Habits

Our Own Version of Normal

Louie gasped. "You see the judgement that I have to live with? Well, today, your heartless criticism can't deny me my dream of being shamelessly spoiled," Louie announced, stepping off the chair. We all lightly glared at him.

I shrugged. "I'm gonna head downtown, do some grown-up stuff, nothing you kids would understand," I ruffled Louie's hair.

"Not that I don't love you all, but if I have a day where I don't have to constantly worry about you all, I'm gonna go hang out at the mall or something. Embrace my one day of teenagedom, before going back to being the responsible elder sister," I raised an eyebrow at the boys, and Dewey stuck his tongue out in response.

"What're you gonna do, Dewey?" Webby asked.

"I don't have to explain myself to you, I'm an only child!" Dewey defended. Huey deadpanned.

"I don't get why you're doing this. Isn't being a triplet awesome?" Webby asked.

"Thank you!" Huey agreed. I rolled my eyes.

"Who're you again, sassy stranger?" Dewey shot back.

"The brother you rudely take for granted! Right, Louie?" Huey asked, grabbing Louie's arm.

"This random passerby clearly loves Only Child Day, right, Louie? Or wh-whoever you are?" Dewey asked, grabbing his other arm.

"Oh boy..." I pinched the bridge of my bill.

"I just wanna use a rich kid for his infinity pool!" Louie began crying. "Why can't I have that for myself!?" He ran to the other side of the room.

Huey looked at Dewey and tackled him, and the boys began wrestling and fighting.

"Boys!" I scolded, but not really stepping in. I mean, Dewey did say Only Child Day, not really sure if that makes it my problem or not.

"Stop fighting!" Louie shouted, still crying.

Webby just looked at the boys, wide-eyed.

Dewey was able to flip Huey over, and pushed his hat over his eyes. "And this is why we need Only Child Day," Dewey explained to Webby. Huey smacked him in the face.

~~~

After the boys finally stopped fighting, and all went off to do their seperate things, I decided that it was time to get ready to go. I figured that today was a high bun day, so I put my hair up, straightened out my outfit a bit, grabbed my purse, and headed out.

I decided to take the bus, because I didn't need Launchpad crashing into the mental health offices, and because I missed seeing Anita, the bus driver.

I greeted her as I got on the bus, and waited for my stop. It took about 20 minutes, but I arrived pretty soon. I thanked Anita, and got off the bus. I walked a couple of blocks up and lo and behold, there the offices were. I took a deep breath, and entered inside.

~~~

I stepped into the room to see a few people there already. There was an area for small snacks and water and stuff, and then there were a couple of chairs in a circle. Very talk-group-y.

This was a talk group I found that was recently starting. It was for teens and college kids to help with socializing and abandonment issues. The more people who entered, the more nervous I got.

"Hey," someone greeted. I turned to the left to see a tall, lanky owl with kinky hair.

"Hi?" I asked more as a question.

"I, uh, couldn't help but see that you looked a little lonely, sorry if I'm intruding. I'm Antonio," he stuck out his hand and I shook it.

"Marina. Nice to meet you."