Can I just say, it was also the guy she dumped my son for. So lets just assume I am not best fond of this guy.
As soon as I heard that Paisley was moving all the way to Sunlit Tides I knew I had to do something. The note Eloise left in her pillow after our last night together had finalised that. I'd always felt something for Paisley, it just thirteen years and one kiss for me to see it for what it really was.
Taking my kids with me, I hopped on my plane, (long story for another time ) and went to Hawaii. It didn't take long for me to find the right hut, and when I did, I started having second thoughts. But I pushed the button and rang her bell.
She answered the door. Surprise flickered across her face. "Skye, what are you. How did you get here?" She asks. "Not important,"I say. "Paisley. I couldn't let you leave. Thirteen years of friendship were at stake here. There's something. I discovered not too long ago, and I think you know what it is." I slip an arm around her. "I love you Paisley Parker." Paisley returns the arm, slipping it around me like I had to her. Hesitantly, I press a kiss to her lips. She tasted of the same stuff she had when I kissed her for the cab driver before England. Almost imperceptibly, she slipped her tongue between my parted lips. Damn she had a talented tongue.
Don't tell her I said that. She would get incredibly vain about it. And preening Paisley is annoying Paisley. The fact that this was the third time I have kissed my bestest friend ever has not eluded me. In fact, I was wondering why it was the third time. Who kisses their best friend?! Well... don't answer that.
I had so many thoughts flickering around my head that it was a while before I noticed she was kissing me back. I could hear somebody (I assume Chloe, it's her kind of thing) wolf whistling behind us, and it was not great surprise. Not every day something like this happens to a girl.
Paisley and I spent a lot of time together after that. We got to know one another all over again -no, not like that- and we became much closer. Of course at times we had to leave each other, to pee and when I was impregnating myself. I used one of the locals, the same guy who has propositioned Paisley. He was very eager. I think he had been on his own for a while.
It was not the most effortless of pregnancies. Odin had developed a cold and so he was whiny. Because of that I got almost no rest and my back always ached. And to top it all off, my sickness was almost constant. I could barely keep meals down. I was almost as skinny as I had been at the beginning of the challenge, and that was a real nightmare to buy clothes.
Of course, we had to stay in Sunlit Tides for the time being, you aren't supposed to fly when pregnant and there was not a chance in any of the nine realms that I was gonna endanger my youngling that way. So, cruel fate decided I had to stay in the warm, sunlit beaches with quite possibly the love of my life for the next little while.
I enrolled everyone in school, since education authorities scare me and they settled in well. Or rather, I thought they did until the day I was called in by the Head to talk about them.
"Ma'am. I am gonna put it to ya bluntly. Your little-uns' are a menace." he said in a southern accent. "Your daughter, Sith?"
"Sif." I mutter.
"Sif, that's it. She has been in 3 fights already. She gave a kid a broken nose earlier. Do you know what that looks like on my record? If it weren't for her incredibly high results in every test we've thrown at her this past week, why, she'd be outta here faster than you can say coconuts."
My jaw falls for the second time that week. Coconuts was not very long at all. And to do it FASTER than coconuts, that would be... I digress. My daughter having to leave school here would not bode well for my family one bit. This was the only school in town, and my experience of home schooling was not entirely wonderful.
"I'll have a talk with her. Nice hat. Ever thought about painting the room green?" I say. Or ask. Whichever works for you. The head ignores me and ushers me out of the room. He probably has more important things to do, like paint his hat and office green. Green is a GOOD colour.
I take my kids out of class since it's nearly the end of the day anyway, and I doubt they would learn anything vital in the five minute they miss. We arrive at our hut not too long afterwards, and I borrow Sif an Thor to play. Loki joins in, but half-heartedly, he knows that when I am in charge we normally end up playing Thor, or Avengers which results in HIM either falling vast distances or being beaten up (of course it is all pretend. I would never actually HARM the boy.)
During that time I manage to work in a few great quotes, and Loki gets to say that he is burdened with glorious purpose, and that he could have done it, for me. But he didn't have to eventually, Sif and I are left alone and I confront her about her fighting.
"Sif, I was called into your school by your head today. Apparently you were fighting?" she nods, head held down, and says, "They were insulting both of us. They said I wasn't good enough, so I proved myself as a warrior to them." I hug her close, reminiscent of the time before we arrived here and she was afraid of the storm." Well you don’t need to worry about that any more. I understand that you have a reputation, but I love you and I know you are at least as good as your brothers. That is all that matters to me, and it should be enough for you. If it isn’t; then I’m pretty sure your Aunt Paisley feels the same way.”
