Chapter Text
Jane and Will giggle to themselves in her room until Jane finds herself scrunching her nose in disgust. "Jeez, do you smell that Will?" Will looks up from his sketchbook and looks around. He sniffs the air and practicaly recoils from the smell as well.
"Gross, I think Argyle and Jonathan are making some weird concoction again."
"We should go take a peek," Jane suggests. Will nods and the two head towards the kitchen. Sure enough, as soon as they reached the kitchen, they were met with their older brother and his weird friend fanning a sheet of brownies. "Whatever you two made stinks," she says abruptly, startling the duo.
"Oh sorry about that my homies," Argyle said while waving his oven mitt at the twins. Jonathan looks up at the two, clearly high, and slightly guilty looking. Jane walks closer to the counter with Will following behind her. She stares at what appears to be oddly colored brownies.
"Those do not look edible," Will says, his voice trailing off as he realizes what they are.
"Well they are, just not for you two," Jonathan starts putting his arm out to push the two back, "These are for Argyle and I only, okay?"
"Yeah! You two, like, would totally not be able to handle these, my dudes", Argyle said with a laugh, "these are like, my strongest batch yet." Will moved over to the sink and opened the window above it, attempting to clear the air in the room.
"Don't worry, neither of us want to eat your gross weed brownies," Will said, signaling at Jane that they should return to her room, to which she completely ignored, turning to look at Jonathan.
"Mom said you aren't supposed to have any weed stinking up the house," she said, staring directly into his eyes. Jonathan shifted his eyes away nervously. He knew their mom would be pissed if she found out they used the oven to bake weed brownies. He let out a sigh before returning her gaze.
"Well..Mom doesn't need to know, does she?" He pulled his arm back from where he was blocking her off and reached into his back pocket, pulling out his wallet. "How about I bring you two to the roller rink and we just pretend this didn't happen," he said motioning to Argyle to start packing up the brownies.
"Hmmm..how about you bring us to Rink-O-Mania and you let us have one of the brownies?" Jane said with a mischievous smile that did not seem to amuse the older boy.
"Absolutely not. Roller rink or nothing kid," he said firmly, "You wouldn't even like these Jane, don't fight me on this." She rolled her eyes but nodded in agreement, skipping over to Will and grabbing him by the arm. Behind them, Jonathan and Argyle were cleaning up the kitchen and discussing who would be driving.
"While you were busy staring out the window, I got us a free day at Rink-O-Mania," Jane said with an excited squeal, "I told you it is good to blank mail people!" Will let out a small laugh and then turned away from the window to glance at the two older boys who were currently searching the living room for the van keys.
"Blackmail," he corrected. "But you're right, it can be helpful, especially when it comes to Jonathan," he said teasingly. She giggled, releasing his arm as she made her way to her room.
"Im gonna go change, put on something pretty too Will, your shirts got paint all over it."
Will glanced down at his shirt, which was in fact, covered in paint stains. "Ugh.. mom just bought me this too," he muttered under his breath, turning towards his room to find something decent to wear.
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The car ride was relatively quiet on the drive over, with silence occasionally being broken up by static from the cars broken radio. "Dude, seriously when are you going to get that fixed?" Jonathan asked, glancing at Argyle before returning his eyes to the road.
"It's not broken dude, it just needs to get bonked and it'll go back to normal," he replied back before continuing to bonk the car radio. Will was fidgeting with the bracelet Jane had made him in the backseat. It was made from beads of both hers and his favorite colors, yellow and purple. She was wearing a matching one with the color pattern reversed. Jane noticed him fidgeting and leaned towards him to whisper into his ear.
"Are you not excited to go to Rink-O-Mania?" She asked in a low tone poorly masking her concern. Will placed his arm next to hers to make the bracelets line up.
"I like Rink-O-Mania.. I just dislike all the people there," he said softly, not meeting her gaze. She let out a soft hum and then layed her head on his shoulder. They both knew she understood, she herself was still not comfortable to being around so many people without fearing the government finding her; although she and Will disliked crowds for different reasons, they shared the feeling of not belonging. No words were needed to communicate that.
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After what felt like an eternity, the group arrived at Rink-O-Mania, which was already extremely busy despite how early into the day it was. "Okay, I'll watch the kids while you go pick us up some pizza," Jonathan said tossing the keys to Argyle as he opened the door for the twins. Argyle caught the keys and saluted to him as the twins climbed out of the car. Jane was practically shaking in excitement as she dragged Will towards the entrance with Jonathan following along behind them.
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Jonathan handed the cash over to the woman at the counter as the two grabbed their roller skates. "Are you sure you do not want to skate with us Jonathan? It's super fun," Jane said as she sat on the bench and put on her shoes. Jonathan shook his head with a smile.
"I'm sure, you two will have fun, I'll just watch," Jonathan replied, sitting down in one of the booths near the rink. "Let me know when you kids get thirsty, I'll buy you some shakes." Before Will joined Jane in the rink, Jonathan grabbed his arm gently. "If it becomes too much and you want to go home, let me know, okay? She'll understand." Will nodded and walked over to rink, careful to not fall and embarrass himself.
He had just barely made his way to the center of the rink when he heard a scream. "WATCH OUT WILL!!" Jane shouted as she crashed into him, knocking the two to the ground. Jonathan stood up in shock leaning over to check on them.
"Are you two okay?!" He exclaimed, terrified the two were hurt. The two sat up and looked at him before bursting into laughter.
