Lakehouse Love

White Lies and Paper Cups

Music fills Nate and Jay's room as the boy lays on the bed, while Jay sits cocooned in the light grey lovesac in the left corner of the the room. Throwing and catching a bouncy ball from his position on his back, Nate moves his head to see Jay sketching in her book once again; making him shake his head before returning to the blue marble ball.

"BLUE-JAY." Becky cries racing into the room with tears in her eyes.

"What's wrong, Ladybug?" Jay asks dropping her sketchbook on the floor beside her and opening her arms for Becky to drop into her lap as Nate sits up right.

"When I told mummy about my tooth... she told me, that she's the one who puts the dollar under my pillow. Not the tooth fairy."

"Ladybug, you remember when I once told you Santa has help from the elves too deliver all the presents to everyone all over the world in time for Christmas morning?"

"Yeah." Becky answers looking up from burying her face in her sister's neck.

"Well, the tooth fairy doesn't have help from anyone. So sometimes, when she is super busy, she asks mummy or daddy to place the dollar under your pillow and keep your tooth safe till she can come and collect it."

"Really?"

Glancing between the three occupants of the room, each answer her with a smile making the little girl's sadness quickly fade. Wrapping her arms around Jay's neck once more, Becky squeezes her sister tightly in a silent thank you before Jay breaks the silence.

"Come on, Ladybug, I've got an idea."

Becky climbs off of her sister and waits beside the lovesac, tilting her head like a puppy in confusion as Jay stands. Lifting the five year old to rest on her hip, Jay heads out of the room on route to the master bedroom with Nate and Umbra scrambling after her.

Placing Becky back on her feet once they reach their destination, Jay jugs the bed away from the small built in storage closet and pulls out a few ball of string. Briefly turning and tossing them to Nate, who juggles the balls before catching them, Jay then retuning to the inside of the small room and smiles in success when she spots multiple unopened packs of white plastic cups. Plucking a pack from the limited floor space and closing the door, Jay turns to the multiple eyes watching her in curiosity as a mischievous smirk creeps onto her lips.

"Who wants to have some fun?"

<♤•♤•♤> <♤•♤•♤> <♤•♤•♤>

Using her push dagger to create a hole in the bottom of yet another plastic cup, Jay pulls a sting of yarn through the hole and tying a large knot.

"Do I want to know why you wear a necklace that doubles as a dagger?"

"Rule number #9." Jay states passing the finished phone cups out to the kids. "Never go anywhere without a knife."

Holding the blue ombre black haired girl in his perplexed gaze, Jay chuckles lightly at Nate's reaction while she returns the small blade to its sheath. Snapping her fingers in front of his face, Nate snaps out of his daze and follows Jay to sit on the bay window behind Charlotte's bed.

"Can you hear me now?" Greg asks Andre after the boy has disappeared into another room. "Okay"

"I grabbed these while you setting this up by the way." Nate tell Jay handing her her sketchbook and five coloured pencils.

"Did you see what I was drawing?" Jay asks taking the supplies and opening to the page o her current main work-in-progress.

"Hourglass with a human heart? Yeah, it looks awesome." Nate responds looking across the girl to the 128 Ibs lying beside her.

"What about now?" Greg repeats after stepping closer to the main bed of the room. "Now can you hear me?"

"I can't decide if this was a good idea." Jay admits looking up from her book and seeing the younger kids spread across the room with lines of string taut in the air.

"Can you hear me now?" Greg repeats once more moving to a third place in the room to take to Andre. "This is so cool."

"It's nice to actually see them having fun with some creativity for a change." Nate says leaning on his knees.

"Hey, didn't I say no cell phones? I thought we had a deal." Lenny states storming into the kid's bedroom, only to stop at the sight that greets him.

Greg standing on top of the master bed with Keithie lying half underneath, while both Charlotte and Becky are settled in their beds; all with plastic cups to their ears and string stretching across the room.

"What up dad?" Greg greets the slightly stumped adult.

"Are those cup phones?" Lenny questions, looking at his eldest son in clear disbelief that the kids knew how to make them, or even about them.

"Yeah. Jay taught us. Cool huh?" Keithie replies with a wide grin on his face. "Get out Becky's."

"Look, dad. I have a cup waiting." Becky tells her father before switching the cup on her left ear to her mouth. "I gotta call you back. I'm on with Spongebob."

Looking down at the sound of Curly's unforgettable barking, Lenny sees the labradoodle sticking out beside his youngest son's feet.

"Was that a turkey?" Bean questions popping out of the wooden box at the foot of the master bed.

"Yo, Andre, can you hear me?" Greg asks his new found best friend.

"Crystal clear. Can you hear me?" The McKenzie boy replies from within the bathroom.

"Oh, yeah."

Looking around the room in amusement, Lenny ducks under the hanging strings and stops at Donna in the wardrobe before continuing towards the bathroom.

"The best thing about these is we can leave a cup in the shower and listen to Jasmine clean herself tomorrow."

"What?" Lenny states pulling the shower curtain back and scaring the life out of the thirteen year old for the second time that day. "May I borrow this? Attention children, There's been a request from the phone company. Would you please install cup phones in every adult bedroom right away? Thank you."

All of the kids race out of the room in excitement leaving Lenny with the two observing teens and his daughter's four legged companion.

"You did this?"

"Had to get Becky's mind off mama's slip up somehow." Jay shrugs scratching Umbra behind one of his ears.

"You heard about that?"

Both older teens nod with solum expressions causing Lenny to sigh and his shoulders to drop.

"What did you tell her?"

"Same thing I told her about Santa and the elves; only difference is, the tooth fairy doesn't have any helpers so sometimes she needs help from parents."