Sif nods and sniffles. She stands up an straightens out. “Mother, I have tasks I must complete and you are stopping me from doing so. And it is with the utmost joy and concern that I bid you farewell.” These days I have no idea if Sif is still playing or she actually talks like that. Since when I’m alone my speech habits morph into something… not dissimilar. she leaves the room to (I assume) finish her homework, or get Loki to and I sit and tuck into my book. And no, it is NOT the latest in the 50 Shades series. I actually HAVE some taste in my trash.
There is something moving outside the window and I can see it in the corner of my eye, so I turn to stare at it fully. To my surprise, there is none other than Loki outside my window, glaring at me in his way and smirking. I slide open the French doors and
“I never planned on flight. It was supposed to make the bath-tub vanish.” he says. My eyebrows raise. But somehow, I’m beyond caring. “Trust me, I’ve seen stranger. I’m glad your magic is coming along nicely. Don’t tire yourself out. It’s about 15 minutes until dinner.” my son nods before floating off over to the lower floors, where I assume he plan on terrorising his siblings. I’m probably exaggerating there, it’s more like pranks. Nothing more and nothing less.
A scream echoes up the pristine white floors and into my bedroom. A very female scream; closely followed by a high, manly cry from the other teenager in my house. “LOKI!” I yell, “Get back here.” I wander onto the balcony and lean over, looking for the miscreant son. He is nowhere to be seen. Turning to go inside, there is Loki, grinning like a maniac and in fits of giggles. I give him The Look. It is a very stern look and one I have mastered completely. Back when I was with Ellie, she nicknamed it my ‘OdinGlare’ because it looked like the one he did when he banished Thor.
“Ah, well… I finally managed to vanish the bath-tub,” he says, “but how was I to know it would only go for a second and come back dripping dye and turning her hair crimson. And then, how was I to plan for Thor to accidentally walk in on her after hearing her scream and see her without any clothes. Honestly mother, how could one young, sweet boy plan all that. It is simply too much coincidence.”
I have come to the resolution that I need to stop naming my kids after real people, only they are becoming too much like whoever they are named after. That boy, that adorable MISCHEVOUS boy with a tongue that could get him out of anything is now skipping off downstairs reminding me that dinner will be done soon.
He is right of course, and I rush down as much as I can in my state to take the food out of the oven. I call Sif and Thor, who both come out of the room looking alternate shades of red. Thor, his cheeks and Sif who’s hair now matches her brother’s cheeks. After a very awkward dinner, punctuated primarily by bursts of laughter (Loki), glares (Sif) and coughs (Thor) I make the executive decision to have a birthday party. So, I age up everyone. Except for Odin, who is currently at playgroup. He was asked to join when he made friends with the local kids, and I must say during my later months it took a load off my shoulders, and I’m eternally grateful for them teaching him all his skills. He should be being dropped off any minute now in time for his birthday.
Sif, deciding she likes her hair now, ties it in a plait and wants to achieve perfect mind and body togetherness. Which I’m all for if it keeps her out of trouble for a while. Thor, well being Thor who is ever athletic, he joins the reserve army and also decides to become an athlete. He joins (or rather was scouted for) a team from my old home Twinbrook and books himself on a flight after his post-adulthood business is taken care of. 
Loki ages into a dashing young man. He is one of my favourite children -but that's between us- and his taste for mischief and magic are still strong in him. I know he means nothing by them, but every so often I have to scold him for doing something. Just to put him in his place. He also has a new love of martial arts. He is incredibly graceful, and with his newfound flight abilities, I am nowadays treated to daily aerial re-enactments of various scenes from a fair few of my favourite films.
Odin is a nice enough child but he is very quiet. He barely speaks to anyone, but then, Albert Einstein was very quiet too; so perhaps he’s on the way to discovering Dark Matter in his head. I’ll never know. 
It is not long after the party that I go into labour and give birth to my children, HELA EVERARD and Frigga Everard. We know that soon enough we will be back home and we won’t come back until next summer, when we can well and truly experience it.
There’s just one thing I’ll miss about this place. And it has 2 legs, orange hair and one of the most beautiful smiles known to man. But the best part is, it’s just a phonecall away.
Awww, Skye and Paisley together are cute! I like the way you all decided to do that!
ReplyDeleteI think it's a real testament to how much Paisley and I actually are close to one another.
DeleteI'm glad you like them because it was kinda touch and go.
Oh, remind me to go and comment on all your posts. I have been meaning to.
-Skye