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Family Breakfast
Back to: Morning After Next: Strike of Melancholy
Chapter 39: Family Breakfast

There was something a bit abnormal going on when Cypress woke up in his old bed, in his old room at his parents’ house. There was a distinct noise above him as if someone was walking around. If he knew any better, it couldn’t have been Cedar, because his younger brother was notorious for sleeping in when he didn’t have somewhere to be in the morning. School hours never agreed with Cedar’s sleep schedule and Cypress knew it all too well being the one who had to constantly make sure Cedar was awake in time to make the bus.

Cypress popped open an eye and rolled over, grabbed his phone off the nightstand, and flipped it open to see the time. 9:00 am.

He pulled himself out of bed to investigate the movement. When he emerged upstairs in the kitchen he had a moment of surrealism because both his parents were shuffling around in their pajamas. In normal times, he might have been lucky to see a glimpse of either of them hurriedly exiting the door with a piece of toast in their mouth on the way to work.

Instead, his mother was in her pajamas, bending over the breakfast bar reading a newspaper already with a cup of coffee and his father was in the middle of making omelets. The last time the planets had aligned and his family was in residence together for breakfast like this was when he was about seven or eight and it had been Mother’s Day .


“Hi sweetie,” his mother, Willow, said and looked up with a smile as he entered. She wasn’t into her silver years yet but considering how much pressure she was under at work, in the lab, he was surprised she didn’t have any silver strands standing out in her regular red hair.

“Don’t you guys have work?” Cypress asked dubiously.

“I’m on call,” his father, Lee, mentioned.

“I must go back to the lab this afternoon,” Willow added, “Luckily it’s a soft holiday so they could afford to let me have a late morning.”

That seemed a bit more typical; when would they both have a Monday completely off? His father was a specialist at the Mercy Medical Center in Scandalica City while his mother was a researcher with top-level clearance in a government lab. Between their work and family, the work had taken more and more of a priority over the years, especially as they excelled in their respective career ladders—earning acclaim and accolades for their contributions to their respective fields. “Anyway, how have you been, sweetie?”

Cypress folded his arms across his chest and found himself smiling, “I’m great. I have my own two-hour radio show at the station now.”


“That’s wonderful! You get a lot of listeners then?”

“Well, maybe not the most—it’s a later time slot…on Wednesdays. I just got one of Orion’s songs approved by the director so the station can play it on request and put it in regular scheduling too.”

“Oh, how nice!” Willow beamed and took a sip of her coffee. “I bet Orion is over the moon to know that.”

It occurred to Cypress that Orion didn’t even know of the new development yet! He would be over the moon once he knew. He wondered if he could surprise Orion somehow, such as tell him to listen at a specific time and then play it for him. In reply to his mother, Cypress just smiled wider.

“Anything else going on?” she asked.

He raised a brow, “What is this? A crash course of catch-up?”

They both suddenly smelled distinctive burning and looked over at Lee who was fanning trails of smoke away from the pan on the stove.

She and Cypress exchanged faces of half-mocking grimaces followed by knowing smiles of sympathy since they were going to have to eat burned food in order to avoid hurting Lee’s culinary pride. Her smile faded to something of an apologetic look, “I’m sorry I haven’t been available to talk the past few weeks. You know how work goes.”

“I know,” Cypress said and didn’t need her to elaborate. Usually, communication with his parents only consisted of emergency subjects like injury or financial crisis—neither of which he had suffered recently so there had been no reason to call either of them since the start of the semester. They weren’t the type of people who had a lot of time to simply ‘chat.’

“Breakfast is ready!” his father scooped the omelets onto individual plates and called loudly even though Cypress and Willow were right there in the room. Cypress figured it was meant to carry all the way down to Cedar and rouse him.

They took their plates and sat at the dining table. The omelets were straight-up brown from pan-charring. Lee Wellington liked to dabble in cooking when he had time to do it but he clearly hadn’t practiced making omelets enough for them to come out perfect every time.

“If you aren’t doing anything next Saturday, we all got an invite to your uncle’s election watch party—it’s at his house around eight o'clock.”

Cypress grimaced. Uncle Elm was repugnant, even at his best.

“I don’t really want to go…” Cypress said and poked at his breakfast, trying to find unburned parts.

“Are you even voting in the election?” Lee wondered with a slight frown, “Or are you going to refrain like most young people today?”

“I’ll vote, but it probably won’t be for Uncle Elm,” Cypress replied honestly.

His mother looked slightly offended. After all, Elm was her own twin brother. He didn't understand why though, since she often complained about Elm's problematic ego.

“Oh, by the way, Nick moved in with us,” Cypress mentioned, being reminded of it since they were discussing Nick’s father.

Both his parents looked at him with surprise and stopped eating.

“Wait, what? Why?” Willow asked incredulously, “I thought he was all set at that fraternity Elm loved so much?”

“Well, he quit the fraternity.”

“Why did he quit!?”

Cypress shrugged, “I don’t know, why don’t you call and ask him? He didn’t offer up a reason so I figure it’s something private. I’m not gonna nose in on his business, Mom.”

