A/N: If you didn't see in Arr, I realized that I somehow managed to base a lot of Julia on Juliet from LOST without even putting thought into it. So if you want to know what she looks like, she looks like Elizabeth Mitchell. And I am slowly falling in love with writing her.
Something Better Someday
I'm like a kid who just won't let it go,
Twisting and turning the colors in rows.
I'm so intent to find out what it is;
This is my Rubik's cube.
I know I will figure it out.
- Athlete
"You have two choices." Julia leaned forward on the island, propped up by her arms, once they were done eating. "You can go take a nap or you can go out back with me and I can introduce you to our dog. Which do you want to do?"
Neither.
"Can I ask you a question?" Julia responded to the silence.
You just did.
"Who makes your decisions at home?"
Who did she think made the decisions?
"You don't actually have to answer. But in this house, you make your choices. But actions have consequences, and the consequence for not choosing between the options I've given you is that I get to choose. And once I've chosen, you don't get to re-decide. So, do you want to go lay down on the couch or in my bed or do you want to go sit outside with me and we can pet the dog? What'll it be? I'll give you three minutes to choose." She glanced at the clock.
In her bed? Aubrey placed her hand on her doll's hair and stared at the island. In her bed? It wasn't like Aubrey had a bed to lay in (yet), but still. She was just going to let Aubrey into her room and onto her bed? Then what? She'd pat Aubrey's hair until she felt better? She accidentally exhaled a loud puff of air through her nose, but it didn't gain much more than a glance from Julia. "I choose to go outside."
"Let's go then." Julia smiled and stood up straight. "Our dog's name is The Rock," she said, helping Aubrey down from the stool, "Because he likes to eat rocks."
Aubrey made a face.
"I agree. So if you ever see any rocks in the backyard, make sure you throw them out over the fence. Every so often, one seems to wander in."
"Rocks don't move," Aubrey informed her.
Julia stopped with her hand on the doorknob and arched a brow. "Then how do they get in?"
"They're probably in the ground, and they get kicked up," Aubrey explained.
"Huh. That's a good theory. It definitely beats my theory that they burrow under the fence at night when everyone is asleep." Julia opened the door to the backyard and held it open for Aubrey.
The Rock lifted his head off the ground from where he was sunbathing and looked at them in a controlled sort of interest.
"He's very calm," Julia said and shut the door behind him, "He just gets really excited about the front door, because he thinks everyone is the pizza delivery guy. We've sort of given up on that, because half the time he's right." She laughed and sat down on the porch swing. "Would you like to sit down with me?"
Aubrey hoisted herself up onto the swing on the opposite side of her.
"Do you know what kind of dog he is?" Julia asked.
Aubrey shook her head.
"Well, he's in the sun right now, so I'd say he's a hot dog."
Aubrey listened her laugh at her own joke. That was the worst joke she had ever heard.
"He's a golden retriever. And not only is he our dog, he's also my coworker. He is a licensed therapist, and he comes to work with me all the time. Rock, come."
The Rock slowly rose to his feet and stretched before trotting to the porch.
"Sit," Julia commanded before he got too close, then turned to Aubrey, "Would you like to say hello to him?"
"It's a dog," Aubrey pointed out.
"Well, yeah, but I don't think he knows that. Rock, this is Aubrey. Say hello."
The Rock barked then scooted up to the swing and lifted his paw, resting it on Aubrey's knee.
Aubrey froze.
"He likes to be polite and shake hands," Julia said.
"You shake with your right hand." Aubrey hugged her doll to her chest and stared straight ahead.
"Rock, other paw."
The Rock switched paws.
Julia reached over and scratched his head. "He's so soft. Sometimes, he likes to cuddle on the couch, and he's better than the softest blanket." She smiled at Aubrey. "Shake his hand. He won't bite. I promise."
"He's dirty." He was getting her clothes dirty.
