James
"Hey, Jay?"
"Yes, El?"
"When can Lia visit us?"
James eats some of his chips from a bag of Ruffles he holds in his hands. He turns to his sister. Elissa sits beside him on the couch munching on some chips too. The siblings sit relaxed in the living room spending their Monday evening together.
"Good question. How about I ask her if she can visit us this week?"
Elissa's eyes brighten at this suggestion. "Really? You can ask?"
James nods. "Sure, I know how much you want her to visit."
"I do! I'd love to see her again."
Since Lia visited the Hales a month ago, Elissa's been asking lately when Lia's going to visit again. The young girl has been hoping to see the person she wants to be friends with. James finds this sweet to see and knows he can't ignore Elissa's request.
He and Lia have discussed it before. But since she's been busy the past few weeks, she hasn't had free time. But now that spring break has started, James thinks maybe now's a good time. They're off from school so there's no wrong in seeing if they can.
"Please let her know if we can still watch our movies together," Elissa sips her Capri Sun drink before looking at James with a "please tell her" look.
James nods showing he'll do it. "Don't worry, promise I will. I doubt she's changed her mind about watching them with you."
Elissa smiles, trusting that her brother will keep his word.
"Thanks, I can't wait to hear what she says."
"Me too." James smiles back.
The two continue to talk away. That relaxing vibe is what James is around this evening. It's him and Elissa spending time together.
It's their usual brother-sister hang-out. For this evening Elissa chose to watch TV for a few hours to spend her day. She and Chase are on spring break too since they're all in the same school district. Elissa loves this free time to do whatever makes her happy. And a way to do this is by relaxing with James. She would with Chase too, but he's napping in his room.
He's taking this chance to catch up on some sleep. I mean James doesn't blame him that's why he and Elissa left their brother to have time to rest for a few hours. Along with that James doesn't mind being at home. Today's been a peaceful day with not much going on so that's nice to see.
"Hey, Jay I know you like being Lia's friend."
James snaps out of his thoughts. His head whirls away from watching Fred and Barney taking care of baby Pebbles. "The Flintstones" plays on the TV. The cartoon's reruns are another one of James's favorites when he was a kid. And since Elissa loves it too they've been enjoying it together.
But now he sees Elissa observe him with a thoughtful look.
"I do like being her friend." James agrees with a knowing smile.
"What do you like about her? I want to learn more about Lia." Elissa asks. She puts her empty bag in her lap. She gives a listening ear to James.
That's sweet of her. James muses as he considers his little sister's actions. Elissa wants to know more about Lia, and the person she can go to is James. When it comes to Lia, he'll be happy to talk about her. It comes easy to him.
"I'd love to tell you more about her," James answers. "Let's see, well Lia's caring. That's one thing about her that's special. She'll make sure to check in with you. It can be big or small, but she'll love to do it."
"That is true. I know she checks in with you, you always text her," Elissa acknowledges.
"Yep, she does. I check in with her too, to show that I care back." James nods. "What else about Li? Ooh, she loves to make you smile. She doesn't even have to try but she can! That's another cool thing about her."
"Hey, that's just like me! I can make others smile. I'll make Lia laugh more too, that can make her smile. Last time she told me she loves me being funny." Elissa proudly reveals.
James laughs at his sister's happy reflection. "You're right, you're the best at making anyone laugh. So, you can make Lia laugh any time."
"And she loves music too," James recalls. This little fact brightens his mood. "She loves it, she'll sing or dance along to her favorites! To be honest it's fun to see."
Since Lia and James shared their playlists, they've loved listening to music together. Sometimes Lia sings a song and dances along with it. She'll dance, not caring if it's goofy or not, and then she'll grab James to join her, which makes it even better.
"Really? If she loves to dance too, does that mean we can play "Just Dance" sometimes?" Elissa gasps at hearing these new details.
James nods amused. "I know she'll love that! You can ask her sometime if she'd like to play Just Dance."
Elissa rests her head against the couch cushion as she looks at James. "I will. It'll be another day I'll tell her."
It falls silent. James sits there pondering what else to say to Elissa. There are many other things he could say about Lia just because she's a unique person.
"I think you guys have a great friendship."
James's eyes widened at Elissa's comment. She meets his eyes with a caring, observant expression. He didn't expect to hear that from her.
"You think so?" he gently asks.
Elissa nods. She rambles. "Yep, I do! You guys say hi when you see each other. Listen to stuff you both like to say. Make each other smile. You're amazing friends."
Wow, she's spot on. James stares stunned at his sister but it just warms his heart altogether too.
