I'm going to bed now. I'll upload 10-19 tomorrow.
LTP
Welcome to the Real World, She Said to Me
(John Mayer: No Such Thing)
"I can't believe you swore at mom." Abigail kicked her brother from her chair, and looked over to her sisters.
"Shut up Abby," Mary snapped, "Mama whooped him."
"She didn't whoop him, she slapped him. I don't think it's any of our business." Shiloh shook her head, "Although, I do think mom was way out of line."
"Quit talking about me like I'm not even here. Christ, you guys are like a sewing circle." Levi frowned, sitting next to his older sister in the window seat.
"Well, what happened, 'Vi?" Shiloh always called him "'Vi," as if his name wasn't already so short.
"I'll call you later." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, "how long have you girls been here for?"
Cath stood next to the sink, pretending to rearrange the absurdly oversized bouquet of yellow roses they had brought. She didn't know what to do with herself. The four siblings took up all the seats, but even if there was more space, she was too uneasy to sit. Their grandma looked so unnerving lying under the hospital blankets and she couldn't stand to look at her for very long.
"I'm going to go walk around for a while." Cath said.
Levi shot out of his seat and rushed over to her, "Hey, I'm sorry. I totally lost my manners, do you want to sit?"
"No, that's fine. I'll stay in the area. Maybe I'll go get a drink or something."
"Please stay." His eyebrows were pulled together and he held her hand between his.
"Alrigh-" She began to agree out of guilt.
"Now, Levi, she is stuck in a room with a sickly old woman and a bunch of strangers. Don't make her feel obligated to stay here just because you're sad." Shiloh scolded.
He looked down at their hands, "Do you want some money?"
"I'm fine," Cath gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, "I'll be back a little later."
"Okay."
She walked out of the room and took a deep breath. The hospital was too quiet and everywhere she went smelled unpleasantly sterile. It made her think back to earlier in the year when her sister got alcohol poisoning. Last summer she and Wren were arguing over separate rooming. Everything changed since Levi came around. If you give Levi an inch...
Cath did a few laps around the hospital before going in to find the food court. She was more winded than she had expected to be and reconsidered sitting around in her dorm so much. In high school, she wasn't the best swimmer on the team, but she could do several laps without feeling like dough and swimming is much more energy consuming than jogging. Maybe I can join the college swim team… okay, probably not. I could just start swimming again in general, that'd be okay. But I got kind of chubby this year, I don't want to look horrible in a suit. She looked down into the fridge at the cans of sodas and felt guilty for a moment.
Fuck it. Cath shrugged as she picked out an orange creamsicle drink
Reagan scowled as soon as she opened the door. To anyone who didn't know her, they'd have run for the hills.
"Hey." Cath smiled and followed her to the living room.
"You've been in Arnold for two weeks and you guys haven't even invited me out. Don't just 'hey' me." She hissed, but there was the beginning of a smile on her face.
"Sorry. It's been pretty crazy," Levi pushed his hair back.
"Your mom?"
"Yes."
"I totally called it, she's batshit crazy." Reagan smirked, "Details?"
"Well-" An excited squeal cut him off.
"Levi!" A little girl whipped around the half wall that separated the kitchen from the living room.
The Cheshire cat had nothing on how wide Levi's smile was. He had his I-need-to-look-through-a-pinhole-to- see-anything face on.
"Hello Katie-cat! How are you, my little princess?"
"Mad at you." She frowned and put her hands on her little hips.
Levi kneeled in front of her and set her on his knee, "You're mad at me? Why are you mad at me, princess?"
"You haven't visited me since last summer. You said you'd see me at Christmas. You're a lie-face."
"Oh, Katie-cat, I was having a really hard Christmas break, I totally forgot." He thumped his head playfully, "But I hope I can make it up to you by playing some tea party?"
"YES!"
Levi was as good as gone. The two of them were on the kitchen floor setting up toys and a little tea set. Cath and Reagan just sat back and watched the two start playing like he wasn't just in the beginning of a conversation. Little kids make the greatest cop-outs.
Reagan snorted, "Levi adores little kids. He's always wanted to be a dad."
"Ground rules." Cath said, quickly.
"Whatever. It's true, just look at them."
"He'll be a good dad one day." She nodded.
"Duh," Reagan smiled a little. "He doesn't talk about it all the time?"
"No, but I did accidently shoot him down when he brought it up the one time."
"No shit? What's been going on with you guys?"
"It's been wild, first w- erh, does this overstep any ground rules?"
"Non-applicable, I asked." Reagan shrugged.
Cath took a few minutes to explain the day out with his mom, hanging out with John, Levi getting upset, the treehouse, the books, the day out, the mom fight, his grandma. Everything happened faster than Cath had realized within the past week and a half.
"Shit that's a wild ride. " Reagan raised an eyebrow, "don't blame yourself for any of that though. I know you'll try to."
"Thanks, Reagan."
"No problem. I kind of missed your sorry ass." She grinned and gave her a little kick.
Cath giggled, "Me too. By the way, whose kid is that?"
"My niece. I'm babysitting this weekend."
The two of them kept talking for a while, until they noticed that Levi was leaning against the doorframe grinning. Neither of them knew how long he had been standing there for, but he looked happy.
"Look at you girls, getting along and smiling for once." He giggled and made his way to the bathroom down the hall.
