A/N: Buongiorno! Sorry it took me so long to update, I've been busy with classes. Thanks again for the love and support :)
"Violet! Merv! I'm home!" Marie called out as she opened the front door. She had been out surfing with Reggie all day. Sam was visiting his dad and Otto was at a skating competition that Twister was filming.
"Oh, hello, dear! How's the ocean today?" Violet's voice drifted from the kitchen along with the smell of chocolate chip cookies. Marie walked into the next room and stood next to Violet at the counter.
"Good enough for me, but I think Reggie was a little disappointed," she informed her foster mother as she got a spoon from the drawer and ate some of the cookie dough. Violet gave her a look that said "don't you dare put that spoon back in my bowl" before nodding at what she said.
"Those Rockets do love their big waves. You know, their father was in a surf movie. He's a darn good one, too! Those kids got the best genes to be athletes!"
"Speaking of the Rockets, Reggie wants to know if I can stay over tonight. Would you guys mind if I did?" It had been a pretty solid two weeks since Marie had moved to Ocean Shores. She had settled into the neighborhood, and the neighborhood had settled with her. Everything was going surprisingly smoothly.
"Well, I don't see why not! Will you be having dinner there or here?"
"There. We're going to try to make pizza."
"Oh, how fun! Hopefully you'll come home with a new recipe for us to have!" Marie grinned and hugged Violet tightly before heading to her room to grab a few overnight essentials. She had butterflies in her stomach. This would be the first sleep over in years that she'd had. She wondered what she and Reggie would do. Maybe they'd watch a few scary movies. Maybe they could paint each other's toe nails. Marie glanced down at her feet. Yup, she still hadn't painted them again. She tried to calm her nerves with these thoughts and it sort of worked. A few minutes later, she noticed a bed room light at the Rockets' house flick on and off three times. She laughed because Reggie had insisted on using a signal rather than setting a time. It was a goofy thing to do, but she went along with it, thinking it would be fun to see it. She wasn't wrong.
"Alright, I'm headed over to my sleep over!" Marie announced as she entered the living room. Violet handed her a small container of cookies.
"Have fun, Marie. Be respectful of their house. Oh! I almost forgot. We're going to play bridge with some old friends of ours. We should be home no later than 10 if you need anything," Merv informed her, putting his hat on.
"Okay, have fun you two!" Marie smiled, hugging them both before heading across the street. She got halfway between the houses before she heard someone yell her name. Turning her head to the right, she noticed Lars walking up to her.
"Oh, hey. What's up?" She asked plainly. They were getting along better than before, but things were still strained sometimes. She would challenge his power and he would make fun of whatever he could that wouldn't result in an emotional meltdown on her end, and a body bag on his end.
"Nothing, just wanted to see if you wanted to hang out. Hey, are those cookies? Can I have one?" He asked, reaching for the container. Marie pulled it away from his hand.
"Uh, no. These are for me and Reg. And I would, but I'm having a sleep over."
"What, with pillow fights and stuff?"
"Yeah, and skimpy pajamas and talking about boys we like. No. Not even kind of. Actually, I don't know what we're going to do. I haven't had one of these in forever."
"A sleep over?"
"Yeah. Moving around a lot means you don't always make a lot of friends. And if you do, they're more of 'I'll see you at school' friends, not 'I'm going to invite you over to my house and get totally attached to you' friends."
"Hmm. That kinda sucks. Well, if you guys decide to wear skimpy pajamas and have pillow fights and talk about boys you like, namely me, don't hesitate to come get me. Night, loser."
Marie snorted at his comment. "Night, jerk face." She closed the distance to the Rocket's door and knocked three times. Reggie opened the door immediately and grinned at her friend.
"Hey, Marie! I was wondering when you'd get over here."
"Hey, Rocket Girl. Lars stopped me on the way over, but I brought Violet's cookies!"
"Lars, huh? You know, he has been a bit nicer lately. I think you're starting to rub off on him," Reggie mused, ushering Marie inside. "Come on, I've got the pizza dough made. We can watch a scary movie while it bakes. What kind of toppings do you like?"
Thirty minutes later, the girls were sitting in front of the TV with a box of movies in front of them, trying to decide what sounded good.
"Oh, Nightmare on Elm Street! This one's my favorite," Marie laughed. "It's so laughable at times, seriously. Want to watch it?"
"Sure, that sounds good. Man that pizza is starting to smell awesome. Dad makes all kinds of weird pizzas, but Otto and I usually just eat pepperoni. Mostly because Otto's still a picky eater and I can't eat a whole pizza to myself." They both laughed at that and heard the timer ding from the kitchen. Two hours later, both girls were zoned out on the couch, pizza crumbs and soda cans in an array around them. Marie knocked her fist on her chest lightly and belched loudly, both girls breaking into hysterical laughter.
"Wow that was impressive. Let me see if I can top it…" Reggie howled, starting their burp-off. She let out a really big one and right at that moment, Raymundo walked into the house. Both girls froze and slowly turned to look at him, unable to stop their giggling.