"You better not be," Julia told him and picked up his paw, "I just gave you a bath three days ago." She examined his fur then lifted his foot up to show Aubrey. "No, look, he's clean."
"You told me to play with the dog, and now you have him!" Daniel screamed from the yard.
Julia breathed a quiet sigh. "Go play," she told The Rock, and he took off running back to the yard.
Aubrey quickly brushed off her clothes.
"It's beautiful out here in the shade," Julia mused and rocked the swing with her foot. She smiled and closed her eyes. "I wonder how long Noah and Chloe will be at the store. Sometimes, they're fast; other times, they take forever. It's hard to tell with those two."
Aubrey sat up straight, away from the back of the swing, when the rocking made her eyelids feel heavy.
"You are so strong-willed." Julia opened her eyes. "Me too. It's a good thing, I think. We persevere and hold out until we get what we want. The downside is when we're purely stubborn, and we end up fighting against something good for us – like taking a rest." She paused. "You know what I don't understand? Why some people are so against taking naps. I would love the opportunity to take naps. Tell me; what is it about them that's not to like?"
"Naps are lazy," Aubrey stated.
"Are they now? What about when you're sick? Or when you're tired and don't have anything to do?"
Did this lady ever stop smiling? "There's always something to do."
"That's true, I guess. I could be doing the dishes or folding the laundry. But I don't want to."
"Well, I don't want to be here." Yet, that didn't seem to matter.
"Unfortunately, being here and doing laundry aren't quite the same thing, are they? Sometimes, we don't have choices in life. So, it's best the make the most of them when we do. I can't make you take a nap, but you do have the choice whether to be tired or not right now. And I think it's going to be a much longer, tougher day if you choose to be tired."
So be it.
xxxxx
"Mommy, we're home! Mama?"
"On the porch, Pumpkin!" Julia called back. She stopped rocking the swing – and while Aubrey wasn't exactly sure how long their silent battle over whether or not Aubrey was going to take a nap lasted, it felt like hours.
The back door swung open, and Chloe came bounding out. "Guess what!" she cried, wedging herself between Julia's knees so she could drape herself over her lap.
"What?" Julia inquired with a grin, giving a brief glance at her husband as he joined them on the porch.
"Bunk bed," was the only word that left Chloe's mouth.
"I hate to break it to you, Chloe, but you're sleeping on the bottom," Julia told her.
"I know. Daddy already told me."
That meant Aubrey was sleeping on the top?! …that didn't sound so bad.
"What did you two get up to?" Noah asked.
"We were just swinging," Julia answered.
"This whole time?!" Chloe stood up straight and looked at Aubrey again like it was the very first time she was ever seeing her. "I have a doll just like that. Let's go play."
"Chloe," Julia said, stopping her, "I need you to clean your room now, actually."
"I'll do it later."
"No. No, you're going to do it now."
Chloe took a slight step back and placed her hands on her hips.
"Thank you," Julia dismissed her, but Chloe didn't move. Instead, she gave a timid shake of her head, causing Julia to raise her eyebrows. "You can go clean your room or I can help you clean your room."
Chloe shuffled her weight between feet and defiantly clenched her jaw, refusing to look anywhere but at her mother as she shook her head again.
"Excuse me," Julia told Aubrey and stood up.
Aubrey looked down, not wanting to watch this.
Julia placed her hands on Chloe's shoulders and guided her to the other side of the porch where she knelt down, their faces a few inches apart, to whisper something to her.
"You don't want her help doing your chores," Noah said and sat down on the swing beside Aubrey.
Judging by the look on Chloe's face, whatever was being said didn't appear to be very pleasant. But it ended with a kiss pressed against Chloe's cheek and a light slap on the bottom as Chloe took herself inside.
"I'm going to check on you!" Julia called after her then shut the door behind her. "I'm sorry," she apologized and turned back to Aubrey, "She will do anything to avoid cleaning that room. It wouldn't be a problem if she just kept it clean and didn't let it all pile up." She looked at Noah. "Do you need help getting things out of the car?"