Willow frowned, thinking hard about her nephew's behavior, “He’s probably just doing it to ruffle his father’s feathers. He’s always been that way—even as a kid. No better time than right before an election.”

Cypress bit his tongue and stopped himself from snapping out that Uncle Elm usually deserved it. Cypress and Nick had been close pretty much their entire lives and Cypress had seen the toxic behavior that Uncle Elm had subjected his sons to. It wouldn’t help to tell her that Elm canceled Nick’s tuition payments either. He didn’t want her to get involved and try to help and only make matters worse. His mother, unless she could be proven wrong, had a very stubborn personality and assumed her way was always the right way.

Cedar wandered upstairs then, still wearing his pajamas like the rest of them. He was just as surprised at the sight of his entire family being…family-ish. Then his eyes landed on what they were eating.

“Burnt Chicken Zygotes. How Appetizing.”


The sarcasm was palpable until Lee cleared his throat, “Actually son, these would be ovums, the state of an egg before fertilization.”

The disgusted look on Cedar’s face didn’t lift at the clarification and he ignored the plate of steaming omelets and instead went to open the fridge to find an alternate breakfast. Unfortunately, Lee didn’t realize his son disliked eggs even when they weren’t burnt. That was the drawback to never being around for a family breakfast.

Cypress could see his father was disappointed that Cedar wouldn’t even give his omelets a chance, even after all the effort he had gone to make them for his family. Cedar had taken a seat at the breakfast bar with a can of instant breakfast drink which couldn’t have tasted much better. It was the ultimate offense to their father’s cooking. Cypress cut off a piece that was burnt and tasted it, to make up for his brother’s blatant refusal to.

“I can’t remember, but did you pick a major yet?” his mother asked.

Cypress gagged, simultaneously from the taste of burnt egg and the thought of having this conversation.


“Not yet,” he choked out and beat his fist against his chest to stop himself from coughing.

His mother’s brow creased ever so slightly, “Still? I thought your advisor would have given you a deadline by now. Have you still not found a career path?”

Cypress shrugged, “I’m working on it.”

“The longer you drag your feet, the longer you will be in school. Your general education credits can only get you so far. If you were looking into something in one of our fields—” Willow gestured at herself and then to Lee—"That’s at least five more years of grad school if not more on top of your remainder of undergraduate classes.“

"Trust me I’m not looking to go into either of those fields,” Cypress said.

“And what’s wrong with studying science or medicine?” his mother arched a brow, anticipating offense.

“Nothing really, though I’d like to have time to spend with my family,” Cypress said, the insult was blatant but yet veiled in a nonchalant tone. Both his parents’ faces filled with guilt. On some petty and bitter level of his subconscious, he had meant it to hurt. On the surface, though, he felt bad as soon as he said it and saw their reaction. They were providing for their family, they were a part of the greater good—helping people overcome ailments or disease—but at the cost of nearly being strangers to their children.

No one said anything more on the subject and they continued to eat their burned omelets in silence.

When they were done, his parents vacated the room to go about their regular morning routine of getting dressed for the day, leaving their pajama-clad sons in the kitchen.

“Wow, I never thought you’d call Mom and Dad out like that,” Cedar said in slight awe as soon as he knew their parents were out of hearing range.

“I shouldn’t have. They have enough to worry about as is,” Cypress replied. He hoped he hadn't set a precedent for Cedar to start sassing them when they didn't have time to spend with him.

“Still though, maybe they’ll think twice before they agree to work on Christmas again.”

Cypress shrugged but hoped so too.

“Oh hey, I was meaning to ask you...” Cedar clasped his hands together nervously, “I have next Friday off of school and wanted to know if I could shadow you on campus. I’ll get extra credit if I write a paper on the experience.”


Cypress clenched his jaw, thinking it would be a bad idea since it would certainly expose his little brother to how much he hated college classes. He didn’t want to jeopardize Cedar’s chance at higher education just because his opinions were unfavorable. But Cedar was looking at him so hopeful and they’d get to hang together again which was usually a good time.

“Please?”

“Shouldn’t you ask Mom and Dad?”

“They think it’s a great idea!”

“Did you really ask them?” Cypress arched a brow.

Cedar’s smile wavered, “Well…not exactly…but please? I’m dying to know what it’s like at Sim State!”

Cypress let out a sigh and rubbed his neck, “I guess it’s okay for you to tag along but don’t draw attention to yourself. They’re mostly lecture classes–no attendance call–so you can probably slip in unnoticed.”

Cedar gave a shout of triumph and thanked Cypress and not without a huge hug of gratitude.

As much as he liked being home with his family, Cypress figured it was time to leave so he got dressed and bid his dad and brother farewell. His mother was on her way out at the same time he was. She was going back to the lab.

“Cypress,” she said his name and it made him pause in front of the door. She set down her work briefcase and looked at him with a troubled expression, “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Cypress knotted his brows with mild confusion.

Willow crossed her arms and looked away, “For being a bad parent, for leaving you boys alone all the time, for forcing you to take responsibility for your brother, for pushing you into college when you clearly dislike it…”

Cypress grabbed his mother into a quick, fierce embrace, “Don’t apologize, Mom. It’s hard…for all of us but you and Dad do your best–you both do good work. Don’t feel bad about that. And don't worry about me, I'll find something to major in.”


