It was two in the morning, and Eden was still wide awake. Sitting, once again, in the center of her bed, she was nursing a glass of whiskey in one hand and was staring at her computer screen where Tony’s most recent e-mail was displayed. He wanted to know what she looked like. He was writing to her as though he was interested in her. What did she do? Should she send him a picture? She really needed Angel’s advice, but Eden wasn’t brave enough to wake her at this time of the night. Her baby sister could be downright evil when woken too early.
“Be like Angel,” she said to herself. “Don’t be a coward.”
Eden polished off her glass of whiskey and momentarily enjoyed the gentle burn of it going down her throat and the relaxed feeling that came along with its consumption. She then clicked on the file that contained all of her family photos and scrolled through, looking at the lot. She found her favorite. The photo was of her and her father. It had been taken while her whole family had been gathered together in Hawaii for a stop on the campaign trail during her dad’s first run for the presidency. They were both dressed down because the picture had been taken during one of her dad’s rare off days. Eden was wearing short but not immodest jean shorts and a black tank top. Her dad was wearing white slacks, and a tacky as all get out Hawaiian shirt. They were standing side by side on the beach, right in front of the ocean, and they were smiling from ear to ear. She attached the photo to her next e-mail to Tony. She kept her message brief because she was unbearably nervous. Her small hands were shaking as she typed.
*** Tony,
This is a picture of my dad and me in Hawaii. Now do you understand why it's weird that I’m so shy?”
Love,
Eden ***
Eden hit the send button before she could chicken out. Then she grabbed her whiskey tumbler, got out of bed, and headed downstairs for the kitchen. She refilled her glass…twice. Then what she had just done seemed to finally fully hit her. She put her glass in the sink and promptly went back upstairs. Instead of going back to her bedroom, she ran into Angel’s room, hopped on the bed, and started violently shaking her sibling. “Angel! Wake up! It’s important!”
Angel sat up in a complete half-awake panic. “Oh, God. Grandpa’s dead, isn’t he?”
“What?” Eden gave her sister a weird look. “No! No one’s dead.”
“Then you have no good excuse for waking me up!” Angel glared at her, looking more fallen angel than heavenly. “And you smell like a bottle of Jack Daniels, just an FYI.”
“I did something idiotic.”
“I know, you woke me up.”
“Not that!”
“Alright, then you’ve done two stupid things tonight.”
“Angel!” Eden smacked the bed in frustration.
“Just tell me!” Angel snapped.
“I got a little buzzed, decided to be brave like you, and e-mailed Tony Stark a picture of Dad and me,” Eden spit everything out in a rush.
Angel was suddenly wide awake. “Are you fucking stupid?!”
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