"Sure." Noah stood up.
Aubrey looked up at him. "I thought you said we don't want her help."
Julia cocked her head to the side and folded her arms at him.
"That's a different kind of help," Noah replied.
"I don't think I want to help you now," Julia said, "You're on your own now, Buddy."
"Now we have to be real nice to her to get back on her good side," Noah said.
Julia smiled and rolled her eyes. "She's already on my good side. It's you who's on my bad side."
"She loves hugs," Noah continued, wrapping his arms around Julia from the side, "If you hug her, she'll do whatever you want."
"Don't tell her that. That is not true."
"Help me bring in the things from the car?" Noah gave her a squeeze.
Julia just looked at him.
Noah winked at Aubrey.
"That's not fair," Julia said.
Aubrey watched them in confusion unsure if they were angry or…?
"Watch," Noah mouthed.
"Fine." Julia pulled away from him, shaking her head. She turned to face the yard. "Daniel, come here, please."
"No!" Daniel yelled.
"You don't even know what I'm asking you," Julia said, "You can come here or I can come get you."
Daniel slammed the tennis ball he was throwing to the dog down on the grass as he stomped toward the back porch.
"I need you to play with Aubrey while I help Dad unload the car," Julia said, "Why don't you show her the treehouse?"
Daniel looked at Aubrey then gave Julia an exaggerated shrug.
"I'll be back in a little bit, Aubrey, okay?" Julia said, "If you need me, Daniel will bring you inside to find me. I might be in the garage."
She was just going to leave Aubrey outside with this boy… Unlike her brothers, this boy was bigger than she was. She didn't stand a chance.
"Unless you want to come inside and lay down…" Julia offered.
On second thought, if Aubrey could take on both of her brothers at the same time, she could handle one big boy, right? "No thank you."
"I'll be back."
"You think that's a good idea?" Noah mumbled as they walked inside.
"He seems okay with her," Julia whispered as she shut the door.
Aubrey turned to face him, her hands balled into fists.
Daniel backed up across the yard. "Are you coming or not?"
You may not be bigger than him on the outside, but you're bigger than him on the inside, Aubrey. What does that even mean? Whatever. You're bigger. Aubrey marched after him toward a wood house positioned in a tree beside the fence enclosing the backyard. "How do you get out of here?" She didn't see a gate.
"You don't," Daniel answered and stopped by the rope ladder, "Unless you want to jump from the tree."
Aubrey looked up, studying the branches. Maybe. She would have to see the other side of the fence.
"Go up," Daniel demanded.
Aubrey stopped next to the ladder. "Don't tell me what to do." She tucked her doll under her arm then grabbed onto the ladder and pulled herself up until she got to the top.
"Don't be a jerkface," Daniel responded, following her up onto the balcony.
Real original.
"I didn't make you come here." Daniel grabbed the door before Aubrey could and pulled it open for her. "You're lucky I'm letting you in. It's No Girls Allowed."
"What about Chloe?" Aubrey asked.
"She hates it up here. She says it's too high."
What a baby. That was probably why she wasn't sleeping on the top bunk. Aubrey stepped inside and looked around. It was surprisingly organized and clean. She looked at the little green army men lining the built-in shelves. There were so many of them. And airplanes. And tanks.
"I know; girls don't like army men," Daniel said.
Aubrey frowned. "I do."
"But you have a doll."
"So?" Aubrey placed her doll sitting on the floor. "May I touch them?"
"If you put them back where you found them." Daniel picked one up and showed her the bottom of it, which said A8. The shelf where it had been sitting had the same letter/number sequence written in pencil. That was a bright idea. Maybe he wasn't that bad.
Aubrey picked up A9. He was a man lying on his stomach, holding a rifle.
"Do you want to have a war?"
Aubrey looked at him. "A war?"
