It's All Las Vegas's Fault - Part 2

[owl_wishes]

Jenny stood at the foot of the couch with her hands on her hips. The hidden smile curving the corner of her lips twitched deeper when Ben murmured something unintelligible before falling back asleep. Emma had been right; neither of the boys seemed to have moved much at all since the video game showdown of the night before. Ben even had a controller still in his hand as he breathed calmly into the pillow.

“Ben,” she whispered. She reached out and shook his shoulder when he gave no response. “Wake up,” she tried again, and waited in undisturbed silence. “Ben,” she demanded a little louder, quickly losing her gentle touch as she remembered that she hated waking him up, because it was impossible, and annoying, and why had this become her job anyway?

“No,” he slurred as he curled further into the couch.

“Nothing?” Emma asked as she descended the final few stairs, looking adorably disheveled from sleep. Faint blush covered her cheeks, along with two slight crease marks from her pillow running to the corner of her lips. The sight made Jenny lose her words.

“N-nothing,” she answered clumsily as she ran a distracted hand through her hair and dried the remaining touches of melted snow from her walk to the bakery earlier.

Emma sighed and grinned mischievously at the sleeping forms curled at opposite ends of the couch. “Then they leave us no choice,” she stated simply as she made her way from the staircase. “Wake up, wake up, wake up,” she sang like a small child, before taking a seat between the two protesting lumps on the couch. She smiled up at Jenny and offered her hand out.

Jenny carefully joined her, but let out a yelp when Ben grumbled and moved his legs from beneath her, causing her to fall against Emma. She couldn’t help but giggle when he sat up. She patted down the tangled mess of hair on the top of his head before he swatted her hand away. “Morning,” she murmured innocently. She couldn’t quite make out what he grumbled in reply, but she had her suspicions that not all of those words were kind.

Emma’s younger brother mumbled something in a similar tone of voice as he leaned forward and snatched up the remote. Without quite opening his eyes, he clicked it onto cartoons and curled back into a sleeping position. Animated figures took the screen, their lips moving in repeating motions as their car chase continued. The four of them settled quietly to watch the simplified plot unfold.

A few minutes later, Jenny heard slow, steady footsteps descend the stairs behind them. A shy smile pulled at her lips as she kept her focus on the television, having spent enough weekend mornings in this house to know the scene that was about to play out.

Emma’s mother quietly shuffled from the staircase to the back of the couch. Without fully waking up, she leaned forward enough to stroke her sleeping son’s arm in a calm motion. She finished the careful touch with a gentle squeeze of his shoulder. Continuing down the line, she patted Emma’s hair and placed a kiss on the side of her head.

“Morning, Mama,” Emma murmured in the same way she had since she was a child.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” her mother replied softly. The older woman repeated her morning greeting with both Jenny and Ben, with the same warmth that she gave her own children. “Did you sleep well?” she added in Ben’s direction, with each word spoken in true motherly concern.

“Yeah,” he answered bashfully, not noticing the color climbing up his neck until he heard Jenny giggle quietly beside him. Emma’s mother disappeared into the kitchen after giving them all a satisfied smile, and Ben was quick to elbow the giggly girl beside him in the ribs. He then reached over and clasped her wrist, blinking exaggeratedly a few times to rid the sleep in his eyes, and read the time displayed on her watch. “Why is it so early,” he mumbled unhappily.

“I’ve been up since seven,” Jenny replied, frowning as Ben leaned against her and tried to go back to sleep. Her look of displeasure only deepened when she saw Emma smiling at them with amusement sparkling in her eyes.

“Why would you do that,” he slurred in question form, his eyes still shut in hopes of falling back asleep.

“To bring your breakfast,” she explained pointedly, shrugging in a quick motion to lift Ben’s head from her shoulder, but he barely seemed to notice. “To be clear,” she continued calmly, locking her focus on the television screen, “you will not be sharing my toothbrush.”

Ben grinned slyly then. He took a breath and blew it in Jenny’s face before she could twist away.

