Just One Little Favour

Fifteen

"Meow, do you think Mummy will come first, or the choo choo?" Joe asks, him practically buzzing with the scenario that he's at a train station— a bit like his favourite cat in the movie.

"Knowing your mother, Skimbleshanks, my bets are all on the bloody train," Louis grumbles, looking up at the timetable above them on the dingy platform, then to his watch on his wrist.

He huffs out a sigh, leaning on one leg, and switching it to the other. They've been standing ages, and by ages, he means fifteen minutes. Their train was delayed (fortunately for Lottie as she still hasn't shown up) and there's no bloody seats left on the platform because people are taking them up.

Joe decides to hop circles around Louis, his backpack with a spare set of clothes, and his teddy Socks inside, shifting side to side on his back. He looks up, inhales and points a tiny finger across the other side of the railway.

"Mummy!" he screams out, jumping up and down as he points. "Loulou, look! Mummy!"

Louis averts his gaze across the train tracks to the other platforms, to see Lottie striding through the gates at the entrance, waving.

"What you doing all the way over there?" Louis hollers.

"Platform three!" she yells back, pointing to the sign.

Louis creases his brows, looking down at his phone for the app. He shakes his head. "Platform five!" he replies louder, pointing to his phone that he holds up as if she can read it, then points to the sign above them.

Lottie rolls her eyes, shifts her bag onto her shoulder more and strides up the stairs, disappearing.

"Where she go?" Joe asks, looking around the place with his brows knitted and a frown upon his face.

Louis spots the white Gucci sandals first, coming down the set of stairs. He turns Joey that way, and the boy squeals, charging through the people and throwing himself at Lottie.

Lottie catches Joe nicely, squashing him into her chest as she sways them side to side. She peppers his face in kisses, her lipgloss coming off a little on his forehead. He giggles, swatting her away.

"Missed you," he says sweetly, giving her a kiss on the lips.

"Missed you too, my little Prince." She gives him one last squeeze before walking them toward Louis. 

Louis gives Lottie a sideways hug, pressing his thin lips to her warm temple. He goes to ruffle her straightened hair but she's quick to swat his hand away. 

"We're going on a train, Mamma!" Joe says enthusiastically, pointing toward the tracks. "I'm going to be the real Skimbleshanks, right, Meow?"

Louis tweaks Joey's nose, lips stretching into a warm smile, his heart bursting from the way Joe's eyes sparkle in excitement. "You betcha, Skimbleshanks!" 

Joseph wiggles himself out of his mother's grip, skipping over to Louis and pulling his bag from his shoulders, making it fall to the floor with a small thump. He rustles through it, tongue poking slightly from the side of his lip in determination. He giggles, pulls out Louis' boxer briefs, and Louis' eyes widen, forcing the pants back into the bag.

"Don't flap them around, Joseph!" he hisses. "Don't want to signal all the communal gays to my aid with the white flag." He shakes his head jokingly, Lottie rolling her eyes at him from beside him. 

Joe rifles around a little more, before pulling out a paper bag. He sits cross legged on the floor, takes out some of the pick-n-mix sweets and munches away at the jazzles and watermelon gummies.