Strawberry Smoothies

[xox_Gelert_xox]

"Bev, I want a strawberry smoothy." The child blinked, tugging at the young man's arm.

"Well go tell Rai what you want. She's already in line." He nodded, motioning her towards the line.

Pursing her lips together, she inched out of the chair and skipped across the cafe to the line.

Bevan leaned back in the chair, his eyes watching his youngest sister lightly. Effielyn, or Effie, had such a carefree nature and innocence about her. Something he hoped she retained as she grew older, but he was pessimistic about it. He studied his sisters from his seat, a soft smile slipping onto his features. Bevan never revealed much emotion, often appearing cold and heartless, but his sisters were his weakness. Possibly his only known weakness.

Tilting his head to the side, he watched Effie. She was only eight years old and filled with questions about the world. Long red hair was pulled into two braids that trailed along her back, revealing bright eager cerulean eyes. Dressed in a pair of jeans and a blue and white striped tank top, she wore navy flip flops on her feet.

With a content sigh, he looked at Raissa, or Rai. Rai slipped out of her innocent years and into a more promiscuous teenager, much to her brother's regret. She was slim figured, wearing jean shorts that reached to about the middle of the palm of her hand. A light cotton white shirt was completely unbuttoned, beneath was a red tank top that revealed nearly two inches of skin from her shorts. A pair of black flip flops adorned her feet as the tips of her toe nails were painted white.
Raissa's hair was brownish red and longish as it skimmed the middle of her shoulders. It was cut choppily around her face, giving her slight layers as blue simple eyes were lathered with eye liner and mascara.

Bevan grunted with disapproval of his oldest sister, only fifteen years of age. She was rebellious and boy-crazy, more than eager to slip out unnoticed.

He himself was in a pair of jeans, where frayed ends covered worn boots from daily wear and tear. Bevan tried to be a simple man, dressing in an off green shirt with some faded logo on the sleeve. Strands of reddish brown hair slipped into his hazel eyes that were still watching his sisters as they ordered the wanted drinks.

As Raissa passed through the line and ordered, she returned to the table by the window with three drinks, handing Bevan his.

Effie reached for her pronounced strawberry smoothie and settled into a chair.
"Bev, how did they make strawberries smooth enough for this smoothie?"

Bevan took a sip of his drink, debating the answer.
"They beat them until they had no more wrinkles." He shrugged.

Raissa grinned silently from across the table, shaking her head slightly as Effilyn's face contorted as she thought about the answer given.

[Alaina]

It wasn’t that she couldn’t talk. She could speak; though the maximum she could get out was a single whispered word, and the effort and strain on her vocal cords almost always reduced her to tears. Due to that fact, there was no denying that she kept her mouth closed twenty four seven, and resorted to carrying a thick journal and colourful pens everywhere with her.
Despite her inability to speak, Miss Majaa Thompson had quite the wide vocabulary. She wasn’t the brightest star in the sky, but she made up for that in personality. Energetic and comedic, despite her silent nature. Her facial expressions made up for lack of words, always changing with her reactions, and always a sight to see.
The all but mild incident had occurred around her tenth birthday; she'd been ironically on her way to a choir concert, stopping at her cousin's house for a bit of cake and other sweets. She'd been conveniently distracted by her new CD player playing into her ears, her aqua gaze stuck on the stack of brightly colored packages, all of the cards and gift tags made out to her.
Brendan had recently adopted two pitbulls; they'd been rescued from abusive homes and had been ever so sweet to every adult family member. With the innocent intentions of presenting one to dear little Majaa, he'd let one in the house. The poor canine had no idea what to make of the motionless child, who began to swing her legs and dance in her seat. In his dirt-brown eyes, she'd been striking violently at him. He'd attacked, utterly out of self defense, and ripped at the childs throat.
Even today, jagged scars painted the tan skin of her neck white. She'd come out of the mauling lucky; the dog hadn't severed her jugular or any other vitals, though he'd managed to do damage to her vocal cords, something the doctors weren't capable of fully reparing.
Every time Brendan's eye caught on those scars, it was like a stab to his heart. As a child, she'd had the most angellic soprano speech, and him and the rest of the family had always been proud of her school choir performances. Despite her young age, she'd been quite impressive and utterly determined.

