The Love of a Little Sister
Chapter 3: Play Instead
Danny was sitting sideways in black chair in what he assumed was Vlad's living room. There were too many rooms in the house to tell. Selina was kneeling in front of a coffee table, her notebook opened in front of her, though Danny doubted she was actually doing her homework. It didn't really matter, they had been given the rest of the week off and it was Monday.
Selina's pencil wandered over the pages of her notebook, sketching out images that attacked her mind with no remorse. Her eyes were narrowed slightly in concentration, and her tongue was stuck out the side of her mouth occasionally it would switch sides. Her blue eyes were filled to the brim with concentration and determination, and still tinted red from her earlier tears. She had pulled her hair down and was letting it fall in slight waves over her shoulders and back.
Vlad had returned to City Hall to do whatever he did at City Hall, like Danny really gave a crap, and had left them at the Manor supervised by the faculty that worked there. They had all pretty much left the two alone, except for the Butler who checked up on them occasionally. The elderly man was standing at the door, unknown to the children until he cleared his throat, "You have visitors."
Danny glanced up as Sam and Tucker walked through the door.
Selina gagged as Sam charged Danny with a hug, exclaiming how worried and upset and sorry she was, how she would do anything to help, and blah blah blah. It made Selina sick to her stomach how much the goth girl tried. When Sam had finally let Danny go she turned the sickening affection on Selina and almost suffocated her with a hug.
"Dude, I'm sorry." Tucker mumbled, placing a comforting hand on Danny's shoulder.
Danny nodded, "Yeah. Me too."
"Want me to take the kid outside so you can talk to Sam about it?"
Danny thought for a moment before he nodded, "Yeah. Thanks, man."
Tucker nodded, "No problem. Selina, let's go for a walk."
Selina pulled away from Sam and hurried over to Tucker, "Please." she said before she followed Tucker out the door, giving Sam a warning glare over her shoulder, "Don't try anything." she said before she turned back to Tucker and gave him a smile.
Sam gave Selina's back a questioning look as Danny grabbed he bridge of his nose in loving frustration, "Ignore her." he said as he let go and looked at his best friend.
Sam nodded, "I usually do. How are you holding up?"
"I don't
know. I feel... almost Numb."
"Selina..." Tucker started nervously, "You okay?" he asked rubbing the back of his neck.
She glanced up at him with a questioning look on her face, "Yeah, why?"
Tucker thought about it for a second, "About your parents."
"Oh... That." she said her smile falling a little, before she looked back up at him, "I don't really want to talk about it. Can we play instead?"
Tucker smiled a little, "Sure. Sure we can." He gently opened the door and led her outside.
"Do you think she'll be alright?"
"Selina? I think she'll be fine by next week. She'll always be a little sad, but she won't show it. She should be acting like herself by Friday."
"You don't sound to happy about that." Sam said looking at Dani cautiously from the seat next to him.
"I don't want her to bottle it up, if she does then it'll all explode at one point and when it does I might not be there."
"I'm sure she'll be fine, she expresses her emotions. She doesn't hold back, maybe you just need to sit down and talk to her. Whenever you think you can, I mean."
Danny nodded, "Maybe you're right. But I've never really been good at talking about this stuff, especially with her. I'm her older brother, I'm suppose to be the strong one but all I want to do right now is cry."
"Maybe that's all she wants to do, too. But she's waiting to know if its okay."
Danny shook his head, "I don't know... Was that thunder?" he asked looking up.
Sure enough a few moments later, thunder rolled across the sky over head, "Where's Selina?" he asked before he got up and hurried out the door.
"Danny!" Selina yelled smiling from the middle of the yard where her and Tucker had been playing in the pouring rain.
"Selina get in here, you're gonna get sick!"
"But I'm having fun."
"Yeah Danny, she's having fun!" Tucker called as he laughed.
"Selina, come on. You can have fun inside."
Selina sighed, "Fine." she mumbled rolling her eyes before she slowly walked towards the door.
Danny rolled his own eyes, "Selina."
"I'm coming!" she called, a small smirk drawing across her features.
Danny let out a sigh before he walked out into the rain, Selina saw this and without hesitation, turned and ran. It took Danny 15 minutes of chasing her around the yard before he finally wrapped his hand around her wrist. She let out a surprised squeak that turned into a howl of laughter as he picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
Squirming, laughing, and squealing potatoes.
Tucker and Sam stood under the shelter of the house laughing as they watched Danny struggle to carry the kicking girl towards the house. Sam caught a sideways glance at her watch and recovered from her laughter, "Tucker, we've gotta go we're gonna be late. See ya, Danny."
"Bye guys," he said as he repositioned Selina on his shoulder.
"Later, Dude." Tucker said as he and Sam turned and hurried down the path away from the mansion.
Danny let out a sigh of relief as he got dropped Selina inside and closed the door.