Jenny coughed the morning breath away from her as she punched his arm. “You’re disgusting,” she chided, before pushing him to the other end of the couch and snuggling safely into Emma’s side.

Having earned just over a fourth of the couch all to himself, Ben happily melted back onto the soft surface and watched morning cartoons like a big boy.

Alexei reached for the cup of coffee he’d prepared for his wife and handed it to her as she crossed the kitchen to give him a kiss. She cradled the warm mug before taking a sip, and he couldn’t help but chuckle at the way that miniscule amount of coffee had begun ridding the sleep in her eyes. She let the corners of her lips curl up in a small grin as she pressed another kiss to his lips, before picking up the paper bag on the counter and shuffling to the table.

Having a family of six around the table for so many years had instilled certain traditions when it came to weekend breakfasts. The older woman hardly noticed anymore how she equally divided the pastries onto two plates, to minimize the conflicts and accusations of favoritism they’d endured when the children were younger. By now, it had simply become routine, and she smiled down at the six plates set on the outer rim of the wooden surface, pleased that the old crowdedness of the breakfast table was back.

She looked over her shoulder to find her husband still leaning against the counter with the cup of coffee in his hands. He met her gaze and smiled softly, the smile of a parent taking in the quiet before the storm. With a steady hand on the back of a chair, she took a breath, grinning at him before closing her eyes and calling, “Kiddies, breakfast!”

“I can’t say that I’ve seen that one, no.”

“Oh, you should definitely check it out. It’s a good movie. Like, not only the plot, but there’s good cinematography as well. They shot it in this crazy castle-type thing that’s wrapped around this ridiculously cool forest, and in the behind-the-scenes, the director talked about how some of the creepy sounds in the movie weren’t actually staged, and that the stories of the haunted forest were true. So…” Ben trailed off, lowering his gaze from Emma’s mother as he realized how much he’d said in the last twenty seconds. “So that’s…cool.”

Emma smiled to herself at Ben’s nervous rambling. For a guy who usually kept quiet around people other than his friends, it was nice to see him sputtering with words.

“It does sound cool,” Emma’s mother replied with interest, hoping that her use of that last word sounded fitting coming from a parent. One could never really be sure with kids nowadays. “We’ll have to watch it for movie night sometime soon.”

Ben only nodded at the thin trail of warm chocolate left on his plate.

“Papa, what’s this one?” Emma’s younger brother piped up, still chewing a piece of pastry as he held up the sweet dough in his hand.

“Well let’s see now,” the older man said, leaning closer to inspect the spotlighted piece of pastry. From the corner of his eye he saw his wife move his coffee cup out of the way to keep it from spilling, leaving him just enough room to rest his elbow and support his chin in a proper thinking pose. “Flaky crust, raisins, small bits of chocolate and pear, and is that a…walnut? Yes, mhm,” he noted, as though that pastry was the most interesting discovery of present time. “Do you like the taste?” he inquired, staying in character as he waited for an answer by pretending to slip a pair of glasses to the tip of his nose and look at his youngest child from above their imaginary rim.

“I’m leaning towards no,” Tim offered, keeping his wild amusement at his father’s antics to himself.

“Uh-huh, mhmm, yes,” Alexei mumbled to himself for a moment. “Then I can’t be one-hundred percent sure, but I believe the blame is on Jenny for this one,” he decided, sticking his chin out as he grinned foolishly at the girl with the expression of feigned shock on her face.

“If that thing has raisins in it, then I definitely didn’t pick it. Tim, that one is all your father’s fault.”

Tim laughed to himself at his father’s return expression of betrayal. He tore another piece away from the mysterious new pastry and put it in his mouth.

“And how are you enjoying my new pick of the week, my sweet little Emma-Bear?” Alexei asked in order to regain some composure and support.

“Verdict’s still out,” Emma offered neutrally. She let the conversation continue without her as she slowly ate her food, focusing instead on the calm, smooth movements of Jenny’s fingers on her own, where they played under the table. The touch was innocent and sweet, and it made it hard for her to keep from grinning shyly at the table for the course of the entire meal.

