Insufficient

Chapter Four: The Little Swings

Juliana's POV

I stared at the boy who now stood a few feet in front of me. He looked halfway between trying to decide whether or not he wanted to come over to my side of the table, or retreat to his dad.

The guy looked to be about my age. He was tall, like literally everyone in our family; however, unlike most of our relatives, he had a pretty skinny stature. Not to say that he was small by any means, but compared to some of the people in this house, he looked almost nerdy.

I'm not trying to be judgy or anything, however I did find his choice in clothing to be a bit odd. He had on khaki shorts, a dinosaur shirt, and to top it off he had what looked to be a small firefighter figurine clutched in his palm that he unconsciously rubbed his thumb over.

. The only reason I found this a bit odd was because most of the kids I know have aged out of those sorts of things.

But whatever. We all have our own interests.

"Hi." He said shyly waving at me before scurrying over to his dad.

At least, I'm hoping that's his dad, because I'm hoping that this is Justin. As in my childhood best friend Justin.

"As Justin seems to have forgotten how to properly introduce himself," Uncle Stefano teased before turning back to me. "This is Justin. I'm not sure if you remember him, but you used to be attached at the hip when you were younger."

I nodded, looking at Justin with a small smile.

"Yeah, you woke me up this morning. And we used to play Mosca Cieca- er, Blind Man's Bluff together, right?"
I almost missed the odd look Uncle Stefano gave me when I corrected myself from using the Italian translation of the game, but Justin cut in before I could question it.

"Yeah! Sorry about that by the way." He said sheepishly before excitedly continuing.

"We were the bestest of friends, we used to climb trees together, and we used to play out there-" Justin pointed to the sliding glass doors that led into the backyard where I had failed to notice that there was still a playset looming in the distance, just within eyesight of certain seats at the table.

"For hours and hours and hours and-"

"Justin, baby I think she gets the point." Uncle Stefano gently cut Justin off. "How about this? How about you go and play with Hunter for a little bit, and when Juliana is done eating I'll see if she wants to go out and join you, okay?"

Justin nodded quickly before running off to find Hunter.

"No running!" Uncle Stefano called after him, but it was too late.

He shook his head with a small huff at Justin's actions. I tensed a little when I heard a door slam.

"That boy... I'm sorry about him. I specifically told him to reign it in around you, but sometimes he can't help himself."

"Oh, no he was fine. Promise. He was actually a little refreshing, I've not talked to someone quite as enthusiastic as him in a while." I said with a slight smile.

"Well enthusiastic is one word for it. I can't help but think that his age regression has helped us all in some way or another."

"His what?" I asked, not understanding the words that he had just said. Age and regression? Was I familiar with both those words, yes. Together, no.

Uncle Stefano gave me yet another odd look.

"Nobody told you?"

"Told me what?" I asked, starting to get a little nervous that I was obviously missing something.