Sierra
The house is quiet when I wake up. A slither of sunlight is coming through the window and sitting on my left leg, and I move it when the sun's rays begin to burn through my pyjamas.
I know that Alexa had to go back to work today to make up the work she missed yesterday, despite her going in yesterday anyways. As overwhelming as she can sometimes be, she seems to work a lot, so I will probably only have to deal with her in small intervals.
That means it's probably just Lucy here, but I'm unsure if she's awake yet.
I feel awkward getting up before others when I'm in a new house. It's kind of like when you go to a sleepover, and you're the first one awake, but you don't feel like you have permission to do or touch anything because it's not your house, so you just kind of lay there awkwardly, waiting for someone else to make a move.
After a few more moments of silence, I slowly sit up and pick up my phone off the bedside table to check the time. It's ten am. I'm not sure if Lucy usually sleeps late, but I know she won't begrudge me for getting up at this time.
Brushing the hair out of my face, I move my legs over the side of the bed one by one and stand up.
I walk over to my door and slowly open it. I'm trying to be quiet, but it creaks as it opens, and the slowness prolongs its sound.
I make my way through the hallway until I get to the kitchen. It's empty.
I let out a sigh of relief. As awkward as it is to be up and awake in someone else's house, it's nice to have a quiet cup of tea before I have to speak to anyone.
I turn on the kettle and peek into the cupboards and fridge while I wait for it to boil. Most of the food is organic, preservative-free and has no artificial additives. They seem to be pretty health-conscious. Works for me.
Once the kettle is finished boiling, I take out a large blue mug, grab a teabag and fill the water.
I look outside while I wait for the teabag to change the water to a deep dark red-brown colour. It looks like the rust on an old abandoned car.
The kitchen faces the backyard. They have a wicker outdoor lounge area on the patio next to a wicker outdoor dining set. Past that is a lot of grass, a few empty garden beds that probably had plans for flowers or easy vegetables, a couple of gum trees, one wattle tree and the clothesline.
When my tea is ready, I take the bag out, place it in the bin, pick up my mug, and walk outside, sitting on one of the outdoor lounges.
The quietness of the morning feels good. It's a weekend, but no one's mowing lawns or being noisy outside. I guess the cold of the impending winter is deterring them. But I'm enjoying the cold breeze, even if I have to bring my purple flannel pyjama-covered knees up to my chin to keep warm.
After a while, but not before my tea is finished, I decide the quiet neighbours are right. It's way too cold to be outside.
I go back into the house and close the sliding door. I look around the dining room and decide to walk into the lounge room. On either side of the TV mounted on the wall are bookshelves filled with books, pictures, souvenirs from holidays, and decorations.
There is a picture of Alexa and Lucy that looks like it's from a photoshoot. Their wedding? They have different last names, so I didn't think they were married. But when I look closer, I see that they are both wearing white dresses. Lucy's is long and satin, while Alexa's is shorter and covered in lace. They're embracing and looking at each other with such love in their eyes.
"29th of November, 2018," Lucy says behind me.
I turn around to find Lucy behind me, dressed in a grey shirt and red, plaid pyjama bottoms. Her long hair covers her shoulders.
"You're married?" I ask her.
"We started planning as soon as the plebiscite was over. We were worried they might overturn the decision," She explains.
I nod. I was only twelve during the plebiscite, but I remember it was a tense year.
"You have different last names," I state.
"We couldn't agree," She laughs, "I wanted to take her name, O'Grady. She wanted to take mine, Freeman. Then we were going to come up with a new name, but never found one we both liked,"
I smile. Alexa and Lucy can seem so different, but it's like those differences are what attracts them to each other. It works for them.
"So, you'll have been married for four years this November," I say, doing the math in my head.
When Lucy nods, I point out that it seems like they've been married forever. Lucy laughs.
"Well, we've actually been together for twenty-nine years. We started dating when we were sixteen," She informs me. Her eyes glaze over again as she revisits the memories.
I like being around these two. I know it's only been a day, and they could have problems they haven't let slip through the cracks yet, but I can't quite explain the energy they give off in their relationship and how they are with me. It's not something I've experienced before.
"I'm going to make some breakfast. Do you want some?" Lucy asks me, a hopeful look on her face.
I glance at my cup of tea and then back at Lucy. I wasn't planning on having breakfast this morning, but something in her voice makes me want to say yes. I give Lucy a timid nod.
