Chapter 5
"Do you know what you're having yet?" Orchid asked Mom as we ate our dinner. "Because I'm all for another girl."
"No way," Alan said. "I don't want another sister. I already have two, I don't want three."
"Yeah? Well, I only have one sister and I have three brothers," Orchid said. "I don't want four brothers and one sister."
Mom sighed. "No, we don't know what I'm having yet. We might find out in four weeks at my next ultrasound. It depends if the baby will let us see."
I added everything up in my head. Normally, Mom went for her second ultrasound at sixteen weeks, meaning right now, she was twelve weeks pregnant and we just found out yesterday. "Mom, how come you waited twelve weeks to tell us?" I asked.
"We wanted to make sure we made it passed the first trimester before saying anything," Mom said. "It's less likely they'll be a miscarriage if it's passed the first trimester."
"I hope it's a girl," Orchid said.
"I hope it's a boy," Alan said and Nolan agreed.
"Girl."
"Boy."
"Girl."
"Boy."
"I have an idea," I said. "How about we donate all three of you to the circus, and Mom can have a boy or a girl?"
Dad laughed at that, which only made Mom glare at him. He then stopped laughing and continued eating his food. Mom looked back at the triplets. "Whatever we have, we have," she said. "When I was first pregnant, I wanted a girl."
"Ha!" Orchid said to me. "She didn't even want you!"
"Shut it before I actually do donate you to the circus behind Mom and Dad's back," I said.
"Okay, let me rephrase that," Mom said. "I preferred a girl, but I was still happy when we found out that we were having a boy."
"I still want another sister," Orchid said, then got into an argument with Alan and Nolan.
I rolled my eyes before looking at the one person who was quiet throughout the entire meal. Tulip hadn't said a single word, which was odd because she loved talking during dinner. She also hadn't even touched her dinner. She was too busy stirring around the corn on her plate.
"Tulip, are you okay?" I asked quietly as the triplets continued to argue.
"Yeah," she said softly. "I'm just not hungry. I think I'm going to go play with my toys." Without another word, she got off her chair and went upstairs.
Nobody even noticed that she left. The triplets were still busy arguing and Mom and Dad were talking about the baby.
Since I just finished my dinner, I got up from the table and dropped my plate in the sink before heading upstairs to Tulip and Orchid's room. Tulip was sitting on the floor beside her bed, playing with her favorite doll.
I sat down beside her, but she kept her focus on her doll. "Do you want to talk?" I asked.
Tulip shook her head and continued playing with her doll.
"Tulip, come on," I said. "Why don't you tell me what's wrong?"
"I don't want another brother or sister," Tulip said quietly.
Oh, I got it. She was the baby of the family for so long, but soon enough, she wasn't going to be. She was probably afraid she was going to be forgotten, which was kind of starting already considering nobody noticed her leave the table.
"Mom and Dad will just forget about me," she said, placing her doll on the floor. She then pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on her knees. "They didn't even ask how my dancing went yesterday like they always do."
"Mom and Dad won't forget about you," I assured. "Their focus will be on the baby, yes, but it's normal. Look, when I was three years old, Mom told me and Dad that they were going to have not one but three babies. I was happy about it at first, but then Mom and Dad slowly began to have their focus on me instead of the babies. I couldn't do anything about it. But, when the y were born, I was happy again because I realized that they already gave me all their focus. They never forgot about me, but they had to put me behind the triplets."
"I don't want to be behind anyone," Tulip said.
"If it makes you feel any better, I won't forget about you," I said. "I'll always be here for you, even when the baby comes."
Tulip got up from her spot on the floor and gave me a big hug. "You're my favorite brother, Ryder."
"And you're my favorite sister," I said. "How about we go out for some ice cream? Just me and you."
Tulip smiled. "Okay!"
The two of us went downstairs. Everyone else was still eating, surprisingly. Alan and Nolan usually scarf down their food. Though they were still arguing with Orchid.
"Mom, Dad, I'm taking Tulip out for some ice cream," I said.
"I want to come!" Orchid said, breaking away from the argument.
"Me too!" Alan said.
