No Midnight Mercy ☾ (gxg)

6-chicken pot pie

"Ollie, would you grab the pepper for me? I think this could use some more."

"Sure, Mom," Oliver responded as he hopped down from the kitchen counter. His mother, Heather, was baking a chicken pot pie for Oliver, Genevieve, and Eden. Eden was sitting on the couch in the living room while Genevieve chilled on the recliner and flipped through the channels. Oliver, of course, stayed in the kitchen to help his mom cook.

"Smells good, Ms. Duncan!" Genevieve yelled into the kitchen as she chewed the stick of a sucker she had finished eating long before.

The Duncan house used to consist of four, until Mr. Duncan cheated on Mrs. Duncan with his co-worker. Heather found out and kicked him to the curb, and the cheater father left and took Oliver's bully of an older brother with him, leaving Oliver and Heather alone in the little house in the not-so dangerous part of Southside. That way was much better, anyhow. Both Oliver's dad and his older brother were two peas in a pod, two assholes whose absence made Oliver a lot happier.

The living room of the house had off-white wallpaper with green floral designs patterned on it, and a flat screen TV sat on a wooden stand in front of the light green couch and matching recliner. The laugh track of Seinfield filled Eden's ears as she heard a metal utensil drop loudly in the kitchen, followed by Heather muttering, "Oh, silly me."

Oliver's house was always calming to Eden—at least, after it dwindled down to two residents. Heather was a mom to Eden when her parents disowned her, so being there on that mint green sofa softened by years of use always brought her a sense of comfort.

Oliver appeared through the swinging door between the kitchen and living room, his head only centimeters from brushing the threshold above. He wore a grey track and field t-shirt from high school and jeans that were loose on his skinny legs. "Dinner's ready, guys."

"Nice!" Gen exclaimed as she hopped up from the recliner and pushed past Oliver a little roughly on her way to the dining table in the kitchen. Oliver stumbled back a bit and rolled his eyes, looking to Eden as she walked much more calmer towards him. "I feed her like three times a week, yet she treats me like chopped liver."

"It's her love language, Ollie," Eden chuckled while patting his shoulder, going to brush by him until he halted her with his words.

"By the way, did you ever call that woman?"

She stopped, the corners of her lips edging downwards as she remembered her. Sickness filled her stomach as she looked up at the redhead and smiled tightly. "Yea, I did."

His translucent eyelashes wisped together as he blinked, his cobalt blue eyes twinkling like a doll's from under his orange bangs. "And...?"

Eden shook her head and rolled her eyes. "I don't think it'll work out."

Oliver hummed and clicked his teeth. "That's too bad. I was hoping you'd get a sugar mommy and feed us with her money."

The blonde laughed and gently punched his chest before moving past him and into the kitchen where she saw Genevieve sitting at the circular dining table with a fork and knife in hand, excitedly eyeing the steaming chicken pot pie that Heather was setting down on the middle of the table.

"Heather Duncan's famous chicken pot pie, everyone," the woman with her platinum hair tied into a ponytail spoke with a smile. She wore a yellow shirt and white pants, a red floral apron tied around her waist as she peeled off her matching oven mits. Seeing Eden enter the room, she turned her head and looked at the girl with those bright blue eyes that Oliver must have inherited. "Have a seat, Edie," she said with a cheerful smile as she went and opened her mint green fridge whose handle was broken in the middle and taped together. "You kids want pink lemonade or Seven-Up?"