21

Lauren Hart
Amidst of interrogation, we heard Amara cry for her parents. Worried, we rushed outside to the room and found her covering Travis with her small body as if shielding him. All men came out too.
“Amara what are you doing?” Ariana tried to lift her but she denied it by crying. “No, no, no, no, I no momma.”
Xavier came and lifted her in a swift motion and Eloise and Daniel caressed their baby who was throwing arms and legs in the air while giggling.
“What happened, baby?” Xavier asked wiping invisible tears from her face. “Daddy.” Her lower lip trembled. Ariana caressed her back and asked again as to what happened.
“He urt Tavis.” She complained in the cutest way possible while pointing at Ryan. I gasped and rushed to Ryan; Sean too joined.
“What did you do, buddy?” I asked. He looked like he too was about to cry.
“I did not hurt him. I wanted to play with him but she pushed me.” His lower lip trembled as he fidgeted his fingers.
“Hey, hey don’t cry.” Sean engulfed him in a hug.
“Amara, did you push him?” Ariana asked a bit strictly yet calmly. She looked into her mother’s eyes for a second and nodded her head. “Tavis baby…mine. He can’t.” She mumbled with glistening eyes.
Ariana took her from Xavier and kissed her face. “Amara, this is not good. Travis is not only yours; you should let others play with him too. He too wants to make friends like you.” She explained her politely.
“And Amara didn’t I tell you to make Ryan your friend?” Xavier asked her to which she nodded her head. “So did you? You didn’t, right?”
“Come, we’ll make Ryan our friend.” He took her from Ariana and landed her on her feet and crouched down. “Say hello to Ryan.”
“Hello.” She whispered. I love the way she listens to her parents.
“Ryan you too, say hello,” Sean said to him but he didn’t reply.
“Ryan, bad manners.” I scolded him softly. Before I could ask him to say hello to Amara, she complained to her father. “He %&$%%&$% friend.”
“You mean to say he doesn’t want to be your friend?” Xavier rephrased her words. “Okay, tell me…do you remember what you momma and me told you?” He asked and she tilted her head in confusion. Ariana crouched down and smiled at her daughter.
“We taught you not to give up until you have tried your best, remember?” She said as she caressed Amara’s hair. “Now, try once again and maybe offer him your piggy.” She suggested.
“Piggy? No.” Amara pouted. Aww, she’s so damn cute.
“Amaraaa,” Ariana warned her. “You have a lot of them at home. Sharing one to make friends won’t rob you off of toys.”
She first hesitated then stepped forward to offer Ryan her loving toy. Guess she really wanted to be friends with him.
“Buddy.” I patted his back, telling him to accept the toy. He reluctantly accepted.
“Now, both of you, shake your hands and say hello,” Sean said to both of them.
“Hello.” And finally, Ryan shook her hand. Everyone clapped for the start of a new friendship.
“Ryan, Amara, come over here,” Eloise called them to her. Amara held Ryan’s hand against his will and dragged him to Eloise. Kids!
“You wanted to play with Travis, right Ryan? Come hold his hand.” She smiled and bobbed her head towards the couch where Travis laid. Ryan took hesitant steps forward and tried to hold his hand but Travis didn’t let him as he gripped his finger.
Ryan giggled. “He’s so soft and cute.” Travis smiled too. He was such a sweet baby; he barely cried.
“Now, my queen.” Daniel picked up Amara in his arms. “You shouldn’t stop Ryan from playing from Travis. I know you love my little burrito but now the three of you are friends; you have to stay together and play together, get that?”
“Okay, Uncle Dani.” She gave him a toothy grin.
“That’s like my favorite queen. Now, go play with them.” He landed her on the floor and she joined the other kids.
All of a sudden Ariana faced his husband. “Our daughter is acquiring your traits and behavior. I have been noticing her; she’s turning possessive day by day.”
“And I’m proud of her for that.” Xavier grinned but his grin vanished when Ariana glared at him. “What? Is that bad? Because I don’t think so.”
“Goodness, it’s waste of time and energy to make you understand something.” She huffed.
“I agree with you on that.” Eloise stepped in. “Men will be men. It’s difficult to teach them the right things.”
