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"Love, you forgot your keys." Theo said when he opened the door, but Eloise jumped to his arms.
Eloise dropped her backpack and the bags from the groceries she was carrying, trying to kiss her boyfriend as he consistently was insisting in pushing her away. She took off her jacket and threw it to the floor, before her fingers started to look for the buttons of his shirt, but Theo pushed down her hands and took a step back.
"For fucks sake, what is a girl supposed to do to get her boyfriend to-" She went silent when Theo grabbed her upper arms and forced her to turn around.
Theo's nieces were sitting in front of the dinner table and were staring at her, Eloise was static, trying to think about a proper explanation, and she could hear his quiet giggles from her back. She shoot him an annoyed glance and looked back at the little girls.
"Girls... hi... I was... umm... I was greeting uncle Theo." She tried to explain, stumbling with her words."Quite effusively because... I hadn't seen him in a while."
"We live together, it doesn't make any sense." Theo whispered her and she rolled her eyes when a smirk showed on his face.
Amber and Emily, displaying nothing but happiness because of Eloise's arrival, ran toward her to hug her tightly, after almost three years dating Theo, both of them already saw her as their family and Eloise never wasted any opportunity to show the girls that she saw them as the same way.
"Uncle Theo bought us coloring books!" Emily told her, grabbing one of her hands and dragging her back to the table with them, she was really strong for a 4 years old.
"Wow, that sounds-" Eloise tried to replied, but the girls' excitement get in the middle
"Yes! And an art set with pencils of different colours." Amber added, grabbing Eloise's spare hand. She looked back and saw an amused Theo, walking behind them.
"Isn't that terrific?" Eloise got to say once they were in front of their art supplies.
"Look at this one!" Emily held in front of her face a teal pencil.
Eloise pulled back a bit to look at it properly. "Oh, such a beautiful colour, do you know it's my favourite one?" She asked and grabbed Mary, their cat, who was sitting on top of the table.
"Yes, uncle Theo told us when we opened the set." Amber replied before going back to her coloring book.
"I'm sure he did." Eloise glared Theo and he shrugged.
Shortly after, both girls were focused on their drawings and pencils again. In that moment, Eloise went back to the entrance to pick up the things she dropped there during her arrival and immediately Theo leaned next to her to help her, she looked at him and sighed. Once everything was in order, he stood and offered his hand to help her, help she accepted.
"Why did you not tell me they will be here?" She asked him accusingly but smiling anyway. "I threw myself at you, that was embarrassing."
"Anne asked me at the last minute." Theo kissed her shortly on the lips "And, worry not, look at them, they didn't noticed it." He pointed at Amber and Emily, who were absolutely distracted painting their coloring books.
"Kids notice everything." She affirmed.
"Yes, but they're 4 and 7 years old, they don't think like adults do." He argued and extended his hand at her "You lost a tangerine." He said.
"Thanks." She grabbed it and put it back in the bag.
"Besides, they're my sister and Stella's daughters, they're used to constants displays of love."
Eloise chuckled and nodded slowly, walking towards the kitchen to store the groceries and Theo following her lead. From the counter, they could eye Amber and Emily to make sure everything was fine at the same time they were organising the supplies. They catched the girls eyes every once in a while and looked at each other quizzically, both wondering what they might be doing. Theo and Eloise only got to hear isolated words such as "curls", "books" and "Mary", and also a conversation that led them to argue about blue or green. She elbowed him and, with a smile on her face, pointed the kids.
"Hey, how is everything going over there?" Theo questioned, refilling the sugar basin.
"Fine!" Both girls said a the same time.
This captured Theo's attention even more. "Are you sure?" He started to walk towards them.
"Don't come here!" Emily commanded and stood in front of the table.
"It's a surprise, you don't have to see it yet." Amber explained her little sister's request.
He felt his insides melt at this confession. "For me?" He asked and the girls nodded happily.
"And auntie Eloise." Emily added and smiled shily at Eloise, who was still in the kitchen watching the scene.
"Then I won't bother you any longer." Theo stated and petted Amber's head. "But you looked quite suspicious from afar."
He turned around and walked in direction to the counter, where Eloise was heating water in the pot to prepare tea. Theo kissed her cheek when he passed by her in his way to the cabinet to grab four mugs, two for them and the other two for their nieces, then he grabbed the milk and the powdered chocolate to prepare chocolate milk for Amber and Emily. Once all the beverages were heated and Eloise organised different kind of biscuits on a plate, they put everything on a tray and placed it over the counter. In that moment the girls appeared in front of them.
"We finished!" Amber exclaimed, utterly excited to show them their surprise.
Theo and Eloise knelt in front of the girls and when Emily turned around the paper she was holding, a beautiful draw came to light, Eloise and Theo were stood next to each other, holding hands and it was full of details, both took a few seconds to inspection it carefully, not even wanting to miss the smallest thing.
"Look!" Amber pointed the paper. "That's Mary, sleeping on top books like you say she does."
Eloise giggled softly. "That's her! She looks so cute, you even draw her red collar." She mentioned.
Emily pointed with her little finger "And those two are you, holding hands and standing in the middle of all the books in the world!" She said and opened her arms.
"Wow, this is fascinating, you didn't miss any detail!" Theo claimed, a proud look on his face and an immense happiness inside.
"But we did auntie Eloise's eyes different." Amber commented. "We weren't sure if her eyes were blue or green."
"We did one of each as a solution." Emily revealed and kicked her feet on the floor.
"Oh, I can't blame you! Not even I am sure." Eloise comforted the girls and beam at them.
"Both of them are right, I've spent enough time looking at you." Theo told her before drifting his attention back to their nieces. "Auntie Eloise's eyes change depending on the light and the weather."
The girls gasped "Do they are magical eyes?" Amber asked, surprised and Emily stared at him expecting an answer.
Theo nodded and smiled. "Her eyes are so special that only one colour is not enough." Eloise rolled her eyes and kissed his cheek.
Eloise found a frame in wich their draw fitted perfectly and Theo hammered a nail in their living room's wall, they wanted to hang it somewhere they could always see it and show it proudly to whoever is visiting them. Amber stood on top of a chair and Eloise grabbed Emily, like that both girls were able to look at their work of art in exhibition, both adults watched their nieces squinting their eyes and tilting their heads before looking at each other and smile widely.
"Uncle Theo." Amber called him.
Theo switch his attention from the draw to his niece. "Yes."
"Can we eat something?" She asked him.
"Of course, I prepared chocolate milk for you and we have biscuits." He replied and helped her to get down from the chair.
Eloise left Emily on the floor. "Go sit on the couch, we'll heat it up for you and be there in 5 minutes." She added.
"You both can choose a movie to watch." Theo suggested
Soon enough, their beverages and biscuits were placed on top of the coffee table, the four of them were sitting on the couch, the girls in the middle of them with their eyes focused on the screen while "Tangled" was screening. Theo stretched his arm on top of the back of the couch and grazed Eloise's cheek with his fingers, her eyes rested on his and she leaned her head against his touch.
Emily and Amber feel assleep in the middle of the movie, so Eloise and Theo layed them down on the couch and covered them with a blanket, making sure they were comfortable until Anne and Stella came to pick them up. They throw pillows on the floor, to make sure they didn't hurt if they fell, and turned on the lamp that's placed on the corner of the room.
Eloise and Theo sat on the balcony for a while, he bought a new book that morning and was excited to start with it, so she stuck her body against his and he, almost in a whisper to not bother the little girls sleeping, read it out loud for both of them.