The girl looked at the door longingly, she looked back towards Lottie, "just a minute Lexie." She told the girl. Lottie leaned over to zip the girls jacket up, "now you won't get sick." Lottie smiled. Alexa didn't even have time to worry about things like illness, she wanted to be outside, and that's all she could focus on.
"Mommies not even here yet." Alexa pointed out, the women sure were slow, and it seemed like it was purposefully being done to annoy her, even if she didn't have any evidence for it. "I know you're excited but you need to be patient." Lottie chided, she took the girl by her shoulders.
"Let's play a fun game, it's called standing still." Lottie laughed, Alexa thought the game was stupid, but she wanted to show her capability. So she stood up straight, not even letting our knees bend.
Daisy seemed amused when she entered the hallway, "you don't need to stand like you're in the army, sweetie." She teased, but Alexa didn't falter. "Okay you won the game." Lottie gave in.
Silently, the girl shifted, "what type of games are you forcing her to play?" Daisy questioned, an entertained smile on her lips. "Oh nothing." Lottie shrugged, "besides we should go now, before Lexie combusts."
That was an idea that Lexie could agree to, "oh wait one second, we've forgot something." The blonde spoke before disappearing. Alexa looked in disgust once she returned, scrunching her nose up. "It's either this or we stay home." Lottie shrugged, Alexa looked towards Daisy for help, "mama's right." Daisy agreed.
The stupid harness had made it's return.
She did really want to go out, and this was the first time that it wasn't to the backyard. Sighing in defeat, she held her arms out, closing her eyes. The sound of the clip being buckled felt painful to her ears, and she only dared to open her eyes afterwards.
Averting her gaze, she looked towards the dog who was sat calmly, apparently Cooper was much better behaved than she was.
"Can I hold Cooper?" She questioned, "maybe when we get to the field sweetie." Daisy offered. The girl knew how little promise her suggestion held, but she attempted to ignore the harness and the fact she couldn't hold Cooper's leash, she had been excited before and she should still be excited now.
Another positive was that she wasn't wearing her ladybug boots, for once.
The girl stood back diligently, watching as Lottie unlocked the door. The moment she had felt Daisy's hand nudge her back, she didn't need anymore encouragement, she was out of the door. To the harnesses credit, the leash was long enough to mean she wasn't tugged back.
Alexa merely enjoyed the fresh air, waiting for the women to finish locking the door. "Come on let's go." Daisy spoke, and with that, the family made their way away from the house. In the daylight, Alexa could see the surroundings much clearer. Noting the lack of other houses, merely a lot of land.
They had gone down a trail, and Alexa observed the nature in silence, walking ahead of the women who were talking. Cooper was slightly ahead of her, and she didn't try to dwell on the fact that both her and Cooper were wearing leashes.
Being distracted, she had wandered slightly too far, the girl felt a tug at her chest. Heat rushed to her face, being pulled back from the harness. She had frozen on the spot, feeling embarrassed. "That's what the harness is for sweetie, to keep you from wandering too far." Lottie reassured her, which was easy for to say, given she wasn't wearing one herself.
The women had caught up to her at that point, Daisy took the girl's hand into her own, "let's walk together." She suggested. Alexa finally began to move again, Lottie had gone behind the pair to stand on the other side of Alexa. Before she knew it, both her hands were being held.
It felt awkward for her as she walked, she wasn't sure if she liked it or not, but she didn't have much of a choice if she didn't.
She looked towards the ground as they walked, if she focused on the dirt enough, she couldn't feel the slightly tight material on her chest. She could see the mark from Cooper's paw prints in the ground, she had been staring up at the ground ahead when she accidentally tripped over a rock.
She had cringed, preparing to feel the dirt against her face, but it never happened. "You need to be careful, princess." Lottie softly lectured, "it was the rock's fault." Alexa mumbled, "mhm." Lottie chuckled.
The girl was glad that her face didn't have a date with the dirt, but her humiliation loomed over the relief. She made sure to be extra aware of the ground as she continued on, eventually they reached a gate. Alexa felt her hand being released by Daisy, the brunette messed with the gate for a moment before giving up, "It's jammed." She observed.
With the gate being stuck, Alexa had assumed that they would have to turn back and go home. Alexa watched bewildered as Daisy climbed the gate, Cooper managed to get himself underneath the gate, only leaving Lottie and Alexa on the other side.
Alexa was hesitant, she hadn't particularly climbed a lot of gates in her life, it wasn't tall per se but it did scare her. "Can you go first?" She asked Lottie, the blonde followed the girl's requests. Now she understood why she wearing the harness, because if she hadn't, she was sure she would've ran.
There was no hopes of that now however, the leash draping over the gate. "I'll help you down the other side, no need to be scared." Daisy comforted, Alexa nodded. She stood on the bottom piece of wood, the gate moved slightly before standing still once more. Swallowing thickly, she climbed up the fence.
She hitched a leg onto the other side, repeating the same process. The girl hadn't needed to climb down however, Daisy picked up the girl, placing her on the ground, "thanks." Alexa muttered.
Now they were over the fence, she was able to see the field they were in, and it really was magnificent. She didn't think she'd ever seen so many flowers, and she was in awe.
Cooper's leash was unclipped, and the girl didn't even complain about the fact that Daisy hadn't fulfilled her earlier promise, she wanted to enjoy the scenery. Alexa walked into the field, feeling the grass brush against her legs, and she was glad that didn't have hay fever.
She approached one of the brushes, squatting down to observe the flowers. Alexa reached her hand out, "don't touch the pretty flowers." Daisy's voice made her jump for the second time this world, the girl hastily revoked her hand, Daisy came behind her. "they might have thorns on them Lexie, plus we're the ones invading in on their homes."
