ARE WE LOST FOREVER?

ARYAN

Elias was sprawled on the bed, eyes barely opened and chest rising and falling rhythmically. The sun was peeking through the curtains, brighter than when he fell asleep. His head was still heavy and he felt like going back into the beautiful realm of sleep. His eyes were fighting to stay open and every other minute a yawn would escape his mouth.

He didn't want to fall asleep again, because it was afternoon already and he was expecting guests to show up any minute. His eyes closed once again and he decided to keep them close for five more minutes when the sound of a car forced his eyes open.

‘Is it them?’ He questioned himself and twisted and turned in his bed, groaning in distaste.

His eyelids were getting heavier and once again shutting down when he heard the sharp ringing of the doorbell. His eyes wide opened and he jumped off the bed, picking up his phone from the nightstand to check the time.

It was around 1 o'clock in the afternoon.

He ran to the window and looked outside. His room was above the garage, so his window faced the front of the house, including the main door. In the driveway, he spotted an unknown Jeep and saw two people standing on the porch. He couldn't see much other than their black hair, because his eyes weren't still adjusted to the harsh rays of the sun.

The front door opened and he spotted Selena on the other side, welcoming the two strangers into the house. Elias saw the way— who he assumed to be Pratik— pushed his son inside the house from behind as he was taking some time looking around and Elias almost laughed.

He remembered his dad doing the same with him whenever they would go somewhere. Elias was naturally curious, looking around things and trying to understand them and the logic behind them was his favorite thing to do, especially if they visited some exhibition or museums. But that meant spending a lot of time in one section of the place, that's why his dad always asked him to hurry up and when he won't, he would push him from behind.

He shut his window to stop the sunlight from entering the room. He couldn't believe that it was raining in the morning and now the sun was blazing with heat.

He opened the closet to find something to wear. He was still in his shorts, the summer was way too hot to wear any piece of fabric, but meeting strangers in just shorts wasn't an idle look. Especially when the stranger was your dad's childhood friend.

So, he pulled on a t-shirt and ran downstairs to greet the guests.

Entering the living room he found the two strangers on the couch, accompanied by his twin sister, Selena who was presenting them with her charming smile, and the first thing he thought to himself was, ‘There's no way these two are related.’ And he wasn't wrong because the two looked nothing like father and son. The only similarity between them was the brown eyes and black hair that both of them shared.

While Pratik was in blue dad jeans and a loose-fitting plaid shirt, paired with sneakers, his son was wearing a white V-neck, tightly fitted black cotton jeans, and a pair of high-up boots. But clothing wasn't the only thing, Pratik had that Indian light-brown skin, while his son was as pale as Elias or Selena. His lips were pink and his eyes fixed on Elias since he entered.

Elias, however, was busy staring at the tattoo that was peeking through the sleeve of his upper right arm. The stranger smiled when he noticed Elias checking his tattoo and pulled the sleeve down a little. Elias looked up at him and when their eyes met he smiled again and winked at Elias.

They shared a few seconds of a silent, curious, and playful(from Pratik's son's side) glance while Selena and Pratik talked like they'd known each other for years. It took Pratik a few seconds to realize that something had caught his son's eyes. So, he turned his head to the right to look at the entrance where Elias was standing.

“Elio, sorry, didn't hear you coming down.” Selena stood up from the loveseat she was occupying and smiled at Pratik while pointing at her brother. “That's my brother, Elias, you can call him Elio.”

Pratik stood up too and offered his hand for Elias to shake, “Hey, Elias. I'm Pratik, your father's friend.”

“I know, I know, dad told us everything about you.” Elias smiled warmly because the man looked tense and his eyes were saying that he didn't have any good sleep for the past few days, “Nice meeting you Mr. Ray.”

Pratik chuckled lightly, “You sound exactly like Kevin when we were in high school.” Pratik sat down and smiled, the brown skin of his weathered cheeks rose due to the action. “And yeah, call me Pratik, please. I don't like people calling me by my last name.”

