Chapter 63: Takeout

Me and Ian were talking about Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, and he had the nerve to say that Queen Charlotte was rude.

"Nothing about her is rude you uncultured swine. She is simply being a woman, and in her time, that was the best kind of woman to be. And if you have anything to say about tha-"

A random round of knocking scared both of us. "Okay kids time to go to bed." Jesse's voice filled my room.

I groaned and covered my face with my hands. Brothers. Just brothers. Why? Brothers. Brothers why? Because brothers.

(A/N only the girlies with brothers understood that...or if they have siblings...or you could've understood either way...brothers)

"But I don't wanna!" Ian said in a whiny voice. Sometimes I forget that they're best friends.

Jesse quickly walked over and cradled Ian's face with his inhumanly large hands. "Too bad sweet heart. Run along now." I have never heard Jesse's voice go so high. Like ever.

He's officially apart of the C.C.C club; Crazy, Confusing, Concerning.

"Ugh why are you both boys? Like why can't you be more not you?" I groaned and stood up, wanting to be away from the two boys.

Still having his face cradled, Ian said "But I thought you liked this version of me! If I were a worm, would you still date me?"

My face blushed at the words date me. We never made anything official, but I mean, it wouldn't hurt to try. "Nope. Not at all." I shook my head while walking out backwards.

"Wait date-"

"Awww what? This is totally unfair. That's why Queen Charlotte is rude." Ian interrupted Jesse.

"Okay guys this is serio-"

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that!" I called over my shoulder as I faced forward.

I took a step out of my room and immediately wanted to go back. Why did I even leave? There was no point, I could've just stayed in there for the rest of my life and not have a single problem with it. I could totally survive like tha-

"Lidia, we need to speak." Luke's words put a stop to the rant in my head. Oh no. What could we possibly talk about? The self harm? Carl? My homicidal tendencies?

"Okay." It was a bit strange to hear him say my actual name instead of my pet names. It made my heart sink a little. Keyword; little.

He strode towards his office. The same office he told my the 'rules of the house' in. I snorted out loud thinking about how most of those rules have been broken by now.

He spared a curious glance at me. He didn't think anything of it, I'm sure. It's hard to look at him, now that he knows all about my past. It feels shameful. I know I'm the victim, but I can't help but wonder what my brothers would've done in my place. Would they have fought back? Run away? Called 911?

I realize I'll never know. I won't know half of the crazy things my dearest kin think. It's very scary, but very reassuring at the same time, because it means they don't know what I'm thinking about.

His office doors swung open with a loud creak. I heard Luke mumble under his breath, "Great, another thing for me to fucking fix." And he took four steps and sat in his chair.

Maybe I'm going crazy-which is very possible considering the circumstances right now-or did Luke just make a mental note? I know he can, and that it's very common, but has he been doing that his whole time? He always seemed so quiet and reserved, I would've never guessed he did actual human things.

I sat in the same chair I always sit at, and stare at my oldest brother. Lids would've looked down at her hands, but I'm Lidia. Lids is timid and afraid of everything. Lidia has been through shit and won't take another second of it.

"Do you know why you're in here today?" Luke broke the tense silence.

"Maybe." I simply said.

He huffed while slouching and massaged his temples. "Lidia I understand that you might feel sad, angry, disappointed or anything like that at the moment, but please, no sass. I don't think my brain can take it."

"Okay then. I have a few ideas in mind, though I'm sure they're all wrong." I crossed my legs in a very feminine manner.

He sat up straight and put his hands on his desk. "I have called you in here regarding a birthday present. Yours to be exact. I know we still have a while, but I think it's okay to give it to you now." He opened his drawer and pulled out a picture. It was a picture of a treehouse!

He held it out to me and I practically ripped it from his hands. "Are you serious? Like totally, actually, seriously serious?" My eyes were wide and I gasped.

He chuckled, "Yes Lidia. I'm very serious. According to you, all those months ago I mean."

I narrowed my eyebrows, partly because of the noise he just made, and partly because of what he said about what I called him. "What did I call you?"

He smiled softly, "Serious Man I believe. Or I was Grumpy dude, I can't really remember."

"I have no memory of me saying that." I crossed my arms, but also smiling.

"Okay then, whatever you say. You need to tell me what you want in the treehouse, so I can describe to the architect what to design."

My jaw dropped. "A serious architect? Like are we not just going to build a generic one that, like, half the world has?"

He shrugged, "Only if you want to build it like that."

So he's saying that I get to choose how it is specifically built? In my mind, a treehouse was wooden with a rope ladder and a dirty old rug in the actual building with one window that has no glass. He's saying an actual tree house. It's hard to choose.

On one hand, I could basically live up there, but on the other, how would Audrey feel? I mean, when I saw her house she felt very embarrassed, and the last thing I want my best friend to be is embarrassed, considering we would spend most of the time up here.

"Let me think on it. I'll get back to you tomorrow. Does that sound good?" I asked. Just because I've changed doesn't mean my manners have.

"Lidia," he reached across the desk and grasped my hands in his, "you can tell me whenever you'd like. We can have it built on a certain day, if that's what you want. Just listen to me, if you want something, I'll buy it. No questions asked. Unless it's cigarettes or something like that. Then I won't buy it for you and questions will be asked. Got it?"

I smiled softly and nodded. Luke seems like he's trying his hardest. No, I know he's trying his hardest. Trying to parent someone who is so close in age has to be hard, especially if you've never been their parent before.

"I have question," he nodded for me to continue, "can we get takeout? Please? Not that I don't like Miss Cassie's food, it's just that tonight seems like a takeout night."

He leaned back in his big leather chair. "Of course we can. What would you like?"

I thought about it for a moment, "Vietnamese? They always have the best food."

"Vietnamese it is. Do me a favor and go find our brothers and go see what they want please." He said.

I nodded and hopped up from my seat. "I'll be right back!" I shouted behind my back as I skipped through the hallway. Why was I skipping? Because some days just feels like a day where you gotta skip, while thinking about the next time I'll criticize my scars.

Ik I say this every time but, so sorry for not posting. Weirdly, I get very creative when I'm depressed and ive been stressed and sad the past 2 weeks. I hope you liked it and dont forget to vote, comment and obviously like:)