XI
I wake up with Luke to my left, making it easier for me to crawl out of bed. He’s been very independent lately, more so than before, and I wish he would stop. I love having him around, he’s such a little man already. I don’t wake him, I just make my way to the bathroom and shower. Mom runs into me, literally, as I come out.
“Good morning,” Mom says.
“Are you drinking coffee?”
“Yeah? So?”
“Mom, you’re pregnant, you can’t drink coffee.”
“I drank coffee with you and the twins and you all turned out fine.”
“What?” Lauren says, poking her head out of her room, “Are you talking about the baby?”
“See? She’s got ears like a bat,” Mom says. I roll my eyes and walk past them into my room.
Luke sits up as I start to straighten my hair. “Where are you going?” he asks, rubbing his eyes.
“Out with Fox, I’m not sure where,” I say.
“Can I come?”
“I don’t know, I’ll have to ask.” As soon as I say that, my phone rings, and the caller ID says Fox.
“Speak of the devil,” I say as I answer.
“You were talking about me?” he asks.
“Luke was asking if he could come with us,” I say.
“You can bring both of them, like a double date… except they’re not dating because they’re brother and sister… never mind. Yes, you can bring them.”
“Okay,” I say laughing, “When will you be here.”
“Half an hour, give or take.”
“Just let yourself in, I’ll get the twins ready.”
Half an hour later, almost exactly, Fox finds me brushing, or trying to, the twins’ teeth. He kisses he hello above the Lauren and Luke’s heads. I have Lauren’s head under one palm, and a tooth brush in the other. Luke doesn’t need me to forcefully brush his teeth, but Lauren still refuses.
“Do you need help?” Fox asks, laughing.
“I don’t want to brush my teeth!” Lauren squeals before I can answer.
Fox gets down to her level, “Why don’t you want to brush your teeth?”
“Because I don’t like to,” she says, pouting and folding her arms.
“And why is that?”
“Because I don’t like the toothpaste in my mouth, it stings,” she whines.
“But, don’t you like your teeth?”
“Duh!” she says, rolling her eyes, “I need them to eat!”
“Then you have to brush them, or they’re going to fall out and you’ll look like this,” Fox says, folding his lips over his teeth so he looks toothless and crossing his eyes. She giggles and picks up her toothbrush.
