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Talia had declined Alex’s offer of riding to the lake house with him. She was the teaser, not the teasee. She would be damned if she was going to be some rich boy’s bitch. No, that’s not who she is. She is Talia fucking Higgins.
The trio that consisted of Owen, Marcus, and Talia got to the lake house first thanks to Google Maps and Owen’s insanely fast, yet safe, driving skills.
“Ha! We win!” Talia yells to the others who are now pulling in high-fiving her father. “Hey let me get that spot!” Kurt yells.
Eric speeds past Kurt. “Hey, gotta respect the Caddy!” He yells back as he pulls into the spot Kurt wanted, just to do it.
“Holy shit it’s an Oompa Loompa in an Oompa Loompa!” Talia nudges Owen and points to Robbie’s small car.
“It’s nice you drove your piggy bank here,” Lenny tells Robbie as he and everyone else start getting out of their cars, among those people being Alex.
“Hey,” Robbie says.
“Hey,” Lenny mocks him.
Everyone turned to the giant house exclaiming their awe in different ways. Talia’s way was staring at the big house with her mouth hanging open, this was by far the biggest house she’d ever seen, let alone stayed in.
The bug zapper that hung on the porch buzzes as another bug hits it “Daddy what is that machine doing?” Becky questions.
“It’s getting rid of the moths, honey,” Lenny replies.
“Where’s it taking them?” She questions.
“Hell,” Marcus speaks up.
Talia slaps her father’s arm and turns to the young girl “It’s taking them to Mexico,” she tells her with a soft smile.
“No, i– it’s giving them electricity so the moths fall asleep e– electrically,” Lenny looks at his wife as he stammers out a response, Roxanne nods and they look back down at Becky.
“It’s electrocuting them?” Becky exclaims.
“No, no, no.” Lenny denies.
“But, Daddy, they’re dying,” she cries.
“It’s killing them!?” Donna and Charlotte exclaim.
“No,” Lenny lies as another moth hits the machine with a buzz.
“Daddy, no!” Becky yells.
“No, no, it’s not, okay? Let me adjust it,” Lenny climbs the steps and unplugs the machine.
“Look, they’re all alright. I promise you,” he picks a dead moth off the machine “See? Look at this guy. Whee,” he throws it into the air and, as expected, it falls to the ground. “He’s still sleeping,” Lenny shrugs.
“It’s dead, Dad.” Greg says he lets out an “Ow!” As Roxanne and Alex pinch his arms.
“Ooh! A porch swing,” Mama speaks up pushing Keithie out of the way causing the boy to fall, Roxanne looks at the woman horrified, as Alex snickers. “I know what I’m doing this weekend,” Mama chuckles.
She moves across the porch, stepping on the moth with a crunch, “Now he’s dead,” Lenny shrugs.
“Welcome back to 1978, everybody. The lake house,” Robbie opens the doors for everyone. The group piles in chatting and awing over the house.
“This is my kitchen. This is it right now.” Kurt says with a giant smile.
“Oh please, enough with the kitchen,” Deanne tells her husband. Everyone floods around the house and Owen stands to the side watching the families with a soft gaze.
Talia comes to stand next to him and bumps his shoulder giving him a small smile.
“Is this like an Outward Bound thing, Dad? I mean it’s like an episode of 𝑳𝒐𝒔𝒕,” Keithie tells his father. Alex groans and pinches the bridge of his nose.
“Can you two please be normal children for five minutes?” He questions his brothers. He had grown up outside his whole life, playing basketball and board games until his father had gotten too busy even then Alex made sure to go outside. He ran a mile each morning and he was excited for his morning run tomorrow as he would be surrounded by trees and nature instead of watchful eyes and buildings.
Donna starts banging on the keys of the Organ and her mother rushes to her “Hon, you might not wanna bang on that,” she tells her daughter, the last thing the family needed was to have to pay for a new Organ if Donna broke it.
