Ginny and Georgia: The Younger Shadow

Chapter 6- Blue Moon Cafe
As I walked inside the cafe, I was immediately hit by the sweet aroma of coffee and hot chocolate, and saw the fumes of decafs. There were countless displays of rich chocolate cake that I drooled over, strawberry cheesecakes, carrot cakes and finely iced muffins. Workers behind the desks greeted me with warm and welcoming smiles, and I knew why Kara, Aria and Madi thought this was a great hang out spot. Cafe tables adorn the sun kissed grey as if places there at the tip of an artists brush. The homey aroma seemed to draw my soul in. The other sat by a table with a clear view of the street, where I saw my sister walking with Abby and Norah. Max was at theatre practice for a show they were doing, called Sing Sing: The Musical. They went into a pink signed boutique called Bella's Fancies. It seemed nice enough. The coffee and smiles of everything else felt homely and familiar, and at once I relaxed. Aria smiled at me, as if she could tell what I was thinking.
"Everyone loves the Blue Moon Cafe, especially Joe. He runs this place!" Aria pointed to a man who was tall and slim with russet brown skin. He had dark, messy hair and was pouring a customer some coffee. When he saw Kara, Madi and Aria waving over at him, he walked over to us, an interested look etched on his face.
"Good afternoon, girls. And who's this with you?"
"I'm Charlie. Hi, Joe. I just moved here with my family."
"Hello, Charlie. Welcome to Wellsbury. Well, this is quite an occasion. I see you've already made friends with the younger 'man' group. Your sisters are always in here taking advantage of my kindness and begging for wine" here he winked and bowed down like a comedian-" But since you're new, I'll give you some chocolate cake on the house, Charlie"
"Thanks, Joe. I really appreciate it!"
"No problem" and then he walked away.
Kara giggled, clutching at my arm as her amber eyes darted all around Joe.
"He's really nice, Char. But we've been banned from going to Mrs Silver's Cafe a few streets down, because she caught Norah, Max and Abby stealing a bottle of wine from her pantry" she shook her head. "Kinda feels like we live in the shadows of our sisters sometimes. So we do what we can. Make the most of life."
"Yeah, I get what you mean, Kara" A few minutes went by where we had companionable chatter and learnt more about each other. I learnt that Aria was obsessed with sophomore Brad Gates, but that Abigail had caught then making out twice, and she had been banned from dating him. But she still went and snuck out with him sometimes. They asked me if I ever had a boyfriend, but honestly, no. I'd had a slight crush on Mark Rolinson at my old school, but he barely glanced in my direction. Loads of girls fawned over him in the hallways, so why would I stand out to him?
"Maybe you'll find a perfect man here, Char. You never know..." Madi added. Joe brought over my chocolate cake and i had some, but shared it with the girls. They were right. It was absolute heaven. They were all fine with sharing the same fork to eat as well, which I never did with my sister, brother or mom. But when they offered it to me, I didn't want to seem weak or petty. So I did. I think it pretty much sealed out bond. They all liked me.
"Oh My God." Aria ran out of the shop, skidding around several irritated customers.
"Aria! What the..." Madi looked outside, and her eyes magnified at her terrified gaze.
"Kara, Char. We need to leave." I took my bag, extremely confused. What was up? As the door clanged shut behind us, I saw what had happened. Outside Bella's Fancies, hanging their heads in obvious shame, were Abby and Norah. And my mom gripping Ginny in her arm in a fist lock grip. Aria and Kara ran over to their sisters, and Madi took my arm and we walked over to Ginny and Georgia.
"Mom, what the hell happened?"