March 1st 2020
Chapter 61
Their Contract on Truth
"Did she write back? What did she say? Did she talk to them?" Sam asked as they sat to dinner at the Zvolensky house.
After they had gotten to play outside for a while, they had all returned to the house, where Mrs. Carlton requested that they all went and got cleaned up ahead of dinner, which she had prepared for them. None of them would dare suggest in any way that she didn't need to do it, and that they would have been satisfied to just order a pizza or something. They didn't think she was going to eat them or anything, but if the lady wanted to cook for them, who were they to say no? They would have offered to help, if they weren't sure she would have found that more insulting than anything, suggesting she couldn't do it on her own and with great skill.
"She didn't, not yet, but you need to relax, okay?" Lucas told his brother.
"No, I know, I do, it's just…" Sam awkwardly replied.
"It's your sisters, I get it," Lucas assured him. He knew how much being far from them could be difficult at times, especially when there was anything going on where he thought they could have needed him to be there and he wasn't. Back in December, they'd heard all about how Cara had gotten asked out by a boy in her class, and she'd said yes and gone out with him. It hadn't been a disaster but it hadn't been good either, and she'd been upset, afraid that it would make things weird back at school. Sam had gone around for days looking like he was one update away from trying to buy a plane ticket back to Arizona so he could be with his little sister.
To make matters worse, Lucas' phone had buzzed with an incoming text just as Mrs. Carlton was coming with dinner. She'd made him put it away, on penalty of having it taken away if he tried to take it out again during dinner. They could have tried to explain, but they doubted it would have made much of a difference. So the phone, and its message, was put away for the time of the meal. Sam looked like he was this close to just wolfing down everything on his plate as quickly as possible so he might be excused and allowed to take the phone with him. Lucas shook his head at him. It wasn't going to work and they both knew it.
"Lucas!" MJ whispered, sitting at his side.
"Yeah, buddy?" Lucas turned to him. The boy had his hands set on his knees, sitting up straight in his chair and looking just a bit uneasy. Well, maybe a lot uneasy.
"Can I move?"
"Of course you can, why wouldn't you?" In response, MJ pointed in the direction of Mrs. Carlton, looking like he was afraid she'd turn around and notice. "Right. You know, she used to look after Sophie when she was about your age." MJ smiled at this, momentarily forgetting his concerns. He knew Sophie, he loved Sophie. She might have been one more sister to him, the way he would run for her when she was around. That much was true for a lot of Maya and Lucas' friends, the ones who'd lived at the house in Houston especially, but Sophie was a special case. She claimed it might have had to do with her red hair… and the fact that she was a police officer. That practically made her a super hero in his book.
"Yes, I did," the woman's voice made MJ jump. It might have made Lucas flinch just a bit, too. They both looked to find she was standing nearby, filling plates. "She used to startle as well," she told MJ as she loaded his plate. He kept staring up at her, mystified. When he earned himself a small smile from the gray-haired woman, he blinked, like she no longer fit the image he had conjured in his four-year-old head. Was she actually not scary? "She was no taller than you are now, and she would hide all the time."
"Like hide and seek?" MJ asked, perking up a bit.
"Something like that, only she did not wish to be found. And in a house like this, the places to hide were not lacking."
Looking around the table, Lucas could see how Sam and Teddy understood what this meant, while the little boys just assumed Sophie was really good at hide and seek. They understood it had been her reaction to losing a parent, something those two had both experienced. Her father had been taken from her so suddenly, there had been no way of preparing her like they had been, with Mr. Hart and Mrs. Lane's illnesses. He'd been there in the morning, and he'd never come home in the evening. How was a four-year-old supposed to understand that?
"I did find her though, sooner or later, every time," Mrs. Carlton went on. "I think it reassured her in the end, that someone came and found her."
"She speaks very highly of you," Lucas told her as she finished her service. It produced the most open of smiles they'd yet to see on the old woman.
Mrs. Carlton left the boys to their dinner, disappearing off to her own home, a small house adjacent to the Zvolenskys'. She was a fantastic cook, no doubt to it. Lucas had heard as much from Sophie, and now that he'd had the food he could almost say that Sophie had undersold the woman. And if dinner was good, dessert was off the charts. MJ and Wyatt had been fans especially, and it was left to the others to keep them from making themselves sick from excess.
They ended up in the home theater once dinner was well and officially over, which meant that Lucas' phone and any potential messages back from Maya were now free to be looked after. Sam and Teddy were both looking this close to prying it out of his hands if he didn't hurry up, so he looked.
Maya: Don't believe Eliza and Emma know, but Cara does. She saw the proposal. She's talking about rooms and bunk beds, I think she's okay with everything.
Lucas showed the boys the message.
"So, are we good?" he asked them. "Are we relaxing now?"
