Rewritten | Eleven
"Nice work, Mais," Cassidy commented as she passed by the little girl on her way to the coffee pot, glancing at her open coloring book.
What better way to start the morning than some coloring in the kitchen? Especially with a brand new coloring book that Amber gave her.
"Careful, babe. Your markers are rolling away," Planting a kiss on top of Maisy's head, she slid the run-away markers back in the right direction with a small yawn.
"Yep," Beau tapped the newest decor of their house. A gifted vase, textured with a braided pattern against the white porcelain rested on the island in front of Maisy. "No touching. We don't want to get any marker on this."
"Oh yeah—" Cassidy spared a quick glance to the new vase as she poured herself a piping cup of coffee. She didn't notice anything until caffeine was injected into her system. "—It's cute. Where'd it come from?"
"Jeanie," Beau examined it with a small smile as he looked over the hand-made beauty. It was quite impressive. "She took up pottery and made a few of these, I guess."
Jeanie is Beau's office assistant and secretary at work. She's a sweet woman, always offers Maisy a treat when she visits the office and lets her help water the plant on her desk.
And apparently, she's now a pottery enthusiast.
"Anyways," Beau continued, unaware of the fascination flickering behind Maisy's eyes at the shiny decoration. Across the kitchen island, her attention had been caught. "I have to get something to fill it."
Some people tend to gratify toward the mundane, romanticizing and finding beauty in small details that most others find completely ordinary.
Maisy happened to be one of these people, drawn toward the smallest yet most exquisite things around her. As the popular expression warns: Curiosity killed the cat . . .
. . . But satisfaction brought it back.
"You could put it over there," Cassidy sat down on the stool beside Maisy, sipping her coffee as she admired the vase too. "Next to the key bowl."
"You know, Miles is with Amber—" Cassidy continued to think aloud, throwing little suggestions out there. "If you text him, they could pick up some flowers or something."
Maisy continued to marvel over the vase as they spoke, tuning them out. Although it was across the counter, she began to notice the tinier details in the pottery.
She was almost certain she could see a fingerprint indented in the side, just grazing the pattern.
"Hey, uh, Cass?" Beau scratched his nose twice, their 'secret' signal. This time was just to get out of the room to talk about something where Maisy couldn't overhear. "Can I show you something upstairs?"
This time: A new idea for Maisy, one that was supposed to be a surprise for now.
Now, alone in the kitchen, Maisy continued to color. Even though her eyes wandered to the vase every few seconds. Beau's words stuck in the back of her mind, don't touch.
After a few more minutes of filling in pictures of cartoon wildlife, Maisy's makers began to wander again. Rolling across the kitchen island and toppling down onto the floor before she could grab them.
Maisy let out an irritated huff to herself as she carefully climbed down from the stool. At this rate, she was going to invent something to keep her markers from rolling away. Or begin to color on the floor.
Compared to the small four-year-old, the counter top was quite high. So the green marker needed a little more help as Maisy patted around for it.
"Marker! Come here!"
It wasn't a crucial color for her current project. She had already gotten the grass and the lizard—But she absolutely wasn't going to leave one of her markers behind.
Just as Maisy's hand coiled around the marker, her hand grazed the vase. Not enough to tip it, but just enough to catch her eye.
Now, Beau and Cassidy weren't in the room to tell her not to touch the beautiful thing. You see, of course Maisy knows breaking rules isn't a good thing. But, oh how she just wanted to feel the pretty vase with the delicate pattern—
And it's right there . . .
Biting her lower lip, Maisy extended her hand again. Maybe it wouldn't hurt just to feel it. Her fingers grazed the pottery, gently feeling the pattern.
"Ooh," Maisy whispered to herself, reaching a little further. But, because she's only so tall, she miscalculated and knocked the vase to its side.
Before Maisy could react, it rolled off the counter, just like her markers, and shattered against the tiled flooring surrounding Maisy's feet.