“Okay understood,” Elias turned towards the young man sitting next to Pratik. “Hey, nice meeting you too, buddy.”

‘Buddy,’ He repeated in his head and cringed. In his head, it sounded cool, but when he said it out loud it felt forced and unnatural.

He smiled again and stood up, offering his hand to Elias. “I'm Aryan, and nice meeting you too Elio.”

Pratik looked amused by the interaction, but he chose not to comment when Aryan sat back next to him. Instead, he said, “You both are really mature for your age. I must say, Kevin, is really lucky that he has kids like you.”

“Thank you,” Selena smiled, “But it's us who are lucky because we've parents like them.”

“I'm really sorry for leaving so soon but believe me I have to leave, my wife is alone in the hospital.”

“Yeah... I hope your son gets better.” Selena stood up and walked him out of the house, both Aryan and Elias followed.

“Let's hope so, Please take care of my son, sometimes he's an i***t and couldn't understand the situation,” Pratik said to which the twins chuckled but nodded their heads.

“We will take care of him, don't worry.” Elias wrapped his left arm around Aryan's shoulders as he does to his friends. Pratik looked worried by the action but soon his whole expression turned to confusion. “What happened?”

“Nothing…” Pratik answered, but his eyes still lingered on the arm around his son's shoulder. He looked back at his son and seeing that his son looked as confused as himself, he smiled. “Don't bother them much. They are nice kids, learn how to live and stay calm even in hard situations.”

Aryan turned to his father and nodded. “I won't, go and take care of your son.”

“Aryan,” Pratik sighed but instead of saying something he walked to his son and pulled him in a hug. Aryan stood shocked, never had his father ever hugged him like that. It was always that awkward side hug. His hands were at his side and he felt tears coming to his eyes. “I love you, a lot. Take care of yourself and call me if you have any problems.” He whispered before pulling back. “Also, they are nice people, please be respectful to them.”

“I know, I'm not a kid,” Aryan rolled his eyes and stepped away from his father. He wasn't looking at them, but he could feel the twins judging him for that. “Goodbye, dad.”

He tried to force a smile, to not give a bad first impression, although he felt it was a little too late for it already. Pratik nodded his head again and smiled at the twins before going inside the car.

“Drive safely,” Selena said and Pratik drove out of the driveway and hit the road. “Come on, let me show you the room.”

“Okay,” Aryan cleared his throat to let go of the awkwardness in the air. He had never met them before, he knew nothing about them and that made him uncomfortable. He hated not knowing the people he interact with. Even though they seemed nice and welcoming he doubted if they are actually like that.

He followed the twins back into the house and up the stairs. Their house was much bigger and fancier than his own. It was also very modern looking with lots of white, black and brown, and stones and glasses while his house was the traditional American one. Apart from that, there were numerous metallic planters sprayed out everywhere with flowers and some kind of grass.

As they walked upstairs, he noticed the photo frames decorating the wall along the staircase. Most of them were of the twins and whom he assumed to be their parents. There were several with other family members and friends too. One particular photograph caught his eye, it was an old one. The photo was of low quality but looked like it had been taken by a professional.

“Is that your mom?” Elias questioned since he was a kid.

Aryan looked up to see both Elias and Selena looking at him. He nodded his head and turned back at the image. His lips broke into a smile as he answered, “Yeah, that's her. My mother.”

“You know, I was always confused about the picture,” Aryan said as they walked up. “We've met almost all of dad's and mom's friends whose pictures are on the wall. Your parents were the only ones we knew nothing about.”

“I didn't even know it was your dad, he looked really different when he was young,” Selena commented as she opened the door to Elias's room.

“Yeah, I know. He had wild hair and no beer belly back then.” He chuckled, looking around the room.

The room was bigger than the one he shared with his stepbrother back home. There was a bed on the opposite side of the wall, a huge window next to it, and another one on the adjacent wall. A study table was pushed next to the second window, a bookshelf between it and the other wall, and in the middle like a shore thumb, there was a mattress with a few pillows thrown on it.

