Evacuated

Reasons to Smile

I woke up Saturday morning to the sun shining so bright, I had thought I woke up late. I walked into the golden-painted living room before entering the kitchen. The clock revealed that it was no later than 9:00am. Nobody was in sight, so I wandered around in spite of looking for my parents and they were nowhere to be found. I walked through the corridors of the house in nothing but my grey capris pants with white stitching, and my summer 2015 camp t-shirt, my short hair shooting in every direction. I stepped outside and saw my dad loading the truck with an uncountable amount of luggage. "What's going on?" I asked. "Oh good morning, Leslie!" my mom stepped out from the other side of the truck and gave me a warm smile before wrapping her arm tightly around me, kissing my head. "What's going on?" I repeated. "Are we moving again?" My mom laughed. "Of course not, silly. Your father was supposed to tell you" she turned towards my father. "Haha, oops" his face turned a bright red. "We're going on a business trip to get inspired for your father's next book" she went on. "When Skies Are Blue!" she proudly proclaimed, spelling it out in the air. "But I haven't packed anything, how long will we be gone?" I began asking questions. "Leslie, Leslie, Leslie!" my mom stopped me. My dad made it real obvious he was avoiding getting involved in the conversation by pretending to be busy at my mom's every move. My mom smiled sadly and ran her fingers through my short blond hair. "Leslie, you're staying here in Lark Creek" my dad finally spoke. "What? Alone? For how long?" my voice rushed into a panic. "No no no, honey. Mary Aarons next door agreed to watch you for a week" she explained. "I'll be staying with Jess' family?" I asked with no tone. She nodded. "It'll only be a week" my dad tried to soften the blow. My straight expression turned to a smile. "Wow, really? I can't wait! Thank you!" I laughed, hugging them both before sprinting back into the house. My parents exchanged a shocked look before my mom called to me to pack a bag.

I had always wanted a sister, or a brother. I had always wanted to experience what it was like to live in a big family with siblings and chaos. My house was so quiet sometimes, it scared me. And that's why I was so ecstatic to be staying at the Aarons with five other kids. There was nothing wrong with experiencing something new.

My parents walked me over to the Aarons later that morning. Mrs. Aarons answered the door, and quickly explained that Jess and the rest of um were still sleeping. "It's ten in the morning. She's kidding, right?" but she definitely wasn't. "Doesn't Jess usually run in the mornings?" I asked. "Yes, but he's been a little on edge lately, he usually sleeps in nowadays" she explained. "Oh, is everything okay?" My dad asked. "Yes yes, of course" she nodded before showing me inside. "Here" she took my bags from my parents. "We'll be back a week from Monday to pick 'er up" my dad said. "Bye, Leslie" my mom kissed my head. "See you in a week" my dad wrapped his arm around me. I waved goodbye and that was that. My parents were off on a trip around the country.

When Jess finally woke up, he didn't even question my presence in his house until he was fully awake. "Hey, what are you doing here?" Jess asked, rubbing his eyes. "Waiting for you" I smiled. "Oh" he said in a surprised tone. "Okay then" he smiled.

Later that day, Jess' mom sent him and I to the store to get ourselves slurpees. It was much hotter than we had thought outside. "Guess what?" Jess started. "What?" I asked curiously. "I have a crush on this girl" he giggled. "Oooh, tell me!" I laughed, catching up with him. "You know our music teacher" he began before I stopped him. "Oh my gosh, no way!" I laughed. Jess started getting all defensive before explaining the day he had with her on Friday. "Haha, that's adorable!" I laughed. We got to the slurpee store and filled our cups. "You put in more than one flavor? That's disgusting!" I teased, filling mine with cream soda only. "Oh shut up" Jess laughed.

