‘I would like that.'
‘Taurus, what's taking you so long?' Aries called from the end of the aisle. ‘Kerry?'
He came towards us as I let out my breath. No matter how many times I spoke to women, or even had one like Sophie, Aries would be better at it than me.
‘Aries? How are you? It's been a while!'
I stepped back as Aries bent to hug our new friend. If I remembered rightly, she played with most of the others. I would always hang back, getting on with my own thing. The only kids I played with were Gemini and Aquarius.
‘Let's go, brother!' Aries said, turning to me and frowning at my measly two six packs. ‘Are you coming, Kerry?'
He started to pile cans into my basket. My arm muscles were sore from overuse the night before. When we had got home from clubbing, I couldn't settle, so I had done a few hundred pull ups.
‘Taurus just asked me. I'd love to come,' Kerry replied, chatting away to Aries as they paid for their food.
I followed along, tuning the others out. The image of Sophie dancing in my bedroom the night before entered my mind. I smiled at my private show. She really was an amazing woman.
‘You're taking your time!'
The annoyed tone broke through my reflection. I turned to see the woman I had been daydreaming about, standing with her hands on her hips. Her frown stretched into a grin when she saw my raised eyebrows.
///
‘We're coming,' Aries said, grabbing the bags and gesturing for Kerry to come with us.
‘I missed you,' Sophie said as I put my arm over her shoulders and led her out of the shop.
The air was warm. She wore a flowery dress with a white cardigan over the top.
‘I thought you were supposed to be training Sophie, not banging her,' Aries called as we entered the park.
I glared over my shoulder. Kerry punched him in the arm as he chuckled.
‘Just ignore him, Taurus, you can bang whoever you like.' Kerry laughed.
Shaking my head, I did as she said, guiding Sophie towards the group waiting in the sun. Not everyone was there. Cancer lounged on the ground, her shorts pulled as high as they could go to take advantage of the warm sun. Pisces and Antony leant on one another as they made puppy dog eyes at each other. Leo was strumming his guitar as Natalie tried to sing some of his lyrics.
‘Here comes the food!' Cancer shouted, jumping up and throwing her arms around Kerry. ‘What are you doing here?'
They giggled together as they whispered. Sophie tugged me to the ground so she could sit on my lap.
‘You two have hooked up quickly, haven't you?' Pisces said.
I glanced at the most sickly couple of the group. Pisces had been the first to unite with her twin flame and now she acted like she was an expert. I didn't care about soulmates. I didn't care about love. I was just happy that Sophie was wiggling on my lap as she tried to get comfortable.
‘Can you blame me?' Sophie chuckled, flicking my nose.
Blinking, I tipped her off me and leant forward to grab a can out of the bag that Aries had dropped on the floor.
‘I can't blame him,' Leo said, plucking the strings of his guitar as he smirked at me.
Sophie winked at him. Shaking my head, I cracked open the can and downed it in one. I had worked up a sweat the night before. Scrunching the can in my hand, I let out a loud burp. My hand shook as I buried it into the bag to get another drink.
‘Slow down.' Cancer laughed, pulling Kerry down to the grass.
Taking a joint out of my pocket, I put it between my lips.
‘You shouldn't be smoking that here,' Kerry said.
Everyone went silent. My siblings had given up challenging me on my smoking habits.
‘Who made you boss?' I replied, flicking my lighter.
Sophie climbed back on my lap. She was watching the others as I took a drag on the joint and blew out the smoke.
‘No one made me boss. I'm just saying.'
The other girl was staring at me. Her eyes tried to pierce me. I looked away. She wasn't my mother and even if she was, I wouldn't listen to her.
‘We've given up trying to tell him.' Pisces added her voice to the conversation.
‘Stop talking about me!' I snapped.
‘They're right, Taurus.'
Sophie fell to the ground as I shot up. Father stood behind the group, his arms crossed over his chest. The others got to their feet as quickly as I had.
‘What are you doing here?' Pisces asked. ‘Should you be out in public?'
