So this was a little random bonus chapter I wrote YEARS ago and had it up for a while then removed it but it's cute, it's random, it adds nothing to the story so don't feel obligated to read it! It's just a little something extra.
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I feel a hand poke my cheek. I groan and roll over in my bed, covering my face with a pillow. Giggles fill the room. Noooo. Something pokes my side and the room is filled with giggles again. I jerk to the side and groan louder.
"Stooop," I moan.
"But Lottie, it's time to get up!" Maddie's voice squeals by my ear and I wince further into the pillow.
"Shh," I mumble, moving my hand to cover her mouth but my hand hits her arm instead.
"Ow," a deep voice replies, amused. My body stills and I lift the pillow off my face a little, opening one eye, "Hey babe," Nathan grins, lying on the bed next to me, holding his head up with his arm.
I groan and cover my face with my pillow, "Go away."
"But Charlotte, we're going to the zoo today!" Mia yells, jumping on my bed. Ugh children.
"We're going to the zoo, we're going to the zoo!" Mia and Maddie shout as they jump on my bed.
"It's so early," I whine as Nathan takes the pillow off my head.
"It's ten, Char," Nathan laughs, brushing his fingers through my hair, placing a kiss on the top of my head.
I open one eye and look up at him, "Exactly, too early." He moves his hand away, placing it on my bed, so I grab his hand and put it back on my hair, telling him to keep playing with it.
Someone slams open my door, "Charlotte, get your behind out of bed before I shove it out of bed!" Olivia yells stomping into my room. "You were supposed to get her up ten minutes ago," she accuses Nathan.
"You know she's difficult to wake up, it's like waking the dead," he defends himself.
"She's right here," I roll over, looking at them. Olivia is standing at the end of my bed where Mia and Maddie are sitting. Nathan is still lying next to me.
"You're just as bad as Sebastian," Olivia states, rolling her eyes.
"Heard that," Sebastian mumbles as he walks past my bedroom in his pajama pants, rubbing his eyes.
"You were supposed to," Olivia replies. She looks over at me, "Five." Nathan furrows his eyebrows in confusion and I widen mine in fear.
"You wouldn't," I tell her, glaring.
"Four," she smirks as I start scrambling out of bed. "Three."
I set my feet on the floor and stand up, looking at her, "I'm up, I'm up!"
She folds her arms over her chest, "Good, I've already used that once this morning," she grins, mischievously.
I raise an eyebrow in question, "On who?"
Tessa stomps past my room, soaking wet and her hair is dripping.
"Tess?" I ask shocked. She stops when she hears her name and peaks her head into my room, her eyes stopping on Olivia.
"You will pay for this," she threatens, shuffling along the hallway without another word.
"Bring it on, Tessy," Olivia taunts.
I look over at Nathan who raises his arms in surrender, "I told her not to do it, I reminded her that Tessa's revenge is brutal."
Mia and Maddie are now sitting on my floor, playing rock, paper, scissors, "Is Courtney and Quinn coming?"
Olivia shakes her head, "Courtney would rather die than go to a zoo and Quinn is spending the day with Lilly." I nod my head.
"Okay, everyone out, I need to shower and get ready."
Olivia shrugs, "I mean, nothing I don't have and he hasn't seen before but fine, if you insist," she laughs at my horrified expression, pulling a red faced Nathan out of my room. "Girls, dance party in Seb's room!" Mia and Maddie scramble up and sprint out of my room, squealing the whole way.
I take a deep calming breath to stop myself from killing Olivia as I walk over to my en suite, getting ready for the day.
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We stand just inside the entrance to the zoo and I count everyone, making sure we're all together. "Ten, okay everyone is here. Mia and Maddie," they look up at the sound of their names, excited grins on their faces, "You two need to hold a teens hand at all times, do you hear me?" They nod their heads, walking over to Nathan and grabbing his hands. "Sophie and Cole, make sure Olivia and Sebastian don't get kicked out for trying to jump into the penguin enclosure again," I look at them seriously and they nod their heads, ready for the challenge. "Drew, I'm counting on you not to let Tessa vandalize anything."
"Hey! I can behave," Tessa shouts in defence.
Drew snorts, "Yeah, right." Tessa shoves Drew, only making him laugh harder. "Hand over the Sharpies Tess," he holds out his hand.
She grumbles but reaches into her back pocket, handing over three colorful sharpies. Drew raises an eyebrow and she sighs loudly, taking the black one out of her other pocket. "You ruin all my fun."
"Okay, let's go," I say, opening the map, "Where do we want to go first?" Everyone starts yelling out random animals. "You know what, we're going to the penguins because they're right there," I point in the direction of the penguin area and Olivia and Sebastian high five.
Mia and Maddie jump up and down as we walk closer to the penguins, "Look at them! I want one, Uncle Nathan," Mia informs him, tugging his hand.