After six years, she no longer attempted to hide the scars marring her beauty. She'd grown used to the staring and people asking why, and had pre-written the story on the first page of her always handy journal, to pass into the hands of anyone who questioned her lack of speech and the incident that caused it.
A pair of black Dolce and Gabbana thick-rimmed glasses framed shining baby blue eyes, rimmed with the usual line of black liner and finished by the black mascara on her long, voluminous lashes. A light coating of silver glitter shimmered on the skin of her bare shoulders, back, arms, and chest.
The dress she wore was a daffodil yellow, and with each stride of her tanned legs, the fabric barely brushed her mid-thighs. Her usually five foot five inch height was given a two inch boost from a pair of white wedge sandals, that both elevated and elongated her already slender body.
The blonde curls that tickled her bare shoulder blades were held away from her face with a sleek white ribbon, one that matched the braided yellow that tied her dress onto each shoulder. Her hair was accented with highlights of all different shades of brown, though the blonde was still the most prominant color on her head.
Each of her finger nails were painted plain white; each toe the same yellow of her dress. Besides the blue of her eyes, she matched completely, head to foot.
"Majaa?" A gruff, masculine voice questioned from beside her, pulling her head down from the clouds. Her gaze shifted to him, and he smiled. "Just an iced vanilla, correct?" She nodded her head to his question, a smile lifting her barely-glossed lips.
He hurried towards the counter, leading her by the arm. Once their drinks were prepared, his steel-gray peepers fanned the room for an empty table. He lifted a hand to push a chunk of straight black hair from his eyes, the same color as the silky material of his shirt.
A pair of designer jeans hung right where they should on his hips; no sagging to his knees or clinging tightly to his legs. He rotated one of the two rings through his lip with his tongue, Majaa's movement catching the corner of his eye.
She'd lifted one thin arm to point across the room at an occupied table, grinning. The child, of course, was what had caught her attention. She'd always wanted a child of her own, though of course she was too young and had not the romantic partner to do anything of that sort with.
"Want me to see if you can hug her?" Brendan's question resulted in her ecstatically nodding her head, and he laughed. The movement vibrated the thick muscles that coated his body, and he lightly took her hand to lead her across the room.
"Hey." He greeted the table of three, with a smile. "My cousin was wondering if she could hug her." Majaa was half hidden behind him, a blush in her cheeks. Despite Brendan's intimidating appearance and voice, his sweet smile proved that he wouldn't cause any harm to any living, breathing thing.

[xox_Gelert_xox]

Effielyn continued to stare at the drink, peering into the thick liquid after taking a drink. Her cerulean eyes watched it intently, as if trying to find the beaten strawberrys her brother spoke of.

Raissa shook her head slightly at her sister before her eyes watched two people stepped into the cafe. She studied them as the walked, noting the the young man that escorted the young woman. Rai pondered on the relationship between the two, debating if they were together. The young woman's outfit was rather sunny and bright, compared against her escort's dark attire. She could not see them dating, but people always said that opposites attract.

If that was the case, why was Bevan still single? He was a loner, contemplative, protective, heartless... She could continue the list of adjectives to describe him, knowing of plenty of girls who were the exact opposite.

She sighed, tilting her head to the side as her eyes glazed over, licking her lips lightly. Her eyes trailed the boy who walked in, a smile slidding onto her features. Bevan would flip if he caught her staring at such a boy. Piercings. Unnaturally black hair. Possibly makeup. Yep. He would flip. But with this case, she believed it would be worth him flipping out.

Bevan watched Effielyn with a soft smile, wishing that her innocence would last but knew it was inevitable, especially with Raissa as female role model. He needed to find Effie more positive people for her life. His eyes flickered to Raissa and blinked before following her gaze to the two people that entered the cafe.
It was a boy. Of course. What else would hold her attention long enough?
He shook his head slightly as he looked back at her, taking a second to realize what he just saw. Wait... Bevan glanced back towards the young man and studied his appearence for a moment before quickly returning his gaze to Raissa.

"No." He spoke softly but sternly.

Raissa grinned, continuing her staring. "I knew you were going to say that. Good thing I don't listen." She smarted off with a slight laugh.

"Raissalyn Rene." Bevan blinked pointedly, warning comming off in his voice.

"She's pointing at us." Rai spoke aloud with question, ignoring her brother's warning tone.

Bevan looked over and sure enough, the young woman was pointing in their direction. He studied the two and tensed up slightly as they started to walk towards them.

As the young man spoke, Bevan sat up slightly and watched him closely, especially after their unique request. They wanted to hug one of his sisters?
No.... No. No. No. Not some random person is going to come up and hug one of his sisters. Especially someone of such startling appearance.
His eyes slid to the mentioned cousin and blinked before looking back at the young man speaking. No.

Bevan opened his mouth to rebuke the answer but Effie chimmed in before he could respond.

"You want to hug me?" She asked, peering up at the young man as childish laughter bubbled from her. Effielyn peered around the man and saw his cousin and nodded. "Okay! I like hugs." The child grinned innocently, slipping out of the chair and opening her arms.

Raissa watched with pure confusion, mouth open slightly from shock as her eyes shifted between the cousins. "You want to hug.... her? Why?" She blinked.

Bevan shut his mouth, clenching his jaw as he was seemingly ready to pounce if any bad intention was put forth. He was not light boned, instead on the broad side and could hold his own in a fight. The man had been in several fights before, not mentioning the rare boy that would follow Raissa against her will.