We had only rescued Father a few days ago. Nick would probably be searching for us by now, although why he was so interested, baffled me. I'd had to help rescue our father. It was part of being within the family. It didn't mean I agreed with everything he said.
‘I wanted to check on you. There are a few things we need to discuss in more depth. Last time I saw you, we didn't get a chance to talk.'
Pisces threw her arms around his shoulders. He squeezed her tight. Antony stood next to her, waiting to take her hand when she stepped back.
‘Is everything okay?' she asked.
Father ducked his head before looking her in the eye. He glanced around. His gaze lingered on the two outsiders of the group. Sophie and Kerry.
‘Everything is fine,' he said to allay their suspicions. ‘I have a lot to tell you, my children, but until then, I'll leave you to your gathering.'
Aries put his arm around Father and led him away from the group. They whispered together. A part of me hated that Aries was always in charge. The rest of me remembered that I couldn't be bothered with any of it.
‘Your father is handsome! I can see where you get your looks from,' Sophie said, linking her arm through mine.
Leo choked on the beer he was drinking. It was hard to keep my mouth shut. I couldn't tell her that he wasn't our real father or that we weren't actual siblings. When she met Aquarius, my dark skinned brother, she would guess that something wasn't right. Had Cancer not told her anything?
‘We should play a game of football,' Kerry said, bringing everyone's attention back to the group.
///
Leo offered his hand and pulled her to her feet. ‘Yes, my lady.' He bowed to her, pointing at the football that waited on the ground nearby.
She ran for it and managed to kick it away before Leo reached her. They moved away from the group, laughing as they fought over the ball. Aries jogged back over, trying to join in the game.
‘Come on!' Sophie called, running to join them as the others went with her.
I used to like football. I liked my joint even more. I needed to chill out after a night of dancing. Lowering myself to the ground, I sparked up again, savouring the flavour of the weed as it went into my lungs.
‘You're so boring!' Sophie sang from across the park.
I didn't know her well, but she was gorgeous. Her bum jiggled as she ran around the pitch. She was sexy and she liked a smoke. Technically, she was the perfect girl for me.
‘Just keep running. You wanted to get fit!' I shouted back.
She scrunched up her nose and glared at me. If she was a robot, she would have been able to laser shoot me with her eyes. I could easily see her as a 3D character on the computer screen.
We would probably be ruled by robots one day. It would give us the freedom to do what we liked, instead of having to work all the time. Not that I worked. I wasn't able to take orders from anyone. Why should I? Why should I make the rich richer? My motto was not to give a monkeys about anyone else. There was no point in caring too much. We came to the world alone. We would die alone. There was no god, no afterlife, no nothing. We just died and that was that.
I took out another lager and dragged on my joint again. My brain liked to go into overdrive. If I wasn't careful, I could sit up for days thinking about things. As the drink warmed my body, the laid back Taurus emerged. My muscles relaxed as the dope calmed me.
Digging in my pocket for another joint, I brushed against something small sitting in the bottom of it. I was wearing the same jeans as the night before. My heart sped up in excitement as I pulled a pill out with my joint. The memory of invincibility came back to me. It had felt amazing to be able to keep going and not get out of breath.
‘Taurus, don't be so boring!' Natalie called.
She was probably the fittest person in the game. She was an occupational therapist and had helped Aries to get back on his feet … literally. Popping the pill into my mouth and washing it down with a swig of drink, I jumped up to join them. Hopefully it wouldn't take too long to get high. Then I could beat them.
‘What's your job now?' Kerry asked as I stood next to her.
The others were across the park, running after the ball. Kerry was a few years older than us. Her jeans stretched across her backside as she hopped up and down.
‘Not a lot,' I muttered.
‘He's doing a bit of personal training.' Sophie made me jump as she wound her arms around my hips from behind. I didn't even realise she was there.
‘How long have you been together?' Kerry asked, the ball game forgotten.
Sophie giggled as I coughed. ‘Not long.'