Quick shallow breaths left her as she realized what had been done. Even if it was an accident, she did that. The once elegant vase was now in pieces around her, after she had been told not to touch it.
Solutions flashed through her mind in a little blur all at once. How to piece it back together, or hide the evidence.
Then, a lightbulb appeared above her head.
The broom.
Designed to clean up large messes, exactly like this one. If she cleaned it up, maybe they wouldn't get angry!
But alas, there's a reason behind every rule. For example, walking feet.
Because if Maisy had followed the 'walking feet' rule, then she wouldn't have slipped on one of the shards. Leaving her to fall hands first upon a larger, sharper piece beside the green marker she had been reaching for. Piercing her palm and causing blood to trickle from the gash.
•. •. •.
"God, I could kiss you right now," Miles bit his lower lip as he fought the urge to embrace Amber in the lobby of the building. Even if their faces were already only mere centimeters away from each other.
"Maybe you should," Amber whispered back, mirroring his cocky smile before closing the distance between them so their lips connected. Even after spending the whole morning and past evening together, their kiss made it seem as if they hadn't seen one another in months.
Yet, it was interrupted by the screams of a very familiar little girl entering the lobby from the elevator. Drawing the eyes of everyone within a miles radius.
"Maisy?" Miles pulled away from Amber, following the piercing cries to his family emerging from the elevator until his eyes landed on his family.
Beau had Maisy cradled close to his chest, holding a bloodied dish-rag around her hand as he cooed reassurances in her ear. Cassidy and Eric were rushing beside him, on their phones for a doctor.
"What the hell happened?!"
It wasn't hard to notice the blood stained all over the rag and on parts of Beau's shirt from when he went to aid her. Not to mention the screams that could cause an avalanche erupting from his little sister.
"A vase broke," Beau quickly murmured, too focused on Maisy to fill Miles in completely. "We're going to the emergency room just in case."
At this moment, none of the adults were quite sure of the events that led to Maisy's injured hand. It was hard to understand anything the kid tried to sputter out—But to be safe, they were taking her to a doctor in case she needed stitches.
When she fell, the shard pierced her delicate skin. It didn't help when she instinctively pulled her hand closer to her, slicing a small line through her palm.
"Shh, Shh Shh. I know, baby." Beau cooed as they all rushed outside together, summoning a cab as quickly as they could. "We'll be there soon, alright?"
"I'on l-like vases-s," Maisy let out a nearly incoherent sob, only intelligible because she finally got a deep breath of air.
•. •. •.
An hour and a half later, they finally made it home.
Maisy, the poor dear, clung to Beau the entire time. Doctors weren't her favorite kind of people, with their invasive and scary nature.
But luckily, no stitches were needed and no glass was found in the wound. Simply a nicely wrapped bandage and a lollipop did the trick.
"M' s-sorry I broke the vase," Maisy sniffled as they all emerged into the apartment together, still snuggling close to Beau's chest. It felt much nicer there with the light aroma of his cologne to calm her down.
"Don't worry about it, honey—" Cassidy reassured as she grabbed the broom from a closet, heading off to the kitchen to clean up the mess. They left in such a hurry earlier, it was forgotten. "—You should just relax and take it easy tonight. Besides,"
"Jeanie probably makes so many of those, I'm sure she'll have an extra one for us."
"Yeah," Miles used his gentle voice, extending his arms to take Maisy into his own embrace so Beau could go help Cassidy. "Let's go get Teddy and watch 'The Little Mermaid.' Yeah?"
"Oh, I love that movie," A smile grew on Amber's face as she walked alongside Miles, climbing the stairs to retrieve Maisy's bear. Without him, the day had been much harder.
"Me too," Maisy's voice was hoarse after all the crying she did at the emergency room, but it perked up a little at the sound of a classic princess movie. One of her favorite songs is from that soundtrack.
The rest of her afternoon was filled with lots of cuddles—And of course, the sounds of a little musical crustacean.
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Mainly did this for next chapter for ✨bonding✨
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