Taking the costume from her, Jalen checked the size. It was correct, and she honestly had nothing against being Moana, so she rolled with it. Her sister picking a costume for her also saved her from having to go through the headache of doing it herself.
Once they’d checked out and were all back in the car, Jalen headed home. It was going on seven o’clock and she still had to start dinner. She hadn’t expected them to be costume shopping for that long.
When they entered the apartment, she questioned what they wanted for dinner.
“Tacos!” Omari exclaimed before turning in a circle, while Nathan nodded along. Jalen looked at her other three sisters, who either shrugged or nodded.
“Tacos it is,” she stated, going to the kitchen. She was grateful that it wasn’t anything complex and could be cooked rather quickly.
As Jalen began cooking, she could hear her sisters disperse throughout the apartment. She was sure that the twins were in their bedroom. More than likely, they were already putting on their costumes. They both enjoyed dressing up. Sometimes, a little more than what she always had the patience for.
She was sure that if that was what the twins were doing, then Mikal was more than likely in her bedroom reading a comic book.
Jalen had made it clear to her sisters that if at any time they needed time away from the person, or in Mikal’s case, people they shared a room with, they were more than welcome to use her bedroom. While going to the living room may have worked as well, there was only so much privacy you could have there with people coming and going through it.
She assumed Kodi was probably in the bedroom she shared with Landon, who came into view at the kitchen table. She had a sketchbook and some pencils in her hand. Jalen made a mental note to ask to see what she’d drawn lately if she felt like showing her. She hadn’t inquired in a couple of weeks, and she knew Landon drew almost daily.
Once everything was done and placed in the middle of the table, Landon volunteered to go get the others for dinner. While she waited for her sisters, she took cups and plates from the cabinet and set them on the table.
Sitting around the table together, Jalen and Kodi helped the twins fix their tacos before fixing their own. As they ate, the two youngest dominated the conversation with talk of their birthday and Halloween. They were excited about their kindergarten class coming to their party.
Just as they had for the last two years, they’d wanted a Halloween-themed party. It didn’t bother Jalen, and most of the time, the kids who were invited already had their costumes since the twins’ birthday was on the twenty-ninth of October. Though Jalen often had their party, whichever weekend was closest to the actual date.
She listened to them prattle on with pure excitement. Making a mental note to place the order for their cake tomorrow and inventory the decorations she already had.
????????????
Rohan sighed as he drowned out whatever conversation was going on around him. This was not how he wanted to spend his Saturday night. He would have rather spent it taking Jalen out, but he knew she had already made other plans. So, when his brother had called him up, telling him that their mother had Alynn for the night, and asked him to be his wingman, he’d agreed. Now, he wished he hadn’t.
The woman his brother was currently talking out of her panties, came with an annoying sidekick that he wanted no parts of. Typically, when his brother hadn’t been laid in a while and wanted to go out, Rohan had no issues babysitting whoever theextra may have been, or being a silent third wheel. Though when the latter happened, he’d often simply excuse himself.
He could also admit he was not the man you wanted when it came to “taking one for the team”. He would unabashedly let the team down. That was the situation he was in at the moment. That and the fact that he was currently dating someone who was far more interesting and easy on the eyes than the woman who was doing her best to be as sexy as possible in the chair next to him.
Even if she had been easy on the eyes and was talking about anything he would have remotely found interesting, Rohan still would not have engaged her in much more than he was now. He wasn’t sure if he and Jalen were dating exclusively. They hadn’t discussed that. They’d also only been conversing with one another for about six weeks. He decided he would leave that decision up to her. He knew she had responsibilities and didn’t want to seem as if he was pressuring her or moving too fast with her.
Contrary to what his brother liked to think, Rohan had no qualms about dating one woman. It was usually the fact that he seemed to attract women who wanted him for the same thing he initially wanted them for. Which, in his mind, wasn’t a bad thing. Physical attraction was the beginning of most relationships.
It was typically the fact that there was nothing more to them outside of that. In hindsight, and now that he was older, he could admit that he was looking for women in all the wrong places, as Trent still was now. Those places being nightclubs, bars, and the like. Not that you couldn’t find something meaningful at places like that; it just wasn’t likely.
He figured that was why he’d been single for a bit now. he was sure his brother would eventually figure all that out on his own. Even though Trent was the older of the two, people learnedthings at different times. Though Rohan wanted him to learn this lesson ASAP because he was tired of being his wingman.
“Did you hear me?” the brunette beside him questioned, and he blinked out of his thoughts.
“I’m sorry?” he inquired.
“I asked what you did for a living.”
“Oh, I’m a marketing manager. What about you?” he asked. Though he was far from interested, he would not be outright rude.
“I’m a foot model,” she told him with a smile, and Rohan felt his eyebrow twitch but was able to keep it from rising at her statement.
“Sounds like…interesting work,” he responded before taking a drink from the beer he’d ordered ten minutes ago.
“It pays the bills,” she stated.
He didn’t respond. He simply looked out over the bar they were at. In that moment, he would have preferred they’d gone to a noisy club. At least then he’d have an excuse to act like he didn’t hear her. It was silent between them, and he wondered if it would stay that way. The answer to that thought came a few minutes later.
“They look like they’re having fun together,” she said, gesturing to his brother and her...friend? He honestly wasn’t sure.
