Adore You | ✔

Chapter 25

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Chapter 25

"This will lead us to the trampoline," she said and pulled up the flashlight app on her phone. The stairs were narrow, and when we reached the last step, I almost crashed into her as she paused to open the door. The stairs led to an empty kitchen that I had never seen before.

"How many kitchens?" I found myself asking.

"Four," Maria said, "Darla is the only one that uses this one. It's almost her own private kitchen. 

Her room is past that hallway over there. We've kind of given her her own wing. She's pretty much family at this point."

We walked out into a garden I had never seen before. It seemed as if this house always had new surprises. It was dark that night with no full moon to offer light, but several garden lamps and a rose bush lined with fairy lights lit up the garden. I could make out the shadow of a large trampoline in the distance.

"Wow," I said, feeling a sudden lack of words with how dreamy it looked. 

"It was my dad's favorite place," Maria said, "trampoline is over there, come on."

"Wait, hold this," Robbie said, passing the cookies to Maria. He ran towards a shed lit up by small garden lights on the floor. I looked at Maria, and she shrugged. The night was chilly, and I shivered.

"Let's go. We'll warm up with some jumping," she said.

Moments later Robbie came out of the shed carrying a large broom.

We made our way to the trampoline and I realized that Robbie had gotten the broom to sweep off the leaf litter that had piled up from years of neglect.

Once it was clear, Maria and I climbed up. "Still bounces well!" She said to her brother between jumps. Robbie climbed up and joined us.

"It does." He agreed.

"I never had a trampoline before," I said, "This must have been fun to have as a kid."

"Really?" Maria asked.

"Yeah, I've never had a backyard."

"So you've never done a flip on one?"

"Nope. Can you do one?"

"Yeah, it's not hard...hold on." She said and started jumping a lot higher, pushing herself up harder. She did one last hard jump and flipped.

"Tah-dah," She said after she landed.

"Nice!" I said.

"Robbie can do an even cooler one. Robbie to the twisty flip!"

"I'm wearing a suit."

"Don't be boring, Robbie," I said, still jumping.

He squinted at me, "Alright. Hold on." He undid his tie and threw it on the grass, followed by his suit jacket. He then unbuttoned and rolled up his sleeve to his elbows. He started jumping again and did a few hard jumps before getting enough height. He then did a cork-like flip and landed perfectly on the bouncing ground.

"Woah! Cool!" I said, laughing. I could see his mouth twitch as if he wanted to smile.

"I want to learn how to do that," I exclaimed.

"It takes a lot of practice," Robbie said.

"I can imagine,"  I said agreeing.

Maria sat down pulling me down next to her. Robbie sat on my other side. We all pretty sweaty. My bun had come loose from jumping, and some of my hair stuck to my neck. I laid down on the trampoline. Catching my breath, and I noticed there was a clear sky.