"I live here," Cole responds, "What are you doing?"
"Trying to find the bathroom. Clinton told me it was somewhere here down the hall," I explain.
"What are you doing in my house?" Cole asks.
"Will invited us over," I shrug, "Now do you know where the bathroom is."
"Of course I do, I live here," Cole scoffs. We stare at each other in silence. Man those eyes.
"Well, where is it?" I ask. Cole leans back against the door he came from, "I think it'll be much more amusing to have you find it."
I sigh, "you are no help."
I go to the next door down the hall and pull that one open. Another closet.
"How many closets do you need?" I exclaim. I hear Cole laughing at me but I ignore him. I turn around and look at the door he came from. I raise my eyebrow at him and his face slightly pales.
"Nope, that room's off limits," Cole crosses his arms and stands in front of it.
"Is it your room?" I ask, curiously.
"Um, it's, well, yeah, I guess," Cole stammers, much to my amusement.
"It's not the bathroom," I ask.
"It's not," he clarifies.
"Okay. Well can you stop this silly game and tell me where the bathroom is?" I ask. Cole sighs and points to the door on the far end of the hall.
"That one," he walks towards it and pulls it open, "see."
I walk towards and smile in relief, "Thank you!"
I walk in and realize he's standing outside the door.
"I can't pee while you're listening!" I exclaim. Cole laughs and I hear the clamour of his footsteps fade away.
After I've finished my business in the bathroom, I wash my hands and exit, almost running into a cheery Lucy and Will carrying the sodas.
"Ara!" Lucy exclaims. Will looks excitedly at her.
"You want to tell her or can I?" Will asks.
"You were her friend first," Lucy shrugs.
"We're together!" Will exclaims and I laugh and decide to tease them a little.
"I can see that, we're all together in the hall Will," I smirk at them.
Will's face falls in confusion, "No Ara, we're together as in dating."
"I know that you idiot," I smack his arm lightly, "Congratulations you guys! Go on and tell the others the wonderful news Will, I need to talk to Lu for a second,"
Will goes ahead with the drinks after sending Lucy a heartmelting smile. She blushes and I smile at her. When he's out of sight Lucy smacks my arm.
"We're in the hall together, come on Ara, you couldn't have made it easy?" Lucy annoyedly, but not actually annoyed, asks. We both start to laugh and I hug her tightly.
"I'm so happy for you Lu," I whisper.
"I wouldn't have done it without you," Lucy says and I release her.
"Pish posh, that's nonsense," I dismiss her with a wave of my arm, "how did you do it?"
Lucy's cheecks brighten, "Well, we were walking to the kitchen and when we got there we were alone and we were getting the drinks, well Will was, and I was kind of staring at him like a stalker, and then he turned to say something to me and I didn't hear a word he said and then I vaguely remember him asking if I was okay and I just... I kissed him. And he kissed me back. And we sort of made out a lot and then we talked after and he asked me to be his girlfriend and of course I accepted."
"Lucy that's so cute," I croon, "Alright, let's get back to them."
A few hours later, Ryder texts us and says he's on his way because it's getting late. We say our goodbyes and wait for Ryder outside.
"We did it Ara," Carter says happily, "we made actual, real friends!"
I nod my head, "we did."
"Maybe leaving Maryland wasn't such a bad thing." Carter says and I can't help but, in that moment, completely and utterly agree.
_________
The next morning I wake up and everything feels good. School goes by quickly and Will announces that he's having a party at his house Friday night after the first football game of the season. All day, him and Lucy were so cute together holding hands and laughing and just being a couple. It was a nice sight.
At lunch, my brothers and I were enjoying the school food, baked ziti and triple chocolate chip cookies, when the Bimbos approached yet again. I rolled my eyes and took a large spoonful of ziti.
"Ara! We were wondering if you wanted to try out for the cheerleading squad. We know you'd fit right in!" Ashley asks. I start choking on my ziti and Scott pats my back. I swallow and look at them incredulously.
"How did you ever get that idea?" I ask, confused. Ashley smiles brightly.
"Well! You are already one of the most popular girls in school and you're gorgeous so you'll fit right along in with us," Ashley supplies her 'logic'. I'm popular? I squish down the odd feeling.
"Um, no thanks, I don't... cheer?" I say and turn back to my food.
"Aw come on, just come to like one practice and you'll see how much fun it is!" Bimbo Four practically whines. I look around and see the whole cafeteria watching our exchange.
"Um, sorry, I -" I try to find a way to let them down gently when my idiot brothers decide to have fun with this.
"Aww come on, Ara, don't you think it would be so much fun to cheer?" Ryder asks, mimicing Bimbo Four's tone.
"No, Ryder," I grit through my teeth at him. I take a deep breath and try to be pleasant, "I don't have time to cheer, what with the recent move and all, but er, um, thanks?"
Ashley seems content with this, "Maybe later in the season then."
She twirls on her heel and walks away before I can say anything else. As Ashley leaves, the cafeteria goes back to normal.
"Why'd you do that?" I glare at Ryder.
"Unsuccessful Ry, that will be three stamps, two lincolns and one poker chip," Scott announces smugly. Ryder sighs and hands over the odd pieces.
"Was this a part of your annoy Ara game?" I ask. Thomas nods his head.