"You can be row A since your name is Aubrey. I'll be row D." He walked over to another shelf and started taking down his men.
"What do you mean a war?"
"Don't you know what army men do?"
"My dad is in the army."
"So you know they kill people."
Aubrey nodded.
Daniel stared at her like he was waiting. "So, we make them fight?"
"How?" Aubrey asked, "They're plastic."
"It's pretend." Daniel placed his men on the ground then began gathering up plastic trees and houses, spreading them all out.
"Aren't you too old to be playing pretend?" Aubrey asked.
"No. My friends and I play all the time."
"Where are they?" Aubrey asked, "Or are they pretend too?"
"I'm grounded," Daniel answered, "For a week."
Aubrey gathered up her men. "What did you do?"
Daniel sighed.
Aubrey stared at the floor, unsure of how to line her people up. Maybe they should hide behind things…
"We stole cigarettes from someone."
Aubrey looked up.
"They tasted like shit. Have you ever had one?"
What? "I'm nine."
Daniel shrugged. "I just turned twelve."
Aubrey placed a few guys behind some trees then got up to get some tanks and planes. She sat down on her knees once it looked like she had everything she needed and stared at him, waiting for the next instruction.
Daniel stared back at her.
"Well?"
"You either attack or you hide like a baby."
Aubrey was not a baby.
"Bam!" Daniel yelled, pointing one his men at once of hers, "Your guy is dead."
That wasn't fair. Aubrey didn't even know how to play! He hadn't explained the rules! She picked up and plane and slammed it down on three of his men in anger.
"Mayday! Mayday!" Daniel shouted, "They're coming from the sky! Sergeant D1, do you copy? I copy D4! Over! Attack from land!" He grabbed a tank, missing Aubrey's men as she shoved them out of the way. "Send in a missile, D5!"
How could one protect oneself from a missile?! Aubrey tried to hit it with a plane, but that was stupid, because it exploded her plane mid-air with a loud explosion noise made by Daniel. She resorted to trying to shoot down his plane until it fell into a tree, killing one more of her men. She needed a strategy.
This whole 'playing' thing was harder than she thought.
xxxxx
"Can I see your doll?" Daniel asked once all of Aubrey's men were dead. (She would be danged if she waved a white flag. She waited until every last man was gone to admit defeat. And next time, she would win.)
"No."
"That's not fair. I let you touch my things." He was already finished putting his men back on the shelf, unlike Aubrey. He seemed to know exactly where every piece belonged without even looking.
He had let her touch his things… She placed A8 back in his space. "You can hold her for one minute."
Daniel picked her up and straightened her legs to hold her like a baby. "What's her name?"
"Kit. You're a boy. Boys don't play with dolls; my dad said so." He had grabbed Liam and dragged him outside the one time he tried to hold Aubrey's doll like that.
"My dad plays with dolls. He plays with Chloe all the time."
"That's weird."
"You're weird."
"I am not."
"Are too."
"You're stupid," Aubrey informed him.
"I am rubber and you are glue. Whatever you say bounce off of me and sticks to you."
What in the world did that even mean?
"Why are you here?" Daniel asked.
"My dad is teaching me a lesson," Aubrey answered, "Why are you here?"
"Because Chloe is here."
"Why is Chloe here?"
"I don't remember."
"I don't believe you," Aubrey replied, "I told you why I'm here."
"Let's see if she's done cleaning her room." Daniel handed Aubrey her doll back and walked to the door.
Aubrey followed him. "I'll just ask Chloe."
"Go ahead." Daniel looked up at her as he climbed down.
Aubrey waited until he was down before climbing down after him. She walked behind him into the house and followed him up to Chloe's room. "Why are you here?" she asked right off the bat.
"Because my mom told me to clean my room," Chloe answered.
Daniel laughed, and Aubrey internally face-palmed. "I mean why do you live here?"
"My mom and dad wanted to live in this house, I guess."