"I'm relaxed, he's the one who kept making the ground shake from bouncing his knee back there," Teddy gestured back toward the kitchen. Sam looked like he wanted to protest but, on second thought, had to concede that Teddy had a point.
"Sorry," he mumbled. "I'll let it go, I swear." Lucas smiled, giving his shoulder a tap.
"Alright, come on, we gotta pick a movie."
"They have a real popcorn machine?" Teddy stared in awe.
"Check out the seats," Sam told him, pointing to where MJ and Wyatt were already running around, trying to decide where they were going to sit.
"Dude, we gotta lock up that candy shelf before they see it," Teddy whispered.
"After we raid it a bit?" Sam guessed.
"How big are your pockets?" Teddy pulled him toward the candy. Lucas chuckled, joining the little boys to keep them occupied before hitting a sugar high. Of course, the others would share, but they didn't need to know just how much of it was stocked in the room ahead of their visit.
Keeping the presence of all the candy was only tricky if you didn't know how to handle MJ and Wyatt, but then these were their brothers, and they'd had practice. The two of them were set right up front, with their very own reasonable stash of candy, and once the movie started they were in their own world, while the others had the row behind them, with their own stash at their disposal. Teddy revealed himself a pro at sending M&M's flying high in the air before catching them with his mouth, which made Sam laugh, though less so when he tried and nearly vaulted out of his seat and failing to catch his own target. The challenge extended to Lucas, he revealed he had some tricks of his own.
"How do you even…" Sam blinked.
"Before your sister and Nadine came along, it was just me and Zay and Dylan and Asher," Lucas shrugged. "There was a lot of 'I bet you can't…' going on."
"Be cool!" Teddy muttered, and the candy disappeared in a flash, just before the faces of Wyatt and MJ appeared over the top of the seats in front, as the boys stood up on their knees.
"What's up?" Lucas asked. The boys pointed to the popcorn machine.
"What about the candy?" Sam asked, but the answer was clear. They'd already eaten everything they'd been given. "Seriously?"
"Wait until later in the movie, deal?" Lucas reached out with one hand, keeping the other and its candy bag out of sight. MJ and Wyatt shook it in turn before disappearing back into their seats.
"Can we do two?" Wyatt called out.
"Two movies?" Lucas asked back, and they said yes. It would make sense for them to want to spend as much time as possible in this place, wouldn't it? "If you think you can stick it out, sure."
"They're not going to make it, are they?" Teddy guessed.
"Not a chance," Sam shook his head.
"Hey, so if our parents get married soon," Teddy thought aloud, "And then you and Maya are getting married soon, too… Are you guys going to have like a double wedding?"
"Uh… I don't think so, no," Lucas chuckled. "Everyone deserves to have their own day, you know?" Teddy and Sam nodded; that seemed fair. "But you guys will get to be involved in both ceremonies."
"I hate wearing suits," Sam confessed.
"I look good in suits," Teddy countered with a confident grin, taking a sort of distinguished pose that made his (soon to be official) brother laugh.
"I think Maya would say… Wear the suit for the ceremony, wear whatever you want for the party," Lucas told Sam, who smiled. She would say that. "So you'll be bringing Cecilia," Lucas tipped his head to Sam, who confirmed. "What about you though?" he turned to Teddy. "Planning on a plus one?"
"I don't know," the boy shrugged. "It's only March. Don't have anyone right now, but four months is a long time," he smirked now.
"So we'll just keep a seat for 'insert name here' then?" Lucas guessed.
"I know what her name is," Sam declared with a look of mischief in his eyes.
"You do not," Teddy challenged.
"Don't I?" Sam asked, sounding like his big sister had just possessed him. By the look on Teddy's face, it became clear there was a girl, and he might be very privately wishing to make something happen with her by the time July rolled around, much as it remained an uncertainty for the time being.
"Who is she?" Lucas played along.
The fourteen-year-old Lane boy looked just on this side of shy for the first time, though he hid it under big 'Sam, don't you dare' eyes. For a brief, awkward moment, Lucas feared he might have been harboring feelings for his soon to be stepsister, Cara. But then, taking up his courage with both hands, Teddy told him about 'the girl.' She was called Lina, and she worked at her mother's salon. She was his age, but went to a different school. Teddy would see her whenever he'd take Emma there, for an appointment, or to meet their aunt, who also worked there. He would do errands for her, too, and make some extra money for it.
"How long have you known each other?" Lucas asked.
"Kind of always," Teddy admitted.
"Ah… It's one of those…"
"Afraid so," Sam confirmed with a nod. Clearly, Teddy must have told him all this in confidence, as the two of them had come to bond, as brothers to be. And now, by virtue of two weddings linking them all, making them all brothers, he had one more person to confide in, and that just might have been the best anyone could ask for.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
