: Double E :

[Enver Marshall II]

<Enver> A young brown haired boy hides behind his mother’s leg as he looks past that leg to look at the tiny person in a car seat. His mother is rambling on about how adorable she is, asking how everything went and were the staff good to them at the hospital. Enver doesn’t say anything, he knows better than to interrupt the adults talking. He’s been scolded for it at least half a dozen times already. There’s a pause in the dialogue and he finally scoots around his mother’s legs and peers down in the carseat and then pokes at her on the side of her arm.

“Enver Marshall!” His mother’s sharp quip has his hand reeling away from the little baby, and going to the side of his mother’s leg. The adults go back to talking, and finally when there is more silence, Enver finally chimes in. “What’s it’s name?”

“Enver!” His mother is already frustrated with him. Even at eight, Enver knows what that tone means and so he shirks back again. “It, is not an it, but a little baby girl.” His mother informed him, stern gaze on the boy at her side. “Fiiiine. Gosh. What is her name?” Enver was close to getting a stern lecturing, he knows, but he can’t stop the attitude from coming out.

His aunt bends down and places a hand on his shoulder and looks him in the eyes. “Her name is Every, Enver. Do you like it?” Enver shrugs. It’s just a name. What did it matter if he liked it? “I guess. Hey! It has the same letter as my name. In the beginning.” Enver pointed out while the adults laughed at him.

Christmas: 1993

“I hope I get a Beyblade set for Christmas. It’s all I really want.” Enver told a girl who was about the age of four. “But I bet I won’t.” He complained with a moan. No, Enver got practical things and things that would assure him success to follow after his old man when he got to take over his company. “You probably don’t even know what that is.” Enver settled deeper into the couch as he crossed both arms across his chest, staring at the very large and very grand Christmas tree in the gathering room of his parent’s estate.


<Every> Her older brother had gone off somewhere with their dad, leaving Every with the cousin that seemed to talk a lot. Hazel eyes blinked at him owlishly, trying to figure out what that was that he was going on about. “I don’t.” Hopping off the seat that her dad had set her in, Every bounced over to her older cousin and climbed up onto the couch beside him. “What’s a bey...blade?” She asked. “Daddy said that you’ll like your present.” Unable to sit still, the little girl blinked and then looked back to the chair as someone were talking to her. She frowned, “Topsy! You were supposed to come on.”

On the chair, a toy bunny rabbit stared in their direction, unmoving before she scooted off the couch and ran back over to get the toy. In the distance, she heard her mother call out, “Every Alexis, stop running!” with a laugh escaping a moment later. “Yes mommy!” She called back. Once ‘Topsy’ was securely grabbed, she hurried back to her cousin. “Enver! Say hi to Topsy! He likes to color with me, and and, pick flowers, and blow bubbles!” She giggled.

For the occasion, she had been dressed in a simple green dress that made her eyes look brighter, her hair swept back into a braid making her ears look bigger. “Do you wanna color, Enver? I really like coloring. Mommy says I’m good at it, Mikey makes fun of me. His friend Silas is a meanie, too. You’re not a meanie though.”

<Enver>The now twelve year old boy listened to his cousin prattle on, used to her sharing everything she felt or thought about everything. His mom said he was like that too when he was Every’s age. “He looks like a Floppy to me.” Enver said before waving to the thing, just to keep Every happy. The sooner her did what she wanted him to do, the sooner they could talk about something else.

Enver snorted at her not knowing what a Beyblade was. “It’s...well.” He took a deep breath in so he can begin explaining everything he knew about it in one entire breath. “It’s this game that you can fight with! It’s from some cartoon or something I’m not allowed to watch, but all the other kids at school want it too and it sounds super cool! Anyways, you shoot these things out from your side or the other side, which is your opponent and then they meet in the middle and fight it out! That’s what I want!”

[Every]

<Enver>His voice grew louder as he explained, or tried to explain what the game was about-but since he had never actually seen it, Enver wasn’t sure how to describe it other than how some of the other boys at school explained it. “What did you dad get me? I know what my mom got you. She made me go shopping with her.” Enver said with a shrug.

<Every> Every listened for a little bit before stating, “That’s stupid” and beginning to play with Topsy’s ears, missing the name change of her beloved rabbit for the time being. “Why would you want to shoot things?” She set the bunny back in her lap and blinked at him. Yes, the toy sounded very stupid to Every. It sounded like something Silas wanted. “Beanie babies are cooler.” She had a few, it was a growing collection, and she wanted one of them or a Raggedy-Ann doll. A shake of her head was given, “I’m not allowed to tell you.” She smiled, then, brightly.

“Daddy told me not to.” Her brother had tried it. As she spoke, her father walked past the hallway and as if to check on the two before disappearing back into another part of the house, discussing something with her great aunt. “He said that Santa won’t come if I do.” She shrugged her shoulder, “And I like Santa. We made cookies for him today.” She then went into detail about the cookies, and how she liked eating the icing rather than the cookies - they were pretty colored and things with pretty colors almost always tasted good. “We got all these sprinkles, too. Mommy brought some for you and Aunt Emilee. Daddy said that the Grinch shouldn’t get one. I hope your dad likes them, though.” She had no idea that the Grinch reference had been about her great uncle.

