Living With The White Brothers - On Hold

Chapter 12: Quality Time With Chris

Elizabeth's POV

Tying up my dark brown hair into a ponytail, I looked in the bathroom mirror one last time before turning to the little boy clutching onto my leg. With this adorable six year old clutching onto me, I couldn't help but question what he was doing here instead of playing with his Legos or doing his elementary homework.

"Chris, baby. What are you doing here with me? You should be playing right now! Off you go, run along."

Chris mumbled something I couldn't quite hear, so I crouched down to better hear the little child. I couldn't help but ruffle his hair. Through the short time I've been here so far, I've made Chris my responibility to take care of. Clearly Mary and Thomas have their hands full with all the other teenagers running around the house, causing disaster everywhere they go. Just earlier today, Michael decided it would be Watercolor Sunday. It was a given that it would turn out messy and since no one else in the family wanted to help him clean up, I volunteered, which resulted in the current situation. It was safe to say that I have two left feet (or rather hands...) when dealing with art supplies.

"What's wrong, baby?" I asked in concern. "Do you need to go to the bathroom? Need help?"

Although Chris might be the age where he might be able to go to the bathroom by himself, I was still unsure whether I should leave Chris alone to do his business by himself. Mary and Thomas both worked during the day since the boys normally have school then. They'd always be home by the time they came running back from school. Don't judge me, but what if he slipped getting onto the toilet and ended up stuck in the toilet seat?

Chris shuffled his feet and looked interested in his slippers, which were looking quite soaked from playing in the puddles since it was raining early this morning. He squared his tiny shoulders and looked me in the eyes before glancing around the bathroom.

"Elizabeth... I wanted to help you clean today since you're helping me clean tomorrow on Monday," Chris said, seeming unsure of himself.

I broke out in a wide grin and pulled Chris into a hug.

"Thank you, Chris! That's nice of you. You know what? You're my favorite White sibling."

Chris jumped about the room in his happy mood, and reached out to pull me into a hug once again.

"You're the best, too! I wish you were my real sister, Elizabeth. Better than these brothers I have," Chris exclaimed, grinning.

"Well, let's get to it. The sooner we finish, the sooner we'll have some nice and warm cookies to bake and gobble up!"

Chris squealed in delight and rushed to get the broom. After fiddling with it for a few minutes while I watched, he gave up and looked at me, pouting.

"I'm too small, Elizabeth! I can't clean..."

"Here, how about you take the dust pan and hold it while I sweep up all the dirt on the floor okay?"

I waited a few seconds before Chris grabbed hold of the dust pan before busied myself, sweeping up all the dirt and trash floating about the bathroom floor. After a couple minutes, I opened the water in the bathtub and wet the mop. Since Thomas insisted on buying a small mop for Chris to learn the duties of the household, Chris was able to help mop the floor... and by mop, I mean walk the mop like one would with a dog. He was literally dragging the mop around while walking around the large bathroom, before turning to me. Luckily, I had been following where he was and properly scrubbing the dirt off that remained from the sweeping. When we were done, I assigned Chris to clean the bathroom mirror while I scrubbed down the toilet stains.

I loved how from time to time when I glanced at Chris, he was making faces in the mirror, which was a nice way to deal with doing chores. Although he's young and doesn't mind doing chores now, I really hope that he will grow up to be kind and patient... Not like the playboys that go around tracking mud through the house from playing soccer in the neighborhood playground. After ten minutes of heavy duty cleaning, I smiled at the sparkling white bathroom.

"Elizabeth! Hurry, it's time to make my favorite cookies!" Chris excitedly shouted, tugging on my hands.

"Chris, remember we have to wash our hands. We don't want germs in our food, do we?" I questioned.

Chris shook his head, while screeching about germs as I helped him rub his hands clean with soap before cleaning my own. After drying our hands with the towel, I grabbed his tiny hands in mine before leading us down to my room.

"Wait a little while I grab a few tens for the ingredients, okay?" I said as I searched through my bag.

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The sugar cookies were baking now. In the meantime, I opened Finding Nemo for Chris to watch to distract him for asking how long until they were done. I was exhausted from answering Chris after the first three minutes, so I set him down on the couch and played the movie. I was sitting at the kitchen table, reading a good book when Alex walked in with Jason trailing behind a few steps.

"Hey, Elizabeth! Whatcha doing?" Jason greeted.

"Dumbo, obviously she's making cookies! Do you even have a nose?" Alex replied.

I rolled my eyes and the peace was interrupted by their banter.

"I'm just trying to make conversation! Will you stop insulting my nose? We're twins. If I have a flat nose, so do you... not that I'm implying I have a flat nose..."

"Well, I just wanted to insult you. Why can't I?"

"Well, you can't... because I'm dad's favorite, so stop arguing before I punch your guts out," Jason said.

"Oh shush and stop bringing up the topic about who is who's favorite, okay? Just go and clean yourselves up before coming back down for a few cookies," I butted in.

"Fine," they both replied before running to the bathroom, only to fight about who was going to take a shower first.

Groaning, I was about to shout up to them to shush yet again, but the sound of the alarm beeping cut through the air. Getting up and placing the bookmark into my book, I went to the oven to take out the cookie tray. Just when I finished setting the tray down on the table mats, Chris came running through the door.

"Are they ready? Are they?" Chris asked.

"Yes, baby. Now the best part, the icing!" I exclaimed while setting up the tubes.

"Ohh, can I help? Please, Elizabeth?" Chris begged as he jumped in his place beside me.

Shrugging, I replied, "Why not? Here, just hold right here while I put my hand here, and we can decorate it together. I'll press down on the tube and you can draw the pictures. Okay?"

"Okay!"

The next few hours were spent decorating up all the cookies and gobbling them all up with the other White brothers. During that time, we made small talk and laughed about jokes. At the end of the day, I thought that maybe they weren't so bad after all. Maybe it'd be fun while it last before I had to go back home...

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Hey, everyone~ How's it going? Hehe, forgive me for not updating in so long, but school is out for this semester and it will be starting up in late January :)

Until then, I'll try to upload a few more parts... I just feel like when I have good ideas, I'll upload, otherwise it'll be kind of forced and then it won't come out as great as it is now :p

I'm not quite sure how to lead this story one right now LOL I'm just kind of letting it go with the flow with whatever I'm feeling...

Do you guys like the picture of the Fall themed sugar cookies? hehe

What's your favorite type of cookies? I love sugar cookies with sprinkles :D

Daphne

P.S. I'm thinking about collaborating with a friend from my college to write a story together, so if it happens, I'll let you guys know about it first :) And remember, you guys are the best! <3