•ΛПIMΛXIƧ•

Two

I woke up when I barely opened my eyes, and the sun tried to blind me. I groaned, pulling the covers over my face.
"No...five more minutes." I said sleepily.
"Nope! I hear you moving! Get up!" I heard Dusty yell from upstairs.
Curse you and your mind reading.
"Heard that too! Get moving!" He yelled again. I groaned, sitting up and swinging my legs out of bed. My warmed up body instantly chilled as my feet touched the cold wooden floor. I shivered, and put on my slippers and walked up the stairs to the kitchen.
"Maybe think before you...well...think?" Dusty said, laughing at his own joke.
"Oh shush." I said, putting my head in my arms on the table.
"What's the matter?" Dusty asked, trying his best not to burn the eggs he was stirring around a pan.
"Nothing, really. I'm just tired." I said, lying. I forced good thoughts into my head, but Dusty cast me a worried glance when he brought me a cup of water. The truth was, I wasn't fine. Lucas living in the ghetto had really shaken me yesterday. Sure, I'd been there plenty of times before. But seeing him get all excited about a plate of stupid bananas had truly made me realize how bad he had it.
"Let me guess... it's something to do with bunny boy?" Dusty asked, using the nickname.
"Hey! It's weird if you call him bunny boy. That's my thing." I said, smiling and drawing circles in the little puddle of water my had created.
"How's it not weird when you call him that?" Dusty asked, casting me a confused look. I groaned.
"It just is, okay?" I snapped. Dusty chuckled.
"Fine fine, just eat and you can go." He said, giving me my eggs. I shoveled them into my mouth, and went back to my room and threw on my usual red flannel with a white shirt and jeans. I laced up my converse and brushed my brown hair into a ponytail. I made sure to brush my ears out too, just to make sure the gray on the ends wasn't too messy. The same for my tail. Once I felt acceptable, I grabbed my bag and headed out the door. I slowed my pace once I'd gotten halfway down the road, and looked around. There were three moving vans, all being unloaded into the really nice house on the corner. Everything about that house screamed rich. And the little family that hopped out of a black car near the front weren't any different. There was an older girl, tan skinned and black haired, with a green snake tail swaying behind her. From what I could see, her green eyes were slitted, and she had a rebellious look about her. Curled hair, dyed a magenta color at the ends. A black outfit studded with silver bits all over it. Boots as tall as her knees, heeled at that. The girl that got out of the car after her was almost identical, except her tail and eyes were blue. Her hair was chopped into a bob at her shoulders, and she clutched a thick book. She was wearing boyish clothes, and I had to admit she looked good in them. She would only glance briefly up at the house, before shrinking down and hiding behind the older girl's back. They exchanged a few words, and before I knew it my feet were moving towards them.
"Hello?" I asked. The younger girl squeaked and looked at me suddenly, while the other girl took her time turning to me. She looked me up and down, her forked tongue sticking out.
"Hey." She said, putting a hand on her hip. The other girl only nodded briefly.
"I'm Alvis, or Alvi for short, and I just wanted to come welcome you to the neighborhood." I said, giving my brightest smile. The younger girl's eyebrow shot up.
"H-how do you know we're new here?" She whispered, barely audible.
"Well, everything about your entourage is screaming new. You practically stink of it." I said, crossing my arms and chuckling.
"Well, obviously you were drawn to us." The older girl said. I struggled to not roll my eyes.
"Yeah, I guess I was." I said, smiling. The younger girl smiled, and slowly extended her hand.
"I'm Olivia. And this is my older Sister, Olive." She said, gesturing to herself and Olive.
"A pleasure." Olive said, doing a little cursty. I did the same, and we all exchanged a laugh. I blinked, remembering what I'd originially come out here to do.
"Oh shoot! I'm supposed to be meeting someone. I've got to go." I said, turning and jogging down the sidewalk.
"Later Alvi." I heard Olive call. I waved over my shoulder and started running. I reached Lucas' house quickly and practically burst through the door. He was laying on the couch, sleeping. I went over, sitting on the ottoman. I smiled at his sleeping form. His eye lids fluttered open slowly, and he caught me starring at him. I felt weird, so I quickly got up and started examining a random spot on the wall.
"Alvi." Lucas said sleepily. I looked over, and sighed, walking over. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. He then reached into his pocket, pulling out a little box. He held out his hand, which I took hesitantly. He flipped it so my palm was up, and put the little box in it, curling my fingers over it. I gasped, and looked up at his face. His eyes were bright, and smile lines appeared on his face.
"Open it will you?" He said, letting go of my hand and crossing his arms. I slowly opened the little box, revealing a little bracelet. It wasn't diamonds or anything, but a little embroidery thread bracelet. I was rainbow colored, and beautifully made.
"I scrapped together enough money to buy the thread, and I thought you'd like it." He said, smiling as I held the little bracelet in my hand.
"Lucas...I can't take anything from you." I said, trying not to cry in front of him. He shook his head, cocking an eyebrow.
"Alvi, please just take it." He said. He took my hand again, tying the little bracelet around my wrist, right next to my Dad's watch and a hair tie.
"Thank you Lucas." I said, hugging him. He laughed, hugging me back tightly. When he let go, we both sat back, watching the ceiling fan spin.
"So, what do you wanna do?" I asked eventually once the fan sputtered and died.
"I don't know. What's fun around here?" He asked. I shrugged.
