He Called Her Cinderella

Chapter Fifteen

        Well after that little, uh, adventure, Mr. Bradford finally called me. I was driving Pumpkin and the four other pumpkin heads to the snow cone stand when my phone rang. 

        "Don't answer it!" Reuben yelled. "No texting or talking while driving."

        I answered it.

        "Hello, this is Ruth."

        "Hey Ruth, it's Mr. B. Could you bring Livy by the hospital?" he asked.

        "Yeah, can I come too?" I asked hopefully.

        "Sorry, they only let in family," he answered. "But the update is: she's not doing very well. What they thought was just a small heart-attack might have been bigger than they thought."

        "But she was so healthy!" I protested.

        "I know, so they're running more tests. In the meantime, she's conscious and able to eat a little," he sighed. "She'd like to see Livy."

        "No problem, I'll bring her over," I said before hanging up.

        I drove Olivia to the hospital and told her to call me when she was done, then I had to take Reuben to the snow cone shack. And by had to, I mean HAD to. He was acting like a toddler.

        "Can I have a lime snow cone, puh-leeeeease?" he asked.

        "We should wait for Olivia," Charlie said.

        "PLEEEEASE? PRETTY PLEASE? PRETTIER THAN YOUR GIRLFRIEND PLEASE???" Reuben started whining.

        "Grow up," Louise mumbled.

        "You're just jealous because I didn't say prettier than Louise please," Reuben grinned. "And that's because I wanted to actually make it sound effective."

        Louise glared.

        "Just kidding, you're pretty too," he sighed.

        "And I guess you're okay," she mumbled.

        Charlie and I lost it. We were laughing so hysterically, I had to pull over. Tears were rolling down our cheeks as Louise and Reuben just blushed.

        "You owe us snow cones for our entertainment," Reuben declared.

        "Fine," I consented once I could get my breath.

        Louise nervously played with her ponytail, Reuben fingered his para-cord bracelet as he stared out the window.

        Charlie caught my eye and nodded.

        I smiled, "Admit it, you two like each other."

        "Do not!" they said in unison.

        "Denial," Charlie sang.

        "There's no one I argue with more!" Louise said.

        "Cause you don't talk to anyone more than you do with Reuben," Charlie said.

        "No way," Reuben shook his head.

        "One day we'll say 'I told you so,'" I assured them.

        "Nope," Louise shook her head, popping the "p."

        Charlie just smiled, "You can't fool the two smartest students in Benlot."

        "You spend too much time studying books. Maybe if you focused on people, you'd understand that I don't like him," Louise disagreed.

        "Oh, he studies people very much, that is, he studies a certain person very much," Reuben added.