ESCAPE PLAN

.05 -- MAMA'S COMIN' HOME

Jolie avoided John B. like the plague for the remainder of the night, staying tucked away in the back corner of her shared room. She kept herself busy by braiding her sister's freshly washed hair or immersing herself in the alternate universe of her books, tearing through the pages like time was ending. Sofya, on the other hand, was happily running around the house, chasing John B. with a spatula, as he offered to help her cook, but continued to pester the young girl. Jolie could hear his chortling laughter from across the house, making her heart pound with the echoing sound of each footstep he took through the small house.

Surprisingly enough to her, when Marcus and Diane arrived home, they did not immediately rush to the old cell phone, the device being older than the youngest child in the house, and kindly told the two cooking children that they had eaten dinner while out with their friends, and would be heading off to bed. Jolie had migrated closer to her bedroom door at the sound of the front door opening, wanting to be close to her sister, and made it just in time to hear the interaction that her foster parents had with her foster brother. She wondered if disappointment washed over her sister's face, or if she felt happy to be free from her dutiful expectations for the night, just as Jolie was. Once the parents had tucked themselves into their secluded part of the house, Jolie eventually felt herself missing out on her sister's hushed laughter, and eventually migrated out to join the other children.

John B. and Sofya were sat in the living room, empty plates on the coffee table ahead of them, and a board game's pieces scattered across the empty space.

"Your food is in the microwave." Sofya said dismissively, not looking up from her hand of cards.

"We saved the dishes for you, figured you'd get bored at some point." John B. offered a cheesy grin, which caused his counterpart to roll her eyes and cross the room. As she did so, her hand reached out and playfully tapped the back of John B's head, earning muffled giggles from the youngest.

Jolie had extended her annoyed olive branch, which John B. seemed to accept, as there was a hand of cards delt adjacent to him when the girl arrived back in the living room. She sat on the floor and set her plate down, then picked up the cards and dove into their quiet game.

Sofya tapped out after another hour of playing after her sister pointed out the girl nodding off. Jolie promised to come to bed soon, then kissed her sister on the forehead when she came down for a hug. Sofya offered John B. a goodnight hug, then groveled off to bed, leaving the teenagers with the mess.

Jolie passed her cards to John B, then mentioned that she was going to start the dishes. Moments later, she assumed after he had picked up the game, John B. was beside her in the kitchen, drying each dish before she could set it in the rack.

"Thank you." She said softly as they finished up.

"I'm sorry for being a dick earlier. I didn't know how much that would have bothered you." The boy sighed, setting a plate in the cabinet and a fork in the drawer.

"I just don't want anything bad to happen." Jolie said softly, taking her gloves off and draping them over the side of the sink. "Marcus got mad at me in eighth grade when one of my friends asked if I wanted to go to the fair. He said that the phone was only for emergencies."

John B. leaned on the counter beside the girl, crossing his arms over his chest. "Maybe we just have different definitions of an emergency. Fairs only come once a year, that feels like an emergency to me." His bushy eyebrows raised as he turned her face towards the girl.

"Apparently not to him." Jolie shrugged, pressing her hip into the counter as she leaned her weight on one leg. "Thank you for entertaining her." She smiled, adoring the way her sister admired the boy.