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Troy woke up first and found himself in the most embarrassing position on the face of the earth. He was hugging his sister. Gross.
He immediately detached himself and moved as far away as possible but back right up into Venus. He took a moment to access the situation. Blocked on both ends by sleeping bears. Time to take alternative route. Stealth mission B.E.D. is a go.
Troy inched straight down to the other end of the best and stepped off the bed cautiously, careful to not make the floorboards creak. They creaked anyway but when he made it to the door without awaking his sisters, he counted the mission as a success. Troy shuffled down the stairs with cereal on his mind but the moment a heavenly scent assaulted his nose, cereal was the farthest thing from his mind. Without a thought, Troy sped down the stairs to the kitchen. He hardly even noticed the stranger standing at the stove. All he saw was the bacon frying.
“Food,” Troy exclaimed excitedly.
The stranger laughed, “Yes, Troy, food. Do you want some?”
“More than anything,” He was already salivating just from the smells.
“Come sit at the table, I’ll make you a plate.”
Troy obeyed readily and bounced his seat as a plate of eggs, sausages, hash browns, toast, and grits were placed in front of him. He didn’t waste a second but dug in with the dining manners of a starving raccoon.
Richie laughed as he watched Troy eat. He imagined the girls would have much better manners.
“Who are you?” Richie looked up from Troy, who hadn’t stopped for a second, to look at the two girls in nightgowns, standing at the door.
Venus tried to stare at the stranger curiously but her stomach was reacting at the sight of food. A ravenous growl escaped her stomach and she blushed slightly. “Sorry.”
The stranger smiled affectionately at her, “No, don’t worry, darling. Come sit down, I’ll make plates for the two of you, then I’ll explain.”
She agreed to the deal readily and settled in a seat beside Troy. Although Rachel was hesitant, her own stomach drove her forward to take a seat and wait eagerly for her plate. The two dug in as soon as it was set before them. After a few minutes of devouring food, Rachel looked up from her plate, “So who are you?”
The corners of Richie’s mouth jerked up in an adoring smile, “I’m Richard Manning, a friend of your father. You can call me Richie. He had to go to work today so I said I’d stay here with you.”
“Oh,” she frowned. A part of her was hoping to see their father in the morning but having his friend was far better than being alone. “Don’t we have to go to school today?”
Richie shrugged, smiling, “I just figured that you guys would like a day off from school but don’t tell your dad. He thinks I woke you guys up and took you to school.”
“Yay, no school,” Troy cheered.
Laughing, Richie picked up Troy’s licked-clean plate and dropped it in the sink. “Yep, so you guys have four options. We can go to the museum, aquarium, zoo, or arcade.”
“Zoo,” Venus shouted, “I want to go to the zoo.”
Troy nodded, finally agreeing with his sister on something, “Yeah, the zoo.”
“Okay, zoo, zoo,” Richie looked at Rachel, “What do you say, hon?”
Rachel smiled bashfully, “I’d like to go to the zoo too. Thank you, Mr. Manning.”
“Richie,” he corrected her, “Call me Richie.”
“Richie,” she repeated, “Thank you, Richie.”
“No problem, sweetie,” He kissed her forehead a lot like their dad did. “Once you’re done, go wash up and then we’ll get out of here. Troy, since you’re already done, do you want to go wash first?”
“Okay,” Troy jumped out of his chair and ran out the kitchen excitedly.
The girls followed after they finished eating and Richie sat down in the family room while they dressed. He glanced around at the scattered toys and said to himself, “There’s no harm in doing a bit of cleaning.”
“Whoa,” half an hour or so later, the three kids returned to the living room and found it to be the cleanest it has been in years.
“Oh, hey,” Richie smiled shyly and he packed the vacuum back into the closet, “I just thought I’d do a bit of cleaning while I waited.”
“Rach, Venus,” Troy whispered loudly, “I think we just stepped into the Twilight zone.”
