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LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
CHAPTER TWELVE
xii. don't stumble
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THERE WAS THIS NICKNAME Cain Ambrose gave his youngest daughter whenever she'd lie. Stumblebum. Of course, it was a real word with an actual meaning. A clumsy person. But, Cain would always use it to explain the way April with sputter and stumble over her words as she attempts to lie.
It was playful and it caught out within the Ambrose household. Cain often ruffling April's fluffy hair as he walked out of the house for, his pack of cigarettes in his free hand. 'See you later, Stumblebum,'. April always rolled her eyes with an amused smile, shaking her head as she bid her father goodbye for the day. They'd always been incredible close. She loved her dad, so!
Now, this nickname was all April could think of as she pulled her pale yellow Converse on, tying the laces back around her ankles and to the front with a neat ribbon. Opening the front door and gazing out the screen, it was 11:50. Bill should be here soon.
Gulping nothing but dry spit and air down her throat, April furrows her eyebrows, playing with the hem of her short puff sleeve. She clicks her lips together nervously. Not even feeling the presence of someone creeping up behind her.
"Boo!" April's snaps from her thoughts, her body jolting up and stomach dropping at the sudden feeling of hands slamming against her back. Holly. Of course, it was her.
Looking behind her, her eyes wide in shock. She was still shaken up from last night. "Holden Caufield! That's not even funny, you... You, you brat!" April breathes out, using the character her sisters namesake came from. Holly hates it, 'it makes people think I'm a boy, momma!'.
Holly doesn't even bother to retaliate, too busy laughing, her eyes squinted as she claps her hands, doubled over and laughing at her sisters fright. "How didn't you hear me coming up? I literally called out to mom and dad that I'm going out," She wheezes out, shaking her head as she nudges her little sisters shoulder. Not noticing the way she winced at the contact.
"Not everything's about you, Holden. I've learned to tune you out cause all you do is annoy me!" April responds, moving to the side so Holly can step out of the front door and onto the houses porch, her battered white sneakers creaking against the wood and April couldn't help but admire the way her sister decorated the laces with beads. "Where are you going, anyway?" She asks.
Holly shrugs, not exactly wanting to tell her small sister her plans even though it was as simple as going to the diner with... Alexander. "For the last time, it's Holly. Not Holden. And, it's none of your business, Stumblebum," Holly says, her lips quirking up at the silly nickname.
Humming softly, April rolls her eyes — attempting to hide the way her heart sped up at the nickname because it just reminded her of the lie she was about to tell the Losers. "Uh-huh. Yeah, keep it a secret, HC. Go on, then. Go meet up with your boyfriend," April teases, beckoning her sister off with a playful smile — noticing they way Holly's cheeks blushed pink before she huffed out in annoyance, rolling her eyes before turning away and walking onto the porch.
April laughs to herself, shaking her head in amusement at her sister, turning way from the door once she's out of sight and looking into the mirror in the foyer, fixing a few loose strands of her hair to frame her face and grabbing her backpack which slumped against the wall and walking out the screen door, following after Holly.
"Where are you going?" Holly looks down to her sister who was only an inch shorter than her with curious eyes.
April purses her lips, shrugging as the lie at the back of her head which she practiced so religiously dissipated. "I'll tell you if you tell me where you're going," She responds simply, looking straight ahead before walking towards the steps and sitting herself down. Holly mimicking her actions and doing the same.
Rolling her eyes and sighing, Holly pulls at the piece of April's hair. "The diner," She pauses, noticing the way her sister looked to her with curious eyes before pulling the strand of hair from her hand.
"With?" April presses, a giggly smile coming onto her face as she crosses her fingers in hopes that Holly says who she thinks it is.
Holly couldn't even hold back her eye-roll, shaking her head. "Alexander, who else?" She says as of its obvious. "Now, cough it up. You went out with the Denbrough kid. What's up there? You rode on the back of his bike," She changes the subject, leaning towards April.
Laughing, she nudges Holly. "He's my friend. Richie, Eddie, Stan, and Ben too. I made friends, Holden," April explains, anything but unwilling to talk about her newfound people. It made her beam just thinking about them. "And, so what? I can't ride a bike, he said I could ride with him. He's just a friend, anyway. There's nothing between us. I mean, yeah, he's cute and all and his stutter makes my heart do little flips and—," She babbles on before stopping, cut off by Holly laughing out loudly and nudging her. "What? What did I say?".
"Oh, I don't know. It's not the fact that you went on a tangent about Bill Denbrough being 'cute and all' and—" She begins, not hearing the sound of a bike pulling up to the sidewalk and is cut off my April smacking her arm harshly and glaring.
Through gritted teeth, she mumbles out. "Don't finish that. He's here," April says, standing up and breathing in deeply at the near embarrassing moment which could have occurred. She thanks God that Holly is a particularly monotone speaker.