Alexa nodded, Daisy did make a valid point. After a few moments, the girl stood back up. "Me and mommy have something we need to talk to you about." Lottie spoke, Alexa looked back towards her, "so tomorrow, me and mommy have to go somewhere." The blonde began.
Were they taking her out in public again? maybe this time she could slip away long enough to get help, or even just get away.
"I'll be quiet." Alexa told her, "see so that's the thing Lexie, me and mama will be going but you'll be staying home." Daisy responded. The girl tried not to let the anxiety show in her face, she hoped they wouldn't be mean enough to leave her stuck in the crib all day, it was essentially a makeshift cage.
"Elise is going to watch you." Lottie informed her, and somehow this seemed worse than the alternative.
~~
It was rather awkward, or at least Alexa thought it to be. The women had been gone all of twenty minutes, she had held her composure as they left, she wasn't going to cry and pout like a child- they'd be back.
She had yet to be around Elise since the restaurant incident, and being around her was like walking on unchartered ground. "So you wandered off?" Elise questioned, Alexa looked down at the sippy cup in her hands, she shrugged. "Well next time if you feel like going out, can you wait till a reasonable hour in the morning? Waking up at three am was not fun."
"Sorry." Alexa dryly stated, "I gotta give it to you, you had guts." Elise complimented, Alexa hated how the woman was making the situation so light hearted. Elise acted as if it was a joke, "you don't have to be so uptight around me." The woman told her.
"I don't like you." The girl told her, crossing her arms as she looked over at the woman, "well that sucks, pretty unfortunate that you say it now given we'll be spending the day together." Elise smiled. The redhead was nothing like Lottie and Daisy, which was really infuriating given she didn't have much of an affinity for the girl.
Hating Elise was easy, any fear she once had was crushed, Elise couldn't hurt her.
"I don't know about you but sitting here moping around is pretty boring." Elise stated, Alexa glared at her, Elise held her hands in surrender, "if looks could kill." She laughed. "If you decide to stop being so grumpy, we could go look through some old boxes and I could tell you some stories about your mommies." The woman suggested.
This interested the girl, more than she would care to admit. "Okay." She whispered, "gonna have to speak up Lex." Elise said, "I said okay." Alexa said a tad louder. Elise grinned, "splendid."
Elise didn't need much more encouragement than that, she offered a hand to the girl, who merely scowled at it before standing up by herself. "Suit yourself, you're not going to melt if you touch me." The woman chided, she began to walk away and it took Alexa a moment to realise that she needed to follow her. She had to speed walk slightly to catch up, as they ascended up the stairs, Alexa realised that it was the first time she'd ever gone up the stairs by herself.
The stair gate proved to be difficult for Elise even, who took a couple minutes to get it up. She opened the gate, "ladies first." She joked, Alexa rolled her eyes as she went first. The girl was confused when they were led into the women's closet, Elise pulled out a few boxes that had been stashed away. "Are you even allowed to be in here?" Alexa asked, "of course I am, I'm sure that if your mommies trust me with you then they trust me in their closet."
Alexa didn't offer a response, sitting down on the floor with Elise following suit. The first box was opened, and there was a photo album on top, "this was their wedding." Elise grinned.
"I was the maid of honour on both sides of course." The woman boasted, "I can't see why they like you." Alexa mused, "I've been told I'm a bit of an acquired taste." Elise didn't take offence. The pair flipped through the photo album, seeing pictures of both of the women standing in white dresses, matching smiles on their faces, and Alexa noted all the people in the photos.
Strangers who she didn't know the names of, yet apparently they bore some significance to the women. Both of the women looked slightly younger in the pictures, and it was almost odd to see them as normal people, before they were technical criminals.
One thing she did note was that in the assumed family pictures, there was no man who resembled Lottie on there, and she had the realisation that Lottie's dad must've passed before the wedding. With that thought, she hadn't much of a want to look more into the wedding album, she shut the book closed and placed it beside her.
"You said you'd tell me stories." Alexa pointed out, "well what stories do you wanna hear?" Elise enquired, the girl shrugged.
"We could play a question game." Elise proposed, a glimmer of mischief accompanying her grin. "I've played that before, I don't like it." Alexa replied, "oh well that's because you weren't playing it with me, unless you're scared?"
She knew what the redhead was doing and yet she couldn't resist, "I get to ask you something first." Alexa negotiated, "wouldn't expect anything less." Elise agreed. "How are you okay with this?" Alexa asked, staring into the woman's eyes. Elise let out a chuckle, "you really are straight to the point hm?" She questioned as she continued to look through the boxes.
"They're my best friends, and you know I was a little confused when they explained it to me, but they're good people and they only have your best interests in mind." She answered, honesty dripped through her tone, "you truly believe that?" The girl enquired, Elise nodded. "Now I get to ask you a question." She seemed much more amused at this.
"Who's your favourite?" Elise asked, Alexa was taken aback by this question, "I can't answer that." The girl said. "You asked me a question, I answered, now it's your turn." Elise justified, "a deals a deal."
Alexa looked around the room, there was no cameras, she knew she was being paranoid but she felt the need to check anyways. "Lottie." She whispered in shame, she shuffled slightly away from the woman. "I'm not playing this game with you anymore, you play dirty." She insulted, focusing back on the box.
She had opened the second box, looking through some photos, underneath an old picture she caught a glimpse of colour. She lifted up the photo, and she didn't know how to process what was in front of her.
A program from the school play she'd been in during senior year.
Looking up, Elise was preoccupied with a photo album. Alexa quickly stuffed the program back underneath the photos, unable to process what she had just seen. Suddenly, she stood up, hoping her panic wouldn't show on her face. "I need the bathroom!" She blurted out, before realising what she had just signed herself up for.