Richie laughed and ushered the kids out the door, “Come on, the zoo’s not going to wait around forever.”
Venus frowned, “Yes it is.”
“True but don’t tell the zoo that. I’m borrowing your dad’s car for the day so we need to get back in time for me to pick him up from work.”
Once the kids were in the car and properly buckled up, Richie pulled out and began the long drive to the zoo. Richie had always been known for being patient, even with this drunk friends when they couldn’t even see straight due to the alcohol in their systems. He was the one guy that you could always count on to get you home when you’re absolutely wasted. Compared to all of the wasted college students he had to deal with in college, these kids were angels. Even with their incessant bickering, Troy’s off-key singing, and Venus’ habit of throwing whatever’s within reach. That’s the only reason why he was able to drive to the zoo without even raising his voice.
After paying for a parking space, Richie pulled into the zoo parking lot.
“Okay, guys, we need to come up with some rules for the zoo,” the bickering came to a stop as Richie’s voice pervaded through the truck, “First: No running off, stay within my sight at all times. Second: No speaking to strangers, even if they have ice cream or candy. Third: If you see a sign that says Do Not Touch, you don’t touch. Are we clear?”
The three of them nodded though Troy was pouting. He pinched Troy’s cheeks humorously, “Good, let’s go.”
The kids followed him to the entrance where Richie paid for the four of them. One they were past the payment booths, they were in a different world. Since it was a weekday, there weren’t many people so there wasn’t any crowd in front of any of the habitats. The kids were thrilled. They only sat to eat lunch, otherwise, Richie was learning what it meant to have the energy of a kid as he tried to keep up with them. When it was finally time to go home, they wouldn’t stop whining until Richie promised them a visit to the aquarium next.
The sun was setting as he drove them home and the kids were fast asleep. When he pulled onto their driveway, he caught sight of the lights on and muttered, “Oops.” Reluctantly, he woke Rachel and Venus then gave up on Troy and just carried him over his shoulder into the house. The door swung open before he even reached the porch and Tyler appeared with his arms crossed over his chest.
Richie took his silence as the opportunity to say, “I swear, dad, it’s not what it looks like.”
Rachel and Venus giggled, feeling a little less scared.
Tyler scowled but waved them in without a word. Richie walked past him warily, wondering if this was how Troy felt when he got in trouble.
The girls were going to tip toe upstairs but Tyler barked, “Living room, all of you.”
The girls and Richie exchanged glances before shuffling into the living room and sitting. Richie adjusted Troy to sit in his lap and waited for his scolding.
“Now,” Tyler stood over all of them, “I’m sure you have a wonderful excuse for not going to the school today. And Richie, I bet your excuse for not taking them is even better.”
Richie shrugged timidly, “I just thought it might be fun to take a break from school and go to the zoo.”
He cringed from Tyler’s glare, “They can go to the zoo any day.”
“And they go to school every day,” Richie argued, “So why not take a day off and do something fun?”
“Fun they could have had on the weekend?”
“Everyone knows that places like that are more fun on weekdays since there’s less people.”
“No,” Tyler retorted, “No one over twelve knows that. And how old are you again?”
Richie pouted as the girls snickered at his expense. He whined to them, “I thought you were my side. Meanies…”
Venus shook her head, “Noooo, this was all your idea,” then sprinted out the room.
Rachel giggled, “Yeah, this was your idea, Richie,” and followed after her.
The young man was left gapping at their trail. “I can’t believe this. They totally threw me under the bus. I even bought them ice cream.”
Tyler huffed, “This was really the most immature thing you could have possibly done.”
“I know,” Richie pouted, “I’ll just put Troy in bed and show myself out.”
As he went to pass Tyler, he felt a hand on the back of his neck. The very next second, his mouth was pleasantly assaulted by his boyfriend. A groan almost escaped him when Tyler pulled back.
“But I never said I didn’t appreciate it.”
Richie grinned, “We’ll see how much you appreciate it when I get back.”
“Deal.”
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