CHAPTER 130: A CLEANING MARATHON

The next day soon arrived and sunlight spilled into the bedroom through the open window, but unlike the previous days, there was no one on the bed.

Instead, the room, usually filled with a mess of research papers and scrapped projects was neatly arranged today.

Both Liam and Lizzy had found themselves earlier than usual....or rather, they didn’t have an ounce of sleep as they made the entire house guest ready.

And that meant a whole lot of cleaning and discarding some unwanted stuff.

They wouldn’t want Ethan thinking that they lived in some kind of cave now would they.... Well, they could only do so much as the building itself was beyond saving.

"I’m tired," Lizzy grumbled as she slumped against the couch, her eyes, as usual, decorated with dark circles.

"Well, we’re almost done so you can rest for a while and I’ll handle the rest," Liam offered.

Unlike his sister who looked completely sleep deprived, he was energetic and didn’t look the least bit like he had also stayed up the entire night doing most of the cleaning.

He was pretty excited for Ethan’s arrival so even if he tried, he wouldn’t have gotten any sleep.

"I’m good," She answered, "I just need a shower."

"Yeah, you do that," he nodded, "I’ll take out these while you’re on it.

When he heard the door click shut, Liam exhaled, running a hand through his hair. He glanced around the now ’presentable’ living room.

The research papers had been stacked neatly into labeled boxes, the table wiped down, and even the flickering lamp had been replaced with a working bulb he’d ’borrowed’ from the stairwell.

Sure, the cracked walls and peeling paint still screamed ’we’re broke,’ but at least now it looked like two humans lived there instead of a pair of raccoons running a science fair.

His gaze drifted to the clock on the wall. 7:48 a.m. Ethan had said he’d be here by ten, so they still had a few more hours.

With that, he picked up the black trash bag and walked outside the apartment.

Halfway down, he passed old Mrs. Dobbins from Room 204, dragging her grocery cart up the steps one wheel at a time. "Morning, Mrs. Dobbins," he greeted.

The elderly woman squinted at him over her glasses. "Morning, boy. You finally cleaning that science junk outta your place?"

Liam chuckled sheepishly. "Something like that."

"’Bout time," she muttered, though her tone wasn’t unkind. "Maybe your sister will finally start finding other interests."

He said nothing and just gave a chuckle in response.

Liam knew exactly what she meant by other interests. No doubt, his sister was beautiful and Mrs Dobbins had seen that too, and her plan was to get Lizzy together with her son.

But that plan wasn’t going on so we’ll since Lizzy barely, it ever left the apartment.

"Have a good day, Mrs Dobbie." He said with a smile as he continued down the stairs.

"You too, boy." She answered and added, "tell your sister I said hi."

"Will do." He replied.

By the time he reached the dumpster outside, the morning sun had fully risen past the horizon.

He tossed the bag in, wiped his hands on his jeans, and leaned against the rusted railing.

Inside, Lizzy was already out of the shower, her damp hazel colored hair tied back into a loose ponytail.

She was standing in front of the mirror that leaned on one of their living room’s walls, adjusting her hoodie, clearly trying to look ’decent’ but not like she cared too much.

Her hopes of Ethan helping them was close to none, so why bother put in too much effort. She only did this in the first place because she owed her younger brother.

"You look... presentable," Liam teased, closing the door behind him.

She shot him a glare through the reflection. "You’re one to talk, genius. You haven’t even shaved."

"Beards add character," he said, grinning.

"Yeah, the character of someone who forgot what a razor is."

He raised his hands in surrender. "Fine, fine. I’ll shave before he gets here. Happy?"

"Ecstatic," she said dryly, sitting down and glancing at the clock.

"Oh and before I forget, Mrs Dobbie said hi." Liam informed with a grin on his face.

"I see," she nodded with a light smile, but Liam wasn’t done yet.

"She was also wondering when you’ll start dating her son," Liam said with a laugh, only to immediately move to the side as a slipper went past him.

"You mi—" before his words could be completed a second slipper landed squarely on his face.