She had to be kidding. "Are you being intentionally dense?"
Chloe looked at her, confused.
"Are you done cleaning your room?" Daniel asked.
Chloe looked around then nodded.
"Do you want to play house?"
Chloe broke into a grin and grabbed her doll from her bed. "My doll's name is Melody."
"She's black," Aubrey pointed out.
"And she comes with a bunch of cool stuff. She has a piano and a microphone and a recording studio. I don't have the recording studio yet, but my mom said maybe for my birthday or Christmas."
Chloe wasn't black. "Did your dad buy it for you?"
Chloe shook her head. "My grandma let me pick her out for Christmas."
Oh.
Daniel and Chloe both sat down side by side on the top step, then began sliding down one step at a time on their bottoms as Aubrey walked slowly behind them.
"Chloe," Julia stopped them on the bottom step. She walked into the room, mid pulling her hair into a bun on top of head. "Is your room clean?"
Chloe nodded.
"It is," Daniel spoke.
"It is," Aubrey confirmed.
"Good, thank you." Julia let her hands fall to her sides. "Dad and I are going to start rearranging. Aubrey, you okay?"
No. "Yes, Ma'am."
"Just call me Julia, Sweetheart. You guys have fun outside."
"Okay, Mommy, bye."
Julia laughed. "Bye, Chloe."
"Come on!" Chloe grabbed Aubrey by the hand, catching her off guard, and pulled her to the back door.
"Be gentle, Chlo!" Julia called after her.
"We have three people now," Chloe said, following Daniel to the yard, "Who's going to be who?"
"You can be a baby," Daniel said, "Aubrey and I will be the mom and dad."
"Okay!" Chloe agreed.
Aubrey shook her head.
"Do you want to be the baby?" Chloe asked, "I'll be the mommy."
"You're brother and sister; that's gross," Aubrey replied.
"We're not brother and sister. We're the mommy and daddy," Chloe replied.
Aubrey was too old for this childish game. "You don't get to pick if you're brother and sister or not."
"It's just pretend," Chloe told her.
"I don't want to play pretend," Aubrey informed her.
"That's okay," Chloe responded, "What do you want to play?"
"Nothing."
"Oh." Chloe deflated a little.
"I'll still play," Daniel said.
Chloe nodded, still frowning. "If you change your mind, you can come play with me, and you can be whoever you want."
Aubrey pulled away from her and sat down on the top step.
"You're going to like the stuff I picked out for you," Chloe said as Daniel pulled her toward the middle of the yard, "Some of it, we can play with together!"
Aubrey was afraid of that. She hugged her doll, studying them as they pretended to be mom and dad to Chloe's doll and the dog. There had to be rules, but just like playing with the army men, she couldn't quite figure them out.
xxxxx
"Hey."
Aubrey looked up as Julia stepped onto the porch awhile later.
"How's it going out here?" She sat down next to Aubrey and took a drink of something bright red she had in a glass.
"Are you done with our room?!" Chloe yelled.
Julia laughed, out of breath. "I'm taking a break from your room. I'm tired from trying to go through all your stuff."
Chloe came skipping over to hug her.
"I'm all sweaty and gross, Chloe."
"Me too," Chloe informed her.
Julia breathed a chuckle and offered her some of her drink then looked at Aubrey. "You wanna come help me?"
Aubrey clenched her jaw and nodded.
"Gimme that." Julia took her drink back before Chloe could gulp it all down, and Chloe grinned at her with a red mustache. She stood up. "Come on."
Aubrey forced herself to get up, her limbs feeling heavy.
"Too much playing?" Julia asked, leading her inside.
Aubrey shook her head.
"Did somebody hurt your feelings?"
No.
"Just tired and trying to adjust?"
Another head shake.
"It's okay to not like it here and to want to go home. I would want to go home too if someone forced me to go to some strange place I didn't know and wouldn't let me leave." Julia finished her drink, placed her glass in the sink without washing it, then headed for the stairs. "I wouldn't like that at all."
