If Life Was Simple

Chapter 7

     Brandon, Malcolm, and I sat in the waiting area, while Dad was pacing the floor. Flora was crying because she hadn't the slightest idea of what was going on. We heard a scream from the delivery room, and Dad raced in to comfort my mother. I was breathing loud and heavy, and I had no idea. Brandon put his arm around me.
     "Everything's going to be fine," he whispered in my ear. "You've gone through this twice before, what's one more time?"
     "I know," I whispered back. "But the last time was 7 years ago. How am I supposed to remember that?" I asked, but I knew the answer. I do remember. I remember everything. It happened almost the same way. I was sitting in the waiting room, Malcolm crying, Dad pacing. This time, two more people are here. What's the difference?
     With every shriek, Flora cried a little harder, Malcolm looked a little more like he was going to barf, and I breathed even louder and heavier. I was pretty much just hyperventilating. It was the same way for about ten minutes, then the nurse came out to get us.
     "You're the Lanier kids, right? There's someone you might want to see," she said as she lead us to the delivery room. Inside, we saw Mom lying on the bed with a baby girl in her arms, and Dad hovering above her.
"Kids, there's a little someone you should meet," Mom said, coaxing us forward. "This is Isabelle Rose Lanier." Mom held her out to me. I scooped her up and cradled her in my arms.
"Hi, Isabelle. I'm Olivia," I said in a soft voice. "I'm going to be your favorite when you are able to figure that out." Malcolm and Flora both let out a "HEY!" simultaneously. "Mom, she's so pretty," I said.
"You say that now, wait 'till she cries and screams and pukes on everything you own," Malcolm said. Brandon chuckled.
"And now you know why I will be her favorite," I countered. I handed Isabelle over to Brandon. He happily accepted.
"Mind her head, son," Dad told him. Brandon nodded as he rocked the baby back and forth. He looked so cute holding my baby sister. Man, he would make a great father someday.
     "Hi, Izzy," he said, hushed. "I'm your big sister's boyfriend, so you'll be seeing a lot of me." My parents rolled their eyes, and Brandon and I chuckled. "Can we call her Izzy, Mrs. Lanier?"
     "I think that's beautiful," she replied. My dad agreed. Brandon handed the baby back to my mom, and the nurse shooed us out.
     We left the hospital, Brandon, Malcolm, Flora, and I. Dad texted me when we arrived back at the house. Mom and I are staying overnight at the hospital. Brandon is welcome to sleep at our house.
     "What's up?" Malcolm asked, a worried expression on his face.
     "Nothing, Mom and Dad are just staying at the hospital overnight, that's all," I assured him. He let out a breath. Flora and Malcolm then went up to their rooms.
"What're you going to do? It's Monday, and you have to get Flora to daycare tomorrow, and you have to do it all by yourself," Brandon said. I nodded.
"That's where you come in," I told him. "I need you to stay here tonight, get up earlier with me tomorrow, and help me. My parents said it was okay, and my dad has his car at the hospital, so we'll just use my mom's." Brandon nodded. He ran down the street to his house in order to grab what he needed to spend the night at my house.
     It was roughly 4:20, so I left my younger siblings to themselves for a while. When Brandon returned, we went to the basement to play video games. I popped in an Indiana Jones adventure game, or some shit like that. It was pretty much a story mode game of the movie, like those Lego games. We got bored of that fairly quick, so we just did our HW together to get it over with.
     "Olivia?"
     "Mm?"
     "You wanna sleep with me tonight?"
     "..."
     "Too soon? I'm sorry, I know we've only been dating for a few days, but I swear it won't go any further than either of us want it to go," he assured me. I trusted him, so I agreed.
     "Fine," I said. "My parents have a king size, and you BETTER KEEP YOUR CLOTHES ON, MISTER."
     "Okay," he said, chuckling. "I promise. I love you too much for that." I smiled, gave him a quick peck, finished up the last problem, and slid my homework away. He finished as well.
     I went upstairs to check on Flora and Malcolm. They weren't doing anything, really, just the same as they always do: Malcolm playing games on his phone, and Flora messing around with her dolls.
     Our house has two floors plus a finished basement. The top floor is mine, Malcolm's, and Flora's room, along with an extra room. The main floor is the kitchen and such, plus the master bed/bath. The basement is quite big. Gaming/TV area, full bath, and a small, small bedroom in the back. So yeah, we have a large house. It's nice, but I often feel bad because many people in New York don't even own houses or apartments or anything. But there's really nothing I can do about it.
     At 5:30, we decided to order a pizza. While we ate, we watched My Girl, a film from the '90s that takes place in 1972. It's about an 11 year old girl with one friend in the entire world, a house that is also a funeral home, a dead mother, and a huge crush on her teacher. It was quite sad, actually. Her father is engaged to another woman, her teacher has a girlfriend, and her only friend dies. Great movie, really.
     It was about 7:30 when the movie ended, and this is when Mom usually has Malcolm and Flora get ready for bed. So I sent them upstairs, and Brandon and I cleaned up. I also got ready for bed, because I was tired as shit. But I wasn't going to fall asleep right away, I knew that.
     When my younger siblings were settled, I asked them if they did their homework, brushed their teeth, yadda, yadda, yadda. When the lights went out and the doors closed, I walked downstairs to see my boyfriend standing there in Nike shorts and a white t-shirt. Brandon helped me lock up the house, and then we went into my parents room. We climbed into the bed, and snuggled closer together.
     "You know what I find funny?" Brandon asked.
     "What? That we're 17, we started dating about 3 days ago, and we're sleeping in my parents bed? Because I find that hilarious," I replied sarcastically. He laughed softly. It was 7:55, and the sun hadn't set all the way yet.
     "What time does Flora have to be at daycare?" Brandon asked.
     "6:45," I replied.
     "Damn, that's early."
     "I know."
     "What time does that mean we need to wake up?" Brandon asked.
     "Well, school starts at 7:30, and we usually get up at 6:00 around here, so I'm guessing.... 5:15?"
     "This is going to be fun," Brandon said sarcastically. He set an alarm on his phone. We both were ready to fall asleep, we had a big morning ahead of us. I closed my eyes, and I then heard a voice singing.
And they say she's in the class A Team
Stuck in her daydream
Been this way since 18, but lately
Her face seems
Slowly sinking, wasting
Crumbling like pastries
And they scream
The worst things in life come free to us
Cause we're just under the upper hand
And go mad for a couple grams
And she don't wanna go outside, tonight
And in a pipe she flies to the Motherland
And sells love to another man
It's too cold outside
For angels to fly
Angels to fly