With his hand on her leg, pressure increasing for the sheer hope - maybe there was finally a thought in him that said perhaps Valeria had not appreciated being taken so suddenly by her brother, while he was in anger - he'd almost felt a little lost, desperate. Could he have become decent then, and lamented some regret, if the world had played differently with the situation and its colliding happenstances? Instead Cayn turned to mother when she spoke, his first love, and was as generous to him as father had been. Her advice made it all real, because why tell them how to be there, if it wasn't granted that they would be there.<br/><br/>Valeria's silence was a bit of a task, and he looked to mother and father, like they could do more to give her to him. There was a likeness of a boy with a toy here, but such possessiveness had only been encouraged in this house because it had been mistaken for affection. Eventually when his heart had visibly sunken low, Valeria, though not too excited, said something that made him think he was irresistible again. And swimming too? He misinterpreted it completely to his own liking. Beautiful Valeria with her pearl skin, wanting to show off for his eyes. He could agree to that.<br/><br/>"I'll bring smores. They said I could have anything at the store." where he worked. "And pink candies." which had been her favorite. It was still a joke as to which brand or even what kind she'd meant when she'd said it in the car one time, but she'd stayed true to her favoritism, if only by stubborn nature and a general sweettooh, so they'd accepted it in the family, but still teased her from time to time.<br/><br/>Cayn took a forkful of food and put it into his mouth. If not his agreeable air and overall good mood, Valeria would be sure to notice that he let the hand linger on her leg. The angle was too steep to be detected by their parents, but at least the sentiment wasn't sinister more than earlier actions might suggest. When he looked at her, there was nothing secretive about his gaze. Had he done this before, and had it been alright then, innocent? Maybe remembering their unusual closeness for siblings up until now was a wake-up call.<br/><br/>John enjoyed the courses, and stole a piece of particularly charred meat from his wife when she was distracted. When Cayn laughed at that, his hand slid further up the inside of Valeria's leg. It should dawn on the girl then, that he was not being overly coy about it because he didn't think there was anything wrong with it. It could simply had been a reflex, to seek her out there, where he'd claimed her. Could she take comfort in how nice he was being, and how he held up the conversation so she didn't have to? What would happen if she tried to take his hand away?<br/><br/>"Ah yes. How's Emma, son?" John asked as he emptied his glass of beer. He was done driving for today, after all. Emma had been the last in the row of Valeria's likenesses. He'd not officially told his family she was out of the picture, and stricken off his contacts for wondering why he had so many pictures of his sister in his room. Cayn shrugged.<br/><br/>"She's sweet, but we didn't work out." She didn't sound like Valeria when she sang. "But we might be trading notes on something. It was amicable." She'd cried. He was a good friend to some extent, but most of the hearts he broke after having been strangely affectionate for a boy his age did not want to linger, and the ones that wanted were too hopeful to do so. Cayn had found a lot of reasonable temporary partners, it seemed.<br/><br/>"Well, we liked her. Your loss." John said with a grin. He'd rather take the girl's side after having seen the stream of pretties Cayn courted. And his son had never been in bad humor about it. "And you, princess?" he asked Valeria, rolling a cherry tomato onto his fork. He lifted it precariously toward his lips. There was tension now, but none that the parents could tell. The next question must not be what it became. "Have you found your prince?"<br/><br/>Cayn immediately practiced the same pressure on her thigh that had bruised her arms. Eyes darker as he looked at her, when he was reminded of Albert. Cayn's lips parted in something cruel and cunning, all that loving naivety retreated. It was unfair that he could be calculating and stronger too. It had been an unfair day to the girl. He stood quickly, and his chair made a dying sound, as he started picking the food away. "Dessert time." he said, unable to look at her. John nodded as he killed the tomato in the privacy of his cheek.<br/><br/>"Well? Any gossip for you old man?" John pushed.