My Knights in Shining Armor

I Didn't Get to Finish My Pancakes pt2

part two of this short, short chapter :)

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Olly and I find Evan and Felix shortly after. It wasn't very hard, to be honest. We just followed the sound of giggling and the occasional smack.

After Olly drags them out of the garage by their ears, a smile on all three of their faces, we head back to the kitchen to meet up with the other boys.

Cal is just finishing his plate of pancakes, plus a large glass of chocolate milk.

"Finally!" He exclaims, jumping up from his seat. "I was worried something happened."

He looks so concerned that I can't help but laugh. Also, he's sporting a serious milk mustache.

"Cal, we literally said hi to you before going to the garage. That was four minutes ago," Olly says drily, taking a seat next to his younger brother and handing him a napkin. I take a seat next to him. "Here, you need to shave."

"Haha, very funny," Cal grumps, grudgingly taking the napkin. "I was going to see how I would look with facial hair. Cherry, I mustache you a question. How do you feel about boys with facial hair?"

His only response is a pancake to the face, thrown by Heath.

"Please shut up. Also, I hate you now, because you made me waste my last pancake. At least I can force you to make me more tomorrow morning, because I am now sleeping over." Heath throws his napkin at Cal too.

"For good measure," he explains, seeing us staring at him.

"I'm curious now," Blair says, resting his chin on his hand. "How do you feel about facial hair, Cherry?"

"Um..." All of the guys turn to me, except Cal, who has started eating the pancake Heath threw at him.

"I guess... a little bit of stubble can be hot, but it depends on the guy. I don't particularly like long hair on guys, whether facial or otherwise." I stand from the table and mock stretch my arms, prompting a yawn. "I'm going to bed now."

"But we only played one round of hide and seek, Cherry!" Heath whines, exaggerating his lower lip pout. "Come on, let's play some more."

"Well, I, uh, I'm not so great in the dark to begin with, and I don't really like storms..." I trail off, seven faces looking straight at me as I try to think of a reason to not play hide and seek in the power-devoid house. I make eye contact with Olly, and slightly raise my eyebrow, silently communicating how much I didn't want to play anymore.

Please get the hint, please get the hint...

Thankfully, he does. "Heath, don't push her. If she doesn't want to play, we shouldn't make her play. Besides, we'll have plenty of opportunities to play hide and seek later, hopefully. Right, Cherry?"

God bless Apollo Knight. I can feel my composure start to crack. I need a good cry. Even though I had one, like, this morning.

"Good night, guys, see you tomorrow," I say, waving before heading to the door to the kitchen.

"Good night, Cherry," they chorus. Heath and Cal wave at me, and the rest start talking amongst themselves.

I head into the hallway, only to stick my head back in the kitchen.

"I turn left, right?"

"Right," says Dakota.

"So, it's a right?"

"No, it's a left."

"So it's a left."

"Right."

"Well, which one is it?" I yell, but I can't stop the smile from spreading across my face.

Dakota opens his mouth, but Heath starts cackling like a hyena before Dakota can talk.

"I haven't," he takes a deep breath, still laughing, "heard something like that since my girlfriend was asking for directions to McDonald's. Oh man, you guys should have been there. She was all 'do I turn right or left?' and the dude was like 'left at the light.' and Stephanie goes 'okay, left at the light.' and he was like 'right.' It was hilarious."

"Heath, we were there, remember? At least, the older twins and I were," Olly says, rolling his eyes. "Cherry, it's a left."

"Thank you." I leave the kitchen for the second time in as many minutes and turn left, nearly bumping into Anne, who's shuffling some papers in her hands.

"Oh, Cherry, how are you?" She asks, concern evident in her voice.

"I've been better, but the boys managed to distract me for a while. I'm going to bed now, though. Thank you for asking." I manage to keep my voice from wavering, but I can tell Anne sees right through me.

"Come here," she says, pulling me into a hug. "We all love you so much, you know that? You've been here for what, two, three days? and you're already part of the family. I know we aren't much of a replacement for your mother, but I can truthfully say that I love you like you're my own daughter."

I sniffle. "Thanks, Anne."

"You're welcome, dear. Now, go get some sleep. You look like you need it." Anne pats my cheek, warm brown eyes instilling a slight sense of comfort in me.

"Gee, thanks. I guess I'll just remove my revolting presence from your sight."

"Whose presence is revolting?" James asks, coming out a room down the hallway.

"Cherry's," Anne informs him before pecking him on the lips. "I told her she looked tired and she got grumpy."

"Ah, teenagers. I remember being grumpy about everything when I was your age," sighs James, resting his hands on his wife's shoulders.

"You still are grumpy about everything. Remember when the store ran out of your favorite cereal so you refused to eat breakfast for two days?"

I snort.

"I'm not lying, Cherry. This man literally sat at the table for fifteen minutes every morning without doing anything."

"Oh, stop beating a dead horse, Anne," James grins.

I clear my throat, hoping to escape without being forced into another conversation. "Well, goodnight James, Anne. See you both tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Cherry," they chorus in unison before heading towards the kitchen behind me.

I finally make it upstairs to my room, immediately locking the door behind me and launching myself onto my bed.

A heavy sigh escapes my lips, and a few tears leak out of my eyes.

"I miss you, Mom," I whisper into the dark room, before pulling my covers over me and closing my eyes.

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A/N so school starts back up again tmw so i figured i would write something and post it now because i have no idea when I'll have the time to write again :(

as always, guys, thank you so much for all your support of my writing and of my books- it means the world to me, more than you know <3

-foodismypromdate