Her focus drifted back to the conversation when her father stood and began clearing away the plates. She looked lazily around the table, wondering how long she’d spent daydreaming about how soft and wonderful it felt when Jenny’s skin touched her own.

“You all owe me a movie,” her mother announced then, keeping her son from darting away to his video games as everyone rose from their seats. “Into the living room, all of you,” she insisted as she returned food to the refrigerator.

Jenny’s eyes were soft when she looked down at Emma still seated at the table. “Come on,” she mouthed, allowing them to have a private moment in the middle of a kitchen crowded with her family. Emma pulled the sleep from her eyes to clear the daze of daydreams she’d been in, and took Jenny’s hand as she rose to her feet.

“Oh, girls,” her mother said, stopping the two of them from leaving the kitchen.
“Yeah,” Emma replied as she ran her thumb along the back of Jenny’s hand, because that skin-on-skin contact was addictive and mandatory for her survival.

“I’m just wondering,” she said before lowering her voice to a near whisper, “do you think that Ben is having a nice time? I want him to feel comfortable. You know, to feel at home.”

Jenny saw the concern in the older woman’s eyes. Ben almost never allowed himself to appear outwardly miserable, not even with his close friends, so the fact that Emma’s mother had sensed his inner struggle so easily had caught her by surprise only for a moment. That was until she remembered exactly where she’d seen that kind of sensitivity, implanted deeply in the girl now holding her hand.

“I’m sure he’s fine, Mama,” Emma replied, hoping to tone down the motherly concern that she’d only just recently managed to get under control when it came to Jenny. She looked to her left to see her girlfriend nod in agreement.

“Honestly, I think he feels more comfortable here than at home,” Jenny said mostly to Emma, who agreed with a crooked grin. It took them a moment to notice that the innocent statement had brought a sad kind of smile to the older woman’s face.

“Alright,” Emma’s mother said softly. “Go on and join the boys,” she urged, gently shooing them from the kitchen. She stayed in the doorway a moment longer, watching the children in the living room. She saw Emma pretend to sit on her brother when he refused to make room on the couch, and the boy was quick to clear some space, though his displeasure was clear. He huffed and crossed his arms until he saw Ben take a seat on the floor in front of the couch, and then he happily did the same, still sticking his tongue out at his sister over his shoulder just to prove a point.

A quiet sigh left the older woman’s lips as she turned back to the kitchen, and her gaze flickered to the knowing look in her husband’s eyes.

“You’re going to make them some hot chocolates, aren’t you?” he asked softly as he took another bite of a chocolate croissant he’d failed to resist.

“Maybe,” she answered noncommittally. She innocently shrugged one shoulder in hopes of holding onto some mystery as she made her way to the right cabinet.

“This would be the part where you’d tell me that the children are just fine, that their stomachs are already full of chocolate and sweet dough, and that giving them more sugar will resort in squabble-ball matches until dinner,” he noted. “If the situation was reversed, of course,” he then added with a smirk and a wink.

Emma’s mother rested her hands on the kitchen counter and looked at the rain gently hitting the window and melting yesterday’s frost as she thought for a moment. After coming to a decision, she stood up tall and opened the cabinet door to reach the cocoa powder. “I’m ignoring you,” she replied airily when from the corner of her eye, she saw his smirk grow. She turned her back to him to further make her point, and reached for a new package of sugar on the high shelf. When she heard Alexei come toward her, she pursed her lips together, because she didn’t want to be talked out of this, but all of the things he’d said were right, and the children really didn’t need any more chocolate, and the two of them as parents had always strived to teach healthy eating habits, and…

At a familiar sound, she looked down at the kitchen counter to find Alexei placing mugs down in a row for her to fill with the sweet drink. She looked up at him with innocent eyes and he chuckled as he leaned over and kissed her temple. “You made the right choice,” he whispered, and quietly left her side to get the rest of the ingredients they’d need.

Jenny’s breath caught as every muscle in her arm clenched, cutting off the blood to Emma’s fingers trapped inside her vice grip. She ducked her head and kept only her eyes on the screen, determined to see the situation improve. The animal lay there motionless, and she could feel her heart shrink and expand painfully with every beat. It’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real, she told herself as she waited, not caring for the sad music beginning to swell, since it confirmed her worst fear.

