Friday night, Mr. Atkins didn't dare to let us stay home alone again. Instead, we all piled into the suv and took the hour and a half trip to the airport to pick up Zeke and their mom. We waited by baggage claim for a bit until they were able to get off the plane and come on down.
Noah was quick to rush his mom as soon as she got off the escalator. He mumbled into her shoulder, and whatever he had said made her smile. She messed up his hair and walked him back to us with an arm around his shoulders. The scene made my heart sting. I tried to tell myself that I don't need that. I was already satisfied with not getting beat everyday.
Zeke followed them back. As soon as the three rejoined our group, Mr. Atkins pulled Zeke into a bear hug. Mrs. Atkins let go of Noah's shoulders in order to hug each twin and to leave a kiss on their forehead.
To my surprise, she then moved onto me. I didn't know what to do or how to respond so I stood frozen. Mrs. Atkins reached a hand out and patted my head, messing up my hair just like she did to Noah. I glanced up and thought I saw her eyes get watery, but it must have been my imagination.
Because her sharp eyes narrowed and glanced around to the four of us who were left at home last time. "I won't get into it tonight since your father has already scolded you and gave out his punishment, but there won't be a next time."
Dave frowned and opened his mouth to speak.
"I've already heard the freedom speech." Mrs. Atkins cut him off. "We can discuss more later. You boys didn't even try asking so how can we trust you with more freedom?"
"Sorry, Mom." Noah spoke up first.
"Sorry." The Twins muttered in unison.
Mrs. Atkins looked down to me, raising an eyebrow.
"S-s-sorry!" I hurried to say. It's already been a little sad with Mr. Atkins giving us looks of disappointment all week. If she joined him, I might feel too ashamed to raise my head again.
Mrs. Atkins smiled and nodded. "Better. Okay, let's grab some dinner and head home. You boys have two games tomorrow."
"And you haven't practiced all week." Zeke added.
"And that's where you're wrong." Noah said proudly. "Jake and I have done muscle training and mental training. We both worked on infield positioning as well."
Zeke looked at the both of us. To Noah. To me. Back to looking at us together. Like his mom, he reached out and messed up our hair simultaneously. "Brats." He then abruptly turned and walked to the carousel to pick up his luggage. Mr. and Mrs. Atkins shared a laugh and followed him to help.
I fixed my hair while looking back at Noah. "Does this mean we aren't in trouble anymore?"
Noah fixed his own hair. "As long as we win both games tomorrow, it shouldn't be a problem."
"Yea." Dave agreed. "But I definitely thought Mom would be more angry with us."
"Maybe." Kyle said. "She looks tired. She's probably too exhausted with Zeke's stuff this past week to pay too much attention to us."
Noah frowned. "That doesn't sound like Mom."
"You don't know. College is a big deal. Life changing."
"But-"
"Boys! Hurry it up!" Mr. Atkins called out. The three of them already had bags by their feet, looking like they already got everything.
The four of us hurried over to regroup with them so we could head to dinner. It was still prime traffic hours so the parents decided to treat us to a meal in the city.
Noah dominated most of the conversation, telling his mom (and bragging to Zeke) about all that we did.
"But doing the yard work was part of your punishment." Mr. Atkins stated after we were sat down at a big table inside a restaurant. "It's not like you were purposely doing that for training."
"Anything could be used as training, Dad." Noah shot back. "Sitting here, flexing my abs, can be considered training."
"Yea, if you had abs." Dave laughed and Kyle joined in. Even Zeke cracked a smile.
"Don't be hating." Noah stood up and lifted his shirt a little to show off his abdomen muscles. "I have a solid four-pack."
"Noah James! You sit down right this minute!" Mrs. Atkins hissed as we attracted attention from the surrounding tables.
The twins laughed harder and stood up as well. They raised their shirts up to show a well defined six pack.
"This is what it should really look like." Kyle bragged.
Dave nodded in agreement, patting his ab muscles. "Abs of steel."
"That's not fair! You're older." Noah said, sounding a mix of anger and depression.
"All of you sit down right now!" Mrs. Atkins was red in the face with embarrassment.
"Wait." Kyle laughed, tugging his shirt back down. "We might as well see Jake's too to compare."
"Yea! Just to see if it's an age thing like Noah said!" Dave echoed.
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, not willing to show off my scars.
"That's enough." Mr. Atkins firm command calmed down the twins and made them sit down. "All of you should sit down and look at the menu properly."
Everyone sat down and picked up the menus like they were told.
I smiled gratefully at Mr. Atkins. He knew what I looked like and why I didn't want to get involved.
The table resumed talking, but about food this time. Even though Zeke didn't talk much, the conversations were louder and the group more rambunctious. It felt good to have everyone back together again.
Throughout the meal, I would catch Mrs. Atkins giving me weird, and slightly long, looks like she was trying to see inside my head. She must be worried that I wasn't comfortable with the boys showing off their abs so I flashed her a light smile so she would know not to worry.
