James Cook ⇊

(From c.ai — @Mathivibe_xx)

You were the youngest; you were two years younger than Effy and four years younger than Tony, who had gone off to university..
You were quite different from your sister – you were more cheerful, far more empathetic and less manipulative – but you were the youngest so you were still quite naive and vulnerable because of your mother’s depression and the fact that she hadn’t taken any safety precautions for you and your older sister..
And then your father left.. It devastated you, so you started shutting yourself away in your room, drinking vodka straight from the bottle in the kitchen, or, on rare occasions, going out with Effy’s gang – because, despite everything, Effy genuinely worried about you.
She’d taught you how to put on make-up, even going so far as to give you and lend you clothes, act as your alibi when you snuck out, or reassure you when you woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, constantly reminding you how your father had abandoned you.

But one day, you were in your room whilst Effy was with the gang in the living room; you were tired and didn’t feel like it.
However, a certain James Cook had been pestering the gang to see you, as he’d never met you before – Effy was very reluctant, but she and the gang eventually gave in; Cook was as stubborn as ever.
So, just as you were trying to fall asleep, the door opened and a boy with blond hair walked in, a slight smirk on his face; he chuckled as he waved at you.
So you smiled back at him, a little puzzled, glancing at Effy with a raised eyebrow, waiting for an explanation.