"Hey, Dad." "Hi, Ray." They both said at the same time, trying harder to stifle their laughter. Ray merely looked at them before going into the kitchen. The girls glanced at each other with curiosity and looked at Raymundo when he returned to the living room, soda in hand. He quickly downed the drink and a few seconds later, let out a loud, long burp. Laughter burst from the girls again and Ray joined in, taking a seat in the chair next to the couch.
"So is this what you two have been doing the entire time?"
"No, we made pizza and watched a movie. That was just poor timing," Reggie explained, chuckling. Marie started picking up cans and setting them in a neat stack on the coffee table. She glanced at her feet and remembered that the polish on her toes was severely chipped.
"Hey, wanna paint our nails? Mine are gross," Marie asked, pointing at her feet. Reggie looked and laughed, nodding in agreement.
"You girls go have fun, I'll clean up down here," Ray said, standing up and picking up a few cans.
"Are you sure?" Marie asked. She didn't want Raymundo to think she was just using their house, drinking their soda and eating their food and not appreciating any of it. Because she did, greatly. It meant a lot that he was letting her stay over. She felt normal having a sleep over. She didn't want that feeling to stop just because she didn't at least counter offer cleaning up a small mess.
"Yeah, it's not that big. This is nothing compared to the messes Otto and Twister make when they're together. You girls have fun, and keep the volume down, okay?"
"Okay, Dad," Reggie smiled and hugged her dad before heading upstairs to her room, Marie following closely behind. Once there, Reggie closed the bedroom door and opened her closet door, pulling a shoe box down from the shelf. Marie looked through her CD collection and decided to put a Linkin Park album into the player.
"I don't normally mess around with make-up, but I've got quite a bit of nail polish," Reggie explained as she put the box on her bed and opened the lid, sitting down next to it. Marie joined her and looked into the box. She spotted a pretty ruby red and plucked it from the box. They painted their nails and for hours after that simply sat on the bed and talked about everything on their minds. Marie told Reggie about all the places she had gotten to live and in turn, Reggie told Marie about all the adventures she and the boys had had over the years.
"You know, there's two girls at school that I hang out with sometimes, and they're pretty good friends, but I've never had a best friend that's a girl. It's normally just me and the guys. So to have someone that I can relate to on more than just a sports level is really nice. I can't paint my nails with the guys, or talk about girl stuff like crushes and make-up. I'm really glad the Stimpleton's brought you to Ocean Shores," Reggie said, yawning slightly and inspecting her sea green nail polish. Marie smiled and blushed slightly, looking at her red nails.
"It really means a lot to hear you say that. I've got a lot of acquaintances, and I've made friends with people that I've lived with. But I've never really had a friend my own age. I guess that comes with the territory. But this has been nice. I've never been this happy before. But I'm also worried that it'll be taken away as fast as it came. So, instead of waiting for that to happen, I'm going to enjoy this as much as I can, just in case." She leaned over and put her head on Reggie's arm. She was okay with hugs, but physical contact wasn't really her thing, so this became a form of affection for her. Reggie smiled and put her hand on her friend's shoulder.
"I'm glad that I can be hear for you, Marie," she said quietly before fulling grabbing Marie's shoulders and pushing her into a seated position, staring at her with narrowed eyes and a smirk. "So, Lars stopped you on the way over here, right? What'd he say?"
Marie blushed but she wasn't sure why. "He just wanted to know if I wanted to hand out with him. I told him I couldn't because I'm obviously here, and then he said if pillow fights or the topic of guys that we like, namely him, come up, we should let him know."
"Do you like him?"
"What?! What kind of question is that? I barely know him!" Why does my face feel like it's on fire?
"Well, your face is as red as pizza sauce right now. And he has been particularly nice to you lately. I'm just kind of wondering if maybe, just maybe, you guys should date?"
Marie buried her face in her hands. They were not having this conversation.
"We are not having this conversation."
"We definitely are. Should I call Twister and tell him to let Lars know?"
"You're awful. Truly, you are."
Reggie laughed. "Ah, I'm just messing and you know it. I won't tell anyone about your undying love for Lars, I promise."
"REGINA!" Marie half shouted, balling up her fists and bringing them down to the floor. Seconds later, Otto opened the door.
"What're you in here yelling about? And using Reggie's full name? Are you guys playing Playstation? Marie, are you losing?"
Reggie chuckled, looking up at her little brother. "Nah, I'm just teasing her over something dumb, no need to sweat it."
"Oh yeah? What is it?"
The girls glanced at each other, a little bit of worry in their eyes. C'mon, Marie, figure something out, quick. "I was telling her about living in New Jersey and she kept trying to get me to do an accent that I don't have. I was just getting annoyed." Good enough. Otto nodded and said "Whatever," as he left the room. Marie sighed and looked at Reggie, who was biting back giggles.
"Jersey accents, huh? I have to admit, that was a pretty quick cover up." Reggie yawned, rubbing her eye. "Man, today's been a long day. Ready for bed?" Marie yawned too and nodded. They flopped down onto Reggie's bed and talked for a while longer before finally falling asleep.