyes. As she got out of the car and tried to reacclimate herself to her surroundings she failed to register the figure running towards her. In seconds Rusty the border collie had tackled her and was licking her with a surprising fervour. “Rusty no!” screamed a small voice. She looked up to see an even smaller figure making her way over who looked to be her half-sister Emilia.

Emilia had been born when Naina was about nine, and at the age of eight she was quite the force to be reckoned with. As a papas girl she had her father’s skills for athletics and his wit, though she also had a good amount of her mother’s eyes and wisdom. She was truly the perfect combination of them both, and to Naina she was the adorable too smart little sister who had charmed her way into her heart, one look into her eyes and you would be a goner. Something had clearly gone terribly right in the raising of Emilia, because it seemed the gene for brat had skipped her and gone entirely to Grace.

“I missed you so much” exclaimed Emilia as Naina got tackled for the second time in two minutes.

“I missed you as well Mila, now are you going to get off of me kid?” grunted Naina.

“She’s just saying that Emilia, she didn’t really miss you, because who could miss a brat like you.“, heckled Grace from the doorway.

“Be quiet Grace Nathalia Bright, and please help us with Naina’s bags.” said Quinn sternly.

Grace grudgingly walked over to the car, which gave Naina the time to take in her surroundings. While it had been close to four years since she had been back on the ranch, it seemed not much had changed. The house had two floors as well as a storm cellar which was mostly used for storage. It was a surprisingly tall house considering the majority of people around them had ranch style houses instead, but this had been exactly what Peter wanted. He had never planned to spend his entire life in Fredericksburg, but as it was his ultimate outcome he had decided to make the best of it and splurge quite a bit.

At almost 6,000 square feet the land was gorgeous. At the forefront of the house pillars met a high archway to create a Grecian modern blend that complimented the beautiful magnolia trees on either side. A small lake was the focus of the backyard, its clear waters ethereal under the spectacular western sunset. A large clearing stretched outwards till it met a luscious forest in which a small stream ran through. As a child one of Naina’s favorite things to do had been to explore the wilderness with her father, though as more members got added to their family, it seemed that she had been removed. The property itself also housed a large stable, and while riding horses had been one of Naina’s favorite pastimes as a child, it failed to have the same charm now.

As she entered the house Naina marvelled in the family portraits lining the walls. She noticed a few featured her, but the majority were newer photos of her father and his new family. The distinction was clear, she was a guest here, meant to survive only till college. This may have been her father’s home, but it sure as hell wasn’t hers.

As she traipsed up the stairs she noticed the addition of a photo featuring her mother. It was to the corner, small and almost unnoticeable, but it was a jarringly recognizable. Naina was sitting next to Preya, a light smile resting upon her lips as her mother read a book to her under one of the large redbud trees that lined the property. Naina inhaled sharply. She missed her mother, this would be her first year without her.

Preya still resonated clearly with Naina’s though, and as much as she hated to admit it, living in Texas could be enjoyable, if only to honor her mother.

She approached the door to her room, still sloppily decorated with Brats and Littlest Pet Shop stickers. She would have to fix that. As she opened the door she was transported back to being seven years old. Her yellow-orange walls were as bright as ever, the fresh paint smelled as strong as the day it was painte- wait a minute, that was the smell of fresh paint.

“I got your room repainted, I thought you’d enjoy it, and that it would make you feel more at home.” said Peter from the doorway.

Evidently the room was even bigger than she remembered, with a four poster bed and her own bathroom, she really had been spoiled. But what had drawn her to this room (which was actually the smallest room in the house), had been the balcony. Facing the lake it had an excellent view of the sunset, and was a great vantage point to look at the grounds. She had sat up there reading or drawing for hours when she was a child, and she looked forward to bringing back the old habits.

“Thanks dad, I appreciate the thought, but my favorite color isn’t yellow anymore, it’s uh green actually.” stated Naina awkwardly.

“Oh, well that’s okay if you’d like I could get the painters in by tomorrow, they could paint it green? Maybe?” her dad said hesitantly.

“No, no that’s fine, I like it.” (she did not indeed like it, but this was about extending an olive branch.)

“Anyways I came to call you for dinner, we’re eating pizza today, is your favorite still pepperoni with olives and mushrooms?”

“Yes it actually is!” Exclaimed Naina.

Both father and daughter shared equally as broad smiles. “Well anyways, I’ll let you get settled, come down in ten if you can.” said Peter.

Naina set her bags down and observed her room a second time, it looked too perfect, too prisine, too much like the image her father was trying to portray as mayor. She knew it wasn’t yet hers, but she hoped that by the end of the year it would be.

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