Juicy Gossip
Niki was leaving instructions with Ala as she finished getting ready. For the occasion, she'd put on a nice dress, black and almost sexy looking. Probably the closest thing to something sexy that the shy woman would ever wear. The sight of their mother bringing such a dress home had made her daughters question what was going on. Her explanation: well, she had a date. Of course, a date with whom had been the next question, one that Nikiana had avoided answering.
"Make sure Evelyn and Allete are in bed by 9 and you can stay up until 10. No sweets and don't stay up late. I don't know when I'll be home, but you have my cell number. Call me if anything happens. Or you can call Reign. You have her number too. You sure you don't want me to call her and have her come over?"
Ala frowned. "Mom. I can handle it."
Niki nodded, the movement making putting in the earrings she was trying to put in that much harder. The doorbell rang and both women glanced towards the front of the house.
"I'll get it!" Alaqua started towards the front door.
"No, no. Go check on the girls. I'll get it. Love you. Have fun. I'll lock the door behind me and don't open it for anyone." Niki shooed her daughter towards the back of the house before slipping on her shoes and heading towards the door.
Scowling, Ala headed towards her room, slowly. Once she heard her mother opening the front door, she turned and crept down the hallway towards the living room. She could hear a male's voice and then her mother saying something. Suddenly, her mother appeared at the end of the hallway, holding a bunch of flowers.
At the rather pointed look that her mother was giving her, Ala turned and headed towards her room again. She heard the front door close and raced towards the nearest window, which was in Reign's old bedroom. The room had been converted pretty much into a playroom for the three girls still living at home and Allete and Evelyn glanced up as their older sister ran into the room and directly to the window.
"What is it?" Evelyn questioned, worried. Their mother hadn't left them home alone very often, so she was nervous about something bad happening.
"Ssshhh!" Ala scolded her sister, peeking out the window. "Darn, they're already in the car- wait..." She stared for a moment longer. "I'm calling Reign!" She declared.
Evelyn whimpered. "What's wrong? Is something bad happening?? Ala, tell me!"
The koala girl scowled. "Nothing bad. I just want to talk to Reign." She left the room, headed towards her bedroom. Once there, she fished her cell phone out of her pocket and pressed the entry for her sister's phone.
----
Reign had just put Cassi to bed and was relaxing when her cell phone began to ring. She jumped up and quickly grabbed it, not wanting the noise to wake the puppy boy up. "Hello?" She closed her bedroom door as she answered.
Ala grinned. "Hey! Guess what Mom's doing right now?"
Reign blinked, wondering just what their mother was doing to make Ala call her. "Uh... working?" She went with a fairly safe answer.
The koala girl shook her head. "Nooooo," she answered, drawing the word out.
Reign picked up on her sister's tone. "Oooh, something good? What is it?"
"She's on a DATE!"
Reign giggled and flopped onto her bed to settle in for a juicy gossip session with her sister. "A date? Who's the guy?"
"That's just it. Mom wouldn't say. She came home the other day with a new dress and when we asked her about it, she finally admitted that she had a date. We asked her for more about it, but she wouldn't say."
"A new dress? Mom?"
"Yeah, I know. It wasn't something Mom usually wears, either. It was knee length and black. And a bit fancy."
"Really?"
"Yeah. And you want to know the best part?"
"What??"
"They left... in a limo!"
"A limo!!" Reign grinned. The guy must be rich! Way to go Mom!! "Did you see the guy?"
Ala sighed. "No... by the time I got to the window, they'd gotten into the limo already."
"Darn."
"Yeah... he brought flowers, too. I saw them before Mom left."
"Flowers?" Reign thought for a moment. "You think... it could be the same guy that sent flowers to Mom that one time?"
Ala had to think back for a bit. "Those flowers? That was a long time ago!"
"So?"
"So, if it was the same guy, why haven't they had dates before now?"
Reign sighed. Her sister just didn't understand love sometimes. The chimp woman would rather be talking to Evelyn at that point. At least that sister had a love of love stories. "Hey..... do you remember that one night that Mom didn't come home. And she called the next morning and never said where she'd been?"
"That was before the flowers."
"Yeah. But maybe she was out with a guy! After all, the flowers came from a guy and they didn't come that much later than that night."
"This same guy? No way. Plus, she never said she was with a guy."
"But she never said anything about it. Just that something had come up and she'd ended up falling asleep and that she was sorry she hadn't called." Reign pressed on.
Ala shook her head. "Reign, not all love is like fairy tales, you know. Plus, that was a long time ago. She probably had a good reason for not telling us at the time. We were younger then, you know."
"Not that much younger... We were old enough to stay home by ourselves and take care of the twins."
"Well, you were... I was just helping. Mom barely let me off with watching Allete and Evelyn tonight by myself. She almost called you to come watch them."
Reign chuckled. "Mom just worries. She trusts you to watch them. She's just worried that something will happen. She's always worried. She probably worries if you'll try to take them back."
"HEY! I was very little then!"
Reign dissolved into laughter at that. It amused her to no end that she could still get her sister for that supposed ice cream trip. "Don't worry. I told Allete and Evelyn a long time ago to never trust you when you say you're going to take them out for ice cream."
Ala groaned. "Will I ever live that down?"
"Nope!" Reign giggled as she heard her sister groan through the phone again. "Hey, if anything happens... call me before calling Mom. Might as well let her enjoy herself. She works too hard."
"Yeah, she does... she's always busy. I'm glad Bob can fly me to D-corp now for my classes. That's one less place she has to go to, at least."
"You should drop by sometime when Cassi is in class." Reign sighed.
"He still scared of everything?"
"Yes... and he's supposed to go visit his dragon egg soon. I haven't even tried talking to him about that. He'll be terrified..."
At that point, Allete opened the door, Evelyn following along behind her. The shyer, younger girl glanced at Ala. "We're hungry..."
"I want cookies!" Allete demanded.
Alaqua sighed. "I gotta go, Reign. I'll call you sometime and let you know what I get out of Mom." She hung up the phone and looked at her sisters. "Mom said no sweets. But there's some fruit we can eat."
Evelyn smiled and Allete scowled, but both followed the older girl to the kitchen.
---
Reign smiled as she hung up the phone. It was good that her mom was getting to have a bit of fun. After all, Reign herself was actually close in physical age to her mother now. Realistically, she wasn't all that old, but she was a full adult. And even adults deserved some fun.