She returned his hug and then pulled away, touching his cheek, “You know, whatever you decide to do with your life I’ll be proud of you. You’re smart, and talented, and driven…”

Cypress brushed her hand away with a small laugh, “Stop. You’re embarrassing me.”

“In front of no one but yourself, and what kind of mother would I be if I didn't?”

It was a rhetorical question. She gave a quick peck of a kiss to where she had just touched him and picked up her briefcase, “It was great to see you again, sweetie.”

She opened the front door and a blast of cool air gusted into the house. It was the coolest it had been so far in the autumn season and Cypress momentarily regretted not packing a jacket to wear back to his place.

“You too, Mom,” Cypress wiped at his cheek, still smiling as he watched her leave. He’d grown up watching her leave to go to work–at least a thousand times, and this was the first time he didn’t feel a pang of sadness about it.

--------

Cypress was slightly surprised to see Nick awake before noon on a day when there were no classes. He caught sight of his cousin sitting in the living room.

“Hey,” Cypress greeted and leaned against the archway, “You finally doing your laundry?”

“Yeah, figured I’d so something productive on our day off,” Nick folded a plaid shirt and stacked it on top of a pile of the same he’d already done. He leaned back into his seat on the sofa with a thoughtful expression, “Where did you run off to?”


“Oh, just to visit my brother. He convinced me to sleep over,” Cypress replied. “I had a family breakfast.”

Nick gave him a look, “And how was that?”

“It was nice. Dad burnt the eggs but it was…different.

Nick nodded, seeming to retreat into thought. He seemed different, ever since he had moved in with them. Usually, Nick was highly sociable but his unusual bouts of quietness threw Cypress off a bit. Nick also often over-shared information but he hadn’t offered any reasons for leaving his frat nor hints of where he disappeared to on some nights. Nick only mentioned he was taking care of his 'tuition problem.'

“Well, it was probably a better experience with your parents than with mine,” Nick finally said and stood, placing his piles of folded clothes into his laundry basket. Cypress could agree with that assessment. With his parents’ tenancies for being workaholics, they didn’t have time to nag nor ridicule their sons–not that they would–not like Nick’s father did.

“So what’d you do last night?” Cypress asked, following his cousin up the staircase.

“Dude, so much happened. I don’t even know where to begin,” Nick replied in an exasperated tone. He seemed thrilled and frustrated, two very different emotions that he somehow could pull off at once. Nick opened the door to his bedroom and his lips quirked at the sides, “Though I think I have a chance to be friends with Illyana again.”

Cypress couldn’t help but smile at that unexpected news; he had wondered if she and Nick would ever patch up with her from the last time turbulence had cracked their friendship apart. Illyana was close with Nick, even before Cypress. She’d always been Nick’s first friend and whether Nick admitted it or not, Cypress could always tell she meant a lot to him.


“That’s great news! I hope you two work it out,” Cypress nodded in approval. Speaking of great news, he still had yet to tell Orion about getting his song played on the radio! Cypress turned from Nick’s room and crossed the upper hallway to the door across from his own and knocked. He figured Orion was still asleep so popped open the door a moment later. He was greeted by an empty bed.

He was mildly caught off guard at Orion’s absence.

“Hey! Where’s Orion?” Cypress called back across the hall toward Nick.

“He never came home last night!” Nick answered but didn’t seem too worried about the fact.

Cypress knotted his brows, trying to think of where Orion could have gone as he looked around the room. There was the usual pile of records that Orion needed to sort and put away, some of his clothes strewn about the floor. But something different, something small, caught his eye just under Orion’s bed near the nightstand. Cypress walked over and bent down by the side of the bed to find a pill bottle. It was labeled as Tranquilicis.


He stood up while studying the bottle in his hand. The name on the prescription was not Orion’s. It was scratched out but from what was left, the name looked to be ‘Hun Ier

Cypress pulled open the drawer of the nightstand, intending to put the bottle in it so it wasn’t just laying around but he stopped suddenly. There was a pile of empty bottles in the drawer already. He took them out one by one and read the labels, all for Tranquilicis, all for ‘Hun Ier’; the name was never in full view. Where had Orion obtained these? A horrible thought struck Cypress all of a sudden.

There were two pills left in one of the bottles. He opened it and dumped them out into his palm to study them. They seemed to be intact, not the kinds of street pills that were pulled apart and stuffed with other illicit drugs in order to smuggle them around indiscreetly. His father had warned him about those kinds of pills when he entered college on the account that there seemed to be an overabundance of ER visits from young adults who overdosed on them.

He let out a breath of relief to know they weren't those types of hard, disguised drugs. However, he felt a knot form in his chest, because the alternative was just as bad and he was not finding a way around the truth to what he was seeing. He sank to a sitting position on Orion’s bed and set the two pills on the nightstand while rubbing his head in frustrated worry. There was only one assumption he could make and that was that his best friend was abusing prescription drugs.



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