Right as I walked down the stairs into the kitchen, my mom began talking. "Henry, can you take the girls out? They're getting on my nerves," she said.
"Uh, sure, what-" I began but she cut me off.
"I need these-" she handed me a shopping list, "from Costco, and these-" another list, "from Target. Now go." She handed me some money.
I grabbed Sophia and Cecilia, got them into their carseats, and off we drove.
"Henry? Can we get the cart with the car on the front?" asked Sophia from the back where she was sitting.
"Sure, whatever you want," I said, not really paying attention to her. She cheered.
We pulled into the Costco parking lot. I got the girls the car shopping cart they wanted and we set off in search of the items my mom needed.
"Henry, can we get some candy?" Sophia begged.
"No, Mom said to get what's on the list, and there's no candy on here..." I started, but I was cut off.
"Henry?" A voice came from behind me. I turned around.
"Uh, hey, Mrs. Goodman," I said, surprised.
"Fancy seeing you here!" Natalie's mom said. "Who's this?" she asked, gesturing towards the cart.
"Those are my half sisters, Cecilia and Sophia," I explained.
"Well, it's been such a long time! How have you been?" Mrs. Goodman asked.
"I've been doing well. Nat's in Ohio now, so. How are you doing?" I replied.
"Oh, I've been great! It's taken some getting used to, you know, changing everything up. But it's definitely getting better. How are you and Natalie? As a couple?" She explained.
I nodded. "We're good. Awesome, actually. Probably the best we've ever been. Nat's happy, I'm happy, we love each other, so yeah," I rambled.
Mrs. Goodman smiled. "That's wonderful. Sometime, when Natalie gets back, you two should come over for dinner!"
"Yeah, sure," I agreed. I doubted Natalie would agree to that.
"Well, I'll let you get back to your shopping. Bye!" she walked away. We continued with our shopping.
After we got what we needed from Costco, we headed over to Target. I put Cecilia in the front of the cart.
"I want to sit in the front," Sophia whined. I knelt down to her level.
"You don't want to sit in the front. That's where-" I dropped my voice. "That's where babies sit."
"I'm not a baby..." Sophia said slowly. "I'm six years old! I'm a big kid!"
I nodded. "And big kids get to sit in the cart!" I lifted her up and placed her in the cart.
As we walked in the store, Sophia spoke up again. She's very chatty. "Can we get a toy?"
"Toy!" Cecilia echoed excitedly. I sighed.
"Well, there's no toys on the list...But I guess you can each get one toy," the girls cheered. I sighed again, knowing I would have to pay for the toys with my own money.
We headed over to the toy aisle, where I let the girls out. They seemed to be in Heaven. I remembered having that feeling, as a little kid, surrounded by toys. Now all I got was disapproving glares. Apparently, being seventeen and shopping with two little girls makes people think strange things.
"Henry! Look at this!" Sophia was shouting. She was looking at a bunch of teddy bears that had shirts with names on them.
"Look! It says 'Sophia'!" she said proudly. I smiled as I looked at the bears. I found one that said 'Henry' on it, and then one that said 'Natalie' on it. I was definitely getting them.
"Is that the toy you want?" I asked. She shook her head. She walked off to find different toys.
After a long time of looking, the girls finally picked out toys. They both chose some kind of Barbie doll. We were able to return to the shopping and got what we needed. So we headed home.
When I got home I went right back up to my room. My phone buzzed. I was excited because Natalie hadn't texted me all day. So I quickly opened up the text.
It was a picture of Natalie. She was wearing her blue dress, so she had seen what I put in her suitcase. Her hair was straightened and her face was perfectly made up. She had a huge grin on her face. She looked perfect. I mean, she always looks perfect, but she looked absolutely beautiful.
Looking good. ;) I texted her.
Henry, you abuse the wink face. And all emoticons.
You don't like them? :'(
Just stop it, Henry.
D: Well maybe you text my name too much. I know I'm Henry already.
Shut up, you love it when I say your name.
:( Why are you so abusive to me?
For a while, there was no reply to my text. Then I got a reply.
I have to go for a bit Rachel and Kurt want me to play piano!
Rachel was her cousin, but I had no clue who Kurt was. But as long as Natalie was happy, I was happy.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
An hour or so later, and I was sitting at my computer, begging Natalie to ask her cousin if she could Skype me.
Just ask her. Please? :) I asked, knowing that she couldn't resist the power of the smiley face.
Fine. I actually cheered out loud at this one.
Yay! :D
In a few minutes, my computer said that I was getting a call from NatalieLovesHenry. I smirked. I bet Natalie loved having her cousin see that. I so made the right choice in her screenname. Then again, my screenname was HenryLovesNatalie, so I guess I didn't have much room to speak.
Natalie's beautiful face filled my computer screen. I started grinning uncontrollably. "Hey," I said. Sitting next to Nat was a girl who looked about the same age as Nat.
"Hey," she replied. She started smiling, too. "Oh, this is Rachel," she pointed at the girl next to her. Rachel beamed and waved. But then she stopped, and seemed focused on something in the background.
"Is that a-bong?" she asked, pointing behind me. I quickly shoved it to the ground as Natalie sighed.
"Uh, no," I stuttered.
"I see you've found a way to entertain yourself," Natalie said, raising an eyebrow.
"I wasn't smoking...I was, uh, cleaning," I tried, but it didn't work.
"Right," Natalie said sarcastically.
"Anyway, so I saw your mom at Costco today," I said. Natalie instantly looked worried at the mention of her mom. It probably wasn't a good idea to bring it up.
"You didn't-I mean, she didn't, freak out again, did she?" Nat asked quietly.
"No, she was fine," I assured her. "She was nice, actually. Just wondering how I was and how we were doing."
We talked for a really long time. Natalie looked happy. Rachel asked us stuff. She seemed nice. Ohio didn't seem all that bad, either. After hours, it got to late. Not for me or Nat, but apparently Rachel had a schedule where she went to bed and woke up at the same time.
"Love you, Henry," Natalie said smiling. I still got butterflies when she said that.
"Love you too. Oh, and check your mail tomorrow. Uh, Rachel's mail," I added.
Natalie looked confused. "Why?"
"Bye!" I said, and then it was done. She was going to be thinking about that all night.
But it would all be worth it when she got my letter.
A/N: One year ago today. Moment of silence for Next to Normal.
