As the Minutes Go By

On Your Mark

Finding out that this random fifth grader was staying in his apartment without prior discussion was… odd, to say the least. Bob was unable to get half a sentence out of his mouth as he watched Linda help Dakota get settled in the living room with a sleeping bag and an extra comfortable pillow. Dakota's father seemed just as flabbergasted, and likely for the same reason.

"Lin, why is there a child with likely very wealthy parents setting up a place to sleep in our living room?" Bob quietly asked his wife.

"It was that or they would choose to sue us." Linda replied.

"Sue us??? For what?" Bob squeaked, stopping Linda from placing down Louise's second favorite teddy bear.

"Louise choked out their son." Linda nervously sighed. "Out of love."

"Out of love." Bob monotonously repeated.

"Yeah. Out of love."

"Alahna, why is our son being left with these likely very poor people in a very small apartment?" Evan quietly asked his wife. "Why don't we just sue?"

"You said it yourself, dear." Alahna whispered. "They're likely very poor. And besides, our son fancies their little girl! No need to break that up over a rough and tumble!"

"Don't say rough and tumble."

"Rough and tumble."

Meanwhile, as the adults muttered, the kids stayed in Tina's room under Tina's care. It was awkward, yes, but somehow decently controlled.

Gene kept his gaze strictly on Dakota, sharp and aggressive, the silent threat of violence that was willing to come if need be. The look in itself was noticed, but mostly ignored, taken as nothing more than a hollow warning. There didn't seem to be anything too intimidating about Gene, so Dakota found no reason to fear him or anything he thought of doing.

"So, do you have anything fun to do here?" Dakota asked. "Or is it just sitting around doing nothing?"

"We have Tv." Tina replied casually. "But that's usually for family time. When we're on our own, I usually write erotic friend-fiction."

"Erotic what?" Dakota snorted. He followed Tina to her desk with an amused smirk, not noticing Louise's fearful expression.

"T, maybe we should leave these for a later date." Louise suggested.

"What? Why? I'm a huge fan of the arts! Any kind, really." Dakota chimed. "I'm sure your sister's creativity is wonderful."

Louise whimpers, blushing heavily as Tina grabs one of the many notebooks. It takes a moment, but Louise soon notices that Tina had grabbed one of her safer fictions. A brief glance and wink was sent Louise's way, showing that Tina was aware of her sister's feelings about the matter.

"Thanks, T." Louise whispered.

Tina reads from the notebook with a confident smile, stopping and answering every question Dakota had. Some of the questions were a bit nitpick-y, having to do with minor grammar errors. Other than that, most of the questions showed how attentive and inquisitive Dakota could be.

And damn it, if that didn't make Louise's heart race.

"Kids! Come here! We need to set some ground rules!" Linda shouted from the living room.

Tina sets her notebook down, leading the younger kids into the living room with false confidence. She's glad to see that her false confidence is shared by every adult in the apartment. This was too much of an awkward situation for everyone thirteen and older, as they were old enough to understand what was really driving the situation.