“It’s not real,” Emma whispered soothingly in her ear, before touching a kiss to her cheek.

She nodded and moved her gaze to where Emma’s thumb was gently caressing the back of her hand again, hoping to loosen her grip just a little.

Ben looked over his shoulder at them and playfully rolled his eyes at how they continued to do that thing where they were being all perfect for each other. Jenny nudged his shoulder with a socked foot, before resting her head on Emma’s shoulder and settling back into the movie.

“It was so nice having you over, my dear,” Emma heard her mother say to Ben as she came down the stairs.

“Yeah, um…” Ben mumbled, unaware that he was slightly digging his toe into the floor as he shyly smiled. “It was nice too. For me, I mean.”

Emma pursed her lips to keep from chuckling as she reached for her coat.

“I’m so glad,” her mother replied warmly, and Emma closed her eyes to keep from rolling them as she knew exactly what was coming next. “So we’ll see you on Tuesday for dinner,” the older woman stated, leaving no room for discussion.

“What?” Ben blurted as his gaze bounced up from the floor. “I mean, wow. Thanks, that sounds…” he trailed off, unable to keep a goofy smile from springing onto his face. “That sounds really nice, actually.”

“Wonderful,” she decided. “Jenny, you’ll make sure to bring Ben with you for dinner on Tuesday?” she added as Jenny came in from the kitchen.

Having had sufficient practice in this game, Jenny hardly showed any sign of surprise about the plans decided upon solely by Emma’s mother. Her eyebrows quirked up slightly as she saw the smile still plastered on Ben’s face. “Sure,” she agreed, shuffling forward to give her a hug. She smiled at Ben over the older woman’s shoulder, and he cleared his throat and pushed a hand through his hair to distract himself from the smile that was refusing to leave his lips.

“Come on,” Emma’s mother insisted then, motioning Ben over with open arms. “Everyone gets a goodbye hug in this house,” she explained as he shifted his weight shyly. After only a moment’s hesitation, he pulled his hands out of his pockets and trailed forward.

Jenny discreetly squeezed Emma’s hip as she walked past her to reach the coat stand. She pulled on her coat and waited patiently in the entrance of the house for Ben, who rather seemed to enjoy his hug.

Ben was still smiling at the cement sidewalk a minute later, as he and Jenny made their way to the car, each holding parts of the three-piece stereo that now officially belonged to him. He was doing his best to ignore her, and she smiled to herself, thinking of how much he’d enjoyed himself at the Müller home, and how much he’d needed a taste of their unending kindness. After placing the stereo in the trunk, they both slid into their seats and shut the car doors to escape the cold, and Ben quickly and noisily ran his hands on his pant legs to warm up.

“You love them,” Jenny quietly teased as she looked at him with that small, knowing smile of hers.

Ben stared through the raindrops on the windshield at the car parked a little ways ahead of them on the street for a long moment. “Maybe a little,” he grumbled in reply, but releasing his lips from their tense position caused him to involuntarily smile, giving him away completely. Jenny released a quiet puff of laughter beside him as he started the car. “Where’s that girl of yours?” he asked in order to change the subject, and Jenny eagerly looked back in the direction of the house.

Ben took that opportunity to redirect the air vents to blow all of the warm heater air in his direction.

There was a feeling of swelling excitement that Jenny had never lost whenever she saw Emma. It made her heart race and her legs feel jumpy, and her lips would pull up in a smile all by themselves, and she loved it. She watched Emma make her way to the car, hugging a stack of boxes tightly in her arms. Jenny guessed that they held leftover food from the night before. Her cheeks were rosy from the cold, her hair was slightly tousled from the wind, and she looked the smallest bit irritated, as would sometimes happen when they’d finish spending a weekend with her family. If possible, it made Jenny love her more.