"And me!" Nolan added.
"Can you take them, too?" Mom asked.
"I kind of just want to take Tulip," I said. I didn't really want to tell Mom and Dad quite yet about how Tulip was feeling about the whole sixth baby thing. "I'll take the triplets another day." Or not.
"But that's not fair!" Alan said. "I want to come! Mom, tell Ryder to take us!"
"Ryder, please?" Mom asked.
I sighed. "I promise I'll take them another day. But I really just want to take Tulip."
"Come on, please?" Orchid asked. "We'll be quiet, we promise."
"He's only taking Tulip, get over it," Dad said.
"It's not fair!" Nolan said. "Tulip didn't even finish her dinner!"
"Oh, boo hoo," Dad said. "Ryder wants to take Tulip, so he's taking Tulip. He'll take you another day."
Before the triplets could complain even more, Tulip and I went to the front door and got our shoes from the closet. Once they were on, I grabbed my car keys and we got into my car.
The ice cream shop I normally went to wasn't that long of a drive and we were there in about five minutes. And luckily, the line up wasn't too long, so we didn't have to wait a long time to get our ice cream.
Tulip got cookie dough, her favorite, and I got rocky road. I didn't really have a favorite flavor. I just got whatever I felt like getting.
We sat down at one of the tables to eat our ice cream, because I would rather eat there than on the way home. It gave me more time to spend away from those devil spawns that were my siblings.
I was sitting facing the door and I suddenly saw Mae walk in with who I was guessing with her mom. Mae saw me and smiled, giving me a small wave. I smiled and waved back, which only caught Tulip's attention. She turned in her seat and gasped when she saw Mae. Tulip then faced me again. "It's your not-girlfriend!" she said happily, though thankfully quietly.
"Tulip...."
"I like Maeder," Tulip said. "And Grandpa does too. And Dad. And Mom."
"Again with the Maeder?" I asked. "Tulip, she's just my friend, okay?"
Tulip pouted and continued eating her ice cream, muttering something about me not accepting Maeder. Why did my family have to be heavy shippers?
I blame my grandpa.
While Mae's mom was at the counter, Mae walked over to us. "Hi," she said.
I was about to reply when Tulip beat me to it. "Hi, Mae!"
Mae smiled at Tulip. "Tulip, right?"
"You remembered!" Tulip said happily before looking at me. "I like her." I kind of figured that since she wouldn't stop talking about Maeder.
"Hi," I finally replied. "I see you found the best ice cream in town."
"Is it really the best ice cream?" Mae asked. "My mom and I only came here because it was close to our house."
"Trust me, it's the best," I said. "Not only is it delicious, but it alleviates any forlorn feelings we may have."
Mae raised her eyebrows. "Yeah, I have no idea what any of that means...."
"Sorry, that happens sometimes," I said. I normally increased my vocabulary when I was nervous.
Wait....
Why on earth was I nervous?
"I meant that it helps us feel beatific," I said, but Mae still looked confused. "Sorry....I mean happy. It helps us feel happy if we're sad....Yeah."
"Okay," Mae said slowly, probably noticing how weird I was being. I didn't even know why I was being that way. "Well, I should probably head back to my mom. I'll see you tomorrow."
When she walked off, I sighed and rubbed my forehead.
"You did it again, Ryder," Tulip said. "You used big words. Why?'
"I have no idea, Tulip," I said.
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Okay, I have something in my eye, and it's been six hours. -.- I can't get whatever it is out and it's been distracting me from writing. I guess I have to wait until I fall asleep because whenever I have something in my eye, it's always gone when I go to sleep and wake up.
Anyway, I feel bad for my little Tulip. She has been the baby of the family for six years, but now another one comes on. I don't know how she feels because I was only one when my brother was born, so I don't even remember. cx
I still don't know what the gender of the baby will be. I have a name picked out for a boy and girl, so now I need to decide what it will be. I might just make the Princes in Sims 4, get Poppy pregnant, and see what the gender is, which will then be the gender of the baby. cx Believe it or not, that was how I chose the genders of the kids in one of my books, Hear Me Out.