"We wanted to see if we could get you to scream at Ashley," he explains. I groan in frustration. Oh brothers.
When I get home, I realize I'm looking forward to visiting David. I remember I promised him I'd sing for him, so I grab my guitar on the way out. We have the same arrangement as last time, picking up Ryder after he showers at school and eating the sandwiches Jason had made earlier in the car on the way to the hospital.
We sign in and make our ways to the children's floor. I look eyes with Carter and he nods encouragingly and I do the same for him, and we part ways. I knock on David's room door.
"Knock, knock, anyone there?" I call out, gently in case he's sleeping.
"Ara, is that you?" David calls out and I enter the room. He sees my guitar and his face brightens, "You brought your guitar.
"Of course, I did, I promised, didn't I?" I remind him. He nods his head. Instead of interviewing me today, he asks me to play a bumch of songs and I oblige. He takes notes in La Vie. Halfway through Mom pops in for a minute and listens to me sing. I was so surpised she actually came in.
"Sorry to interrupt, that was lovely dear, David, can I listen to your heart real quick?" Mom asks David. David nods his head.
I watch how gentle and caring she is with him. Why couldn't she have done that to me? Like ever? I push down my jealous feelings. Now is not the time nor place.
Mom uses her stethescope and listens to Davids heart and makes notes in his chart while making small talk with him.
David excitedly explains how I am going to come all the time to visit him and Mom smiles at me.
"That's wonderful, dear," she says, and it takes me a minute, but it seems like she doesn't want David to know I'm her daughter. No, I'm reading to much into everything.
"Well David, I'll leave you to it, you're in wonderful hands with this girl!" Mom chirps and quickly exits the room. I stare at the door she exited a few seconds ago. I shake my head and turn back to David.
"Is that your Mom?" David asks. I stare at him for a second before remembering I told him last time that my mom worked here.
"Howd you figure that?" I ask, letting him show off.
"Her last name is Jenson, your last name is Jenson and you said your mom worked here and you look kinda like her," David proudly states. I look like her?
"Well aren't you smart? You're going to be a fabulous reporter," I compliment him.
His smile brightens,"you really think so?"
"I know it," I nod and settle my guitar back, "now more songs?"
When the hour is up, I leave David, promising to try and come Sunday. I'm sure I can spare an hour on Sunday to visit him.
I meet my brothers in the hall and we march back downstairs. Hungry again, I ask Jason if we can get food and he has Ryder call in Chinese takeout that we will pick up on our way home.
After some of the best Chinese food I've had in my life, I lie in bed thinking about Mom. My mind is racing and I can't find sleep. Scott comes in to check on me and notices I'm still up.
"Ara? You're still awake?" He steps in and closes the door behind him.
I nod, "Yeah, I can't sleep."
Scott comes over and sits on my bed beside me, "What's keeping you up?"
I sigh,"Mom, what's keeping you up?"
"Working on college essays," he admits, laying down beside me, "I keep overthinking what to say in them, and,uh, I don't know ... Mom. What about Mom?"
"She came in to check on David, the kid I'm assigned to, and it feels like she didn't want David to know we were related, even though he already knew," I take a deep breath, "I'm overthinking this aren't I?"
Scott ponders this for a second, "Did she call you be your name or touch you?"
I think back, "No, never."
Scott sighs, "I don't know, I wasn't there, but it seems like you're right Ara. I don't for the life of me know why she would do that, though."
Tears well up in my eyes, "Do you think... nevermind,"
"What is it, Ara?" he presses.
"Do you think I'm a disappointment to her? I mean, apparently she really wanted a daughter and she only has one, me, and... am I not enough? Are all of us not enough for her?" Tears slowly fall, "I hate feeling like this, so unsure, and it always happens when it concerns them,"
Scott hugs me to his chest, "Ara, you can't let them get to you like this. You, by far, are not the disappointment. If anyone in this family is a disappointment, it would be Mom and Dad. They don't know how to be parents and that's probably the gist of it. They wanted it so bad, but they've placed their careers before their kids. It hurts, I know, I get it, believe me, but you have all of us who love you."
"And I love you guys," I look at his face and stop crying, "I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't be crying over them, I feel so lucky to have you guys when you're not playing the annoy Ara game,"
Scott laughs at this and I take a deep breath and keep going, "And I'm super grateful for all that you guys do for me, I just wonder sometimes if you know, I'm worth it, and I am not saying this to get you mad or have you pity me, or anything like that, but it's just how I feel sometimes."
Scott sighs, "I think that's normal. It really is. Everyone wonders if they're good enough or worth it, but I can assure you Ara, you're worth it to us. You are so selfless, most of the time," he teases and I laugh, "and so full of life. You keep us all on our toes but also grounded at the same time. If anything, we're lucky to have you. God knows what would have happened if you weren't born and there were just five boys. We would have been a mess."
I laugh, "Thank you Scott,"
"Always, Ara," Scott holds me for a minute before he gets up, "Now go to sleep."
Scott leaves and when I try to fall asleep, I actually do, feeling much better than I have in a long time.
Unedited & Lots of love to all you readers!!! I'm super duper excited for what's coming up in this story. I have a couple major chapters planned and half written, and I'm looking forward to writing up to them.
:)