Aubrey was going to leave though – if not through the front door, then over the fence out back.
xxxxx
"Do you know how to hammer, Aubrey?" Noah asked.
Who didn't know how to use a hammer?
"Why don't you come help me hammer these pieces together?"
Aubrey looked at Julia for permission. It seemed as though she was the boss here. Aubrey liked that – the idea of the woman being in charge. Everyone had to listen to her, even the men. She dug her nails into her palm. No. She didn't like anything here.
"Go ahead," Julia encouraged her, "Unless you want to help me go through the closet and get rid of everything size seven and below."
Not particularly. Aubrey placed her doll by the door and took the hammer Noah handed her.
"Start with this one," Noah said, holding two pieces of the bed together, "Let's do this. This is not a drill." He grinned at her.
This is not a – this is not a drill. For serious? Aubrey internally rolled her eyes and started hammering the two pieces of wood together.
"You know he's had that hammer for a long time and it's still in great shape," Julia said from inside the closet, "It's tough as nails."
Noah burst into laughter so fast, Aubrey almost jumped. It wasn't even funny… "You wanna hit it real hard to finish it off," he said, still chuckling, "You don't want to it fall apart while you're on it."
Aubrey slammed the hammer down hard on the nail.
"Time for the other side."
xxxxx
"This is coming along nice," Julia said once she was done putting clothes and shoes that must have been too small for Chloe into garbage bags.
Stupid house. Stupid bed. Aubrey kept beating nails with the hammer wherever needed. This was all stupid. Stupid. Stupid. She thought the word with each hard, angry hit. Stupid.
"Wanna give the drill a shot?" Noah asked.
Aubrey looked up. He was going to let her work the drill?
"Teach her to use a saw and maybe someone around here can finish the back porch," Julia teased.
Aubrey could tell she was joking, but she wanted to learn how to use a saw… No. Then she would have to stay here. Her father could teach her how to use a saw once she was home. "I know how to use an ax." That was similar to a saw. Why did she say that out loud?
"That's impressive. Have you ever cut down a tree?" Julia asked.
"Just firewood." Stop talking.
"Do you know how to build a fire?" Noah asked.
Aubrey nodded.
"Do you know how to survive if you were lost in the woods?"
"I wouldn't be lost," Aubrey informed him.
"She has an innate sense of direction," Julia confirmed.
"What if you were out there for a long time?"
Aubrey sighed. What did this guy know about being in the woods? "I know how build a fire, make shelter, find water, and hunt."
"What if all you had to eat were bugs?"
"Noah, that's disgusting," Julia said.
Ew. Aubrey couldn't agree more. But if it came down to it… "I would kill them first and cook them."
"You guys." Julia made a face. "I'm taking these bags downstairs. I don't want to hear about this."
"She's scared of bugs," Noah whispered loudly.
Julia heaved a sigh. "I'm not scared of bugs. I just don't want to think about eating them."
"Her least favorite is spiders. The real tiny ones that can hide anywhere and-"
"Goodbye!" Julia gave him a finger wave then grabbed the bags to haul them downstairs. "I'm going to find a new husband now!"
"He won't be able to feed you in the apocalypse!" Noah called after her.
"That's okay! I'm okay starving! Worse comes to worse, I'll cook and eat him!"
"The moment she starts feeling hungry, she'll come crawling back to us and our bugs," Noah told Aubrey.
"I heard that!" Julia yelled in a singsong voice, "And I won't!"
"I take it as a compliment that she would find a new man and eat him. It means she couldn't bear the thought of killing me. Why don't you bring me that drill?"
Aubrey walked over to the drill and picked it up. These people even fought weird. She pushed the button a few times and watched the screwdriver part spin around. Cool. No. Not cool, Aubrey. It's not cool. It's stupid. She carried it over to him and let him show her how to hold it and explain how to use it correctly. "Is she coming back?" she blurted out and lowered the drill.
