Secret sister

57

I woke up late, well, because I didn't have my phone to use as an alarm.

I grabbed my throw blanket from the end of the bed and wrapped it around my shoulder, walking down my stairs. I walked into the kitchen and jumped a little, not expecting Grayson to be standing there cooking.

"Jesus." I said, closing my eyes and leaning against the counter.

"Good morning." He said, walking over to me and kissing my forehead. "What are you doing today?"

"Oh, I have a fun day planned." I said pulling out on of my barstools. "I've got to go and get a new phone, gotta help James clean up from last night, I'm going to go spend some time with my family, probably shopping or something. And as you can probably tell, I've got to go to the grocery store. And I've got a meeting on Monday I've got to go buy and outfit for."

"Didn't you get a whole bunch of clothes yesterday?" He asked smirking.

"Yeah, but none that I can wear to a professional business meeting." I said rolling my eyes. "Thanks for making me open some of that in front of my parents by the way."

"You're welcome." He laughed.

"All of that sounds exciting. Would you like some company?" He asked, sitting a plate of pancakes in front of me.

"I would love some company." I said smiling. "Doing adult shit is boring."

"Not all adult shit is boring." He said, pulling out the stool across from me and sitting down. "We could go do some adult shit right now."

"We could-" I said, trailing off. "Or I could eat these pancakes."

Grayson pouted and I laughed at him.

"Maybe later." I said with a mouthful of pancake. He smiled and I rolled my eyes.

"Can I use your phone to call my mom?" I asked, reaching my hand across the table. He nodded and took it out of his pocket, unlocking it and handing it to me.

"Hello?"
"Hey mom. Are y'all up and at em yet?" I asked, taking another bite.
"Most of us are. Carolyn is taking forever to get ready."
"Well sissy does always take forever and a day to get ready." I said laughing. "Well I've got to go by James' and help him clean up from last night, will that give everyone time to finish getting ready?"
"Yeah, that should be enough time."
"Okay, I've got to go to the phone store too. Or I can wait until later if you guys don't want to go."
"There's a phone store in the mall right? Just go to that one and the rest of us can look around."
"Yeah that works."
"Is Grayson coming with you?" She asked, taking a sip of what was probably coffee.
"Yeah."
"Okay, well we'll see you when you get here."
"Alright. Bye."

..................

"Why didn't we just pay someone to come clean up?" James asked, squatting down to pick up a plastic cup off the ground.

"Because a little hard work never hurt anybody." I said, rolling my eyes at him. I got down from the chair I was standing on and moved it over so I could take the next couples sets of streamers down.

"But like, we could have paid someone." He argued.

"But like, this is more humbling." I said mimicking him. He rolled his eyes at me and picked up a wad of aluminum off the ground, throwing it at me. I caught it and smirked.

"I played softball for-" I paused, counting the years on my hand. "Nearly eight years James."

I sighed and threw it back in his direction, landing it in the trash can a couple of feet behind him.