<Enver>Stupid. She said his game was stupid. Enver puffed his chest out as he tried to control his words. His mom would be mad and his dad wouldn’t be any happier if he told Every that beanie babies and her were stupid back. “It’s not really shooting things. It’s just these little things that attack each other. Just forget it!” Enver scowled before starting to focus on Santa. “You know, Santa’s not...lame.” Enver bit his tongue. “He doesn’t do anything but make everyone else work and then he gets all the credit and fat.” His eyes moved away from Every to look for his mom, to see if she was looking in their direction. She wasn’t. She was at the bar, drinking something in a tall glass that looked almost like orange juice. “I want some of that.” Enver whined, suddenly feeling thirsty for orange juice. “I bet she would say it’s for adults only.” He looked back at Every. “I like the cookies with the kisses in the middle. With the peanut butter. Sprinkles are stupid.” He concluded with a firm nod.

<Every> She was about to ask why they attacked each other before he told her to forget it. She stared at him, the expression showing that she still thought the toy was stupid. “Santa isn’t lame.” She nodded. Christmas was one of her favorite times of the years. Her parents were happy, and her family didn’t argue - much. Sometimes. “Santa’s always fat, the credit doesn’t make him fat.” She frowned, “And he does too do things! He…” She paused, trying to think of the stories that her brother told her. “Daddy says it’s hard work climbing down the chimmy.” When her cousin whined, Every shook her head. He whined a lot, she had noticed. “Then go ask.”

When Topsy’s ears were straight, Every leaned in as if she were listening to the toy talk, “What’s that, Topsy? Oh, right!” She beamed, “Topsy says mommy made some for you.” She then frowned and called out to her aunt, “Aunt Emilee! Enver said the sprinkles are stupid!”

<Enver> “He’s fat because he’s lazy.” Enver grumbled at Every before he shot his head in his mother’s direction, who seemed engaged for now in whatever the adults were talking about to hear anything. Or so he thought as a few seconds of silence went by. Enver blew the breath out from his lungs and then glared at his cousin. “Sprinkles are what makes him fat.” Enver concluded just as his mother turned around to hear that final bit of the cousin’s argument. “ENVER MARSHALL JUNIOR!” Her voice was high and shrill and seemed to all blend together so it actually sounded like “ENRMARSHLJUNR.”

“Tattle-tale.” Enver said to his cousin before pushing off the couch and coming to where his mom was at, because she snapped her fingers and beckoned him to her. Front and center. He pulled at the collar on his suit the whole way there because he knew he was in big, big trouble. And Every had gotten him into it.

[Every]

Summer: 1999

Her dad was gone.

It was a cruel reality that the girl had faced, but she hadn't let her mind wander that far as she listened to the waves crash up on shore. Excitement played across her features as she clutched the dark blue surf board against her side with one arm. "Come on, Enver! Hurry up!" She called to her cousin from the boardwalk, lifting her hand to block the sun away from her eyes while the ocean breeze played across her skin. Her mom had encouraged the two to go out, to enjoy themselves, but Every knew that her mother had just wanted her out of the house.

Silas and Michael had gone away for the weekend with the Zachary family to go camping and although she was a strong swimmer, the girl wasn't allowed to go near the water without someone older keeping an eye on her. And she'd been wanting to go surfing for the past week. "The tourists are going to get the good waves at the pace you're moving." Even if he was moving quickly or running, the truth was that Every would have said it one way or another. Her patience was limited when it came to getting in the water.

The Californian sun felt hot against the black tank top that she wore covering her bathing suit top and she could already begin to feel a faint burn on her skin where the sunscreen was likely already beginning to fail - not that she cared. She would burn and then before dinner the next evening, she would be tan again. The ten year old made a noise of annoyance, huffing out a long breath of air.

[Enver Marshall II]

The now 18 year old male looked at his younger cousin as she tried to hurry him to the shores of the beach, the male groaning as his designer pair of trainers started to fill with sand. "It's hard to run in sand in shoes without falling on your ***." Enver muttered as he rubbed at his shaggy hair that was bouncing on the top of his hair as he tried not slip and slide all over the place due to his poor choice of foot attire.

"Tourists?" Enver looked around, oblivious to anyone else other than Every until now. His eyes clicked over the heads of the tourists near the lip of the shoreline and then looked at his cousin. Enver wasn't anywhere near his prime yet when it came to his movie making days, but he was making a small name for himself on the commercial front and walk-on cameos. "Couldn't we have picked a more..low key beach?" Enver said as he hiked up the surf board on the left side of his body so that it came to rest on his waist and now his thighs as he moved, potentially part of the reasoning as to why he kept slipping and sliding. The damn thing was just too big and he was too awkward with all his boyhood growth spurts still going on.

And he looked up to the skyline and saw the colors in the sky and felt a smile grace the edges of his lips. One of the many things he loved about California, and his mood lifted just a little bit. "Race you, cuz." Enver shoved a hand out to connect with Every's arm as he gave it a little shove and then took off in a slow jog, slipping and sliding everywhere, realizing the idea had been a stupid, but foolish one too little too late, but he wasn't going to back down now.

[Every]

The girl stopped, frowning at the older male as she considered how stupid he was for wearing trainers. Common sense was that he should have taken them off. "I'm telling Auntie you cussed." Although she was used to the language due to her brother and his friend already. Her hazel eyes flashed, her amusement evident as she bounced where she stood. "Besides, it's only sand. Take off your shoes and run."

Every could only roll her eyes. She was used to his dramatic ways and adjusted her grasp on her board. "If you get noticed, be happy. Otherwise shut up and come on!" The girl huffed impatiently. She frowned and then looked over the water, already being able to feel the coolness against her skin. Her father had taught her how to swim when she was a child and she would always love it, even as an adult.

It wasn’t until Enver had taken off that the girl realized what he was doing. And she kicked off her flip flops, sinking her toes into the warm sand for a moment before running after him. "Hey! You cheated!" She called, laughing as she held onto her board awkwardly and stumbled a bit as it bumped her small frame a little too hard. Little legs and sand did not mix well.