"Sure," I say to her.
Lucy's eyes light up as she makes her way into the kitchen. She takes things out of the cupboard and sets them on the bench.
"You like porridge?" She asks me.
I give her a slight nod again.
She takes out a pot from under the bench, and I knit my eyebrows together as I frown.
"Don't you just microwave it?" I ask her.
"Oh, you can, but I like the ritual. Plus, I think it tastes better this way," Lucy explains.
I move in closer as I watch her carefully measure the oats and the water. I give her a frightened look when she picks up the salt, and she laughs at me.
"Just a pinch to bring out the flavour. Trust me," She informs me.
I move in closer and lean over the pot as she adds the salt. Thankfully she really does only add a small pinch.
Lucy turns on the stovetop and begins to stir the porridge as it warms up.
"Do you have to stir the whole time?" I ask her. Watching her do more work to make something that's so easy is interesting to me.
"Not the whole time, but most of it. That's how you stop it from getting too lumpy," She explains.
I lean over her to look in the pot again. I kind of get what she means about the ritual. I am the same with making my cup of tea in the mornings.
Lucy smiles at my hovering and catches my eyes.
"Would you like to help?" She asks me.
"What do you need me to do?" I ask her, getting nervous. I don't want to mess it up.
"You could grate a Granny Smith apple while I stir this?" She offers.
I nod and walk to the fruit bowl to pick up an apple. Lucy gets out a bowl and grater for me, keeping an eye on the porridge as she sets it up.
I grate the apple while she goes back to stirring the porridge. My hands get wet and sticky from the juices of the apple as I push the apple back and forth over the grater.
When I'm done, I present the bowl to Lucy. She smiles at me as she takes it and pours it into the porridge. I resent the proudness I feel as she thanks me like some little kid seeking approval.
"Can you grab the cinnamon, sugar and vanilla essence from the cupboard for me?" Lucy asks as she stirs the concoction we've made so far.
I still. Anxiety creeps through my chest, and Lucy turns around when she realises I'm not moving.
"Shit, sorry. We have sweetener. Is that okay?" She asks me.
I give her a nod and look through the cupboard for the requested ingredients. When I find them, I bring them over to her.
"Thank you!" She chirps happily.
"I'm sorry for being difficult," I tell her in a small voice. We were having such a lovely morning, and then I went and reminded her how hard I am to have around.
Lucy dismisses what I said with a wave of her hand.
"Don't be silly. It's not difficult to put sweetener in instead," She reassures me.
She sounds sincere, but my mind is racing about how I've already ruined this. I wanted to seem somewhat normal for a little bit longer.
I watch as she stirs the cinnamon, sweetener and vanilla into the porridge. She has a relaxed smile, and she seems really in her element. It's nice watching Lucy enjoy things. It makes me feel safe somehow.
"You want to stir?" Lucy asks me.
I peer over the pot and then look at Lucy. I take the wooden spoon from her hands and stir the porridge slowly. I turn to Lucy expectantly, waiting for her to tell me if I'm doing it wrong. She just gives me an encouraging nod, and I continue.
Once Lucy says the porridge is ready, she lets me serve myself. We sit at the dining table together, and I close my eyes as I inhale the scent of cinnamon and apple. It smells amazing.
I slowly bring a spoonful to my mouth, and as the porridge hits my tastebuds, I let out a little moan of delight. It tastes as incredible as it smells. I glance over at Lucy, and she is beaming.
"Much better than the packet stuff, huh?" Lucy asks.
I nod with a smile and continue eating. We eat our food quietly, but it's not uncomfortable. When we are finished eating, I quickly stand up and start clearing the table.
"You don't have to -" Lucy starts, but I cut her off.
"I know. I want to," I say, reassuring her.
She sits back with a strange smile on her face. Like she wants to enjoy a kid helping out at the house, but she doesn't want me to feel like I have to, as she was explaining yesterday.
"Are you going to be okay for dinner tonight?" She asks me. I notice she's glancing at my unfinished bowl and quickly take the bowls over to the sink.
"I'll be fine," I say.
Lucy looks at me as though she's not so sure.
"I'm just not really sure what I'm supposed to wear. I've never been to a dinner party before," I admit.
Lucy raises her eyebrows.
"It's not formal or anything! They're just our neighbours. They're practically family," She says.
The look on my face must look unconvinced because she continues.