Maddie scrunches her nose, "You can't keep penguins, Mimi, they bite." Maddie lets go of Nathan and moves over to me, "Can you pick me up? I can't see over the railing."
"Sure, Munchkin," I say picking her up and placing her on my hip.
"Dude, lay off!" Cole yells, laughing and I look over seeing him pulling Sebastian back, who has one leg over the railing as Olivia eggs him on.
"I swear to God if you two get us kicked out, I will let Maddie and Mia decide your punishment," I threaten. Both girls fold their arms, staring down the misbehaving teens.
Olivia grins, taking a step back, "We just wanted to pet them."
"Well stop," I reply sternly.
"God, you're no fun," Sebastian rolls his eyes, standing next to Olivia, his arm around her shoulder.
"God you're an idiot," I retort.
"I second that," Tessa raises a hand in the air. Sophie giggles, raising a hand too.
"You're all being annoying, I wanna see the tiger now," Maddie says, stopping us from arguing, tugging on my shirt since she's still in my arms.
"Can we have one day where you guys don't fight?" Olivia asks with a sigh, looking at each Hayes sibling, annoyed.
We all look at each other for a few seconds, "Nope," we all reply.
Nathan laughs, "At least you all agree on one thing," he says, picking up Mia and holding my free hand with his as we walk through the zoo.
"What is that?" Mia asks pointing to a bird, sitting on a piece of wood in its cage.
Nathan leans forward, reading the plaque, "It's a Southern Cassowary," he says, unfamiliar with the word.
Maddie squints up at it, "It's ugly."
"Maddie! Don't call it ugly, what if someone called you ugly?" I ask, attempting to teach her a life lesson.
"Well then they're blind," she shrugs casually, looking at the bird with a scrunched up nose. Well that backfired.
Olivia nods her head proud as everyone else laughs at the almost eight year-old.
"Uncle Nate, look," Mia points at the next area, "It's a real alligator," she whispers with wide eyes.
Nathan nods his head, whispering back, "How cool?"
She tilts her head to the side, "Do you think he's nice like Louis from Princess and the Frog?" she asks curiously and I 'aww' in my head.
"Let's not find out, yeah?" Nathan chuckles, putting her down so she can put her face near the glass, watching the alligator move around in the water. Maddie fidgets in my arms so I put her down and she runs to stand with Mia.
Nathan stands next to me, wrapping his arm around my waist, "What are you most excited to see?" he asks quietly, kissing my cheek quickly.
"The otters," I state without missing a beat, "No, wait ,the koala. Wait, no the otter," I tell him with a sheepish grin.
"Didi, look its Timon!" Mia runs to the other side, pointing at the meerkats.
"That's a meerkat," Maddie informs her, with a smile.
Tessa stands in front of the tailing. She nudges Sebastian who is next to her, "Touch one."
He looks at her, confused, "No, you touch it."
"Come on, don't be a baby, just touch it," Olivia eggs him on from the other side of him.
"No, I'm not touching it," Sebastian says, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I'll give you ten bucks," Tessa says, looking at him.
Sebastian is silent for a few seconds, "Add a hotdog to that ten and you have yourself a deal." They shake hands and Sebastian leans forward, trying to touch one.
Cole leans towards Sophie, whispering, "This is not going to end well." She giggles, looking at him with a grin.
"Should we stop him?" Nathan asks, staring at Sebastian with concerned amusement.
I shrug, shaking my head, "Nope."
"Excuse me, sir! You cannot touch the animals," A security guard yells at Sebastian and most of us look in the other direction and move away from him, acting like we're not with him.
"Sebastian Hayes, I told you not to lean over the railing, you are going to get into trouble. What is the matter with you?" Olivia scolds him loudly in front of the security guard, and she even smacks the back of his head for extra effect. "I am so sorry, sir, if it happens again, you have my full permission to kick him out."
Nathan hides his face in my hair so the guard doesn't see him laughing. Sebastian glares at Olivia while she smirks up at him as the security guard starts walking away, looking over his shoulder every few seconds.
"Was the smack really necessary?" he asks, rubbing the back of his head.
"Absolutely if I wanted to sell the act," she grins up at him. "Now, let's go see the danger noodles!" She points her arm in the direction of the reptile building.
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"Look at his face! He is the cutest thing ever," I coo, watching the little otter swimming against the glass.
Nathan chuckles, moving down the steps closer to where I am sitting on the floor, watching the little otter swimming around. He stands behind me and I lean my back against his legs. I look up at him with a grin and he smiles down at me. The little space is empty and away from the bustling tourists around us.
We let Sophie and the others take Mia and Maddie to the petting zoo area a little while ago so that we could spend some time together.
"Babe, I want one," I whine.
Nathan sits on the step up from me as we sit quietly, watching the otters. "I'll buy you one."
I gasp dramatically, playing along, "You will?" I ask, fluttering my eyes.
"Yeah, when we're rich and famous," he grins, pulling me into his chest. "So, I spoke to our rents," he starts off.
