"Come on, Mattie! The sooner we get home, the sooner night'll come, and that's the faster that mom will finish the story!" Jeff exclaimed as he tried to drag his brother into a run, but Matt only walked, annoyed at his brother.
"Jeff, time doesn't work that way." Matt tried to tell him, but Jeff shook his head.
"You're lying, Mattie! And lies are bad! It's like saying that Santa or the Easter Bunny don't exist!" Jeff scolded, making Matt smile slightly.
"Fine, Jeff... You're right about Santa and the Bunny, but time doesn't work the way you would want it to." Matt told his brother, which made Jeff pout.
"Mattie's a liar!"
"I am not a liar, Jeff." Matt tired to say, but was immediately cut off by Jeff.
"Liar, liar, pants of fire! Hanging by your tongue on a telephone wire!" Jeff sang as he skipped, still dragging Matt along with him.
Matt sighed at him, then gasped as an idea struck him. "Would you stop calling me a liar if I took you to the candy shop?" Matt asked Jeff, making him halt in mid-skip.
"Candy?" Jeff asked after he had stopped.
Matt smiled down at his brother, nodding slowly. "Mm-hmm. If you promise to stop pulling my arm 'til it pops and let us visit the candy shop, I promise to buy you two different types of candy. Whatever you like."
Jeff's face lit up like a kid's in Christmas at what his brother was proposing, then he nodded wildly. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Candy, candy, candy, chocolate!" He said, his bright smile not leaving his face.
Matt smiled down at him, then nodded. "Good. Let's get gong so we can get home 'fore mom and dad ask where we are." Matt said, hoisting his backpack up.
"Can you carry my bag, Mattie?" Jeff asked with his puppy-dog eyes. "Homework is evil."
Matt sighed and rolled his eyes, but still grabbed the bag and continued trudging on with Jeff skipping around him. All the while, he sang, "Candy, oh candy, how I love you, candy!"
The duo got to the candy store rather quickly, and Jeff ran inside, running through the store to find the candy he wanted.
"Hey, if it ain't lil' Matt and Jeff Hardy!" The store owner noted as he saw the kids, smiling kindly at both boys. "What are you doing in my lil' old store without your parents?"
Matt smiled at him and walked straight towards the counter, letting Jeff run wild. "Hi, Mr. Flair! We finally have an allowance, so me an' Jeff decided to waste some of it on candy."
Ric chuckled at the older Hardy, then leaned down to be closer to the boy, "Finally got the allowance?" He asked, eyebrow slightly raised.
Matt nodded, and smiling, said, "Yeah, finally. You know mom and dad haven't been able to give us much, but they give when they can. And because Jeff finally got to seven years old, they decided to just give us both the money."
Ric smiled at the answer, then looked up as Jeff flew into the counter, smacking himself against it. "Ow! Mr. Flair, why does the counter have to be there?" Jeff asked, rubbing his chest as he stepped back.
Matt shook his head as Ric chuckled, then the older man said, "Well, if it wasn't there, Jeff, it would be in the back. And that'd be very uncomfortable for my customers."
Jeff nodded at the explanation, then smiled brightly and placed his candy on the counter. "Three bags of Skittles and a bag of lollipops?" Matt asked in disbelief. "I told you I could only buy two things for you."
Jeff only smiled shyly, "But I like Skittles..." He said in a small voice, which made Matt sigh.
"Well..." Matt thought about his brother, then sighed. "If you're willing to give me one bag of skittles and share some lollipops I'm sure we can buy them."
"Yay!" Jeff exclaimed, then hugged Matt tightly. "Thank you, Mattie! Thank you!"
Matt patted him on the back, then turned to Ric, who was smiling at the exchange. "Has you wrapped around his tiny finger, Mattie-Boy." Ric told him, then looked at the candy. "Will that be all?"
"Yes, sir." Matt nodded, all the while Jeff went to wander around the store once more.
"How have your parents been, Matt?" Ric asked as he placed all the candy in a paper bag. "That would be four dollars with fifty cents."
Matt counted his money and placed it all on the counter, then said, "They're fine. Mom's still telling us stories and dad's still working at the store, so nothing much has changed."
Ric nodded and handed Matt the bag then took the money. "Will that be everything, Mattie?"
"Yes, sir." Matt answered, then turned and grabbed Jeff by the elbow, stopping him from grabbing a toy that was too far up for him to grab. "Goodbye, Mr. Flair." He called, only to have Jeff turn around and wave.
"Bye-bye, Mr. Flair! We'll see you later!" Jeff said, smiling at the older man, who chuckled and waved back.
"Bye-bye, Jeffro! See you when you can come by. Hey, say hi to your parents for me, will you?" He asked, the boys already leaving the store.
"Sure thing. Goodbye!" Matt finished, then both boys were back on their route home.
Jeff quickly tore into one of the Skittles bags, humming happily as he jumped over any cracks on the sidewalk. On the way, it started to rain lightly, so both boys started running, only for the rain to get extremely harsh as they reached their home.
"Momma! Poppa!" They called as they neared the house, finding it odd for there to be a police car on the front sidewalk. "We're home!" They said as they pounded on the door, neither of them having keys.
It was sort of odd for them to not have keys, but their mother was always there whenever they got to the house, so there really was no need for them to have one.
"Mattie? Why's there a po-po car there?" Jeff asked, making Matt frown slightly.
"They're called the police, Jeff. And I don't know."
The door opened to reveal a police officer, who was frowning down at both boys.
"Matthew and Jeffrey?" He asked, all the while the boys tried to run inside for shelter from the rain.
"That's us, sir." Matt answered, almost jumping into the house to get dry.
As soon as they were inside and the officer had closed the door, both boys threw their shoes and jackets off, then looked up at him, wet hair and smiles.
"What are you doing here, Mr. Copper?" Jeff asked innocently, which made Matt smack him.
"Don't be rude, Jeff." He scolded, but the officer only shook his head.
"No need to be so harsh on him, young man." The man said, then craned his neck as his partner walked in.
"Are these her kids?" The new officer asked, pointing at both Hardy's.
"Yeah. Is the father okay?" The other man asked, making the other shake his head.
"We'd be better off telling them the news ourselves."
"Excuse me, sirs?" Matt interjected, not liking how he didn't know what was going on. "But what's going on?"
Both men looked at one another, then the first officer said, "You may want to sit down for the news, kids."
I changed a few things for the story, but it's because it needs to be this way. And do not worry, we're getting to the real story real soon. Two reviews and I'll update tomorrow