The Struggle Of Our Lives

Chapter 22, continued.

The two of us shut the door behind us as we left Charlotte's room. A while ago, the three of us ended up completely renovating the room. We built a door for the room and bought a standard-sized bed to replace the bed of leaves I had made so long ago. The floors were made of cheap khaki-colored bamboo, and the two dirt walls were eventually lined with gray-washed brick. The bed was decent, enough for Lotte to have some legroom and large pillows. The door was made out of cheap wood, but it did the job. The doorknob was brass, and slightly rusted. So all in all, it was a very good-looking room.

We had gotten back to the garage, and talked a bit about our day and how nice it was to be back home. "I was getting sick of that hospital air."

I agreed. The atmosphere in that building was just sad and uncomfortable. Teddy's chair was nice and large so he slept comfortably on it, and my cot was alright, but Lotte's bed was too Papa Bearish for her, even though it was supposed to give her support. I mentioned how I had gotten my permit a few days ago after my 16th birthday, and how I needed to get a vehicle somehow so I could get my license. Of course, taking the bus was free, and therefore way cheaper, but I needed a car to get places.

I had thought about finding a real place to live with the kids, but finding an apartment was not realistic at the time, so I held off on bringing it up at all. Besides, our garage was a comfortable space, with electricity that I didn't have to pay for. I felt guilty for using someone's garage, but I figured they wouldn't mind much, considering that it was dilapidated when we found it.

"Do you need anything?" I asked Theo. He shook his head. "I'm alright, just tired." I felt the same, so I turned on the TV to some movie and fell asleep on the couch while Teddy took the loft bed. All three of us could comfortably fit on the bed, but both of us needed space from being huddled together in the hospital for two days. Before succumbing to my exhaustion, I scrolled through my Instagram feed and came across a pretty girl from my city, named Yasmin. I looked through her profile and realized that we had a mutual friend. Amy, the girl who works front desk at Miranda's was a classmate of hers, and from the looks of it, were very close.

I continued examining Yasmin's pictures and studied her appearance. She had deep, clear olive skin, a few shades darker than Theo, and had luscious 3b hair like Lotte. Her eyes were a warm hazelnut, with specks of gold and auburn around her iris. Her nose was round and had a nostril piercing on each side. I noticed that she often wrapped her hair in a scarf or head wrap. I eventually set my phone down, but quickly picked it back up. Before I added her, I checked her bio and quickly DM'd her with a short introduction.

Yasmin_MN: 900 posts, 3.2k followers, following 500.

bio: 17- work out w/me! She/her 💜💜

I drafted a couple of texts before deciding on the following, "Heyy, I'm a friend of Amy's. We should hang ."

I finally set my phone down again and awaited a response. The lack of good sleep finally caught up to me, and soon I was asleep. I dreamt that I was living in a beautiful cottage with someone. I couldn't see any faces, but I knew my companion was a woman. She smelt of butterscotch and strawberry cake and had an apron on. I assumed we were baking something, and helped where I could. We ended up making some cupcakes, I think, and we ate some together. Unfortunately, I woke up, and the dream was over.

I quickly realized the reason I woke up was that I had gotten a text from Lotte.

New Message From ❤️ Lotte ❤️

"Can one of ya help me?"

 I sat up and threw on my shoes to let Lotte out of her room. Teddy was still sound asleep, and I tip-toed out of the garage. I soon got to Char's room and peered in. 

"You ok?" I asked. "Yeah, gotta pee though." She replied. I stepped forward and helped her out of her bed. "How's the baby been?" 

She looked over at the crib and shook her head, answering, "Sound asleep. Hasn't made a peep all afternoon." 

I carried her over to the bathroom, as it was easier than supporting herself on me. She sat herself on the toilet, and I closed the door for her privacy. I had a moment of near silence, the only thing occupying my mind were the sounds of an owl or two, and some small creatures searching for food. I heard crickets singing their songs, and looked up to admire the moon. La Luna was very large and brilliant that night, possibly a full moon. 

 Soon, Char was done and asked if I had plans for dinner. I helped her to the garage and sat her down on the couch. The commotion woke Teddy up, and he climbed down the ladder to accompany Lotte. The two picked a movie on Netflix and snuggled up together. I decided on chicken bleu with tater tots and took them out of the mini-fridge. I put 6 chickens on the stove and placed a plethora of tots around it to cook.  

 I turned it on low heat and went out to move Tember from her crib to the small rainbow beanbag I had bought around a week ago. I came back to Char's room and found the baby sleeping still, with a swaddle around her. I carefully lifted her from her bed and found myself back at the garage, then gently placed her into an indentation in the beanbag to keep her from moving around too much. While I waited for dinner to cook, I cuddled next to the twins and watched the movie they picked, which turned out to be some Batman movie.