Sunflowers and Lillies

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"And a dog too!" She giggles underneath the blanket we had thrown over ourselves. There was a flashlight in the middle so that we could glimpse each other's faces and her eyes were glinting ivy under the light.

"Shh," I raise a hand to my mouth trying not to giggle as well. We were supposed to be sleeping. "Mommy's gonna wake up."

She zips her lips and throws away the key. I lean toward her to whisper, "we can call her macaroni!"

"And her last name can be cheese!"

We erupt into another fit of giggles, the both of us trying to quiet down the other one but still laughing at our attempts. "I'm gonna marry Brandon," she says, sighing as she traces the edge of the flashlight.

I make a yuck face, "Brandy? But he has poop hair."

"You have poop hair."

"But mines long."

"So? It's a long poop."

I stick my tongue out, "you also have long poop hair."

She giggles and flops down on the bed, raising a punch to the air, "poop hair buddies forever!"

"Yeah!"

We start to laugh again and this time we forget we're supposed to be sleeping. We don't register the footsteps so when the door opens we're still laughing under the blanket. It gets picked off of us and dad's face looks stern.

"Girls," he says. "You have school tomorrow. Hurry on now, sleep."

She looks at me and grins, I make the same expression. Dad slowly starts to back away, "No—what did we say about—" Before he can finish his sentence though she's already wrapped herself around his legs, and I've already jumped onto his back, holding onto his neck for dear life. "CORIANE! THEY'VE GOT ME AGAIN!" His voice is playful as he shouts.

She and I are both a gigging mess as we keep our hold, even though dad tries to get us off, we don't relent. Dad is laughing even as he tries to scold us. Mom runs into the room, trying to see what the ruckus is about, and when she sees the mess we've made and the three of us laughing she can't help but laugh too.

"Get him, girls!" She whoops.

"WE GOT HIM!" We yell at the same time, still laughing. "JINX!" I call down to her.

She looks up grinning, "DOUBLE JINX!"

"INFINITY JINX!"

"DOUBLE INFINITY JINX!"

Suddenly hands grab me from under my arms and I get pulled off of dad, "I've got you, jinx," mommy sings playfully.

I cross my arms as she sets me down on the floor, next to her. "Now that you've attacked dad," Mom raises a brow. "Will you go to sleep?"

"Story!" We both exclaim. "Story!"

Dad shakes his head, "it's very late, girls. Now come on, we'll tuck you in."

We clamber onto the bed begrudgingly and I take the right side while she takes the left. Dad pulls the cover over both of us and mommy kisses both our heads. "Goodnight, girls."

"Goodnight, mommy." Our voices come out as a ring together.

Then it's dads turn, he kisses our foreheads and brushes our hair back. "Goodnight, girls."

"Goodnight, daddy."

Mom and Dad leave, lowering the lights down before they go, and they close the door behind them.