The next few days after Christmas are pretty quiet. Cory's Gran comes over a couple more times and by the fifth time she held Erin, she stopped crying in her arms. It was also a good time to get a lot of my schoolwork done. I managed to finish the essay that I started on the train along with my work for performing arts and dance.
"What date is it today?" I ask Cory, checking the date on some of the baby food in the fridge.
"Twenty-ninth I think," he tells me, not even looking up from his work.
"We'll need to buy some more later today. There's only a couple of packets left which are in date," I tell him, not really expecting a reply.
I feed Erin before putting her down for a nap, which she practically refuses to do. In my arms she cries, balling her fists together and screaming as loud as she can. I try pacing back and forth with her, bouncing her on my hip, even going outside but nothing seems to work. As I walk back into the kitchen, I hear a knock at the door.
"Give me Erin, I'll try and settle her down. Will you answer the door please?" he asks, closing one of his text books and reaching his arms out.
"Do you think it's your Gran again?" I ask as I walk over to the door.
"Either her or Missy coming home from her friends early," he comments, rocking Erin back and forth. Her tears have stopped now.
Before I have even had the chance to open the door fully, I am greeted with a loud 'hello'.
"I wasn't expecting to see you Lotte," I greet the girl standing in the doorway. "Come in," I motion her forward into the house.
"Thanks. How have you been Kristen?" she asks while walking into the living room.
"I'm alright," I tell her.
"Oh god, is this her? She's adorable," Lotte practically screams when her eyes catch sight of Erin.
"And she's only just got to sleep. Nice to see you again though Lotte," Cory says, standing up to give his friend a one handed hug.
"Well I was hoping I would have seen you before now. You've been here almost a week," she says but with a laugh.
"Well we've been kept busy," Cory says. "Do you want to hold her?" he asks causing Lotte to nod her head furiously at him.
He hands the baby over to her, showing Lotte the best way to hold her.
"Where is everyone" she asks after a few minutes of holding Erin.
"Missy is at a friend's house, my parents have had to go into work for some big meeting that couldn't wait until have the holidays and-"
"- and my mum is upstairs nursing a hangover." I tell her.
"Oh, okay. Anyway, I was hoping that you would want to come shopping with me Kristen?" she frames the sentence as a question.
"I don't see why not," I tell her; unsure as to why she is inviting my when she is more Cory's friend than mine.
"Great, is it alright if we leave in half an hour?" I nod at her with little more to say.
Thirty minutes later, I have my shoes and coat on ready to leave.
"You should stay over for dinner tonight," Cory says before we leave, addressing Lotte.
"I think I will, thanks Cory," Lotte replies then briskly pulls me out of the house.
The two of us walk in silence until we reach the underground. I follow Lotte onto one of the tube lines, not entirely sure which one, and wait for my cue to get off.
YOU ARE READING
Handprints ( #2 BOOK IN SERIES )
Teen Fiction'"Look what you have done now. You've either woken daddy or grandma up. Whoever it is, they won't be happy." I say though the two month in my arms has no idea what I am saying. Her blue eyes gaze back at me, staring at my face, blinking tears away...
