Blue Roses||Tom Holland

Tenth Chapter

Helena

"Miles, get out of here!" Stella shouts from her room.

I get up from my bed and run-up to the door of the room in which my 5-year-old cousin is. I find my two cousins arguing about a pillow.

"Children, what are you doing?" I put my hand on that pillow and say: "There are enough pillows for both of you".

"This is mine! Go and get that one!" Stella shouts, pointing at one of the many pillows on the floor.

"I don't wike them!"

"You know what? Let's go playing with Dodger in the garden", I pick Miles up and Stella firmly holds my hand while we make our way to the backdoor.

"Hey, girl!"

I almost cry out when uncle Scott suddenly appears at my back; I place a hand over my chest and heavily breath in and out.

"Are you out of your mind?" I ask him, trying to breathe normally again, "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing. I needed fresh air to think", He crosses his arms over his chest and opens his mouth to say something, but then he keeps quiet. "Also, there's something inside waiting for you."

"Can you keep an eye on them?" I ask him referring to the children playing not far away from us. 

"Dad is here for this", he points his head to grandad, sitting on a bench and playing with the kids. "I definitely want to see your face and Chris' face as well."

We head back inside together and he tells me to go in the kitchen. Here, grandma is cooking, while aunt Carly and Shanna are setting up the table. 

"I think these are for you", grandma aims at a bouquet of blue and red roses standing at the center of the counter. I grab the little white note in the middle of them and mind-read it. 

Merry Christmas I-would-like-to-take-home girl, 
by your Spider-Man. 💙❤️

My lips curl into a wide smile as I read the note, hand-written by Tom. 

"Where's Chris? I just want to see his face!" Uncle Scott has a quick look around himself, and so do I, but dad is nowhere to be seen. 

"This guy is great. I mean, the area code is British..." grandma says looking at another piece of paper which is just in front of her. I grab it immediately and read it; in fact, it's written the order comes from London -where Tom is. 

"Grandma, dad won't know it. None of you say anything about this pointless information", I highlight the word 'useless' and keep silent until they all nod. 

Just something dad doesn't need to know -at least not for now. 

"Call the children. Breakfast is ready!" 

I nod at grandma's direction and go back outside, where the kids are playing with Dodger. He always more than happy to play, especially when Stella and Miles play with him because they're kids and they love rolling around on the grass with him. When I was a child I used to roll around on the grass -and sometimes also in the mud- and I always got scolded by my father. He has never sulked me for more than an hour. He just couldn't.

I got distracted by my ringing phone, therefore I grab it from my pocket and answer the call -even though the id caller is unknown, "Hello?"

None gives me a reply on the other end of the phone and when I'm about to end it, I hear a heavy breath and then nothing more. I check and they ended the call before me. I won't call back, so I get back in the house.