"What you normally wear will be fine, but if you want, I'm sure Alexa would love helping you pick something to wear. She'll have something for you,"
I let out a breath of relief. Alexa's clothes are a bit different from my normal style, but I'd feel more comfortable with her input. I know she wouldn't take me to the dinner looking silly.
I finish cleaning the bowls and then look back at Lucy. Another thought has crossed my mind.
"Which neighbours are we going to?" I ask her. I'm not sure how old that boy was in the car yesterday, but Lucy and Alexa said the neighbours have kids my age.
"The ones on our left. They're the Jones'," She says, pointing in the direction of the house the boy was at yesterday.
I chew my bottom lip.
"I think I will get Alexa to help me with the clothes," I say.
Lucy smiles and looks over towards the loungeroom, where the photos that I was looking at are.
"You okay?" I ask her.
"Yeah. Would you like to see more photos?" She asks.
I'm surprised, but I would like to see them. I'm curious to see what Alexa and Lucy looked like when they were younger and the things they did. Something is itching in me to get to know them better, despite knowing that the better I know them, the worse it will be when I have to leave.
"Sounds good," I say, nodding as I speak.
I follow Lucy into the loungeroom and sit on the couch as she looks through the bookshelves for the photo albums.
Finally, she finds three and brings them over to me. I'm surprised they have so many. All my photos are just on my phone.
"Okay," Lucy says as she hands me the first album, "This one is from when we were kids,"
I open the album and look through the baby photos. Most of the photos are of a little blonde baby with a big smile. I stop when I find one of a toddler with brown hair standing in a garden.
"That one's me," Lucy says.
I look back at the photo, curious.
"This is the youngest one of you?" I ask.
Lucy nods. She doesn't smile this time like she normally seems to, but she doesn't look sad either. Indifferent maybe. I think I get it.
"I don't have many baby pictures of me either," I tell her.
She looks into my eyes knowingly. Now she looks sad.
"My caseworker took this one. I think," She tells me, leaning over me to take a closer look.
I look at Lucy again, then turn back to the album, watching Alexa grow up slowly and noticing the jumps in ages between photos of Lucy. It makes me wonder if my caseworker has any of me when I was younger. It makes me wonder if I should take more photos.
We make our way to the next album. This is when Alexa and Lucy met and became friends. There are a lot more photos of Lucy now. Some with Alexa, and some just of her. I think I can figure out which ones were taken by Aunt Margaret and which were taken by Alexa.
I stop at one of Lucy and Alexa together. They have their arms around each other's shoulders. Lucy is laughing, and Alexa is looking at Lucy with such adoration.
"Wow, she really loved you. Even back then," I marvel. It almost gives me butterflies to think of a love like that.
Lucy lets out a small chuckle as she looks at the photo with a big smile on her face.
"This is before we told each other how we felt," She says softly as she touches the photo gently.
"I hope someone loves me like that one day," I say, without really meaning to.
"I have no doubt that someone will, Sierra. You're a great kid," Lucy says.
I roll my eyes as I reach for the last album.
"You barely know me," I remind her.
"Sometimes you just know," She counters.
We're still looking at photos when the front door opens as Alexa gets home. She looks around the loungeroom at the albums spread out.
"What's all this?" She asks.
I have it on the tip of my tongue to instinctively apologise for making such a mess, but Lucy speaks before I can.
"I wanted to show Sierra how cute we looked when we were younger," She tells Alexa.
Alexa smiles and sits down on the floor in front of the coffee table.
"Make sure you show her the picture of me before the Madonna concert then," She says as she picks up an album and leafs through the pictures.
She stops at one where her blonde hair is curled, and she's wearing a sailor's hat, then presents it to me proudly.
"Very nice," I say with a smile.
"Actually, Sierra was going to ask to borrow some clothes for dinner tonight. She's a bit nervous," Lucy tells Alexa.
Alexa beams at the idea and looks at her watch to check the time.
"Wow, we better go do it now, then. We only have half an hour!" She exclaims.
My eyes grow wide as I realise the time. Had we spent the whole day looking at photos?
Alexa grabs me by the hand and pulls me up out of the chair, and drags me into her bedroom.
She opens her closet and then turns to me.
"Okay, what were you thinking of wearing?" She asks me.
I shrug as I peer into her closet.
"I'm not sure. What do you normally wear when you have dinner there?" I ask.
Alexa cocks her head to the side as she considers this.
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