I realize something is wrong as I sit up from a deep sleep. I feel refreshed, but something isn't quite right, possibly because I fell asleep on the nursery floor. Taking small steps, careful not to wake anyone, I see everyone in the apartment is asleep. I look at the clock in the main room, its nine fifteen. I go to the kitchen for a small breakfast if whatever I can find, a small tub of blackberries isn't much, and I just hope Hype didn't have any plans for them. I smile as I see Jasper asleep in a chair, laying his head down on the table drooling a bit. I kiss his greasy hair gently as I make my way back to the nursery. I think I almost step on Sketch and Davey as I try to dodge other furniture in the main room. I wince as Sketch squirms a little in her sleep. I can easily get bored sometimes as I slowly wake Elsie from her sleep as she stretches like a small cat. We both quickly comb our hair with our fingers wondering if we would look socially acceptable as we step out of the apartment.
"Where are we going?" Elsie sighs as mid-morning sunlight hits her sleepy eyes.
"Home," I reply, "I want to sleep today and be recharged and refreshed for tomorrow."
"I just want to fall asleep again," she mumbles as I roll my eyes. We slowly tread to the apartment as I open the door; I see I don't have to unlock it. Elsie goes straight to the bedroom as Dad asks where we've been.
"We crashed at Hype's because she had a girl this morning at about three. Then, she had a boy almost an hour later," I mumble as I make my way across the living room.
"So that's the scream I heard. Did you sleep with that Jasper kid?" Dad snickers. I give him a strange look.
"I am fourteen, I don't want to do that stuff until I'm married." I sass.
"Hype got married at fourteen." Dad cuts in.
"Well, I'm not Hype," I remark, slamming the door to our bedroom, slowly changing into a nightgown and climbing under my warm covers.
"Ella," Elsie mumbles from the other side of the room. "Based on what I saw, I don't ever want a kid."
"You should, Sketch and Davey call Maggie Rose and Evan their little bundles of joy," I smile. "Not now though, try your luck in ten years."
"I don't want too. I don't even know how children are made," she giggles.
"They are delivered by storks." I gripe she instantly frowns at me, "take a nap or something."
"No," she snaps.
"Okay, but don't wake me." I mumble.
"You know you could have a kid if you wanted to." She whispers. "I mean, if you want."
"I don't want a kid now," I roll my eyes, realizing I will never get to sleep.
"Dad says he wants some grandkids before he dies." Elsie giggles.
"You can have a kid in a few years if you want, but I prefer to keep my virginity." I sass, she knows what that means and makes a sour face. "In a few years you can elope or something."
"What does that mean?" she asks curiously.
"Run off and get married." I say instantly. "Dad thought I was going to elope with Jasper on account of him barely seeing me for a few months.
"Where was I during this?" she smiles.
"Selling with Les I hope," I smile. "Well, if none of us are sleepy, I guess I can try that new hairstyle in you." Elsie always liked me doing her hair in the morning, she thinks it looks way better because if she does it, her hair frizzes. I tell her to change in to something red as she takes a few minutes before going to the wardrobe. She smiles at me as she sits in a chair I placed in front of the mirror, smiling like she always does as I brush out her braid. It somehow amuses me that no matter how many times I run the brush through, her small curls always spring back to original form.
"Before I go on," I say skeptically, "I need to close your eyes." She obeys immediately as I reach under my bed for a small plastic bag that contains a bright red bow. Can't believe I could pay for it while Jasper went shopping with me, he offered to pay, but I wanted to make it special for her. I go back to Elsie, run the brush through yet again and clip the bow into place. After some fidgeting, the bow looks great on her and I tell her to open her eyes. Wearing a broad smile, she admires he bow in the mirror, not touching it, but taking it in as it hangs in her curly hair. She gets up to hug me, squeezing me the way rich people wear corsets.
"Can I hear a story," she asks a few seconds later. We both are still tried to do anything productive but we do need to entertain ourselves. I can tell she likes the way I do everything, even if we don't see eye to eye on certain topics. It's hard to come up with a story topic. She's a bit old for fairy tales and talking about family is hard. We don't really have many friends at the lodging house and family never visits us. Talking about mom makes her upset and speaking of Dad is a mistake all on its own. Unless, it hits me, she doesn't know if the story is about Mom and Dad. I come to tell her about Dad's elopement with Mom, using no names and with a small twist.
"Onetime, three was a girl and a boy that were about as old as Sketch and Davey a long time ago. You don't know them, you weren't born yet but they liked me enough." I start grinning, continuing the story. It doesn't take but only a few minutes. I stink at making up stories, so I make them memories Elsie doesn't remember with twists. Elsie sure has a lot of questions for this story, but she's curious and its funny to see her reactions at my response.
"Anyways she accidently fell out of her window, the man was going to catch her, but she knocked him out a bit. But he didn't care, he instantly picked her up bridal style and the last thing they saw of her apartment is her Dad scowling at them as they ran off into the night." I look at a wide eyed Elsie and with a slight movement of the eye, I see Dad at our doorway, winking at me because he knows what I just told Elsie. She doesn't catch this as she smiles happily and resumes to the depression of boredom. I give her a look and then realization hits her. The story was about Mom and Dad, she knows as I smile happily. I think we both know why I told her the story as we were already talking about elopement. Oh well, you have to learn sometime.