𝐷𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐸𝑦𝑒𝑠

22

{Tiara}

A few days before school starts, I decide to tag along with James while he takes Ollie back to school shopping.

Of course Ollie complains the whole time.

"Who needs school when I have muscles like Quincy?"
He starts flexing his little muscles.

James rolls his eyes.

"The kid won't shut up about Quincy. What about me? I have muscles too."
He complains.

"Maybe he likes Quincy because he's cool."
I tease.

He doesn't find that funny.

"Why are we shopping anyway? Mama has to go have that stupid baby."
Ollie continues.

James sighs.

"We talked about this, buddy. Your little sister is not stupid. You just wait, you'll love her when you see her."
He soothes.

"That's right buddy. Just wait until tomorrow."
I ruffle his hair.

His eyes get all big.

"I'll love her right now if we can leave and forget about school."
He bats his eyelashes.

James glares.

"Tiara, I'm nervous about leaving Liv alone. She's very fragile, her water can break any moment."
He expresses his concern.

I roll my eyes.

"If there's one thing I know about that girl, it's that she can handle almost anything. She's fine."
I assure him.

He doesn't seem convinced.

"Maybe I should give her a call."
He's already taking out his phone.

Ollie tugs on my hand.

"Hey. You quit being a little crybaby and go pick out a binder?"
I hiss as soon as James walks ahead a little bit.

He glares up at me.

"I don't want to. School sucks. Plus there's no Puck there."
He reminds me.

I sigh, grabbing one for him.

"I understand how scary it can be but there's no escaping this. Everyone has to go to school."
I try to reason.

"I could always run away."
He mutters.

There's too much of James in this kid.

If I had to name all the times he used to say that when things didn't go his way, we'd be here forever.

"You wouldn't. You love your mama and papa too much to do something insensitive like that. Where would you even go?"

He folds his arms.

"I could go to your house."

"That would be the first place they would look. Besides, I'd make you go to school too. Quincy too."
I add just as he's about to open his mouth.

He closes it.

"Alright, what do we have here? Look, junior. A cool Spider Man pencil case. Oh boy, I used to love these things when I was little. You want it?"
James comes walking back up with a little pencil case.

Ollie sighs.

"Sure papa."
He grumbles.

"Hey, cheer up. How about I teach you how to make a ninja star when we get home? That's fun, huh? All the kids will think it's cool when you show up to school and make one."
He ruffles his hair.