He didn't realize how observant she was towards his friendship with Lia. She's been paying attention and has seen James showing Lia he can be a good friend. Someone that doesn't make her question whether their friendship is meant for them.
And to know his sister has seen that makes James thankful he hasn't lost sight on showing Lia that he likes to be her friend. That those memories that they're making together aren't meaningless but special.
"Thanks, I'm glad you see I want to be a nice friend."
"You're welcome and I see it. I like Lia and she's nice. I want to be her friend because she's kind to me."
"I know she'll love to be yours too. She thinks you're awesome, so I think you guys can be great friends."
He reaches over to tickle her in the stomach causing Elissa to happily laugh. She pulls away before he can ambush her with his endless tickles.
"You think so?" Elissa asks.
She moves back as James stops his small tickles. Hope fills her hazel eyes wanting to believe this. He'll love this for Elissa and Lia.
He smiles. "I do El, I believe it."
"What're you two smiling about?"
A sleepy voice greets the siblings. Elissa and James turn to see Chase standing in the room's doorway as he yawns. His dark hair is frizzled as he runs his hands through it to try to tame down the wild curls that are sticking out.
"Hey Chasey, did you have a nice beauty sleep? I see you visited Dreamland," Elissa teases.
Chase groans at his sister's teasing as he shakes his head. He rolls his eyes. "Haha real funny Elissa," After he ignores her teasing he says. "C'mon, my hair can't look that bad right?"
James and Elissa share a look.
"We should be honest?" James innocently asks. His sister nods.
"It'll be the nice thing to do," Elissa admits with a straight face.
They turn back to Chase who's watching the whole exchange like a little kid who could be cautious for a surprise.
"You have wild lion hair! It's all over the place. Do you want us to tame it for you?" Elissa giggles.
Chase's face drops at El's lovely comeback! James watches with amusement as Elissa soars off the couch. She grabs Chase's hand as she twirls to James.
"We'll be back Jay! I'm going to find a perfect brush so we can help him. This is our mission today! Helping Chase tame his hair. Ooh and since we are, we can be his barbers for this too!"
"Excuse me, who said I ever wanted to—" Chase's horrified shriek vanishes in the air as Elissa yanks him out of the room to start their big task!
After they're gone James cracks up. He can't get over the priceless look on Chase's face towards Elissa. Ooh, he'd love to be a helpful barber for this!
"Hey don't forget the mirror El, we need that!" James calls. Having a pleased grin, he trails after them, to take part in helping Chase's lovely bed hair.
♡ ♡ ♡
"Hi, Jay! I was about to call you."
It's 10 PM as James sits on his bed in his room. Having showered he's freshened up for bed. He holds his phone as Lia appears on the screen for FaceTime. He notices she's in her room ready for bed too.
"Hi, and really? It looks like I beat you to it today," he grins as Lia shakes her head at his happiness.
"Looks like you did," She smiles back as the two relaxes. Now they spend time catching up with each other. Sharing how their days' have been.
"You wouldn't believe what happened to me 2 hours ago," Lia remarks. As she talks she finishes some chocolate she had been munching on as a snack.
"I'm intrigued, what happened?" James asks, showing a listening ear.
"Okay, so I went grocery shopping. I had to grab a few things from Walmart since I want to make some cranberry muffins later this week. So all went well with getting all my food. That is until I almost got into the wrong car." she sighs embarrassed by her words.
"Oh, was it I thought my car was parked here, type of situation?" James asks to understand the story.
"Yes, you got it," she nods, glad he understands her dilemma. "That's exactly it. I'm leaving Walmart, and it's getting dark. I don't like being in parking lots when I'm alone at night. But my line was long, so it stalled me."
She brushes her hair from her face as she continues. "I'm walking back with my groceries and thought I was walking in the right direction. But it looks like I wasn't. I walked up to a car that looked exactly like mine. I tried using my key, but it didn't work and then I pulled the door handle. . ."
Lia covers her face with one hand cringing at her mistake.
"I kept trying to open the door, but it didn't budge with my key. I was like what the heck! Why won't it open? And then I stopped to check the window. Tell me why I see 2 empty baby car seats in the back seat."
James listens and sees Lia is not proud of the story she's telling him.
"I'm like wait what? I don't have kids. When did I ever have kids? I would've remembered that—and then I realized crap that's not my car!"
"Aww Li," James sympathizes knowing she must've had a panic moment when that occurred.
Lia uses her hands to express her "I'm an idiot" moment. She exhales. "I back away realizing I gotta go before the owner sees me! So I look around and see that a few feet away is my car. My car was a few feet away. I needed to walk a little more."
