It was several hours later; Lorelei and I were waiting outside the ballet studio for Eric to pick us up. It was dark, and still snowing as it had been all day.
"Eric's picking us up," I told her.
"Oh ok."
A black car pulled up in to the curb in front of the studio.
"That him?" Lorelei asked me.
I nodded; "uh huh."
In the front seat were sitting Eric, who was driving and his friend Linda. We opened the door, got in, put our stuff on the floor, closed the door and put our seatbelts on.
"Hey," Eric said.
"Hi. Hi Linda," I said.
"Hey Ashley," Linda said.
"Where's Crystal?" I asked, referring to another one of Eric's friends.
"Over at Kristen's with the baby," Eric replied.
Kristen was another one of their friends.
"Oh. This is my friend Lorelei. Lorelei, this is my oldest brother Eric."
"Hey," Eric said, looking at Lorelei in the mirror.
"Hi," Lorelei replied.
"I'm Linda," Linda said.
"Hi."
Lorelei turned to me.
"Oldest, brother?" she asked; "you mean you have more?"
I nodded; "uh huh. 2 more. Josh, who's 8 and Cory, who's up in New York with his wife, Topanga. She's a lawyer."
"Oh."
"And 2 sisters. Morgan, who's older, and Hannah, who's 5."
"Oh."
"Hannah, Josh and Morgan are at home."
"Oh. Ok."
"How'd it go?" Eric asked.
"Ok," I replied; "tiring."
"How was cheerleading?" Linda asked.
"Ok. We're starting a new routine."
"Oh, interesting. I'd like to come see it sometime."
"Yeah sure."
"Linda's a cheerleader," I explained to Lorelei.
"Oh."
"And our mom was, back in high school," Eric said.
"Ohh."
"Hey why are you picking us up instead of Mom?" I asked.
Eric sighed and looked at me in the mirror.
"She's had a long day Ashley," he told me; "she's still up, as is Dad."
"Oh."