"Damn it," he muttered as he gripped his nose where it had hit, "you’ve got terrible aim, you know that?"

Lizzy folded her arms, one eyebrow raised. "Really? Looked like a direct hit to me."

"Yeah, well—" Liam straightened, rubbing his face with a mock glare, "—violence isn’t gonna make Mrs. Dobbins’ son any less single.... Maybe that’ll just drive him away."

Lizzy rolled her eyes. "Keep talking and I’ll make you single from your teeth."

Well, that worked to shut him up.

It had been a while since they interacted like this so he had forgotten exactly how much of a brute she was.

"So... what’s he like? This Ethan guy." Lizzy asked after a moment of silence.

"Well...." Liam paused, "now that I think about it, there’s not much I know about him."

"Isn’t he supposed to be your friend?" She asked with a deadpan expression on her face.

"Well yes," he replied, "but he mostly kept to himself, so our conversations were mostly me talking and occasionally he nods or drop a word or two."

"I see," she muttered.

Well, there went the plan of preparing based on the info her brother provided.

With a sigh, she said, "you might want to go get ready before he arrives."

"Yeah," Liam answered as he walked towards the bathroom.

---------------

The hours ran past quickly and soon enough, both Lizzy and Liam were ready to meet Ethan.

Liam had put on a presentable shirt, going for a semiformal look, only problem was that the shirt desperately needed some ironing.

But there was no other option since their iron was busted, so he just wore it like that.

They both relaxed on the couch, hoping to catch a few minutes of rest since they were still tired.

But as if on cue, their door bell suddenly rang

Liam sat up straight in surprise. "Wait, that thing actually works?"

Lizzy frowned. "I thought you disconnected it last week."

"I did," he said, looking genuinely confused. "Guess it decided to resurrect itself for today."

"Right..."

They went silent, leaning back on the sofa again before it finally registered.... that was THEIR door bell.

Quickly glancing at the time, they noticed that it was already 9:45 AM, which meant Ethan was already here.

Liam’s eyes widened as realization hit him. "Crap, crap, crap—he’s early!"

Lizzy was already on her feet before he could even finish, frantically looking around the room. "Does it look okay? Be honest."

"It’s... fine," Liam said. His gaze had landed on the stack of papers by the window he had completely forgotten about. "Mostly."

Lizzy followed his eyes, sighed, then darted toward them. "You said you handled the rest!"

"I did! I just—uh—handled most of the rest!" he stammered, grabbing a few scattered screwdrivers and throwing them into a drawer.

The doorbell rang again.

"Coming!" Liam shouted.

He quickly ran a hand through his hair and straightened his shirt, which didn’t help much considering it was wrinkled beyond saving.

Pulling the door open, he was faced with Ethan standing on the other end, also dressed semiformally.

He was wearing a dark blue shirt with cream colored pants and white sneakers, compared to Liam, he was pretty well dressed.

"Morning,"Ethan greeted in a calm tone. "I hope I’m not intruding."

"N-no, of course not," Liam said, stepping aside quickly. "Please, come in."

Slowly, Ethan stepped past him, as Liam closed the door behind him, and into the apartment.

"Nice place," he commented as he observed the apartment.

"Thank you," Lizzy said as she stepped forward, brushing her ponytail back and off a polite nod. "You must be Ethan."

"Yeah," he said with a small smile, offering his hand for a shake, "and you must be Liam’s sister."

"Elizabeth, but Lizzy should be easier to remember." She introduced as she took his hand, firmly shaking it.

"Nice to meet you then, Lizzy, your brother told me quite a bit about you," Ethan said, letting go of her hand.

"All good things I hope," she said with a smile, but the moment Ethan’s attention wasn’t on her face, she glared at Liam who suddenly seem to find something very interesting about the floor.

Ethan chuckled softly, completely missing the silent sibling death glare exchange.

"All good things," he assured.

"Great," Lizzy replied with a smile before she turned to the couches, "please have a seat."

And with that, the decision that would change the lives of the siblings was about to be made.