𝚂𝚙𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝙲𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚝

[𝙴𝚙: 𝟺] 𝙳𝚒𝚜𝚊𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙰𝚙𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚒𝚎𝚜

It was a sweltering summer day. I sat in the living room with Cove, listening to the sounds of the birders chattering outside the window while I laid across the rug on the floor. Cove's dad had dropped him off earlier, and my moms had left the two of us, along with Lizzie, to play. It was a shame that it was too hot to go outside the afternoon - at least according to Mommy - so my sister was starting to get impatient waiting for her golf class that evening.

All three of us had had trouble finding something fun to do. The beach and the playground were off limits, and I felt like it was too warm for anything like playing with my stuffed animals. Not today, Susie and Wolfie.

Then suddenly, a light came to Lizzie's big brown eyes and her smile spread wide across her face. Having an idea gave her a new wave of energy.

    "Since we're stuck inside, we should be adults." She started, hand on her hip. "They don't play outdoors anyways. They're always inside and telling everybody they're too busy to play."

The green haired boy announces his confusion. "Why?"

    "I said why." She retorts. "And it'll be fun. Duh."

    "What do they do inside that we don't?" Cove pondered. "Besides use the phone a lot."

Excluding a small huff, Lizzie decides to ignore Cove, causing him to frown at her childish behavior. Instead, she turns her sights onto me.

    "[Name], what do you think?" She questions. "Do you want to?"

Nervous at being put into the spotlight, I fiddle with my threaded bracelet. "Uh, I don't know, it doesn't sound that fun."

Putting her hands together, Lizzie bounces on her knees. "Pleaseeee, [Name]?" She pleads. "When have I ever had a bad idea?"

    "Whenever we play with you." Cove insulted, wiggly green eyebrows furrowing in anger.

    "I wasn't asking you!" Lizzie snaps back.

Looking at the tense atmosphere between the two, I decided to give Lizzie's game a try.

"Okay, okay!" I began, trying my best to cool the two down. "I'll try it, but it'll be boring."

My sister's angry expression immediately turns into an excited smile. "It's not gonna be! I guarantee!" She seemed more determined than ever, and I can't help but sigh.

Satisfied that neither of us were going to bail on her, Lizzie rested her pointer finger and thumb on her chin, thinking over her options while Cove and I waited for her. After a few seconds, she clapped her hands together and beamed, apparently having settled on something without asking either of us. Which was pretty unfair. And rude.

    "Okay!" She starts, pointing at herself. "I'm gonna be a professional golfer. [Name], you and Cove can be..." Lizzie holds her last word as she begins slapping her knees as a make shift drum roll. "A beach volleyball player, a gymnast, or a tennis player!"

Cove wrinkles his nose in confusion. "Why can't we pick anything we want?"

    "Because I have a fun idea, that's why."

Frowning, Cove continues his assault with more questions. "And we have to play sports as adults?"

    "Yep!" Lizzie grinned, not caring what Cove had to say.

    "But there's other kinds of sports too." He countered.

"It isn't the same." She pouts at his resistance, she turns to me to look for my approval. "What do you think, [Name]? Don't those choices sound super cool? You wanna be that, huh?"