Page 56 of Wait for the Dream

I turn to my sister, “Where is Magnolia?”

“I’m right here,” a sweet voice says behind me. Magnolia comes walking out of the hallway holding Rowan in her arms with a smile on her face, a perfect pair of dimples popping on each cheek, her honey brown eyes sparkling in the light, her curly blond hair hanging around her shoulders.

She walks into the kitchen and grabs a bottle from the warmer on the counter, before sitting down in the recliner adjacent to the couch I’m currently sitting on.

“Is tonight the night I actually beat Luca at Candy Land?” Maddox laughs as he places the last fork down at the table.

“No, Maddy,” Luca laughs. The kid is a Candy Land Shark. He definitely cheats, and one of his favorite things in the world is kicking Maddox’s ass at the game. It doesn’t help that Maddox is a giant child. The man may be six foot four and almost twenty years old, but I’m pretty sure Luca is more mature than him.

“Come on, kid, you have to let me win once,” Maddox tickles Luca’s belly causing a burst of sweet giggles to escape the boy.

“You’re just a sore loser, little brother,” Bailey says, pointing a wooden spoon at him.

“Bee, you know that’s not true.” Maddox gasps and clutches his chest like he’s about to have a heart attack.

“I let RoRo win when she can pway wiff me,” Luca giggles.

“Oh, so you’ll let my niece win, but not me?” Maddox scoffs, “Harsh, little man. Way harsh.”

“I like RoRo betta than you,” Luca says, and the entire room breaks out into laughter, while Maddox looks highly offended.

“That kid is hilarious,” Charly says, “I wonder where he gets it. It definitely isn’t Grumpy over there.”

“Sebastian is funny when he wants to be,” Magnolia defends our friend.

“I’ve never seen it,” Charly shakes her head, a smile still firmly on her face.

“Not everything is about you, Trouble,” Sebastian says, tone harsh, and the smile falls right off Charly’s face.

“Bash,” Maddox barks Sebastian’s nickname.

“What?” He asks with a shrug of his shoulders, “I’m just stating the truth.”

“I know it’s not all about me, it was called a joke, Grumpy,” Charly rolls her eyes. If I had to guess, she is trying to act like the words don’t affect her, but even I can see the shine in her eyes that wasn’t there a second ago.

Sebastian may be a great friend, but he can also be an asshole. Charlotte Baker seems to bring out that side of him better than anyone in the world. Charly is a little sister through and through, a bit of a brat, but has a way of lighting up every room she walks into. I’m not sure what it is about her that bothers Bash so much, but he’s going to have to get over it and quit being such an asshole to her. The youngest Baker sibling isn’t going anywhere, and Bash is stuck with us.

“That was uncalled for, dude,” Aiden scowls at his best friend.

Bash pulls his glasses off his face with one hand before running his other down it, taking a deep breath. He sounds sincere when he says, “I know, I’m sorry, Charlotte.”

“Dinner is ready,” Bailey calls, breaking the tension. She sets a massive dish of what looks to be lasagna on a trivet in the center of the table.

We all gather around the large dark wood dining table that barely fits in their apartment. Laughter and light conversation begin almost immediately, prior hurts already forgotten. That’s the thing about the Bakers, they collect people for their family, like animal rescues collect strays. Once one of the Bakers has decided you are part of their family, there is very little you could do to be cut out. Aiden decided Bash was a member of their family, so he’s stuck with us. A few hurtful words won’t stop them from accepting his grumpy ass into the fold.

***

The following Wednesday afternoon, I'm headed to my Communications class that I’m not looking forward to. For one, it’s a four hour lecture once a week, and I’ve heard there is a shit ton of group work outside of class as well. For two, Brittany, my ex, is in this class. We are both pre-med majors, so I knew there was a high possibility that we would end up sharing classes. She texted me a copy of her schedule at the beginning of the semester. I didn’t respond, but I was almost grateful, so I could be prepared to see her whenever we had a class together. Of the five classes I’m taking, we share three. It’s going to be a long semester.

I turn the final corner and bump right into someone. “Magnolia?” I say when I get my bearings and realize who I bumped into.

“You know, you’re the only person on the planet that insists on always calling me Magnolia,” She says, smiling up at me.

“Magnolia is such a pretty name though. Why would I want to call you anything else?” I shrug, “It suits you.”

She blushes a pretty shade of pink at the compliment, and it takes everything in me not to puff my chest up with pride at the reaction.

“Are you in this class?” She asks, pointing to the classroom I need to enter.