"Hi Sis!" I say as I scoop Charlie up in my arms.
"Hi Daddy!" She yells in my ear. This child is so loud, my word.
"A little quieter please." I say and she smiles.
"Sorry Daddy." She pushes my hair, that's on my forehead, back before leaning in to kiss me.
"One more." I say when she pulls away. She giggles before leaning in to kiss me again.
"Let's go make dinner." I say, walking into the all white kitchen. "What do you want?"
"Grilled cheese!" She says, a huge grin on her face.
"Okay." I say, setting her on top of the light grey, marble counter.
"That's cold!" She says, lifting her little legs up.
"You'll warm it up, give it a second." I say, turning on the stove.
"Daddy.."
"What?"
"I miss Brinley."
"I know baby. You'll get to see her soon. One more week, you got this." I say and she pouts.
"Can we FaceTime her?"
"I'll text her and see." I say. Just one problem. I don't have her number. Why don't I have her number?!
Then I remember: Instagram. I pull my phone out of my hoodie pocket. Opening Instagram, I search her name in my DMs.
Found her.
officialchristianbrooks: Hey Brinley, can I ask a favor?
After a couple of minutes go by, I check my messages to see she responded.
brincam94: who's the stalker now?
I chuckle.
officialchristianbrooks: ha ha, very funny. anyways. Charlie misses you and would like to FaceTime, if you're cool with that?
brincam94: obviously. (910)812-5490
I make a new contact for her before putting her name and number. I shoot her a text saying its me, I wait for a response, and then I call her. I hand the phone to Charlie as it rings before it connects and Charlie yells her name.
"Hi Cutie!"
"Daddy's making me grilled cheese!" She says, turning the phone to me.
"What? Where's mine?"
"You can come over!" Charlie says.
"I don't know about that. Maybe you should ask your daddy first." Brinley says, chuckling.
Charlie gives me huge puppy dog eyes and turns the camera to me, once again. "I don't care." I say, shrugging.
"I don't know. You probably just got home."
"It's fine Brinley." I say, chuckling.
"We'll be there in half an hour!" I hear her sister yell as she appears on the screen. Brinley sighs, "Fine. Text me your address." She says and Charlie smiles. "I'll see you soon, cutie." Brinley then hangs up.
"You little stinker." I say, pinching her sides as she laughs. I didn't care that Brinley was coming over, in fact I was excited. She just seemed kind of against it.
Charlie talks non-stop about Brinley until they get here. And when they do, she runs to the door.
"Your hair is so pretty!" Charlie says as Brinley comes walking into the kitchen holding her.
This was the first time I'd seen her with her hair down, now that I think about it. It was long, but not too long, stopping a little ways past her shoulders. It had a slight wave to it, but not much.
"Thank you!"
"Mine's still gone." She says, touching the top of her head.
"That's okay. It'll come back. You're beautiful no matter what, though." Brinley grins at Charlie.
"Thanks for leaving me!" Emery yells from the entry way.
"Not my fault you're slow." Brinley teases.
Emery comes walking in, her hands shoved in her sweatpants pockets. She smiles at me, then looks at Charlie. "Hi! You must be Charlie." She says and Charlie nods.
"Are you and Brinley twins?" Charlie asks and I chuckle.
"No. We just look a lot alike." Brinley says, walking over to the counter. "Oh shit, did you want us to take our shoes off?" She asks, looking down at her feet.
"No, you're fine. Sorry for the mess." I say, nodding my head towards the living room that has Charlie's toys scattered everywhere.
"It's fine, we don't mind."
"I thought your mom was here too?" I ask. Sensing she wasn't on her way in a separate car or anything.
"She got sick, so she didn't get to come." Brinley says, her expression falling.
"I'm sorry, that sucks."
"It's alright, I get to see her next week."
"She's coming to the wedding?" I ask, turning the stove off.
"Yeah, both of our parents are." Emery answers. Shit. I get to meet the parents. Not that it's a big deal, because we aren't together or anything.
"Cool. Oh shit, did you actually want a grilled cheese?" I ask, going to turn the stove back on.
"I don't, we already ate." Brinley answers and I look at Emery.
"I'm okay, thank you though." She says, sending me a small smile. Her accent was just as thick as Brinley's and she seemed like she talked just as fast.
"Anytime."
"Charlie, this is my sister, Emery." Brinley introduces her as Charlie gives her a small smile. "Emery, this is Charlie."
