AREA CODES

two

a/n: im sorry for all these updates but im tryna get these in before i have limited computer access lmao

***

"Look what I got you, bud!" Tyler called, stepping through the front door with watering eyes and a red fucking nose. Honestly, he was suffering. "I'm gonna throw these in the oven and then we'll eat, okay? I'm sorry I fell asleep on you guys."

Pat was holding Charlie in his strong arms, swinging him lightly from side to side. "Don't worry about it," the eighteen and four year old spoke at the same time. Tyler smiled, moving past the two of them and placing himself in front of the oven. He tried to read the directions (like he hadn't cooked these a million times. He just didn't ever remember.), squinting through to the fine print on the back of the bag. Okay, twenty minutes. He could do that.

Charlie had gotten down from Pat's arms and stumbled over to the bottom cabinets, searching through for a cookie pan. "You're the best four year old ever," Tyler smiled, taking it from him and ruffling his hair up again. Turning around, he grabbed the frozen bag off the counter and yanked it right open, pouring it out and trying to spread them evenly around the pan. Really, he wasn't good with the entire cooking thing. Not even frozen chicken nuggets.

"What time is it?" He asked no one in particular, and Harvey's voice came through.

"It's, like, 10:15."

"Fuck, you guys have school tomorrow," he said to himself.

"Great!" Ivy said from up the stairs. "We can skip."

"No one's fucking skipping," Tyler screamed, nearly tearing the handle off the oven from trying to open it. It was almost as ancient as the van. So was the entire house. "You're gonna eat your dinner and then go the hell to sleep." Sliding the nuggets down onto the little oven rack, he shut it and closed his eyes, letting the small amount of warmth that it emitted envelop him.

"Keep that shit open. It's freezing in here." Poppy said, having emerged from no where, too.

"I can't. The food won't cook and we don't have time."

"If it takes longer too cook, we'll all be really tired and we won't have to go to school."

A knock sounded at the door as soon as Ivy wrapped up her useless sentence, and Tyler rolled his eyes at both her, and the ones he knew to be at the door. "Ask me to skip one more time, Ivy," he warned, "and you babysit for a week."

"Babysit who?" she called after her, squinting her eyes.

"Whoever I say."

"Bitch, you wish!"

Tyler laughed, "it's cute that you think I have to wish."

He could feel Ivy flicking him off, but he just made his way back to the door, and, before he could open it, Daniel and Vicky came through like an avalanche. Sometimes they knocked, but they mostly just let themselves in. It's not like Tyler ever had a reason to tell to them they couldn't come in.

"Hey, bitch!" Vicky started, smiling and pushing right past him and into the living room. She was wearing huge, silver hoop earrings, an overcoat that floated past her ass, a navy blue dress under it, and boots. Like it she couldn't decide whether it was frigid outside or not. He assumed it didn't matter to her, because she used her car to get to places, as opposed to the walking. She looked good, though.  "We're a bit early, but who care--what the fuck are you wearing?"

"We can't leave until their food is cooked," Tyler said instantly.

"Where the hell are you going?" Poppy asked, eyebrows raised. "You didn't tell us you had plans."