I'm about to go down the stairs when I hear screaming.
Well, there goes that idea. I take a sharp 360 turn and go into the playroom where I hear Peter talking. Turns out no one wanted to go downstairs to see what that is.
"Anyone know what that is?" I ask pointing my thumb over my shoulder to the screaming.
"Not a clue!" Lulu exclaims, shaking her head.
"We thought it would be a smart move not to go down stairs after Helga, especially when she was muttering under her breath and carrying a suitcase," Zoe says, glancing up from her phone as I sit cross-legged in the circle, opposite Peter and Seth.
"She's mad at us for the oil on the top step. We meant it for you dad, but that didn't exactly work," Seth laughed, shaking his head and looking down.
"You weren't supposed to tell her that!" Zoe shrieked, grabbing the nearest thing, which happened to be a teddy bear, and throwing it at him.
"No worries guys, I've been wanting to do that to him, but I never had any oil, or stairs for that matter," I giggle.
"I thought he was your dad?" Lulu gasped.
"Yeah well, after how many times flipped my mattress, I got really annoyed," I state. "And that is why I get up at 5:30 every morning!"
"How can you do that?" Seth asks.
"Even on weekends?" Zoe asks at the same time.
"It's better than getting a whistle blown down your ear every morning," I point to Seth as I say this, then I point to Zoe. "Even on weekends."
"RED LEADER!" We hear my dad shout. "I DEMAND YOU TO COME BACK HERE, THAT'S A DIRECT ORDER! YOU CAN'T LEAVE A MAN BEHIND!" I hear a door open and guessing it's the front door we rush down stairs and into the family room to see what's going on. I place Tyler in his playpen. "RED LEADER! RED LEADER! I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO CHANGE A DIAPER!" We open the open the curtains as he turns to listen to something the neighbors say, that we can't hear, and then heads for the door. Looks like we missed all the action. Bummer.
"Okay everybody listen up," Dad says coming inside. "There's been a change of plans, your mother's not coming home as soon as she expected," Is he seriously acting like that thing with Helga never happened? Looks like it.
"When is she coming back?" Lulu asks. I sit on the steps as I listen to him.
"Soon," Was all he said; wow Dad, real specific. "So now we'll just have some more big fun," This is what he calls fun?
"That's what we've been doing?" Seth asks, sat on the back of the sofa. "Having fun?" See, Seth agrees with me, took the words right out of my mouth.
"But tomorrow's a school day!" Lulu says as Dad picks up Tyler from the playpen.
"I have wrestling practice!" Seth tells him. And then it's all a jumble of words that I don't hear because they're all talking at once. Zoe and Lulu walk up to my dad while Seth picks up Peter then follows suit.
"Woah! Okay, okay! Halt! Halt! We take this hill one inch at a time, only then can we rise to the challenge." I roll my eyes, these are kids, not people you conduct missions with. I quietly laugh at him and head towards the kitchen to get a drink.
"Seth!"
"Yeah?"
"Do you know the nearest pizza place's number?"
"Yeah, it's—"
"Shut up! The both of you! If you're going to have a conversation, be in the same room!" Zoe cuts in. She's obviously jealous of our loud conversations.
Seth appears in my doorway a few seconds later.
"What do you want? I'll order."
"What's the weirdest thing that you've ever eaten?"
"Probably a cockroach, my friend dared me to eat one, it was disgusting!" I pull a face and he laughs at me. "You'd feel the same if it was you!"
"Yeah... No thanks."
"If I tell you it was nice would you eat one?" I question.
"No," In hindsight, talking about this when we were eating wasn't the best idea. I'll be the first to admit I don't usually have good ideas.
"Okay, what is the best thing you've ever eaten?"
"Um... I don't know actually, maybe... The chocolate and orange cake I bought from this bakery downtown; remind me to take you there one day."
"Sounds good."
At that moment the tv starts blasting a song loudly, causing us to look at each other and just laugh.
I guess we bonded over pizza. Honestly, I get this weird feeling in my stomach when I see him, I don't know what it is, I just know I want to be near him. I guess I'm just intrigued by him.
Dad doesn't usually let me hang around with guys outside of school because he's overprotective, but that's fine with me because the majority of them are the most annoying beings on the planet.
But Seth was different, he wasn't just a flirty guy. He actually cared about what I thought and wanted to talk to me and hear my opinion. It was fair to say I liked him so far. I liked him a lot.
"Hi!" I hear Lulu say. "Zoe says you look like the hulk, I think you're cute." I put in my earbuds and drown out the rest with music from my old MP3 player.
After a few minutes I figure their conversation should be done, because after that line I know there would probably things I don't care to hear,and pull out my earphones to hear thumping going down the stairs. I place the MP3 on the bedside table and am about to turn out the light, when I hear a light knocking at the door.
"Come in," I say, not too loudly for Dad to hear.
Seth comes walking in, closes the door quietly and comes and sits next to me under the covers.
I raise my eyebrows at him.
"I was bored," He says looking down at his hands.
"My dad will kill you" I lay down and look up at the celling.
"I know, but at least then I get to say I sneaked into a girls room, even if it is in my own house," He lies down next to me and I roll my eyes. That's another thing I like about him, he's so terrible at being funny you have to laugh.
"You know the only thing stopping him from finding out you're not in bed is a sheet pinned to your door frame, right?" I turn my head to look at him.
"Yeah; so... Do you have a boyfriend?" He ask casually.
"No... Why?"
"Just wondering," I roll my eyes, again.
"Go to bed!" I hear Dad shout to us.
" 'Kay Dad!" I go to turn out the light.
"That means you too Seth, back in your own room!" He adds, he has to be psychic. Seth cursed under his breath.
"Night Seth," I smile at him as he climbs out of the warmth of my bed, him making up most of it.
"Night Ce," He yawns, stretching his arms out.
"Ce?" I question.
"Yeah, Lacey," He walks to the door and gives me a wave before closing it. I shut off the lights and stare at the ceiling until I fall asleep.