"We can go to icecream...?" I said, then laughed at my own childish idea. Lucas joined me.
"Icecream sounds great." He said, grabbing onto my hand and leading me outside. We went to his backyard, where the grass was half dead. He let go of my hand and went by himself to the rickety old shed, dragging a rusty old back out of it. He hopped on, then gestured to the spokes on the back wheel. I smiled, and put both my feet on the spokes, and held onto to his shoulders.
"Hold on tight!" He said, pushing off with his foot. We wobbled for a second, and then gained our balance. Lucas started pedaling down the street, and I shouted directions over the wind. We passed the old diner where I used to work as a waitress. It wasn't a fun job, but it made decent money. Money which I happily shared with Lucas. I would hide a few dollars in Lucas' house without him knowing, only to have him find them and get all excited, thinking he'd found them himself. I smiled at the memory as we arrived at the icecream parlor. I hoped off the spokes, and Lucas locked up the bike to a pipe behind the building.
"It's not like anyone would even steal that old thing." I said as we walked to the door.
"Yeah, but I like it anyway. Don't you?" He asked, and I nodded. We went inside and a little bell above our heads jingled. A Equus girl at the counter plastered a bright smile on her face, and adjusted the hat between her swiveling ears.
"Welcome to Pony Icecream Parlor. How can I help you?" She asked, obviously bored of this job. Lucas was drawn to the little glass window where the icecream was stored. He tracked down a banana split, and pointed excitedly like a little kid. I giggled, turning to the girl.
"We'll take a banana split to share please." I said. She nodded, and gestured to a booth table. The cushions squeaked as we sat opposite eachother, and the table shined after being freshly cleaned.
"This is nice." Lucas said, looking at all the old fashioned decor. I nodded, my eye catching on a jukebox in the corner.
"Oh my god! Is that real?" I gasped, walking over and running my hands over the polished wood. Little tubes around it pulsed with light, and a happy tune played all around the shop. I plucked a quarter from my pocket, putting it in the slot. I turned it to one of my favorite songs, and it started playing right after the previous song ended. Lucas' ears perked when he heard it start. He smiled, hoping up and coming over to the jukebox beside me.
"Is this the song from elementary school?" He asked between laughs. I nodded, trying hard to contain my laughter.
"Oh! Remember the dance we used to do?" I asked, the steps coming to me like breathing did. As I started dancing, Lucas watched me, as if remembering himself. Then he joined me, bopping along to the song in time with me. It was just like we were kids again. Full of dreams and imagination, not willing to except the fact we were getting older. Responsibility wasn't an issue, and neither was money. It was just me, Lucas, and the world. I stopped dancing slowly, feeling my happiness fade. We'd gotten so much different since then. Lucas started struggling, I lost my parents...everything was spiraling down into nothingness, and it wasn't avoidable. I blinked as a water droplet hit my shirt, and I realized I'd started crying. Lucas noticed, and stopped dancing. He came over, putting an arm over my shoulders, and leading me back to the booth. I put my face in my arms, and he sat beside me instead of across from me. The waitress must've come over, because I heard her tail swishing as she approached. She stopped short, and I saw her shift her weight from foot to foot from under the table. I picked my head up, turning briefly to fix my face, and then turned and gave her the money for the icecream. She gave me a sympathetic look before putting it down and walking away. Lucas remained beside me as we started to eat the icecream. I let Lucas have the bananas, and I worked on the vanilla and chocolate icecream. The whipped cream and hot fudge calmed me down. I chuckled to myself. Lucas looked at me, obviously happy to see my laughing.
"What is it?" He asked. I shook my head.
"I just thought it was funny that icecream calmed me down like when I was little." I said, taking another deliciously cold bite. I felt it melt on my tounge, and it tasted amazing, oddly so having just cried. We finished our icecream and gave the waitress a little tip, which she smiled and thanked us for. As we headed out and got back on Lucas' bike, I started feeling dizzy. I shook it off, thinking it was probably nothing. We were halfway to my house when the world started spinning again. The ground became the sky, and my stomach flipped. I wrapped my arms around Lucas' neck for stability, and I felt the faint sensation of the bike slowing down.
"Alvi? Are you alright?" He said, jokingly at first, then changed to worry. I nodded as best I could, but then instantly groaned when it made the spinning worse.
"Home. Now. Quickly." I forced out. I felt the bike speed up, and it came to a screeching halt, outside my house I'd guessed. I felt Lucas pick me up in his arms and hurry me up the porch steps, kicking the door with his foot.
"What the hell are you-" I heard Dusty yell faintly. It rang in my ears, making me cry out in pain.
Dusty...help please.
I heard Dusty give a little whimper, and he took me from Lucas' arms. He brought me downstairs, changed my clothes, and put me in bed.
"Hey little sister, you're going to be okay." He said, but I could tell he was trying to convice himself and not me. I saw the outline of Lucas, leaning against the doorway, a blurred worried expression on his face. Once the world started going dark, and let myself drop. I couldn't stand the spinning anymore, and I was happy to let my eyes close to make it stop.

Word Count: 2206

Thank you to Ali-Jayce for submitting Olive and Olivia to the story! I'm really excited to write as you put it, 'out of my comfort zone' when it comes to Olive, and Olivia aswell. Ty for reading everyone~!