“It is beyond me how my mother has come to the conclusion that you’ll be able to consume so much food, but here you go,” Emma muttered as she set the boxes of food on the floor of the car, before sliding into the backseat and shutting the door so they could leave. Jenny stretched her arm back to rest her hand on Emma’s knee, and Emma grudgingly shook off her huffy mood to let a faint smile cross her lips at the touch.

Ben shifted out of park, and maneuvered smoothly onto the street. He grinned despite the red light in front of him as the first wisps of delicious scents rose from the boxes of food.

He was hungry already.

Emma couldn’t help but grumble under the weight Ben stacked on her arms. The records she held were almost reaching her chin. They’re probably only there for show, she thought bitterly to herself as she watched him cheerfully make room for his new three-piece stereo system.

“That should do it. What do you think, Emma? It’s right across from the bed, between the books and the magazines, right where a music system should go.”

Emma’s lips parted to reply, but Ben cut in before she could.

“No, you’re right. We can try to put it instead of the magazines, and then it’ll be next to the music. That makes more sense, right? You know what? Hold that thought.” The last word was barely out of his mouth before he hurried out of his room and down the stairs to bring something that was no doubt inexplicably important in order for this new set up to work.

She huffed and rolled her eyes as she shifted her weight uncomfortably. She considered dumping the heavy pile of records and magazines on Ben’s desk, or maybe just on the floor, but realized that if she’d attempt to move, she’d probably topple over. She huffed once more for good measure and remained rooted in her spot in the middle of his room, wondering how she’d let herself get roped into helping with this seemingly never-ending operation.

“So, I have a question,” a rich, sultry voice said from somewhere behind her.

Emma didn’t bother turning around. She smiled down at the record cover with the dog and the handkerchief on it, and gripped the dusty pile a little tighter. “I know that tone,” she murmured mostly to herself, and stood up tall as a bolt of electricity shot down her spine.

Jenny sashayed her way from the hallway until her lips hovered as close to Emma’s ear as possible without actually touching it. “I was just wondering,” she whispered teasingly, this time letting her lips brush against the flushed skin just once.

Emma closed her eyes and took a breath. “Jenny,” she spoke in the most put-together tone she could manage. “I’m going to drop this,” she stated calmly, as if she was talking about the weather, and not about the fact that her knees were about to buckle, as they’d seemed to have forgotten their purpose.

Jenny smiled to herself. She wound her arms around Emma’s waist and pulled her back into a hug. She hummed, keeping her lips against the sensitive skin of Emma’s neck, feeling quite pleased with herself. “As I was saying,” she whispered directly into her ear. “I have a question.”

Emma bit back her grin as she took a hopeless breath to compose herself. “What’s your question?” she rasped.

Jenny licked her lips before she answered, and the sound made Emma tingle with anticipation. “When do I get you all to myself?”

Emma watched the record with the dog and the handkerchief on the cover slide away from the pile she was holding. She watched it slide slowly until it fell toward the ground, and her mind was already racing with an explanation for Ben, that he really should have known better than to stack her arms full of heavy things and then just leave her there while Jenny was on the loose. Before she could even gasp at what was about to happen, Jenny caught it and put it back in place, safe and sound. She batted her eyelashes as she lifted half of the stack of records and magazines from Emma’s arms and balanced them in a similar way on her own arms.

“That wasn’t funny,” Emma said, sending a weak glare in her direction.

Jenny chuckled happily before bumping their hips together. “Very well,” she replied proper-like, letting Emma know that she’d pretend to be serious. “I’ll behave,” she whispered as Ben rounded the staircase and made his way back to them.

“I’ve got it this time, it’ll be perfect,” he insisted. He proudly held up a small storage box with a light square design on it. He placed it carefully where the magazines once stood and took a step back. “It was missing,” he clarified when both Jenny and Emma looked at him skeptically.

“Ben,” Emma said in a warning tone, and cringed when her voice came out the slightest bit hoarse from Jenny’s earlier teasing. “If you change the place to put this speaker system one more time,” she began, hoping that he’d get the message, because she really hadn’t thought of an ending to that sentence.

“Here,” he announced proudly, sliding the stereo system until it sat in the center of the third shelf from the top. He smiled at his friends, ready for their applause at his ingeniousness.

