relish » hemmings a.u.

two | improvment

T W O | I M P R O V M E N T

★ ★ ★

All of the Hemmings' members were dressed and ready to go. Inside the car John Legend's All of Me was playing on the radio, and everything was going better than good.

Blaise was busy with his iPod while Liz and Andrew continued a deep conversation about Mac' n cheese; how that could be cause for a deep conversation, Luke did not know, but with his parents, anything could be a deep conversation.

While everyone was distracted, Luke was busy observing his family, especially his parents who had not spoken so openly since that one time before...He was too happy to think of anything else other than the happiness of his parents, and his brother. That's all that he had left, right?

After a wonderful car ride, all of the Hemmings' got out of their minivan. Blaise and Luke's jaws dropped in unison as they stared at the huge aquarium before them.

Luke and Blaise hugged both their parents tightly. They both held hands, so Blaise couldn't get lost, and made their way to the ticket booth. Andrew opened his wallet and took out the correct amount of change, and they all went inside.

Upon their entrance they all ended up inside a tunnel almost solely made of glass. They stepped out on to the glass floor and made their way to the other end. But Blaise refused to move as he stood in the same place upon the 'fear walk.' Luke went back and helped his little brother, carrying him across to their waiting parents.

After a small family discussion, they all agreed on seeing the Penguins first, Luke's current obsession. Luke jumped up and down with joy and kissed his mother's cheek to say thank you, before they all made their way to said location.

Fifteen minutes passed by, and Luke was still talking with the penguin he named 'Louise'. His family notified him that they would be at the food court whenever was finished. He nodded in agreement and kept talking with Louise.

"Hello mister spaghetti hair" a little voice spoke from behind him.

He turned around only to meet a little brown haired girl and smiled in answer.

"Hey there Miss chocolate hair" he teased back. The little girl chuckled.

"Sorry Sir, but I was wondering if you saw a boy who has curly hair and an idiot smile on his face somewhere around here?" The little girl told Luke in a slow and calm voice.

"Well, actually, no. But I can help you look around for him?" Luke offered.

"Okay, thank you sir" she nodded in agreement and smiled a little bit.

"Please call me Luke, what's your name love?" Luke asked.

"It's Penelopè, and I like your name," the little brown haired girl answered.

"Your name is much, much better. I honestly adore it" Luke admitted to the little girl, earning a small laugh from her.

Luke and Penelopè held hands as they looked around the aquarium for Penelope's missing person, presumably her brother.

Once they reached corridor where the clown fish were held, they both trailed their fingers alongside the glass, following the fish inside. As they continued their little adventure along the exhibits, they were startled and jumped in fear as they heard someone calling for the little girl.

"Penelopè!" Someone screamed behind them, gaining both Luke and Penelopè attention. They turned to see who had called out, and Penelopè ran to the strange boy and hugged his leg tightly, mumbling quietly to him.

"What were you doing with my sister?" The brown haired boy asked, the same boy they had just been searching for.

"This is Luke, he was helping me to look for you" Penelopè answered before Luke could.

"Anyways, where have you been? You left me to die on the streets you moron" Penelopè chastised him, earning a chuckle from Luke. He had never expected her to know, let alone use, such words.

"Oh... Umm Hi there, Luke. The name's Ashton, preferably Ash" The brown haired boy introduced himself.

"Hey, nice name mate" Luke chuckled and shook Ashton's hand.

"Uh, thanks buddy. So me and this animal need to go now, otherwise I'm dead" Ashton announced, getting a frown from Penelopè.

"I am not an animal... And why the hurry, I wanna stay with Luke" Penelopè grumbled, a pout on her lips.

"No, we have to go. Mom will literally bury us alive if we're late by even one more minute" Ashton answered sternly, standing his ground. Penelopè sighed in defeat. Making her way over to Luke, she hugged his leg. Moved by her affection, Luke bent down and hugged her.

"Goodbye Luke. It was really nice seeing you here, thank you" Penelopè smiled and waved goodbye to Luke. Luke waved back.

"Thanks for taking care of my sister, man. I don't really know what I would have done if she ran into another man, with other intentions, so thanks." Ashton chuckled quietly to himself at nothing.

"You're welcome. I actually have a younger brother the same age, so I would have felt the same if he had gotten lost, or something...Oh! Maybe you two could join us for Lunch? Your mother to? My parents and little brother are just inside the food court." Luke grinned. Extra company would be nice.

After a couple of minutes in thought, Ashton agreed and excused himself to find his mother. Luke watched them both leave, and waved to Penelopè as they disappeared around the corner. Grinning, Luke made his way towards to the food court and his family.

As he wandered, Luke thought about everything that had just happened. Meeting two new people, potential friends, didn't just happen right? Not for Luke anyway. Mr Narren needed to know about this, and the mornings events, as soon as possible.

Once Luke found his family sitting in the corner of the food court, he waved to them and they nodded in acknowledgement.

"Okay, what did you guys order?" Luke asked once he sat next to Blaise across from their parents.

"We ordered some kind of sushi from that Chinese restaurant" Andrew answered.

"Blaise couldn't really resist Maccas" Liz added, as Blaise bounced excitedly beside him.

"And what about me?" Luke frowned.

"Why the long face? Honey, I ordered for you too, don't worry." Liz smiled widely at her son. After a few minutes of laughter and good conversations, Luke remembered Penelopè and Ashton and face palmed himself.

"Hey Mom, Dad... So I met this lovely little girl and her brother while I was down there talking with Louise" Luke started. His mother and father nodded their head encouraging him to go on.

"I told them that they could join us for Lunch, with their mother" he continued, beaming. Both his parents smiled in return.

"That's amazing, darling! When are they coming?" Liz clapped her hands with joy and waited impatiently for Luke's answer.

"I don't really know, but I assure you, they'll be over very soon" Luke assured his mother. Turning around to face Blaise he was met with a wide grin, identical to that of the Cheshire Cat plastered on his face.

"Is the little girl coming too?" Blaise asked innocently.

"Yes, and I think the both of you will be great friends" Luke reassured his little brother. Thinking about Blaise and Penelopè as friends made Luke smile.

They were both irresistibly cute, innocent, devilish little creatures. There was no doubt in his mind that they would get along easily.

Luke excused himself to make an important phone call. He needed to call Mr Narren, and inform him of the past few hours.

Maybe, just maybe, today would mean he would finally get a vacation from the weekly hellhole he was forced to visit.