The Parent Trap

chapter eighteen

"Cat, be careful with the mountain lions." Luna whispered loud enough for Charlotte to be able to hear. Maya had walked off to find more wood to put in their bonfire and the twins knew this was an amazing opportunity to mess with Charlotte once again.

Charlotte widened her eyes as she looked down, not wanting to be caught eavesdropping. "Wait, really?" Caterina fake gasped, "I didn't know there were mountain lions in this part of the state."

Luna let out a sigh, "Yeah, me neither. We came across one once, it was terrifying!" She exclaimed, "You remember how to shoo them away, right?"

"Whacking two sticks against each other, right?" Caterina asked trying to contain her giggle and Luna agreed.

"Yeah, they'll never come near you if you do that. Trust me." They said and smirked at each other as they could tell Charlotte was listening to them.

A while later, Maya walked out of the woods carrying a bunch of logs. "This should work for a while." Maya said and smiled at Luna, Caterina and Charlotte as she dropped the logs she had picked up into their bonfire as they sat around it eating trout.

"Sure you don't want some trout, Mom?" Luna asked, "Is that alright, by the way, if we start calling you Mom?"

Charlotte's eyes widened and she let out a little laugh, "I think your Mamma would prefer if you called me Charlotte. And no, thank you, I do not eat trout, for the thousandth time." She replied as she took a deep breath, trying to not display how annoyed she truly was. "I'll wait until breakfast. What are we having?"

"Trout." Maya, Caterina and Luna all replied at the same time and Charlotte let out a sigh.

"Come on, it's part of the experience." Maya said.

Charlotte scoffed as she swatted at the mosquitoes, "What's the other part? Being eaten to death by mosquitoes?" She rolled her eyes as she shook her mosquito repellent bottle, "God, you'd think they actually like this stuff."

"Wait, what's that you're using? Let me see it." Maya said as she put her plate down and grabbed the bottle. She poured a little on her hand and smelled it, letting out a chuckle. "Charlotte, this is sugar and water. You're going to attract every single mosquito in the state if you keep using it. Where'd you get it?"

Charlotte took a deep breath and looked at the twins, glaring at them, making both quickly go back to eating as they contained their laughter. She stood up, throwing the blanket that she had been previously wrapped around in on the ground. "That's it. I'm taking one large sleeping pill and going to bed."

She grabbed two sticks and started whacking them together as she made her way to the tents. Maya's eyebrows scrunched at the sight, "Charlotte, what are you doing?" She asked.

"I don't want the mountain lions to-" She cut herself off as she turned around. She sighed once she realized she was being tricked once again, which turned out to be very obvious due to Maya's frown and the twins' amused looks giving it away. "There are no mountain lions up here, are there?"

Maya shook her head and tried to contain a chuckle, "No."

Charlotte glared at Caterina and Luna as she quickly walked back to the bonfire and threw the two sticks in it. Just to spite the twins, she crouched down to Maya's level, grabbed her face and passionately kissed her. Maya frowned, not even being able to kiss back, as the girls scoffed and rolled their eyes.

After she was done, Charlotte stood up and smiled smugly at the two kids, "Goodnight." She said with a little fake smile as she walked away.

Maya took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair, smiling a little. "Girls, I'm telling you, lay off. This isn't her thing, alright? And I'm not marrying her because she's Annie Oakley."

The twins frowned, "Who's Annie Oakley?" Luna asked.

Maya sighed, "Just cool it."

⭒

It was sometime very into the night when Luna and Caterina snuck out of their shared tent. They tiptoed all the way to their mother's tent, making sure both adults were asleep.

"I hope that one large sleeping pill worked." Luna said making Caterina chuckle as she slowly and as quietly as humanly possible unzipped the tent, stepping inside.

Charlotte's snores were loud, making the two girls grimace a little. Luna positioned herself at Charlotte's head whereas Caterina positioned herself at the woman's feet.

"One, two, three." Caterina whispered and they both grabbed each end of the inflatable bed Charlotte was laying in and carried her out of the tent struggling quite a bit.

"God, she's heavier than I expected." Caterina complained.

They carried her to the edge of the lake, carefully putting the mattress down once Charlotte started to stir away. "May?" She whined as she covered herself with a blanket, still asleep.

The girls giggled and pushed the mattress into the lake. Luna threw an arm around Caterina's shoulder and they smiled at each other watching as Charlotte drifted away. "Sleep well, mommy dearest." Luna mocked and Caterina covered her mouth with her hand as she laughed, making sure not to wake Maya or Charlotte up.

⭒

"Hm, that feels so good." Charlotte muttered, stirring awake. A bird had flown onto her chest and was pecking at her neck. It chirped, making Charlotte frown as she slowly opened her eyes, becoming face to face with the bird. Her eyes bulged as she flopped her arms around, trying to scare the bird off. She let out a scream, making the bird squawk and fly off. Charlotte sat up and realized she was in the middle of the lake, letting out another scream.

"Maya!" She yelled out.

Maya jumped off her sleeping bag and hurried outside half awake, letting out a sigh as she watched Charlotte stand up on the inflatable mattress and fall into the lake. "Oh, man." She whined.

Maya looked at the twins' tent and saw both of them worriedly looking at her. She let out a sigh and walked to the edge of the lake, wanting to meet a very pissed off and completely drenched Charlotte.

"What's going on?" Maya asked with a frown on her face.

Charlotte was fuming, "I'll tell you what's going on, buddy." She spat, "The day we get married is the day I ship those brats off to Switzerland. Get the picture? It's me or them. Take your pick."

The twins glanced at each other, worry all over their faces. Maya looked at them and looked back at Charlotte with a small smile on her face. "Them."

Charlotte's face dropped. "Excuse me?" She gasped. Caterina and Luna grinned, looking at each other and high-fiving.

"T-h-e-m. Them." Maya leaned closer to Charlotte with a smirk, "Get the picture?"

Charlotte threw a tantrum. She yelled in frustration as she flopped her arms around, looking at Maya with pure hatred.

Luna and Caterina couldn't stop smiling.

Charlotte yanked her ring off and glared at the twins before throwing it at Maya, hitting right at her head.

"Ouch!" Maya exclaimed as Charlotte furiously walked away, "Why do women always throw things at me?" She whined.