“But I like playing it like this,” Donna argues as she continues banging on the keys.
“So listen guys, who’s getting what room?” Lenny questions.
Talia puts her hand up “I think since the Higgins’ got here first we should get the first claim on rooms.” She hums with a grin. There was no doubt she was a Higgin’s through and through mentally.
“Actually, I’ve already made a map of who gets which room,” Robbie speaks up from his spot at the table holding a piece of paper.
Talia sighs “It was worth a shot,” she mumbles to Owen who chuckles.
“I took the liberty of reserving the room with the waterbed for Gloria and myself,” Robbie looks at his wife with a grin.
“Ooh! You’re gonna do the backstroke tonight,” she grins as Talia grimaces, wishing she didn’t hear that.
“Ooh! Ooh!” Robbie replies.
“I wanna go swimming with you guys tonight,” Donna speaks up.
“Oh, honey, we’re not really going swimming. What I meant was—”
Sally is quick to put her hands over her daughter’s ears “That’s okay. She doesn’t need to know what you mean. I don’t even know what you mean,” the woman rushes out.
“Oh, I know what she meant,” Talia speaks up as both Higgins’ feign vomiting and Sally speaks up.
“Anyway, let’s get back to the room picking. Rob, would you like to take us on a tour?” Sally questions, wanting to get away from the inappropriate subject.
“Yeah, I’d love to show you a tour. Gloria was just trying to be cool,” Robbie shrugs getting off the chair.
“I need someplace near a bathroom” Eric speaks up as everyone follows Robbie.
“Okay, here’s the big Daddy, the master bedroom” Robbie opens the door to the master bedroom.
“You know what? Lenny should have that. Lenny, you should have that.” Eric assures, his wife agreeing.
Roxanne was quick to start walking to the bedroom stopped by Lenny’s voice “Oh, no, no, no honey, come on, let the kids have it.” Lenny tells her “It’s a fun time for the kids to be together and they can do kids’ things. Come on, go share it. Share the master bedroom.” The kids pile into the master and Owen smiles as he watches them, remembering when he and Talia were children, when life was simple.
Greg knocks on the back of the TV and turns to his dad “Hey Dad, what’s the big box attached to the TV?” He questions causing Talia to laugh lightly.
Alex shakes his head at his little brother “Um, that’s the rest of the TV. They didn’t always have flat screens there, sport.” Lenny explains.
“Wow, that is some Stone Age shiznit,” Keithe adds causing Owen and Talia to laugh.
“Dad you hear that? You’re time was some Stone Age shiznit,” Talia tells her father who laughs along with some of the adults.
“I need a room with heat,” Mama speaks up from the chair she sat in.
“It’s summer, it’s like 95 degrees in here,” Kurt argues.
“There he goes again. I got bunions,” Mama scoffs.
“You know, I actually have a poultice I make, using maize and herbs,” Robbie tells Mama walking towards her.
“Just say corn, maize is corn, everybody” Marcus speaks up.
“Yeah but he says maize because it sounds more mystical,” Kurt explains.
“Well, I like the way he said it ‘Maize‘” Lenny mocks.
Everyone starts saying maize the way Robbie says it, even Talia and Owen join.
“It’s fantastic, okay?” Robbie tells Mama.
“It’s a–maize–ing,” Marcus mocks causing laughter.
“I just spread it on cloth and I moisten and heat it, and then I apply it directly to the affected area,” Robbie explains.
“Okay, well, my affected area is pretty big,” Mama takes her foot out of her shoe causing Talia to gag and look away. It looked like she was growing a whole new toe. Bean screams and runs away.
“Mama, I didn’t know the Elephant Man lived in your shoe,” Lenny speaks up.
“How in the world’s anybody supposed to get some sleep knowing they under the same roof as Toe-be Bryant over here?” Kurt adds.
“You’re stepping over the line woman,” Mama warns as she stands.
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