Hiya!
Disclaimer: Anyone from the movies, e.g. The Bakers and Murtaughs, are not owned by me. Anyone who you do not recognize, they are my own characters. Hope you enjoy:
Can you whisper in my ear
Let me know it's alright
It's been a long time coming
Down this road
And now I know
What I've been waiting for
Sarah Baker's voice was soft and gentle. Jake pushed his ear to her door and strained to hear her singing. He almost laughed out loud when he thought about the irony. Here was tough, tom-boy Sarah, and she was singing in the most beautiful voice Jake had ever heard. He had heard her singing rap and hip-hop, and he had to admit, she was good, but hearing her singing softly had his heart touched.
Ohhh loves been a long time
Ohhh been a long time
Loves been a long time coming
Jake grinned and tried to stop himself from clapping. If Sarah knew that he had been listening at her door, she would rant and rave and Jake would never hear her sing again.
"Jake! Tell your sister dinners ready!" Kate Baker yelled from the foot of the stairs. Jake jumped out of the trance with a start, and grinned down the stairs at his mother sheepishly. She shook her head, grinning, and then walked back off to the kitchen. She wondered why Jake had been listening at the door, because Sarah would always let Jake in her room if he knocked.
"Sarah!" Jake barged into her room. Sarah flicked off the stereo and looked over at him, a slight flush creeping up her neck.
Jake pretended not to notice.
"Dude, dinner's ready," he told her. Jake frowned suddenly when he saw a clutter of mascara, lip-glosses and eye-pencils scattered across her dresser. "What's that?"
"Nothing," Sarah mumbled, opening up a drawer and pushing the make-up in. "I'll come down for dinner in a sec." She turned toward the mirror and rubbed her hand across her lips. It was then that Jake noticed a pink shade spread over her lips.
"Are you going fem or something?" Jake said. Sarah shook her head furiously.
"Nah, Lorraine just gave me all this stuff and I was trying it on," Sarah raised her eye-brows. "Honest…Marielle's having this party and she said that I'd better wear some make-up." Sarah gave him a push. "I'm coming—and I'm not going fem!" Sarah raised her eye-brows again and Jake gave her shove, sprinting off before she could hit him back.
Around the table, it was the usual havoc.
Six year old Nigel and Kyle were fighting with each other, ramming their toy cars into each other. Eight year old Mike Baker was karate chopping the table edge, letting out loud, whooping cried. Ten year old Jessica and Kimberly, fraternal twins, had their noses buried in books. Eleven year old Mark Baker was nursing his latest frog in his lap. Thirteen year old twins, Jake and Sarah, were chasing each other around the table, narrowly dodging pushed-out chairs. Fourteen year old Henry Baker was chatting on his mobile-phone, trying to ignore the noise around him. Seventeen year old Lorraine Baker was looking in her small, pocket mirror, applying the fortieth layer or lip-stick. Nineteen year old Charlie Baker was staring blankly out the window at the heavy sheets of rain. Twenty-four year old Nora Baker and her fiancé Bud McNulty had come around for dinner. Kate and Tom Baker were hurrying around in the kitchen, getting all the food on the proper plates.
It was Friday, Take-Out Night.
Nigel, Kyle, Mike, Mark and Henry all had McDonalds, each with personalized orders. Jake, Sarah and Charlie had Chinese. Lorraine had a vegetarian pizza while Jess and Kim had half-and-half, meat-lovers and seafood. Nora, Bud, Kate and Tom had Tofu.
A few minutes later, the room was filled with the sounds of eating of food, the rustling of wrappers, occasional scraping of chairs and then every now and again a small bit of chatter.
Kate was calling never-ending comments,
"Use your fork, Sarah!" and "Cut the pizza before it's in your mouth, Kim!" and "Henry, please don't eat your brothers chips!"
Sarah and Jake were trading and swapping different bits of their food. Jake took Sarah's BBQ Noodles while Sarah took Jake's Sweet and Sour Pork. They both put the vegetables into their napkins and pushed them under the table at Gunner.
After dinner, all the kids aside from Nora, Lorraine and Charlie, went to the lounge and watched The Simpsons.
Jake and Sarah curled up together at one end of sofa, Mike sat on the arm beside them. Mark was in the middle of the sofa and Kim and Jess were sitting closely at the other end. Henry was stretched out on the floor and the younger twins were lolling on the back of the sofa.
While Bart and Maggie were at one of their rows, Nora and Bud were drying dishes in the kitchen. Kate and Tom were talking quietly and seriously to Nora about something.
"No…you can't do that to her!" Nora shook her head. "Or to Jake, Jake'll never forgive you."
"She's needs it," Tom argued. "We've already booked her in and she'll be heading there in two days."
"TWO DAYS! Are you CRAZY?" Nora shrieked. Bud laid a calming hand on Nora's hand. "But," Nora carried on in a quieter tone. "You have to at least give her time to get used to the idea. Not that she will. But for her sake, Jake's and Mike's."
"Listen, our minds are made up, and there is nothing you can say to change it. Sarah needs this, and she's going to be going whether she agrees or not."
"I think the odds are in favour with 'or not'," Nora murmured.
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