We Met At A Lake House | Greg Feder |

02

Her finger lingered over the door bell, hesitance clear in her stance, a scowl firmly in place. Her platted pigtails were becoming irritating — her hair almost too short for such a hairstyle — as the free baby hairs brushed against her face.

Daniels over exaggerated sighs and the boys' snickering, her mothers staring eyes, the birds cawing annoyingly loud, the group of kids screaming down the street; it was all riling up her barley contained anger. She pressed the button of doom, the sound that followed making her grit her teeth in annoyance.

Why is everything so infuriating right now?

She could just barley hear the rushing footsteps behind the closed door, or hear the click of the lock as it was turned and the pulling of the door handle after before she was pulled into the embrace of a dark haired child. Donna.

Her half-sister wasn't someone she minded. Donna had always wanted to play with her when they were younger, she followed her everywhere she could — looked up to her and copied her every action. But even Donna's bubbly personality couldn't stop Ada's overwhelming fury, and the grudge towards her father.

"Ada!" She cheered, a grin directed up toward her sister. "Mini me!" Ada smirked back. Donna pulled Adhara's wrist, guiding her forward and through the open door of the house.

She hesitated, turning to look back at her mother, who stood beside the car. Daniel was busy grabbing her two suitcases from the boot, clearly he couldn't be rid of her sooner; Jack and Elijah were wrestling on the floor — likely about who got the seat with the most leg room — on the grass of the lawn. Her mother, however, was watching the two boys with a fond smile on her thin face — sparing less than a glance at her only daughter.

Ada turned back around, following Donna toward the living room where Sally and Bean were sitting. Bean had a bowl of apple slices in front of him, chomping on them loudly with his eyes fixated firmly on the TV — Mickey Mouse's theme song blasting loudly — Sally sat beside him, flicking through some papers filled with black ink.

The blonde haired woman turned at her oldest's ramblings, a grin overtaking her features as she noticed the girl being pulled behind her. Ada smiled back politely, taking a glance at the young boy beside her — she hadn't seen him since he was a newborn.

He's adorable, she thought.

"Adhara, how are you?" The woman questioned, standing from her spot on the settee to give Ada a hug. Her arms wrapped around the younger tightly, squeezing her lightly before moving back and holding her still by her arms. "Great thank you, Sally. What about you?" She responded uncomfortably.

"Good, I'm good! Has your mom already left? Do you need some help bringing your bags in?" She rounded of the questions quickly, Adhara had to take a second to process what she had said before she could respond.

With a furrow in her dark brows she answered, "I don't think so, and I'm sure I could handle the bags myself but I'll call for you if I need help, thanks."

"Okay! Come on, you haven't seen Bean since he was a few months old but we talk about you to him all the time so I'm sure he knows who you are." She grinned, looking back at Ada's following form, "Your dad's just gone to buy some extra blankets, it's supposed to get really cold over the next few days and we didn't want you to be freezing. He should be back soon."

"Groovy." She nodded.

————————————————————

Alicia had left in a hurry, Daniel's insistent behaviour persuading her that Ada didn't need her there any longer — that she was already settled. Her luggage had been left in the guest room, which was next to Donna's room, along with her phone and headphones.

Eric, her dad, still hadn't made it back from wherever he went to get blankets and she was just about ready to start making dad + milk jokes. Sally had been asking every question under the sun, overthinking every little thing about Ada's well being: 'Is there certain washing detergent you can't use?', 'Do you need certain soaps for the bath?', 'Are you a vegetarian? Or vegan? Or allergic to anything new?', 'Do you like bath bombs? I have plenty spare.'

Ada felt like she was being interrogated but, still, it was sweet in a way. Donna, meanwhile, had been content trying to French braid her hair and Bean sat still on the couch, apple slices gone and eyes fixated on the on what was now playing — Power Rangers.

The lock on the front door clicked loudly, the handle jiggled for a minute before it was pushed down and then opened. A man walked through, two thin boxes in one hand, keys and two completely full plastic bags juggled in the other. His black trainers were instantly kicked, landing messily on the floor, then lifting sock covered foot to kick the door closed behind him.

"Sorry I took so long, there was this woman going batshit over me taking the last few blankets and then there was a man arguing with the cashier about some vodka; it was hilarious!" He chuckled. "You alright with pizza for dinner? Figured I'd pick some up while I was out, save you standing on your fee-"

He stopped walking toward the kitchen as he caught a glance at the living room. The four occupants were staring at him, two grinning, one climbing down from their place on the couch and the other staring blank faced.

"Daddy!" Bean yelled, latching himself to Eric's left leg. The youngest blonde lifted his hand up, pointing at the two boxes of pizza with pleading eyes — Eric would usually just give it to him straight away, jumping at any chance to get him to eat actual food but right now he was to busy looking at his oldest daughter.

She looked so different in the pictures he'd been sent, so much more lively. Now, she looked like she wanted to be anywhere else; preferably a bed.

Sally had come over and taken the pizza from him, opening both boxes up and reaching for five plastic plates from the cabinet. "Did he get pepperoni?" Donna cheered, bouncing over to stand next to her mother with a bright grin.

Eric continued to stare at Adhara, his face softening before he smiled, "Giggles."

————————————————————

| Giggles is Eric's nickname for Adhara, just thought I'd let you know cause otherwise it's weird. I don't know wether it's obvious but I'm an extremely awkward writer — so if it sucks that's probably why.

Honestly, Ada really is an awkward fuck but same.

I'm hoping my writing will get better through this book, I'm trying to get rid of my awkwardness to give it a better flow but y'know we'll just see how it goes, I guess.

You guys should let me know your options on the writing and Ada. It would be interesting to know what you think on Adhara throughout the book. Don't be to harsh though I'm a sensitive little fuck sometimes :) |

1,075 Words.