บท 17: Chapter 17- Reagan – Summoned by Mom and Dad (VOLUME 1)
*~*Reagan's POV*~*
Monday, after being in our own places for about two weeks, give or take a day or two, I got a call from Dad. He was cheerful and in good spirits, but I am not sure how much of that was true or if it was just an act.
"Hey, son!" He sounded so jovial when I answered the phone.
"Hey, Dad, what's up?" I was walking back toward the condo with the others, and I noticed that they had a call as well. Well, Luka did and the others were listening in.
"Well, you've been gone for a couple of weeks, you've had a full week of school already, a lot has happened for you. We know that it's been busy and hectic, but your mom and I wanted to have you and your sister over for dinner tonight. Abigail is going to make all of your favorites." At the mention of food that wasn't store bought, premade or delivery, I was already drooling. I could remember all the glorious meals that I had eaten when I was at home, and it was truly the one thing that I missed so much.
"Yeah, I think that would be good. Do I need to call Rika myself?"
"No, your mom is on the phone with her right now. I know how stubborn your sister is though, so I will tell your mom that you're coming. That should help your sister to make up her mind in the right direction."
"Good one, Dad." I laughed. "You're using me as an emotional and psychological weapon against my sister."
"That is not it at all. I just also happen to know that you and your sister are competitive, and that she will not let you beat her. She will be here if you are." I laughed again and it made him chuckle in my ear.
"Yeah, you've got a point there. She won't let me win in this department anymore than she let me win anything else. All my victories were hard fought battles."
"The scars of war still mar the gardens to this day." He sounded sad and solemn for a moment. His words were a joke of course, we hadn't gotten that destructive with our fighting, but we had competed a lot. As the two oldest, it was what we needed to do, or what we thought that we needed to do.
"Alright, Dad, I will be there. I am almost home right now, so I will head over after a shower."
"OK, son, see you soon."
After I hung up the call, I learned that the others were being invited home for the same thing. Their dads had called them up and asked for dinner so that they could hear all about their last couple of weeks. I had a feeling that they were up to something, but I didn't know what it was. I knew that they weren't going to be asking us to come back home, but I didn't know what they might have wanted. Oh, well, I would find out soon enough, wouldn't I?
I did as I said I would do. I hurried up to my condo, dropped my books and stuff into my room, took a shower, and got dressed. We were all heading out at the same time, so we all needed to be ready. That was another reason why I was glad that this was a luxury condo. We had four large water heaters, all with different places that they fed to. And that meant that we were all able to shower at the same time and not be affected by the others. It was great, and just like it was when I was growing up.
Levi and Luka headed out with their sisters, only needing to take one car to their parents' home. I headed out in my car and went to pick up my sister. I had known that she was going to go, so I had texted her before my shower and told her that I would be there in a bit to drive her home. She agreed. Less emission this way, healthier for the environment.
She was already in the lobby and ready to go. She had been talking with her doorman as she stood there. I was sure that he was just keeping her company while she waited, he had seemed like a nice guy when I met him, and I knew that he wouldn't let one of his residents feel awkward as they were waiting for a ride to come and get them.
When leaving, Rika waved at the door man and came running outside to meet me. She hopped right into the car and buckled up.
"So, what do you think that they want?" She asked without a preamble. "Lyssa and Alexa got called home too. Something is clearly up."
"I don't know. I think that they are worried about us, and that they want to make sure that we're not wasting away." I could hear the sarcasm thickly in my voice, it was about equal to hers.
"Yeah, maybe, but I still feel like they have something up their sleeves." She sounded suspicious, like she thought they were going to try to get us to come home. I didn't want that, and neither did she.
We arrived home a little after six. It wasn't late, actually it was close to when we would normally be sitting down as a family to eat. And the first thing that happened when we got home was a bombardment of questions from Zachary, Zander, Zayden and Zaley. They wanted to know what it was like to be out on our own, if we missed them, and how things were going.
"We definitely miss you." Rika told them as we hugged the kids. They may be eleven, but we've always been a close family, and their excitement for us made me want to smile.
"Yeah, it's really nice being out on our own, but we do miss seeing you guys every day."
"We miss you too." Zachary said as he sat next to me on the couch. "We want to hear all about your new lives."
"We're still us, buddy. That hasn't changed." I told him as I ruffled his hair. "We just live in a different place now. I'm still your big brother, and Rika is still your big sister. Hey, maybe you can all come and have a sleepover sometime."
"I want to go to Rika's place instead." Zaley said as she beamed at both Rika and I. "The boys can go to your house, I want to go to Rika's."
"You want a girl's night?" Rika smiled as she asked her this. "That's fine. You and Talia both can come over soon. I promise." They hugged and it was such a happy and wholesome looking moment, that I wondered how Rika could still be feeling depressed at the moment. I could feel it, aching inside of me as an echoing shadow of her pain. I wanted to ask about it, but it wasn't the right time. Not yet anyway.
"Oh, come on you guys." Mom called out as she got off the elevator. She was holding little Reeselynn in her arms. Our baby sister was five and a half months old now, she was getting big, but was still so little. And seeing her face now after a couple weeks away, made me miss home now more than I had missed it ever before.
"Hey, look at you, cutie." I said as I hurried over to her.
"You are so much like your father." Mom said as dad followed behind her into the room.
"I am not." I countered.
"He is not." Dad said at the same time, making mom laugh even more.
"Yes, you are. You both are so similar when it comes to family. That's not a bad thing though, so don't worry about it, OK?"
"Whatever you say." I said as I reached out and took the baby into my arms. "I will just talk to someone that makes more sense." I had devolved into a man that was using baby talk. Granted, I was looking at the baby in my arms as I did so.
"You know, you shouldn't talk like a baby to her." Rika nitpicked me.
"Mom and Dad did it to us, and we're just fine. It might not be scientifically recommended and all that mumbo jumbo, but I don't care. She is the cutest little baby waby in the whole wide world." I was baby talking again, and I didn't care what my sister had to say about it. I mean, come on, when you are a grown man with a baby sister that was as cute as this little girl, it was going to turn you into a sap. And that was me, a total sap when it came to my family.
SHIT! Mom was right. I was just like Dad when it came to family. Dammit!
Oh well, it wasn't like it was a bad thing. It just meant that I liked my family, and there was nothing at all wrong with that. Now, if I baby talked to random people on the street, then I would have a problem. But that wasn't the case. I was just being a super sap for my family. And I would also protect them as much as I could.
Speaking of that, I knew what I was going to do. Tonight, before we went home, I was going to talk to Rika about the feelings she's been having. I would confront her and make sure that she was OK. I had to. I didn't want anything bad happening to her. She was my sister.
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