Emma smiled back weakly, not bothering to mention that that was the place she’d first suggested they put it. “Perfect,” she replied flatly. Her forced pleasantness was what earned her freedom, though, as Ben stepped forward and took the remaining pile of his things from her tired arms. He then turned his back to the girls and began organizing the items into their new assigned places. Emma shook her arms out before stepping in front of Jenny and flashing her the slyest of grins. She looked over her shoulder at Ben, preoccupied with organizing as he hummed along to the music bubbling out of his laptop, and then set her hands on either side of Jenny’s neck.

Jenny’s lips twitched into a half-grin at the look she saw dancing in Emma’s eyes. Her eyes grew wide in surprise when Emma hauled her forward and kissed her soundly. The kiss was demanding, and Jenny found herself trying to catch up as Emma stole her breath with ease. The pile of records pressed against her chest as she leaned a little further into the kiss. Emma ended it with a simple press of their lips, and then opened her eyes to let them sparkle up at Jenny’s. “We’ll finish this later,” she breathed, before taking the pile of records and magazines from Jenny’s arms and making her way to Ben to help him set it up.

Jenny stood rooted to her spot with a happy, speechless look on her face. She watched Emma quickly place Ben’s just-for-show record collection on the shelf, followed by the few books he owned and the magazines he insisted on keeping. She watched Ben disappear partially into his bookshelf as he tried to connect the new speaker system, and heard him mutter that they should have done that before loading the shelves up. She saw Emma roll her eyes to no one in particular, because she’d mentioned that once or twice when they’d started that whole operation. The kiss still tingled on her lips when Ben pressed play and let music fill the room. She smiled as Ben reached for Emma and spun her in a circle before she could protest, and chuckled quietly as Emma clung to him and yelped as he swept her across his room using proper dance steps that were etched into his memory from the same partner-dance classes Jenny had been forced to take as a kid. Seeing her chance to slip away, she let her smile spread as she walked unnoticed out of the room and down the hall, as Emma’s stifled giggles poured out and filled the space behind her.

Once she was safely in the quiet of her bedroom, she pulled out the package she’d had hidden in her bag since the day before. The plastic crinkled loudly as she placed it on the bed before reaching for her computer. Knowing the mastermind behind this whole operation, she’d already prepared herself for the endless instructions she found waiting in her email. She couldn’t keep from rolling her eyes a little at some of the things written, but then she imagined Emma’s reaction to all of this, and it made her insides flutter again. She glanced down at the delicate watch resting on her wrist, and quickly followed instruction number 14 by typing in a name and password. She allowed herself to wait a whole five seconds after Hotte’s call started flashing on her screen before she accepted.

“Did you get it?” he demanded anxiously as his webcam loaded.

“I got it,” she replied calmly, clicking away from their conversation so she could keep working.

“Did you print it?” he continued, not noticing that he was leaning slightly closer to the screen as his eyes grew gradually bigger with excitement.

“I’m doing it now,” she assured him in a gentle voice as she pulled up the document he was talking about.

Hotte allowed her to work undisturbed for a good three seconds before pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose and leaning so close to the screen that the small webcam window on the left-hand corner of Jenny’s screen captured only one of his eyes. “Did anyone see you leave?” he whispered conspiratorially, and Jenny bit back the chuckle that was craving to escape. “Were you,” he continued, shifting impossibly closer as he concluding with, “f-followed?”

Jenny looked over her shoulder to find her bedroom door still closed. “The coast is clear,” she told him quietly, trying, for his sake, to sound as in-character as he was.

With that, Hotte leaned away again, and his chair squeaked a little under his weight. He sent Jenny a defeated, pitying look. “Really?” he asked as she met his gaze. “The coast is clear? That’s the best you could come up with?”

Jenny clicked in the last command and filled her lungs with air as she thought for a moment. She ignored Hotte’s growing smile as she mentally pulled references from every relevant book and movie she knew. “The package…is…” she tried again, trailing off as she shifted uncomfortably, “secure…ly…preoccupied in the other room?” she offered, her left eye almost completely shut from all of the uneasy cringing she was doing.