Lia groans. She lies back in her spot falling upon her pillows. "I tried to get into someone else's car."
"Hey, you didn't mean it. Both cars are the same. I would've gotten confused too," James assures as Lia relaxes at his words. "And besides you checked to see it was your car. And it wasn't so you backed off. It's not like you wanted to get into their car."
Lia nods. "You're right. It's not like I wanted to rob that person. Thankfully I found mine and went home with my muffin stuff."
"And now you're home so you can tell me this unique story," James grins, trying to make Lia not feel too embarrassed about her mistake.
Her brown eyes twinkle at the sight of James trying to cheer her up. "Yep, an eventful day of almost getting into the wrong car. Right at Walmart, highlighted by yours truly!" Rich sarcasm looms from Lia's voice.
James can't hide his laughter. Its merry sound blooms from his lips. His sweet smile is seen. He tries to contain it but fails as he lets loose.
"Wow, me saying that was your breaking point? It's not funny James," Lia protests. She glares at the cheerful boy but then she falls into laughter too.
"Okay, okay—hold on stop Lia, let me breathe!" James blurts. Once he's done his face glows overcoming his laughing fit. He stays composed.
"You're so mean, you're like Angie when she's trying not to pass out by my stories!" Lia gasps as James raises his hand to stop her from allowing it to happen again.
After they're done laughing Lia shakes her head accepting it. "Well, that's my lovely fun for today, how about you? How was your day at home?"
"Good. I spent most of it with El. We hung out watching her fave shows. The Flintstones is a classic we love. And by the way, she asked about you today."
"Love the Flintstones, it's the best show! Did she ask about me? She's so sweet, I know she wants me to come over. I'm sorry I haven't had the time too," Lia admits.
"You're good. We can all be busy, I get it. But that does remind me. El asked me earlier when you can visit. I told her I'll ask you about it tonight."
"That's sweet, she was asking. I'd love to come over, how about tomorrow?" Lia's kind eyes smile.
James's eyes widened not expecting how fast this happened. That was quick. He realizes this could be their chance. Lia could visit them and when Elissa finds out she'll be the happiest kid on the planet!
"Really? You can come over, it's not taking away from any plans?" James echoes with hopeful eyes.
"Nope. I have no big plans for the next few days. I can stop by around 4 and we can spend the day together."
James's mood brightens. Lia's showing she'll love to spend time with them. She's willing to spend those hours with them until it gets late.
"That's great. It'll be El, Chase, and me. My dad will be at work all day, and Mom's out of town for a few days for a friend's baby shower."
"So that's our plan?" Lia proposes with a kind smile.
"That's our plan. El's going to be so excited about this. Thanks, Li."
"Of course, now's a great time for us. Can't wait to see Chase and El."
"They'll love to see you too. I know I am," James murmurs.
Lia smiles. "Me too."
"Before I forget, El asked if you guys can still watch her movies?"
Lia laughs. "I'd love to watch anything with her. I'm a movie fan at heart."
"So, I'll catch you singing some "Hakuna Matata?" James teases.
Lia nods with no shame. "Hey, I can't resist "The Lion King!"
James smiles at the truth. "I know you do since your playlist shows it! I'm guilty too as I love that movie."
Lia gently yawns, covering her mouth with her hand. James knows it's a sign she's tired. He checks the time to see it's around 11 PM. It is late now.
"You look sleepy; you can go to sleep," James murmurs.
Lia nods, seeming fine with this idea. "I am. It was nice to talk."
"It was," James accepts her moving above to log off from their calm for the night. "Talk tomorrow."
"We will," she answers. Lia waves. "Take care. Sleep well."
"You too, have a good night."
James sees her warm smile one last time before ending the call. After putting his phone on his nightstand James slips into bed for the night.
That phone call with Lia was a peaceful way to end his day. James's head touches the pillow at peace in bed. He'll sleep knowing that when he wakes up it'll be a new day he's looking forward to seeing unfold.
❥
hi, I hope this chapter made you guys smile, it's a cute one :)
I love seeing El and Jay spend time together! Their sibling bond is always fun to share in this book. I like knowing how close they are. It's part of why I adore writing their scenes together.
And with Lia and James, they had their time too at the end. I love their FT calls! It never fails to make my day. I always love writing those scenes for them! You truly see they love being themselves when they're together 💗
Who else is excited for Lia to visit the Hales'? All I can say is their time together will be amazing to see!
What'd you guys think of this chapter? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Thank you all for reading my book, I always love seeing your kindness. I'll see guys in Chapter 37. Take care ♥️