On the way back, I decided to tell him. "Hey, can I tell you something?" I asked. "Shoot" Jess replied. "Well, my parents are on a business trip and so I'm staying with you guys for a week" I finished. Jess stopped walking and stood there staring into the distance, trying not to laugh at the same time as trying to give off the "you're kidding me" look. "What?" I laughed. "Of course" Jess went on as we continued walking. As we turned the corner, Jess' brown eyes lit up. "What?" I asked, looking around me. Mrs. Edmunds, our music teacher was walking across the street. "Ooh, Jess' little crush!" I giggled to myself. "Ms. Edmunds!" Jess called. "Hey Jess, Leslie" she smiled at us. "Hi!" I responded, trying not to laugh at poor Jess who could hardly stay focused. Jess couldn't comprehend anything she said, just agreed with everything Ms. Edmunds pointed out. "You should come meet my parents" Jess suggested. "Geez Jess, slow your role" I couldn't help these kind of thoughts, no matter how sorry I felt for the poor kid. "I've already met your mother" she reminded him, respectively. "But you haven't met my dad, you should meet him" Jess pressed. "Okay!" she finally agreed. I told her I lived next door but was staying with them awhile.

Jess opened the door to his house for Ms. Edmunds as she laughed thankfully at his gesture. I couldn't help but laugh myself. Jess' mom was on the phone with someone when we returned. But it didn't take his dad long to come out. "Jess, clean your shoes, they're filthy" he demanded before acknowledging Ms. Edmunds. "Who's this?" he spat at Jess. "Oh, this is Ms. Edmunds, our music teacher" Jess introduced her as he sat on the floor, scrubbing his shoes. "Hello" he said, shaking Ms. Edmunds' hand. They talked a few minutes about Jess' school progress and what he's done there. His dad was rude to Jess and acted surprised when Ms. Edmunds described him as a "bright student" or whatever. "Get off the floor, boy. Your shoes are fine" he demanded before walking away. Jess and I showed Ms. Edmunds to his bedroom he shared with Joyce and May Belle. The three of us talked in there a few minutes before Jess showed Ms. Edmunds out. He carried her grocery bags for her and everything. I adored how much he loved her and she had no idea. "Why, thank you, Jess!" she smiled before he waved goodbye.

After she left, May Belle came to talk with Jess and I but he didn't want her around. He got mad at her and she ran and cried to her dad. He came in and told Jess to knock it off and treated him with zero respect whatsoever. It displeased me in my mind, but occurred to me as nothing more than a typical father-son relationship. All fathers expected a lot of their sons, just trying to help them be the best versions of theirselves they can.

While Jess took a shower, May Belle had me paint my nails with her. She did her own and they weren't fantastic, but at least she didn't cover herself in nail polish. I hadn't painted my nails since I was six, and even then my mother did it for me. I'm the last person you'd catch wearing nail polish, dresses, or anything girly to an extent. So, I did however, get it all over my hands and feet and somehow managed to get it on my face. "What happened to you?" Jess asked, peaking out from his bedroom door wrapped in a towel. "Bet you can guess who did my nails" I laughed. "Obviously" he agreed before going to change. It turned out, the entire time he had assumed it was May Belle who had done it. He was stunned when he found out I did my own and May Belle did hers as well. "In my defense, I haven't done this in over four years" I stated. "Sure, whatever you say" Jess laughed at me.

May Belle had the both of us play barbies with her later that night. Jess didn't want to, but his dad made um. "Do the voice" May Belle commanded Jess. "The voice?" I asked. "Yeah, there's a voice I have to do when I play barbies with her" Jess explained. I tried not to laugh, but I couldn't not when Jess started talking in a voice higher than his own squeaky little voice. May Belle was upset because I couldn't do anything right. I couldn't make my Barbie move right, talk right, nothing. Jess made my Barbie move for me and he was much better at following May Belle's antics than I was. But because I was there and it wasn't just him and May Belle, he had a hard time not making fun of the barbies. When he bent his Barbie to sit, it made a screechy sound that had Jess and I dying of laughter. May Belle cried and was upset that Jess and I were making fun of them, but we couldn't help it. Our barbies had a memorial service for the Lorax character, May Belle told me was from a Disney movie. He wasn't actually dead, the character, but we had a small replica of a tree from the movie that Jess made in fourth grade. So she came up with a memorial service for the Lorax because she didn't have a Barbie with a yellow mustache.

After a while, Jess wouldn't play anymore and not even I could convince him to give the kid five more minutes. It wasn't long before Jess and I went to bed, though it was long after May Belle. She had already been asleep when we got in the room. But the night wasn't over, it was about to get a whole lot worse, revealing a side of this family I never would've known otherwise.