Hotte cringed along with her, and it didn’t escape her that he was leaning even further away from their conversation now. She huffed and blew the hair out of her face, because she was new at this, and she didn’t think that her attempt was that bad. “We’ll work on it,” he promised, and his sweetheart charms brought her smile back. “So…” he continued after a beat, “did you print it yet?”

Jenny rolled her eyes; his sweetheart charms usually expired quickly. “Yes,” she replied tiredly, giving him a friendly glare once she retrieved the paper from the printer.

“Thanks,” he added then, and she looked up to see the little kid inside of him, anxiously waiting to see his plan unfold perfectly.

“You’re welcome,” she replied with a small smile. “Now hush so I can finish all of these ridiculous instructions of yours,” she demanded gently, and he did as he was told.

“Jenny?” Emma called as she pushed open the bedroom door. The room was silent, the bed was made, and she almost left to continue her search elsewhere when she noticed a small package and a note on the bed beside a laptop. She let go of the door handle and curiously trailed closer to the folded piece of paper. Her eyes blinked big in surprised when she saw her name penned across the white paper in none other than Hotte’s handwriting. She lifted the smooth paper and bit back the longing smile that reached inside and brightened her entire being.

She eyed the package wrapped in a thin cloth, but if Hotte was behind all of this, she was better off opening the note first. She bit down on her lower lip and unfolded the paper.

‘Captain Em-Bear of the Fifth Division Superheroes Council,’ the note read, and Emma bit down even harder on her lip as heat traveled slowly up her neck. She looked over her shoulder, relieved to find the hallway empty and silent. Looking back at the note, she secretly grinned. With the pad of her thumb, she traced a couple of words as she imagined her best friend scribbling them down on the other side of the world.

‘You have been challenged to a duel to the death!’ she read silently, and excitedly pinched the paper in her hands. ‘Your competition, the great one known as Captain H. Otte, awaits your arrival on the virtual battlefield - come prepared to fight! Along with this note, you will find the supplies you have been granted.

Best of luck to you, and may the best superhero win,

-The Superheroes Council’

She took a seat on the bed, and hesitantly reached over to pull back one flap of the fabric covering her battle supplies. She choked on the laugh that escaped her when she uncovered the package of Oreo cookies. Taped to the colorful plastic packaging was a note, also in Hotte’s handwriting, with a simple command and an arrow pointing right to the laptop: ‘Click to start the competition of a lifetime.’

She looked gingerly at the blackened screen of the laptop, then at the packaged cookies, and then at the note in her hands again. She felt her heart grow heavy as she thought back to the day before, at how impossible the distance between her and her best friend seemed so much of the time. Of course, to her best friend, such a problem only called for a simple, creative solution, such as the one sitting in front of her. Oceans be damned, they were having their duel.

As she reached forward to start the battle, Emma’s finger froze in mid-air. There was one particularly beautiful detail of all of this that she hadn’t adequately addressed yet. “One sec,” she told the computer in front of her, well aware that no one was there to hear her. Feeling a burst of childlike energy in her veins, she skipped to the staircase, unable to wipe off her smile as she went about her search.

A few raindrops still clung to the large windows in the sunroom when Jenny sat down on the couch. She rested her book in her lap and opened it up to page 74, before placing the thin bookmark beside her. The sun had made its way from between the clouds, and trailed its warmth slowly into the room. She tucked her legs up underneath her and quietly read the first paragraph of the new chapter.

Movement on the stairs brought her focus back to reality, and she looked up for a moment to identify it, but it died down before she could. It was then that she noticed the way the sun had captured the dust particles in its glow. The first time she’d truly noticed them sparkle in the bright sun had been through Emma’s eyes. Emma never saw them as simply specks of dust, but as some type of magic in the air.

It took Jenny a few long moments to notice that she was smiling into the empty room.

