Jingle Bells and Parallels

6. Mae

Chapter 6

~Mae~

       "Mae!" Mom called from the kitchen as I was putting on my shoes by the front door. "Can you come help me bring some of this food to the neighbours' house?!"

       I walked into the kitchen where Mom had prepared scalloped potatoes and Yorkshire pudding for the dinner we were having with our neighbours. She picked up the tray with the scalloped potatoes in it so I grabbed the one with the Yorkshire pudding.

      "Quick question," I said. "How come you immediately asked me to help? You couldn't have asked Jerome? You know, your step-son? I'm not your only kid living here."

       Mom chuckled. "You always complain when I ask for your help. And to answer your question, it's because Jerome is already at their house."

       "Of course he is," I said.

       "Come on, you should be happy for him," Mom said.

       "Uh, of course I am," I said. "I know I used to push Jerome to get back together with Brandon but that was before I saw how much in love Jerome is with Nolan. Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen Jerome so happy. I'm just annoyed that he's already there when he could have helped bring this stuff over at least."

       Mom rolled her eyes. "It's not a big deal, Mae. They live right beside us."

       "I have another question," I said. "Why are we having dinner with them?"

       "What, you don't want to have dinner with your boyfriend's family and your family?" Mom asked.

       "I do but it's so random," I said.

       "Well, that's Luis for you," Mom said. "He's all for the random events. It was his idea because he wants to get to know Jerome's boyfriend."

       I furrowed my eyebrows. "But... He already knows Nolan."

       "That's what I tried telling him," Mom said. "But he insisted on having dinner with them anyway because he wants to know Nolan as Jerome's boyfriend, not just his best friend. Whatever the reason why we're having dinner with them, we should head over there now."

       Mom and I left our house and walked over to the Princes' house. As soon as we walked inside, Ryder walked over to us and took the tray from my hands as he kissed my cheek.

       "Thanks," I said. "That was starting to get heavy."

       "It's... Not heavy at all," Ryder said.

       "You just grabbed it," I said. "It gets heavy after a while."

       "Sure it does, Mae," Ryder said.

       Ryder led Mom to the dining room where they put down the food we brought. Once Ryder came back into the living room, we sat down beside each other on the couch as we waited for it to be officially dinner.

       Luis was in the living room too and he didn't look too happy.

       "Are you okay, Luis?" I asked.

       "No, I'm not okay," Luis said. "I came here to meet my grandson's new boyfriend but no, they're spending time in his room. You know, when I was a teenager, I wasn't allowed to be in my room by myself with my girlfriend."

       "Okay, but your family rules are different than the Princes'," I said.

       "And Jerome can't get my son pregnant so I don't care what they do in his room," Grayson spoke up. "Ryder and Mae, on the other hand, have to stay where I can see them."

       "Yeah, I've been meaning to say something about that," Ryder said. "How is that fair?"

       "Are you deaf?" Grayson asked. "I just said how; Jerome can't get Nolan pregnant. Once he can, then they won't be able to stay in his room alone."

       "That's still not fair," Ryder said.

       "Then you're going to have to deal with it," Grayson said. 

       Alan walked into the living room just then, saying, "Dad, now can you hear about my conspiracy theory?" 

       Grayson sighed. "If this is about the heist at the North Pole, I'm not interested."

       Alan scowled. "You're so mean to your children."

       "Ooh, a heist?" Luis asked. "This theory sounds interesting. I would love to hear about it."

       Alan's scowl immediately turned into a smile at someone being willing to listen to whatever this conspiracy theory was. Ryder told me about it but I didn't understand exactly what was going on.

       I didn't think anyone did except for Orchid who was trying to figure out the conspiracy theory with Alan.

       "Okay, so I work at the mall up until Christmas," Alan said. "There's a 'North Pole' there where kids can get their pictures taken with Santa and where people can drop of gifts to be wrapped. I'm an elf there. Anyway, I went to the break room once and saw a blueprint to the mall inside someone's backpack."

       "Not a map to where the stores are?" Luis asked. "A blueprint?"

       "A blueprint," Alan confirmed. "As in where all the exits and entrances and other things are. So Orchid and I think someone is planning some sort of heist at the mall. We're still investigating, though. I don't know who's backpack had the blueprint and I still haven't been able to find out."

       "Are you sure it's not just a handyman or someone else working another job at the mall?" Ryder asked.

       "Shush, Ryder, don't discourage your brother," Luis said. "It sounds suspicious anyway. Nobody would have a blueprint to the mall, not even a handyman."

       "Thank you," Alan said. "That's what I've been saying. At least someone believes me."

       "What about me?" Orchid asked. "I believe you."

       "Yeah, but you're my triplet," Alan said. "You don't count. You always believe me and take my side."

       "Nolan is always your triplet," Ryder said. "Does he believe you about it?"

       "Dunno," Alan said. "I haven't told him about it. He's always too busy being in love right now so I'd rather not involve him with the conspiracy theory."

       "Don't involve us in it as well," Ryder said. "We don't want to get in trouble just because you're taking things too far."

       Alan glared at Ryder. "Too far? Too far? Someone could be robbing the mall tonight but nobody would know who did it. I would be the only person with a lead, therefore making me a hero. And whoever this thief is won't suspect me of being on to them because who suspects a dumbass elf?"

       I thought spending time with the Princes so much would help me understand them a lot more.

       It didn't.

       I was still so confused sometimes.

       Or most of the time.

_______________

it's okay mae, i'm the one who created the princes and even i don't understand them at times.

the book is about to actually get into the action soon so woo that will be fun. we unfortunately haven't gotten the dialogue previews yet but they will be coming soon.

and lemme just say i'm sad barely anybody guessed correctly for my favourite prince aka nolan's dialogue :(