just the way you are

chapter nine: time to explore

"charlie."

"hmm." bailey hummed in acknowledgement to her younger brother.

"who does missouri state play this weekend?" brody asked. the set of siblings were walking around trader joe's looking for some yogurt for bailey plus brody wanted jerky.

"i think south dakota," bailey pointed to where a bunch of bags of beef jerky were on a shelf. "what kind do you want?"

"teryaki," brody put one bag into his sister's basket that was holding. "original and peppered."

"let's go check out then," bailey checked that the basket had brody's three bag of jerky and her two packs of yogurts for the week and a half they were there.

"molls!" bailey yelled as she came into the hotel room they shared after shopping with brody. "i'm back!"

"i could hear the first time you yelled," molly came out of the bathroom. "do you want to go exploring with the four stooges, daze, steph, and dan?"

"sure," bailey called back as she dug through her suitcase after putting her yogurt in the fridge. "when is rehearsal today?"

"not until one pm," molly answered. "what are you wearing to explore?"

"not what i'm currently wearing," bailey was dressed in black joggers, a dinosaur crop top, and a messy bun. "i think this." bailey quickly changed in the room into a striped sweater with her shortalls over it along with her converse.

"that is so cute," molly commented. "i think i'm just wearing this." molly was dressed in a pair of jeans with a black tank top. she also had a flannel shirt pulled over the tank top.

"that's cute too, molls," bailey took down her hair. "how much of a mess is my hair?"

"it looks good, charlie."

"about time," josh complained as bailey and molly walked into the lobby.

"can it joshua," bailey glared at the boy in question.

"let's go before burrgy dies," stephanie interrupted. she hooked her arms through bailey's and molly's and the girls took the lead. daisy hooked her arm through bailey's other arm making a chain of four girls.

"she wouldn't actually kill me, would she?" the girls actually snorted as they heard josh ask brody. they all knew that she wouldn't, but josh didn't for some reason.

"she most definitely would, buddy."

"cam is going to scar that boy for life," molly laughed quietly as she whispered to the girls.

"i have a random question for you, charlie," stephanie blurted out. "why are you called charlie and why is he called cameron or cam?"

"those are our middle names," bailey explained as the girls continued walking down the street. "mine is charlotte, and his is cameron. i'm number two of thirteen kids, brodes is number three. half of us are called by our first name by our grandparents and half are called by their actual first names."

"that's cool," stephanie nodded. "can i ask one more question?"

"go ahead," bailey shrugged.

"you said grandparents, what about..." stephanie hesitated.

"my parents?" stephanie nodded. "my mom was fourteen when she had my older brother, and seventeen when she had me. she couldn't take care of us, so my grandparents took custody of us. you ever notice how brodes and i don't look a lot alike?" stephanie nodded. "we're half siblings, same mom but different dad. most of us have different dads because our mom would have random one night stands. our grandparents have taken custody of all thirteen of us because, for lack of better words, our mom is a shitty person. if you ever hear me or cam bitching about a women named connie, that's our mom. my dad died when i was eight. he was killed in action in iraq in 2003. bennett was his name, my older brother's named after him."

"i'm so sorry."

"it's okay, i never really knew him," bailey shrugged again. "i always have known cam's dad better than i knew my own. ryan is his name, by the way. when we go to tucson in arizona, cam and i are gonna go see him and cam's other half siblings."

"can i ask-" stephanie cut herself off. "sorry that's probably too personal."

"why doesn't cam live with ryan?" bailey received a nod in confirmation that she was right. "we found out who cam's dad was when he was ten, i was almost fifteen. cam had lived his whole life with us, with nany and papa, so he decided to stay with us. he definitely could have lived with ryan and his kids, tommy and miley, but he chose us. i don't actually know why he stuck with us, but he did."

"as i've explained before charlie," molly rolled her eyes. "it's because cam loves you guys."

"he loves them too though."

"charlie! charlie!"

bailey could hear her younger brother from the other end of the hallway. bailey was walking to her dressing room with some of her winter clothes out of her trunk in hand. bailey's trunk had been used to store a number of things that weren't limited to some winter clothes, some stuff she needed just at the theater (including a power strip, an extra foam roller, and another blanket), and, weirdly enough, brody's football and a pump for it.

"yes cam?" bailey sighed. she wasn't sure why he was yelling down the hallway for her, but it was never a good sign when he yelled.

"nevermind," brody yelled with a sheepish grin on his face. "i forgot."

"cameron," bailey glared at her brother who hid in the ensemble boys' dressing room. "what the fuck is wrong with that boy?" bailey muttered under her breath as she continued to the dressing room she shared with stephanie.

"many things, bails," sky came up next to bailey. he gently rammed into her with his shoulder. "how's your day been, charlie?"

"it's been good," bailey nodded before ramming her shoulder into the redhead's. "how has your's been, skybelle?"

"it's better now that we're here," sky nodded.

"agreed," bailey smiled. "i always love being at theaters, more than anything else."

"i'll remember that."