"I've heard a lot about you." Emery says, smiling widely at her.
Had she heard a lot about me?
"Come on Brinley! I want to show you my room!" Charlie says, dragging Brinley up the stairs.
Emery sits down on one of the barstools. She looks behind her for a second before turning back to me. "You know,"-she lowers her voice-"I've heard a lot about you too. More than Charlie, in fact."
Oh. Thank. God.
"Do tell." I say, opening the fridge.
"Well, I can't necessarily do that because, Brinley might actually murder me in my sleep but, I can tell you that since I've gotten here, you're all she's talked about pretty much. Most of the time she doesn't even realize it."
Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.
"Really?"
"Yeah. I don't know how you feel but.. If you do, you know.. You should tell her." Emery encourages and even though she didn't actually say the words, I knew what she was saying.
She likes me.
"Do you mind if we take a selfie, I need to show my Dad." She laughs.
"I don't care." I say and she pulls out her phone.
"He is gonna lose is shit! Don't tell Brinley about this, please." She says, sliding her phone back in her pocket.
"Don't tell Brinley what?" Brinley asks as her and Charlie come walking back into the kitchen. Emery and I's eyes widen as I swallow slowly.
"Nothin'." Emery says, smiling cheekily at her.
"Mhm.." Brinley hums, giving her a skeptical look.
"You know, I can't have a grilled cheese without thinking of that one Glee episode." Emery changes the subject.
"Oh my God, the Grilled Cheesus one? I forgot about that! What a great episode that was." Brinley says, taking a seat at the counter with Charlie in her lap.
"Hold on, what?"
"You've never seen Glee?" Emery asks, her mouth gaping open.
"Definitely not." I say.
"Oh my God, you're weird." Emery huffs, leaning forward on her elbows.
"No, I'm just a guy." I say, shrugging my shoulders.
"Anyways, there's this episode, where Finn, one of the characters, makes a grilled cheese. And when he flips it over, the part where its toasted, looks like Jesus. So he calls it a "Grilled Cheesus"." Brinley explains, chuckling.
"Ah. Sounds stupid if you ask me." I say and Emery gasps.
"Rude."
"It has its moments..." Brinley says, leaning back in her chair. "The songs are good though."
"Very." Emery agrees.
"Can I watch it?" Charlie asks.
"No." Both the girls answer at the same time.
"But.. I like songs." Charlie pouts.
"It's a big girl show, sweetie." Brinley says, looking down at her.
"Oh..." Charlie says, slightly pouting.
"What movie do you wanna watch, Charlie?" I ask, looking over at Charlie.
"Woody!" She says, referring to Toy Story.
"What? I love that movie!" Emery says.
"Me too!" Charlie says. "Come on!" She says, reaching her arms out for Emery.
They start to walk in the living room when Emery turns around with her mouth gaped open. She mouths the word "Adorable" while pointing to Charlie before she turns back around and walking into the living room.
"The remote should be on the ottoman." I say earning an "Okay" from the two in the living room.
"Well, it didn't take long for her to warm up to Em." Brinley says, looking back towards the living room.
"It's probably because she's your sister." I say, chuckling.
"Do you want a drink?"
"Um, sure. What'd ya got?" Brinley asks.
"Uhh..." I open both of the fridge doors, scanning its contents, "Dr. Pepper, water, orange juice, apple juice, I think there's beer and Coke out in the fridge."
"A Dr. Pepper is fine." She says and I reach forward, grabbing a mini bottle. I pass it over to her before grabbing the last Root Beer that was in here.
"You didn't say Root Beer was an option." She says, her eyebrow raised.
"It was the last one. Do you want it?" I ask and she chuckles.
"No. I'm just messing with you."
"You're a little shit, you know that?" I say, popping the can open.
She shrugs her shoulders, a playful grin on her lips. "I try."
"Hey, can I ask you a question?" I hesitantly ask.
"I suppose it wouldn't be the end of the world." She drawls, opening her soda bottle cap and twisting it off.
"When I said I didn't care if you could come over, and you kept saying that you didn't know, did you really not want to come over?" I ask, my tone changing to a bit more serious.
"No, of course I wanted to come. I just didn't want to impose, that's all." She says, a soft smile on her lips.
"You could never impose." I say, my expression falling slightly.
"Bullshit."
"I'm not kidding. I kinda like having you around... Even if you are a stalker."
Word Count: 1,665