Sarah’s siblings.

My second time in her house felt as awkward as the first, but for completely different reasons. My chest tightened more as Sarah parked her car, and the moment I stopped to take a deep breath, Sarah did the same in perfect sync with me.

We stared at each other and burst out laughing, with Sarah pressing her forehead against the steering wheel.

“I don’t even know what I’m nervous about,” Sarah said. “It’s not like I’m worried my parents won’t like you. I guess… I’ve been lying for so long about not having a boyfriend that bringing you here makes me nervous I’ll get caught.”

“Then… why don’t we forget that we’re together for now?” I suggested. “Just introduce me as a friend from school.”

“Yeah, that’s the plan.” Sarah nodded. Then, as we were getting out of her car, my mind reading decided to act up. {Asking me to forget he’s my boyfriend is a bit too much, though.}

We heard shouting the moment we got close to the door. Playful shouting, I hoped, as it came from Sarah’s little siblings, presumably.

“Give it back!” I heard a little girl shout as Sarah opened the door.

“No, it’s mine!” Another child’s voice. A boy who wasn’t Robert.

“No it’s not! That one’s mine!”

“Yours is in the kitchen!”

“That one’s Robert’s.”

“What are you fighting over now!?” Sarah asked, shouting back.

The sound of footsteps rushing towards the front door was almost like a stampede. Sarah’s three younger siblings, two boys and one girl, came up to us with excited grins.

“They’re here! They’re here!” they shouted loudly. “Mooom! They’re here!”

“Ugh, quiet down! You don’t need to shout!” Sarah scolded them, but they didn’t seem to listen.

Honestly, I didn’t mind. I think Isabelle and I were kinda like this when we were their age, too, and those were still good memories.

I kneeled down to meet them at their height and turned to Robert first. “Hey there. Long time no see, Robert.”

The young boy giggled “Mister, we met yesterday!” he told me.

“Ah, right.” I laughed and extended my fist towards him. Little Robert excitedly fist-bumped me. “Did you tell your family how brave you were?”

“Um… Er… Y-Yeah!” he happily confirmed, clearly relieved that I wasn’t telling them how scared he actually was.

I then turned to the other boy. He was a lot taller than the other siblings, reaching close to my chest if I had been standing. He had their mother’s chestnut-colored hair in slight curls. He was thin, bordering on lanky. “You’re Cole, right?”

“Yes.” The boy answered shortly, putting his hands in his pockets and frowning at me. Oh man. He tried to subtly glance at Sarah, but it was very noticeable. “...Are you my sister’s boyfriend?”

“C-Cole…!”

I looked up at Sarah and shook my head with a smile before I turned back to Cole.

“Sarah and I are friends,” I told him easily. It wasn’t technically a lie, but yeah, I was lying to the boy and it didn’t feel good, but I quickly got an idea of what was going through his head. Something along the lines of ‘this stranger is here to take our big sister away from us’. I knew because… because that was how I felt the first time Isabelle got a boyfriend. “She’s helped me out a lot, but I bet she scolds you all the time, doesn’t she?”

Cole’s eyes widened. “Y-Yeah! She does! She still treats me like a kid even though I’m already eleven!”

I smirked. “I’m her age and she scolds me all the time, too. That’s just how your sister is.”

Cole pouted. “I know, but it pisses me off.”

“So you’d rather she stop paying attention to you?”

Cole’s eyes widened again. He looked down at the floor and kicked the air. “...No.”

“Believe me, I know how you feel,” I nodded solemnly. “I have an annoying sister too.”

That got a chuckle out of him. I extended my fist to him. “My name’s Oliver. Nice to meet you, Cole.”

Cole smiled, took his hand out of his pocket and returned the first-bump.

Next was… Huh? I could’ve sworn Sarah’s little sister was around here…

“Hey, Violet, don’t be rude! Go say hello!” Sarah told her sister, who… was hiding behind her big sister’s legs.

When my eyes met Violet’s, she flinched and hid behind her sister again. Her cheeks were red and alternated between glancing and turning away from me.

“Ha Ha! Violet has a crush on Sarah’s friend!” Cole teased.

Little Violet’s face now turned red from both embarrassment and anger. “I DO NOT!”

“Yes you do!”

Violet’s mouth turned upside down and her eyes began to water. “I do not…!”

“Cole, stop it,” Sarah told her little brother, her tone now much more serious. “Are you really going to make Violet cry? What kind of big brother does that?”

Cole scoffed and kicked the air again.

Oh boy… What do I do here?

“Hm? You’re Violet, then? Oh wow. You look just like your mom,” I told her with a soft chuckle.

Violet rubbed her eyes and smiled. “R-Really?”

“Yeah. I met her yesterday. It’s really surprising how much you look alike.” And I wasn’t just saying that. If Sarah took after their dad, Violet was a child version of their mom. Long, straight chestnut-colored hair and big eyes of the same color. A roundish face and about half a head shorter than Cole.

Violet stepped out from her hiding spot and nervously walked closer to me. “U-Um! T-Thank you for helping Robert yesterday!” she said, her voice getting louder as if to be able to get the words out. It took me by surprise.

“You’re welcome. Do you take care of him at home?” I asked her.

“Y-Yes. If I don’t, Cole will steal his portion of ice cream!”

“Stop making me look like the bad guy!” Cole argued.

“But you DO steal his ice cream!”

Sarah rubbed the bridge of her nose as her little siblings began to bicker again. “I’m so sorry…”

I stood up with a chuckle. “It’s fine. Your siblings are fun.”

“Did you finish introducing yourselves?” Mr. West asked as he walked up to us with his wife next to him.

“Yeees!” the three children answered.

“Good. Now go put away the toys you left in the living room,” their mother told them. “We have a guest.”

The three kids did so without a word of protest.