“That’s because we already know the right things.” A conversation without Daniel’s intervention is incomplete.
“That’s the most sensible thing that came out of your mouth, Daniel. Well, done.” Sean patted his back and Xavier joined them too. I rolled my eyes.
“And that’s not what I’m talking about, you know that.” Eloise scoffed. “We are talking about your behavior; your arrogance. Am I not right, Lauren? You too must have noticed arrogance in Sean, didn’t you?”
My senses came to an alert mode as all pairs of eyes flicked to me but the most bothered one was of Sean. It felt like he was waiting for me to say something against him so that he could slit my throat. Even though I was dying to agree with Eloise but I couldn’t as I knew it was a trick question coming from her. She was testing me.
“Momma, food.”
I mentally thanked Amara for saving me. More love to you, my sweetie pie.
“And that’s my call for dinner.” Daniel was the first person to lunged onto the food packages that were placed on the center table of the living room.
“What should I do with this man?” Eloise shook her head in disbelief.
After serving the dinner, we all sat at the dining table when Amara came up to. “Lauwen.” She raised her hands for me to lift her. I understood that she wanted to sit on my lap.
“Lauren, don’t. She’s a messy eater-” I cut off Ariana in between.
“Let her be. It’s not always I get to meet her and eat with her.” I adjusted her on my lap and almost instantly Ryan grabbed my hand out of nowhere.
“I want to sit with you.” He mumbled; his eyes never leaving Amara. And did I see bitterness in his eyes? He had never done it before- eating while sitting on my lap. Whoa, was he being jealous? I didn’t see that coming.
“Ahem, ahem… What spell did you cast on him, Lauren?”
I blushed deeply at Eloise’s comment. God, could she leave me alone?
“Guess you gonna come to momma.” Ariana picked up Amara from my lap and Ryan didn’t wait for long to sit on my lap.
“Momma, Lauwen.” Amara tried to get out of her mother’s hold but she grabbed her tightly. “No, sweetheart, that’s Ryan’s place to sit.”
I flushed. It might not be her intention to say that but it felt awkward. Amara stopped fighting and sat still.
“Thank goodness I asked Xavier to order garlic chicken noodles; it’s Lauren’s favorite.” I passed a nervous smile to Ariana.
“Ariana, your sixth sense is so strong.” Eloise gasped in surprise and smirked while looking at me. “You already knew that you are gonna find your best friend at Sean’s place. Surprising, isn’t it, Lauren?”
I mentally groaned. They are going to make my life a living hell.
“Eloise, let’s keep this teasing game for some other time, shall we?” Sean butted in. And I couldn’t thank him more for trying to help me.
“Oh, see who came for her rescue. How cute.” Daniel said in awe and I wished I could disappear in thin air. It was extremely embarrassing and it was getting hard to breathe.
“Daniel!” Sean snapped at him but of no use as everyone laughed making everything even more embarrassing.
“Oh, Sean, just to remind you, I and you are not on speaking terms for a month. It’s your punishment for hiding things,” Eloise announced.
“Me too,” Ariana added.
“What why?! You are talking to her then why not me?”
“And you haven’t said sorry yet!” Ariana added.
“Okay, sorry. I am extremely sorry for hiding things from you. Happy now?”
I laughed internally. Only these women can make him beg.
“Too late,” Eloise commented and the other two males snickered. “And, Lauren, by all means, eat.”
I saw Sean sending deathly glares to his friends, but they didn’t stop snickering. Sean angrily picked up his spoon and started eating. I too began to eat but couldn’t taste the food at all, as many thoughts and the future embarrassing moments-that I was definitely going to encounter because of my dear friends-were striking the walls of my head with full force.
“So, Lauren.” Eloise started. What now? Can’t she stay quiet for a while?
My hand stopped mid-air, in front of Ryan’s face. He thought I was feeding him so he took the noodles filled fork in his mouth.
She chuckled then asked what she wanted to. “How do you like it here… at Sean’s place… at your boss’s place to be exact?”
My helpless gaze found Sean’s eyes that were staring back at me as equally helpless as mine. Guess, I had to take the lead.
“I’m good,” I answered in one word and picked up a glass of water and brought it near my lips.
