Family Ties
Chapter 8
Nick entered the kitchen groggily feeling his way to a chair. Angel smiled.
"Good morning!"
He lifted an eyebrow surprised to see her so cheery. "Good morning."
"Did you sleep well?"
"Uh..no. Not exactly."
"Why not?"
"Oh, some stupid thing I saw on tv kept me up."
"Sorry, maybe you shouldn't watch that program."
"Undoubtedly."
Aaron entered from the tv area. "Hey, Nick, decide to join the human race?"
"Only for a few weeks, but yeah, I did."
The younger Carter laughed. "Nice of you to join us, earthling."
Nick massaged his brow. "Did you guys eat already?"
His sister nodded. "Yeah, we had some cereal a few hours ago."
"And Leslie?"
Angel poured herself a glass of water. "She's still in bed. She said she was
tired and needed some sleep."
"Maybe the 'family function' of last night wore her out," Nick suggested.
Aaron sat down. "Can we do some snowboarding today?"
Nick shrugged. "Sure. Just don't be a moron like Kevin and dislocate your
shoulder. You wanna' join us, Angel?"
She ran a hand over her stomach nonchantly. "Um..no thank you. I think I'll
stay here and keep Les company. Maybe call Beeg."
Aaron stood. "You have no sense of adventure."
She stared at his bright orange sneakers and neon green socks. "And YOU have
no sense of fashion! What's your point?"
Nick shook his head. "Aaron, I suggest you go lock yourself in the bathroom
before she starts to rip your limbs off." He stood. "I'm gonna' go change,
then we can go out."
"Cool."
Nick made a detour to Leslie's room. He knocked softly.
"Yes?"
"Leslie, may I come in?"
"Yeah."
Nick opened the door to see her lying in bed with a thick novel. "You okay?
You look kind of pale." He pressed his hand to her forehead.
She rolled her eyes. "I'm okay." She paused.
"Something up?"
"Do I remind you of a chick called Marie Osmond?"
"You saw it, too?"
"Uh-huh."
"Well, in that case I understand why you could use some more sleep."
Chapter Nine