"She lasts maximum twenty minutes hanging out on her own, so I imagine she'll be back unless she goes outside."
Okay. Aubrey nodded and repositioned the drill. "Do you think she's going to go outside?" Shut up.
"Hey, Jules!" Noah called. His voice was followed by footsteps coming up the stairs. "You were missed."
"By him," Aubrey said quickly.
"Maybe you should get some bugs to keep you company," Julia told him.
"Is that permission to get a tarantula?"
Julia rubbed his back. "No. You guys are looking at the instructions as you put this together, right?"
Aubrey looked at him.
"If there is one thing you need to know about putting things together, Aubrey," Noah said, "It's that you never look at the instruction manual."
"I think you're about to screw that piece on upside down, Baby, so let's find the instructions and do it right the first time around so we don't have to take it back apart, okay?"
Aubrey nodded and found her the instruction booklet, peering over her shoulder to read it with her.
"I think we need to put the bed upright at this point," Julia said.
Aubrey dropped the drill down by her side and shook her head.
"You wanna sleep with your mattress on its side?" Julia asked.
Aubrey shook her head again.
"Well then we need to fix it."
"Fine." Aubrey placed the drill on the floor, all of the exhaustion coming back.
"You'll still be able to reach, I promise. But let's do it right."
Well, they couldn't do it wrong.
Julia and Noah stood up and struggled to lift it upright. "Why would you put it together on its side?" she asked.
"I wanted a big reveal when we turned it over at the end."
"How did you plan to turn it over?"
"I was confident you would figure it out."
Aubrey watched them manage to push the bed upright, the part she wanted to add out of her reach now.
"Okay. Get your drill." Julia lifted up the board and held it in place.
Did she just want Aubrey to jump? To find something to stand on? You know what, Aubrey was resourceful. She picked up the drill then looked around the room for something to stand on top of.
"Ready, Champ?" Noah asked.
Ready for what?
Noah picked her up around the waist. "Drill away! You know, if we turned it the other way, it would look like you have a pirate plank."
"And then she would roll out of bed," Julia said.
Aubrey froze, debating demanding to be put down so she could figure it out on her own.
"Guys, my arms are falling off. Stop imagining yourselves as pirates and drill, please," Julia said.
Imagining herself as a pirate? Aubrey positioned the drill and screwed in the screw – for the sake of Julia's arms of course. Noah carried her over to the other side and she screwed that side in too. She didn't understand why they couldn't have done this part with the bed on its side though.
"That's so cool!" Chloe announced from the doorway. She was in Aubrey's personal space the very second Noah put her down. "Did you put our bed together?"
Aubrey nodded.
"Whoa."
"You wanna put a piece on Chloe?" Noah asked.
Chloe looked at him like he was crazy. "I'll just put all my stuffed animals on it when it's done. That's my mark." She turned back to Aubrey. "You made our bed so good."
"Well," Aubrey corrected her.
"Well what?" Chloe asked.
"You say you made something well, not that you made it good." However long Aubrey had to stay here, it was going to feel like forever.
Chloe ignored her words and placed her hands on Aubrey's arm. "What color blanket are you going to get?"
Blue. Chloe had a yellow blanket, and if Aubrey got blue, it would look like the Barden Bellas scarf. "I don't know." Aubrey already owned a blanket. Why did Chloe have to be touching her?
"Alright, Girlies." Julia placed her hands on top their heads. "I am going to go take a shower. You two make sure Dad follows the instructions on this bed, okay?"
Aubrey nodded.
"Let's just go play," Chloe whispered in her ear.
"I think Aubrey might be tired, Chloe," Julia told her, "How about you two just go watch some TV if you don't want to help?"
"I'm almost done here," Noah said, "Just gotta put the mattresses on. You girls go enjoy yourselves."
Great. Aubrey had little choice but to let herself be dragged away.