“Oh, why wouldn’t you be.” She chuckled.
They became silent. And I was glad for that but my happiness didn’t last long because Xavier wasn’t liking the silence.
“As you two stay together twenty-four hours… Care to tell us how you two spend your time?” Xavier asked.
“Office work. Ever heard of that?” Sean’s sarcastic reply did nothing but made them smirk mischievously.
Daniel calmly placed his fork on his plate and rested his elbows on the table.
“Who does work when you can do a lot more?”
I choked on my water and softly pushed Ryan out of my lap. I heard Sean coughing too. Ariana was the first one to come to my rescue as she rubbed my back and passed me a tissue.
“Will you all stop it now? You have teased them enough. Let them eat in silence.” Ariana scolded them and I couldn’t be more thankful to her. And this is the reason I like her more; she’s sweet and understanding.
“We aren’t -” Xavier and Daniel tried to argue but one glare from her was enough for them to shut their mouth.
Surprisingly, after that, they didn’t speak at all and the dinner was done in silence.
Sean Peterson
I was glad Ariana interfered and forced them to stop the teasing. They all were behaving as if we had done a crime. For god sake, we just hid a small thing from them. I was on the brink of losing my sanity. I desperately wanted to strangle the neck the necks of two people whom I call my best friends.
Finally, after torturous dinner, time for them to leave arrived. I couldn’t be happier to see them leave my house.
They all bid their lovely goodbyes to Ryan. I kissed Amara, waving her goodbye; she returned the gesture by giving me a sloppy kiss. I then took Travis in my arms and wiggled him a little to make him laugh. “Bye, my boy. Miss your favorite uncle, okay?” I tickled him.
I then passed him back to Eloise and tried to kiss her cheek; a goodbye gesture, but she stepped back and narrowed her eyes at me.
“What? Does this comes with non-speaking terms as well?” I frowned. Daniel circled his arms around his wife and chuckled.
“I’m loving this punishment. Good job, Eloi.” He kissed her cheek and I rolled my eyes.
I then reached for Ariana but she stepped back as well. “Sorry, not allowed.”
“And I like it even more,” Xavier smirked at me.
Ariana, Eloise with the kids then strolled towards their respective cars and Lauren followed them. I couldn’t follow because I was stopped by two disturbing elements of my life.
“What now?” I barked.
Daniel laughed. “Whoa, Sean babe take it easy. She isn’t leaving you. She is just sending them to their cars. Chill.”
I growled and lunged onto him, and grabbed his collars. “Haven’t you have enough of teasing yet?” But he kept laughing and I swear I would have punched him if Xavier hadn’t grabbed my arm.
“Take it easy, Sean.” He was laughing as well.
“Why the fuck can’t you stop now?” I snapped again.
“You used a bad word. Arian-” I covered Daniel’s mouth and glared at him.
“Are you out of your mind? She’ll give me a cold shoulder for six months, you stupid.”
Xavier laughed. “Good luck with the ladies, Sean.”
I heaved a frustrating sigh and ran fingers through my hair. I had had enough of their childish behavior. “If you want to reach your home in one piece then I’d advise you to leave right now.”
“Oh, I’m scared.” Daniel taunted in a completely bored tone. I shot him a deathly glare.
“Okay, okay.” He held his hands in the air. “We are leaving, come on Xavier.” I sighed in relief when they turned their back to me but groaned when they again faced me.
“Sean.” Daniel started and I raised my eyebrows.
“Don’t forget to include us in the celebration when Miss Hart makes her way into your heart.”
“You!”
I was about to attack him but he sprinted to the safe zone; his wife. Bastard!
“What are you waiting for?” I snapped at Xavier.
“Nothing. Just wanted to say a polite goodbye.” He walked near me. “So, good night.” He patted my back and smirked. “Good choice though.”
He too ran away before I could snap his neck. I stayed at my spot and watched them leave. I didn’t want to go near to them as they would again start teasing.
Lauren and Ryan walked back to me. I knew she wanted to say something but I was in no mood to hear her as well, I had heard enough for the day, so before she could open her mouth I spoke.
“I’m in my study. Do not disturb.”
Saying that I walked back inside.