She brushes out the bottom of her dress before smiling brightly as she makes eye contact with the boy, bringing her hand up and waving excitedly to him — he smiles back, mimicking the joy in her eyes genuinely and waving back as Holly looks away from him, gagging at April.
April ignores her sisters antics, kicking her leg as she walks down the steps of the porch and hurriedly rushing over to Bill. "Hi," She greets, poking his arm with her finger as she looks down at his wrist — the bracelet she had made ties carefully around it and she could practically feel her heart swell right there.
"H-Hey, S-Sunshine," Bill smiles to her as he stays on his bike, holding it upright tightly so that she could easily mount it without both of them toppling over. "I-Is that your s-sister?" He asks curiously, peering past April's head and noticing the way Holly sat on the steps staring — a teasing smile on her face before she turned away quickly upon making eye contact with him.
April nods as she begins to hold onto his shoulder to swing her leg over the bike and sit comfortably. "Yup, that's her. Holden Ambrose. She insists on Holly, though," She says once situated on the rear of the bike, her arms snaked around his waist as she looks to Holly and sticks out her tongue — Holly rolling her eyes before waving.
Bill smiles bittersweetly, the playful exchange between sisters reminding him of all the memories he had with Georgie before he was gone too soon. He feels his heart clench at the thought of his brother, closing his eyes for a moment to revel in the sweet thoughts before opening them again. "You l-look like h-her," Bill says simply, wanting desperately to tell April about how he felt and about how much he missed his brother and how much things hurt sometimes.
He felt like he could trust her with anything. April was just so present, willing to be there. He looked to her in admiration and despite their short time of friendship, it feels nearly impossible that it's only been a few days. It felt like he could rely on her, she was the calm in the storm and she made him feel at ease. He decides against confiding in her, pushing his foot onto his pedal and beginning to bike. Not yet.
Taken by surprise at his comment, April blushes. Despite her nervousness of having to lie once they reach the quarry, she couldn't help the way being near Bill made her feel as if everything that worried her washed away. It was no secret that Holly was beautiful, straight dark chestnut hair and bright eyes of blue-green, her left eye having an odd patch of honey-brown on the side which was only visible when you really examine her face.
April had always felt plain next to her, opting for soft pastel colours in order make herself more distinguished while her sister had the ability to wear darks because she always looked distinguished and she was always noticed because she was beautiful. She takes in a deep breath, her cheek hitting against his back as her arms tighten around his waist to support herself. "Really? You mean that?" She asks shyly, biting her bottom lip.
Bill fights the urge to look back, his head bobbing side to side. "Well, y-y-yeah. You're both p-p-p-p-p..." He stumbles over the last word, having to pause and sigh loudly in frustration — feeling embarrassed of his impediment, feeling badly that April has to put up with it. His cheeks heating up and he could feel they were burning scarlet. "S-Shit, s-s-sorry," He scrambles to apologize, his hands fidgeting on Silver's handlebars nervously.
He feels April lift her cheek from his back, her head falling against his shoulder lightly and he hears a light giggle — not a demeaning one, one that seemed to say 'don't worry' without the use of words at all. She hasn't even realized what he was trying to say. "It's alright, Billy. Take your time," She hums, lifting her chin and resting it on his shoulder. "Don't apologize, I understand," She reassures him with a smile.
He couldn't help but smile, feeling relief flood him as he looks forward and dips right onto a different street. "T-Thanks, Sunshine. A-Anyways, you're b-both p-p-pretty," He sputters out, feeling April light her head from his shoulder once again, not knowing that she was absolutely beaming behind him.
She's never been called pretty before. Sure, her mom and dad said it but... By someone she want related to? Never. By a friend? Never. By a cute boy? Never! It made her heart skip a beat and her stomach do backflips as she leaned her chin back onto his shoulder, tightening her grip around him once again. Taking a deep breath and her lungs being filled with the lush summer air and the scent of Bill's t-shirt, it was a nice scent and she imagined that the detergent would have some silly type of name like 'Springtime Frolic'. "No ones ever told me that before... Thank you," She mumbles out, trying to hide the smile that could practically be heard in her response.
He was taken by surprise at her answer, April was beautiful to him. How hadn't she been told that? She was lovely with her straight-toothed smiles and bright eyes and tan skin and everything! Smiling down at the ground before looking back up to the street, he hums. "W-Well, it's true. Y-You are," He says softly, not aware that April was swooning begins him.
And, April Ambrose has no idea what was going on in her head and stomach as it did backflips and somersaults. She wasn't familiar with sweet words from anyone other than her family and was surely not familiar with the notion of crushes and first loves. She only knew what her parents showed her — pure love which was seemingly, love at first sight.
She wasn't aware of idea of falling slowly for someone and so, that just made it worse because here she was — falling deeper and deeper into Bill Denbrough faster and faster as his words slid off his tongue and she had no clue that she was.