The Struggle Of Our Lives

Chapter 25: Ice Cream?

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Lotte flipped her hair at this and replied, "That's cause we're twins."

As we laughed, Yasmin gestured for Lotte to sit next to her. She had pulled her close to take a selfie with her, taking a few pictures then turning her phone to show me. They were both pretty photogenic, and I admired how easy it was for not only Lotte to make friends so fast, but Yasmin's natural charisma. "I like your outfit, by the way." Char admitted. Yasmin turned a light shade of rose and thanked her, saying she had a hard time picking it out.

She was wearing a loose red shirt worn off the shoulder, with two large slits down both sleeves; reminding me of something I once wore to a renaissance fair, with classic black leggings and black and white checkered Vans slides. Her hair was done up in a comfortable bun, with a red headband and small baby hairs framing her face. She had studs in her primary and secondary lobes, both gold in color.

"I like your piercings too, how many do you have?" I asked. "Only the four right now, but I plan on getting more." She replied, smiling, scanning my features. I assumed she was about to ask me how many I had, and replied in advance, "I have four in each lobe, and one helix in each ear, so 10 in total, and I am definitely getting more."

She had this look in her eyes like she wasn't listening to what I said, but was listening to me just to hear my voice. One ear and out the other, since she seemed more interested in something else. The golden flakes in her sharp auburn eyes kept grabbing my attention, and even when I looked away, I found myself looking back to see them again. "Something peak your interest?" She asked. Lotte was now noticed my staring, and motioned to cut it out, swiping her hand in front of her neck.

"No." I looked away, pretending to look for a specific book, and standing up with Tember asleep in my arms. "What are you looking for?" She asked. I thought about all the books in the fiction section and quickly thought up a crappy excuse. "I was wondering if The Lord Of the Rings was here" I fumbled. She laughed a little before we heard a small bang. It came from the room the boys were in, and so I quickly left to see what happened. Lotte stepped in front of me just as I got to the door to the Non-Fiction rooms and opened it for me. I looked left, then right only to find the boys reading through a massive book about god knows what. "What was that?" I asked, referring to the bump sound.

"We saw this and couldn't read the spine from down here, so I climbed the ladder and threw it down here." Replied Daniel. Yasmin shook her head before scolding her brother. "You scared us half to death!" She reprimanded, half-joking. "I know, I'm sorry." Theo laughed, scratching the back of his head, visibly trying to look sweet so I couldn't get mad at him. I sighed, "just don't hurt yourself, will ya? We only got one of you." Turning back to re-enter the Fiction room.

"We'll be fineee!" Daniel protested, probably feeling like he was being treated like a little kid (unsurprisingly, since he was only 11 like the twins). Teddy apologized again quickly before turning back to his new giant book. We shut the door behind us just as Yasmin groaned. "That boy is gonna kill me"

Lotte and I laughed, knowing how she felt. "He's not normally a troublemaker since he's almost always with Charlotte, and she's not much of a pain." I explained. "I'm glad he finally found a partner in crime that's his age and into the same things." Yasmin replied. Once back in the Fiction room, I confessed that Teddy didn't have many friends since he was so close to Lotte. "They stick together like glue, which isn't a bad thing, but they know everything about each other, so they don't fight" I continued. "I think it'd be good for them both to have friends they don't know like the back of their hands." Lotte shook her head at this, making her disinterest in making a friend known.

"But don't you want to have a sleepover with a new friend?" Asked Yasmin. "I have one whenever I want with Theo or Terry. Why would I need someone else?" Char retorted. I shook my head, "because we're so close, I think that might stunt your growth as a person if you aren't familiar with dealing with conflict."

Lotte shook her head once again at me, declaring that she didn't need a new friend, since she gets along fine with her classmates without being "best friends." Yasmin turned to me at this and agreed. "Maybe it could help you grow in other areas? Like, being introduced to a new book or TV show you wouldn't have seen without the recommendation?"  Char seemed to think about this for a moment, and reluctantly agreed. "I've got other priorities for now though, like catching up on school."

It was true that Lotte missed out on some school because of her pregnancy, including field-trips and test days. She had been working hard to catch up with everyone else since they were a whole unit ahead. Before I could say anything else, the boys came in and asked what else we were doing for the day. I admitted we had no other plans than to hang out with the Selina-Martins at the library, which made the boys jump around with excitement.

"Wait, what do y'all want from me?" I asked, nervous they'd want our dates to spend the night with us; since we didn't have much of a "house."

"Pretty please can we go get ice cream?!" Theo asked, with Daniel following suit, and inspiring Lotte in the process. I turned to Yasmin to see her smiling warmly at the kids.

"Sure, why not?"