"About what?" I ask, curiously looking up at him.
"About, maybe us spending a week away," he smirks slyly. "Since you girls are going away, I thought that you and I could spend some time together."
I perk up at the thought, "Oh yeah, and where would we go?" the little otter pushes a ball around the water with him and I smile.
"New York," he says simply. I startle, leaning out of his embrace and turning around in surprise.
"New York? Like New York, New York?" I ask confused.
"No, New York, California, yes, New York," he laughs as I lean on my knees and kiss him. I put my arms around his neck and pull him closer to me, deepening the kiss.
A few seconds later I lean back, grinning, "And our parents said yes?" More like, 'My dad said yes?'
"Well, it took a little convincing," he trails off quietly, placing his hands on my waist.
"How much convincing?" I raise an eyebrow, leaning my arms on his legs.
"The, doing whatever they need until we die, kind of convincing," he says sheepishly. I groan, hitting his chest but I still can't fight my smile from showing. "How does that sound to you?"
I bite my lip, leaning closer to him, "It sounds perfect." We kiss lightly but a bunch of kids running into the space distracts us. We get up and walk away, swinging our joined hands.
"Guess who's getting ten bucks and a hotdog from Tessa," Sebastian yells, triumphantly as he walks up to us with Maddie on his shoulders. Mia is in Cole's arms with her hands around him, giggling.
"What did you touch?" I ask accusingly.
"He touched the hedgehog, not very impressive if you ask me," Olivia smirks, rolling her eyes at Sebastian gloating.
"Well, excuse me, Miss I-almost-got-my-finger-bitten-off-by-a-toucan, we're not all daredevils here," Sebastian mocks her, high-fiving Maddie.
Tessa stops next to Sebastian as she eats an ice cream, "What did I miss?" Drew stands next to her with a monkey hat on, eating his own ice cream.
"Hey, where did you get those?" Sebastian asks outraged.
Tessa shrugs, "Literally any of the five stalls we walked passed on the way here," she gestures to all the stalls stationed every few hundred feet.
"I got this hat, too," Drew says with a goofy smile, pointing to his monkey hat.
Sebastian glares at Drew then turns to Olivia, "I want a hat," he pouts.
"What are you looking at me for? You have two functioning feet, go get your own hat," Olivia laughs, pushing him in the direction of one of the stalls.
"I want a hat!" Maddie yells out, tapping Sebastian's head for emphasis.
"You know what, everyone gets a hat, my treat," Nathan states, leading us all to the gift shop.
Olivia links her arm with mine and we skip down the pathway, dodging away from stray strollers and little kids as we laugh. A little boy steps into my path and not even Olivia tugging me to the side stops me from moving completely out of his way. I move enough to the side so that I don't knock him down but my balance is off and I fall to the ground, landing on my hands before rolling on my back.
"Are you okay?" I nod but I'm a little dazed for a moment as Olivia's face comes into my vision and she's now laughing at me. "What the hell was that?" she asks, leaning on her knees so she doesn't fall over from laughing.
I can't help but let out a few giggles from my spot on the ground, "The fuck if I know, I tried not to make that kid roadkill," I'm laughing loudly now, staring up at Olivia.
"Babe, are you okay?" Nathan's worried face comes into view but it quickly morphs into confusion at my laughter.
"Real smooth, sis," Sebastian comments from somewhere and I can hear the laughter in his voice.
"Did anyone get that on camera?" Tessa shouts out.
My stomach hurts and tears are rolling down my face as Olivia and I continue to laugh.
"Okay calm down, it wasn't that funny," Sebastian says, catching Olivia before she can fall on the floor.
Nathan pulls me into a sitting position and I wipe my face. "You should have seen her face," Olivia rasps, she takes a deep breath letting it out loudly, "Shit, that felt good."
"Swear jar," Maddie says, pointing at Olivia as she walks closer to us. Olivia growls at her, nudging Sebastian.
"You're bleeding!" Mia shrieks looking at my hands and knee, horrified. She rushes over and hugs my head to her chest, comforting me. "It's okay, you're going to be fine," she pats my head gently.
My eyes are wide as I pout at her cuteness and Nathan grins, shaking his head lightly. "You okay?"
"I'm good," I grin, letting him help me stand.
"Seriously, teenagers are always on their phones and you're telling me no one recorded that?" Tessa asks, looking at a few teenagers around us.
"I love you too, Tessy," I roll my eyes playfully, inspecting my barely there injuries. My knee has a scrape on it and my hands have gravel on them.
"Just looking out for you, Char," Tessa pats my back so hard that I cough. I smack her back in return and she narrows her eyes at me.
"Come on, clumsy, let's get you cleaned up," Olivia pats my arm, pulling me in the direction of the restrooms to get cleaned up.
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Hi Everyone!
So I wrote this years ago and took it down but I thought this would be a cute little bonus chapter.
Until next time,
Sammipott xx