Florecer

Togetherness

        The next morning was much easier than the last. Lily awoke thanks to June's alarm and she went to the kids to get them ready for the day. Everything went smoothly, and she enjoyed the ease of it all. They got ready, had breakfast, then went off to school. She returned to June's and was slightly surprised that June said she had to leave for work. But she accepted that and offered to leave. June dismissed it, gave Lily free reign of the house, then left. Unsure of herself, Lily wandered the house for no reason. She eventually gathered herself and brought out her laptop to get some work done. She called her mom, too, to ask if coming over later was okay. Kim was thrilled with those plans and told Lily to bring Danny over as soon as she could. Lily chuckled, then brought up June and Christina. An obvious smile present in her voice, Kim invited them over, too.

     After a few hours, Lily shut her laptop to take a shower. She dressed in what she wanted to wear to see her mom then fell into June's bed and snuggled up with herself. She set her alarm and decided to take a nap because- why not?

     When she awoke it was time to pick up the kids from school. June had texted her the time she'd probably be home, and she texted back that she'd feed the kids lunch. She also told June that they would be going to Kim's whenever June got back home from work. Afterward she brought the kids home and fed them fruits and juice. She helped them with homework then relaxed with them. She was only going to watch TV, maybe play a board game, but then Christina had the brilliant idea to build a fort. Devious, Lily completely threw from her brain how June might feel about it and started moving the couches around. She pushed the coffee table all the way to the corner and got the kids to go grab all the blankets upstairs. When they were fetched she threw them over the furniture, using pillows as pillars when needed, and made a doorway with two flimsy blankets. She crawled underneath it with the kids and giggled. They whispered for the sake of atmosphere. They made up a password to get in, then cuddled up with one another and turned on the TV. They could barely see it but that didn't truly matter.

     It wasn't until over an hour later that the front door opened. The kids scrambled off of Lily's body and they all crawled to the entrance of the fort, holding back giggles.

     "Are you serious?" June's voice filtered into the fort. She sounded both exasperated and amused. Her footsteps approached the entrance.

     "What's the password?" Christina belched as the shadow of June's hand slid across the entrance blankets.

     The shadow disappeared. "Password?"

     "You can't come in without the password," Danny said around a laugh.

     "Can I get a hint?"

     The kids looked to Lily, who shook her head. "Nope," she said. "Gotta guess."

     June sighed and her shadow took up the whole entrance. "Okay... is it monster?"

     "No," Christina drawled.

     "Is it puppies?"

     "No!"

     Chuckling, June flicked the blankets. "Come on, let me in. Aren't we going to your mom's, Lily? I'll be here guessing all day."

     Wriggling closer, Lily stuck her head out. June was kneeling there, looking down at her. She smiled up. "She'll understand."

     June rolled her eyes. "What's the password? Just tell me."

     The kids whispered fiercely for her not to tell. "Sorry. I can't tell you. The rules."

     "Rules, huh?" June leaned over and cocked her head. "Are you really going to make me wait out here?"