Everyone’s back in the house

The movie was cheesy and had all the tropes you had expected but that didn’t make it any less enjoyable to watch given the pleasant atmosphere that you and Sarah had going on.

It was about halfway through that you both heard the door and Lucy peeked her head around the door, taking a look at the two of you and examining the situation.

“You okay?” she asked, her attention firmly on Sarah.

“Yeah, I’m good. Honest” Sarah replied.

Lucy kept her eyes on her sister as if some unspoken conversation was going on between them but whatever happened, it led to Lucy giving the shortest of nods and a quick glance in your direction with some level of acknowledgment.

“...I’ll leave you both to it. Let me know when Mom gets back” Lucy replied, taking a look at the movie on the screen and deciding it wasn’t really something she was interested in watching.

After that, it wasn’t until the movie was almost over that Mom returned home and came in with full bags of shopping. You were torn between getting up and helping or staying with Sarah but Lucy must have heard her come in and came downstairs to offer her help.

You were glad you stayed put as the climax of the movie had Sarah with tears running down her face and while you were happy that the lead actor and actress were able to get their feelings across, it didn’t pull at your heartstrings the same way it seemed to affect Sarah.

All you were able to do was be a warm cushion that she hugged for support and gave her little kisses on her forehead as if trying to support her through the tears, only making her hug you harder as the credits rolled.

You did pass her some tissues as the credits rolled and with Mom and Lucy now back in the house and just finishing up packing the shopping, it felt like normalcy was returning back to the house after a rare private evening with Sarah.

“Mom’s back pretty late” you mentioned after having let Sarah talk your ear off about the film.

“Oh she left pretty soon after you sent me that text so it hasn’t been that long don’t worry” Sarah revealed, making you raise an eyebrow about how she had arranged this evening.

“Lucy left way earlier to meet up with her friends so I’m more surprised and how long she was actually out” Sarah added, finding that to be more of a rarity in comparison.

“I heard my name! What are you saying in there” Lucy shouted from another room, having already been walking towards the living room but managing to catch the latter half of your conversation.

She walked in and sat herself down on the other side of Sarah from you, looking to Sarah for answers but it didn’t look like she was actually mad at her name being mentioned.

“Oh you know, just talking about how long you had been gone. I would have expected you back a lot sooner than this given how prickly you normally come off” Sarah taunted, getting Lucy to raise her eyebrows at her.

“You do know I actually get along with my friends right? And what’s got you acting so cocky? Just because you’re my sister, it doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on you” Lucy shot back, her smile showing that she would happily get into this with Sarah if she wanted to.

You looked between the two of them and seriously wondered if Sarah was actually trying to challenge Lucy. However even with her new found confidence it seemed that Lucy was too big of a hurdle for her to cross and given how she had managed to win against both you and Mom, she backed down before she got herself too deep.

“Fine, you aren’t that prickly. But you were gone a while” Sarah said, admitting defeat and getting back to her question.

“Ahh we just lost track of time catching up, it’s been a while since I’ve seen some of them and, yeah it was a nice evening. Would you like me to ask about ‘your’ evening?” Lucy teased, still giving Sarah a taste of what she would face if she was to antagonise her.

“Nope. Please don’t” Sarah quickly said, retreating further under the blanket and hugging you even tighter to get slightly further away from Lucy.

Lucy still didn’t let her and shimmied closer so that Sarah was being squeezed between the two of you, something she didn’t actually seem to mind.

And as if she couldn’t time it better, Mom also returned from the kitchen to see the three of you bundled up and you could see that she was happy to see you all together.

“You joining us? You said you wanted to watch a show right?” you asked Mom, hoping that you had remembered correctly.

“Oh yeah, let me go grab some snacks for us all” Mom responded, leaving the room as quickly as she entered before you even had chance to tell her otherwise.

It only took her a couple minutes to come back and in that time, Sarah had managed to avoid saying anything to further annoy Lucy. Mom came back with a bowl of freshly made popcorn and some canned drinks, setting them aside before she then worried about where she was supposed to sit.

“Here, Max move up” Lucy declared, getting a **** groan out of Sarah who now had to move up.

Lucy directed you all so that you were in the middle, Mom sitting on one side while Sarah sat on the other. Lucy sat herself down facing you, getting her face close to yours before she smiled and backed away, turning around so she could sit in between your legs and face the TV.

“I wanted to sit there…” Sarah said with a pout, still not moving in the slightest from where she was.

“Well, you’ve got to spend all evening alone with him. It’s my turn” Lucy replied, pulling the blanket from Sarah so that it covered all 4 of you.

You turned to see that Mom had opened her mouth as if to interject but the words never formed. And when she noticed that you had seen her, she blushed and turned her head to focus instead on the TV. If she had wanted to sit on your lap, she would have had to contend with Lucy which you didn’t see happening right now so instead you reached an arm out under the covers and took her hand, feeling her squeeze back in return.

You started up the series and while you had promised to have a family cuddle with everyone on Wednesday, you didn’t have a problem with repeating this sort of night given how comfortable you were feeling, knowing you were surrounded by people you loved and who loved you in return.

With Lucy also between your legs, you wrapped your free arm around her torso to pull her closer and then Sarah moved to latch onto your upper arm so she wasn’t trapped, all of you finding the best place for yourselves in the arrangement you had and from where you were in the middle, you could say without a doubt that you’d like to be nowhere else but here.