Double Trouble

DT ch. 18

 ~ Chapter 18 ~

-TORI- 

Taking a seat in between Logan and Lauren, everyone at the table dug into the food completely ignorant of my presence. Lexi sat next to Logan and Alex. Turning to her a mouthed “you okay?” at her. She shrugged and shook her head yes. Looking to my left, Lauren gave me an apologetic look before loudly clearing her voice causing everyone to pop their head up from the food.

“Guys, we have some new guests joining us today,” she said through her teeth.

“It’s okay Lauren. I’m not really an attention person,” I whispered to her laying a hand on her forearm.

Everyone at the table stopped eating to stare at me. I quickly looked at all their faces, but stopped at Jackson. He smiled warmly to me as if to say, “Go on; don’t be nervous.” I was about to introduce myself, but Lexi beat me to the punch.

“Hi, I’m Alexis,” she announced cheerily and pointed to me, “and that’s my sister Victoria.” I gave a small wave. 

One of the little boys with brown curly locks shyly walked up to me. Down below he stared up at me with the cutest puppy eyes ever. He was so adorable! 

I bent down to his level, “Hi there.”

“Hi,” he replied timidly while slightly shrinking away, probably due to me being three time his size.

“What’s your name?”

“Timothy.”

“That’s a cute name Timothy. How old are you?”

“I’m four,” he responded holding up four fingers.

“Four? O my goodness! You’re a big boy aren’t you?” Timothy laughed and wrapped his arms around himself swaying to the side, hugging himself bashfully. Spotting his toy plane sticking out of his pocket I asked, “Do you like airplanes Timothy? Can I call you Tim?”

“Tim?” he cocked his head to the side. “Is that a nickname?”

“Yea, I guess so.” I scratched the back of my head.

“Okay!” he practically yelled. He ran forward and hugged my legs. He was only as tall as my legs; his head just reached my mid thigh. “What’s your nickname?” he asked curiously. 

“You can call me Tori,” I answered. He responded by giving me a big smile.

“Timothy, sit down in your seat so you can eat,” Lauren said gently.

“Can I sit with Tori?” He said my name like ‘toe-we’ since he couldn’t quite pronounce his R’s correctly. 

“You can sit and talk with her right after dinner okay?” she reassured him.

“Okay.” He hung his head down and trudged back to his seat on the other side of the table. I lifted my body back up from kneeing down to Tim’s level. Various conversations filled the dining room when I settled back into my seat. I stole a glance in Lexi’s direction to find her in a heat discussion with Jackson and the woman with auburn hair. She must be Logan’s mom; Alex’s Aunt. Someone squeezed my hand; Logan.

“So you’ve met my brother huh?” he started.

I giggled. “He’s so cute!” I gushed.

“He’s quite a handful too,” he smiled.

“I bet his puppy dog eyes make it all worth it.”

He chuckled. “Definitely.” 

“Can you pass me the veggies?” a new voice asked. Feeling a presence standing next to me, I faced my left. It was the girl with the choppy brown hair.