Without warning, her breath caught in her throat, and the book fell from her hands when a pair of arms appeared from nowhere and encircled her. “Em,” she breathed in relief as her heart thumped against her ribs. Emma only hummed in her ear before placing a string of kisses on her neck and cheek. Jenny pulled on her hand, and led her around the arm of the couch so that they were face to face. She brushed away the few locks of hair that had fallen across Emma’s eyes, and fell victim to her contagious smile, one that seemed to beam as much from her lips as it did her eyes. “Like your surprise?” she asked in a near whisper as she saw those same dancing, sparkling, sun-kissed particles dance around Emma’s shining face.

Emma nodded, letting another moment pass calmly between them before she surged forward and captured Jenny’s lips. “Thank you,” she mumbled inside their kiss.

“You’re welcome,” Jenny whispered in reply as her nose moved slowly along Emma’s before she leaned back. She watched Emma brim with happiness for a moment. Then, Emma reached for her hand, brought it up to her lips, and placed a kiss on her knuckles. She followed it with an adorably excited curtsy, before starting her way back upstairs. “Take him down, will you?” Jenny called after her as she lifted her book once more.

Emma whipped around in the doorway of the sunroom. She locked her determined gaze with Jenny’s and simply replied, “Oh, I intend to.”

Jenny smiled after her, watching her swing her hips confidently as she walked in the direction of the staircase.

Emma gently cleared her throat and pulled her socked feet up off the floor. She took a composing breath, and then, surrendering to her fate, clicked the button. Within moments, she met Hotte’s devilish smile. “I’m still upset with you,” she managed to say in a serious manner.

“I know,” Hotte replied. He flashed her that silly grin again, and she couldn’t help but fall into a fit of giggles. “So we’re performing for the mayor next month. I’ll be sure to tell her what you think of this fine city after your little rant yesterday.”

“Your mayor’s a girl?

“See? This place isn’t so terrible.”

“Yes, it is,” she replied easily.

Hotte huffed and crossed his arms. “I’m so glad to see that you’re still stubborn. I’d hate for that to change,” he commented dryly, ready to deny any claim that he was still kind of smiling at the whole situation.

At that moment, Emma felt that warm, squishy feeling pass through her insides, as she remembered exactly why she and Hotte had been best friends from just about the moment they’d met. That day, he’d taken her little hand in his and announced to the world, or at least to their entire kindergarten class, that they’d be friends forever; that they’d slay monsters, and pass those really difficult maths tests that came when they’d reach grade five, and eat ice cream until their tummies hurt, even if they weren’t allowed. Emma smiled at him now, and lowered her gaze, finding the note in his handwriting that he’d photographed and had Jenny print and leave for her to find. “I can’t believe you brought the Superheroes Council into this,” she mumbled in quiet embarrassment. “Is it because it’s still hard for you to accept that I won last time?”

“You did not win last time,” he insisted in a wave of emotion that clearly showed that he was anything but accepting of the outcome of their last battle. “I got distracted. It doesn’t count.”

“Right,” she replied simply, more than pleased with herself at having driven Hotte to such frustration without so much as opening her package of Oreos. “You ready then?” she asked through an impish grin.

“Ready to beat you,” he grumbled childishly, before a smile broke free across his face. He sat up tall and cleared his throat loudly. “A battle!” he declared in his best announcer’s voice. Emma slapped her hand across her eyes and stifled her giggles. “To the death!” he continued unperturbed, dramatically whispering the final word until he ran out of air. He nodded at her from the other side of the world, and she nodded back. “Three,” he said once they were through with all of their preparations.

“Two,” she continued calmly, though she felt excitement spark in her blood.

Hotte let a crooked grin crawl across his lips, making him look manic with determination as his package of Oreo cookies crinkled in his eager hands. “One,” he drawled in a low, dangerous tone.

A moment passed frozen in time as Emma’s gaze locked with his, as they both transformed into their superhero selves. The battle ahead would determine the winning title between Em-Bear and H. Otte, captains of the extraordinary Fifth Division Superheroes Council that they’d founded when they were five years old.

Giving in fully to the dramatics of the situation, Emma took in air and spoke the one word that would begin it all.

“Go.”