“You can do nothing, can you?”

“Sorry, I forgot to put that under the bed.” Elias smiled shamelessly, throwing the pillows on the bed and then pushing the mattress under his bed.

“I am sorry for that.” Selena apologized.

“Yeah, don't think of us as uncultured pigs.” Elias teased his sister.

Aryan laughed, “Are you crazy? This is the neatest bedroom I've seen in my life. Like no clothes on the ground or books were thrown on the bed and tables and no posters on the wall.”

“Well, thank you. I love to keep my room clean and organized, and my mom hates posters.” Selena raised her brows, but Elias, ignoring that, spread his arms wide and gestured dramatically. “Welcome to the humble abode of Elias.”

“This is your room?” Aryan inquired.

“Yeah,” Elias answered, “Actually we've two guests' rooms but mom decided to redecorate them and so they are under work. I hope you don't mind sharing the room.”

“Nah, it's okay.” Aryan placed his bag near the study desk and took another look around the room. “Thanks for letting me stay with you. I know it must be weird having a stranger drop by your house and have to share your things with him. I'm sorry for all the trouble.”

“Don't be stupid…”

“What Elias meant is that you don't have to apologize. It's not your fault.” Selena said, turning her head and when she was able to look at him, the only thing she could find in his eyes was guilt.

Aryan looked away, “Um… would you mind if I take a bath? I haven't got the chance today.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Elias pointed towards the door on his left. “That's the bathroom. You can use whatever you need… and I'll be in the room if you need something... I mean any help or stuff.”

“Yeah, okay, thanks…” He cleared his throat again and pulled out another V-neck from his bag and a pair of white shorts. “So, I'm going.”

“Okay,” Elias tried to sound normal but added, “I'll be waiting.”

“Um…okay?!” He looked confused and uncomfortable.

Elias jumped on the bed and screamed under the pillow after Aryan went inside the bathroom and closed the door. He was cringing as the words kept playing in his head again and again, and Selena was dying of second-hand embarrassment.

“That was awful, I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm a creep now.” His muffled voice came.

“He could say that by looking at you for once.” Selena teased, hugging him from the side.

Elias pushed her away from the bed and stretched his body. “Anyway did you see the tatt—”

He was cut in the middle by Selena's phone. She fished it out from her pant pocket and saw the caller id. It was Susan, the owner of the convenience shop she used to work at, so she picked up the call.

“Hello, Susan!”

“Yeah, Selena, it's me. I'm really sorry to call you on your day off.” The middle-aged woman from the other side of the phone spoke.

“What happened?” Selena questioned, Susan sounded tensed and it was quite rare for her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I'm fine.” Susan sighed before continuing, “I got a call from Nina, she twisted her wrist playing volleyball. She's okay, but the doctor advised her to take a rest and you know that we were already short-handed.”

“What about Noah?” Selena asked, she was in no mood for work.

“Noah has an eye appointment today.”

“What?”

“Yeah, so I asked my nephew to cover for Noah, but he's new in town and I don't think it will be wise to leave the whole store to him. Also, I don't think he has any idea how a convenience store works.” Selena was about to reject it when Susan continued, “I know it's wrong to ask you to help all of a sudden, but I really need someone I trust. I'll pay for seven hours.”

“Seven hours?!” Selena repeated, “And I've to work from 3 pm to 8 pm, for 5 hours, right?”

“Yes, so are you coming?”

“Yeah, I'll be there at sharp 3, don't worry,” Selena said, making Elias sit up on the bed. He was shaking his head furiously. “See you soon then.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Susan ended the call.

“What was that?” Elias seemed unhappy with her decision. “I cancel my pool party for you and you are leaving me alone with a stranger.”

“I didn't ask you to stay, plus she's paying two hours more. I couldn't say no to that, so take care of our guest and make him feel at home, I'll be back soon and I'll bring some chocolates for you.” She opened the door and ran outside, and Elias closed his eyes, messaging his temples in frustration.