"I accidentally just grabbed your-" Whatever Will was about to say was cut off by a laugh as Jane pushed him back onto the floor giggling. Jonathan let out a sigh of relief before sitting back down. "We're okay," Will said once he managed to compose himself, slowly standing up, offering a hand to help Jane stand aswell. The two held hands as they skated across the rink, attempting not to crash into the people around them. His nervousness from earlier had temporarily vanished, too distracted by all the fun he was having with his sister.
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After a while Jonathan called the two over for a break, not wanting them to exhaust themselves. The two sat down at the booth breathing heavily. "I'll go get you two drinks, chocolate milkshakes sound good?" Jonathan asked the pair as he stood up.
"That sounds amazing," Jane replied leaning back. Jonathan glanced at Will waiting for his response.
"Yep sounds good, thanks Jonathan," Will said with a smile. Jonathan smiled back before walking off to get their drinks. Moments after he left a pair of teenagers began walking towards them. Will looked up from the table to see a slightly familiar girl standing infront of him, with a boy who's face he didn't recognize behind her.
"Hey! Will, right? I'm Maria, we sit next to eachother in art club," the girl, who he now recognized as Maria, said in a friendly tone. "You're Jane, his sister, right?" She turned to look at Jane who had been staring at her the whole time.
"Yes, I am. His sister and Jane," She replied awkwardly. Maria laughed and turned to gesture at the boy behind her to step forward so she could introduce him.
"This is Chance, my cousin, he's visiting us for the summer," the boy waved at them, his eyes not leaving Wills as he spoke.
"You two dont mind if we sit here do you? All the other booths are taken," the boy said with confidence, it was clear he wasn't expecting them to say no. Before Will had a chance to speak, Jane cut in.
"Yeah, of course! We are here with our older brother he should be back soon with our drinks," Jane said enthusiastically, scooting over and patting the spot next to her. Maria smiled and sat down motioning at her cousin to sit down aswell. Will moved over making room for the boy who was still staring at him. Chance shook his head like he was exiting a trance and took a seat besides him.
Chance speaks first, breaking the silence, "So any other cool shit to do here, or is it just the rink?" The question was clearly directed towards Will, but Jane replied instead.
"Hmm, well there is a mall down town.. ooh and there's a huge arcade nearby," Chance didn't seem interested until he heard the word arcade.
"Nice, we should swing by there after we finish up here," Chance said looking at his cousin.
"Pft sure, but im not paying, you get way too worked up over games you suck at," she replied with a laugh. Just as Chance was about to defend his honor, Jonathan returned with their drinks.
"Oh! Are these your school friends? " He asked, sliding the drinks over to the twins.
"Yeah, something like that," Will said as he took a sip of his drink. Jonathan looked down at his watch before looking back him.
"Argyle will be back in around thirty minutes, I'll be waiting outside for you kids." He gave a friendly goodbye to the two strangers in his seat and walked towards the exit. Will watched him leave, he could tell by his tone that Jonathan was going out so he could smoke. He tried to ignore the feeling of Chance staring at him as he took another sip of his drink.
"Have you been to the arcade, Will?" Chance asked, making sure to specify he was talking to Will so that Jane wouldn't asnwer for him again.
"A couple of times, its fun," Will replied quietly, refusing to return the other boys intense gaze.
"What's your favorite game?" Will was starting to get a bit confused, it was clear that Chance wanted to get know him, but why?
"Uhm I dont know, I like Dig Dug, I guess.." He said hesitantly, a bit overwhelmed by the sudden onslaught of questions. Just as Chance was opening his mouth to ask yet another question, Maria reached across the table and covered his mouth while rolling her eyes.
"Jeez, give the guy a second to breathe Chance; you're practically interrogating him." He pulled her hand off his mouth and let out a huff, clearly embarrassed. He muttered an apology to Will who just gave him a smile and said it was fine. Maria leaned back into her seat and turned her head towards Jane, "So what about you, you like any arcade games?"
"Ehh..no, not really. My best friend, Max, does though. She's like, the best in the world at arcade games," Janes voice was filled with admiration; she loved talking about Max almost as much as she loved talking to Max. "Anyways, I prefer going to the mall and trying on clothes and stuff, maybe we could do it together sometime?" Jane asked hopefully, she really wanted to make some friends here in Lenora.
"Sure, why not next weekend? Here, let me write down our phone number.." Maria began digging in her bag looking for a pen. Will looked at his wrist from under the table, they only had around five minutes left before they had to get going. "Aha! Here it is," She snatched a napkin out of the holder and scribbled her number on it before sliding it over to Jane. "Call me tomorrow morning and we can chat more." She gave her a warm smile before throwing her pen back into her bag.
"Its been nice meeting you guys, well, meeting you," Will said, finally working up the courage to meet Chance's gaze, "and catching up with you Maria." He stood up and motioned for Jane to aswell. "We have to head out now, have a good night you two." The cousins both stood up and moved out of the way to let the twins out of the booth.
"It was nice meeting you aswell, Will," Chance said softly, "oh and you too, Jane," he finished hurriedly. Jane didn't seem upset by that, she had been giving her full attention to Maria anyway. The group said there goodbyes and parted ways; Chance and Maria heading towards the rink, and Will and Jane heading towards the exit.
As they stepped outside, the first thing that hit their noses was the awful stench of Jonathan's weed. He quickly threw it to the ground and crushed it beneath his feet as the kids walked towards him. "Argyle will be here any second," Jonathan said rubbing his nose. As soon as they words left his mouth, a pizza van pulled up infront of them.
"Hey, hey, hope you guys got room for pizza!" Argyle said leaning out of the car window. The growls of their stomachs answered the question for them. The trio climbed into the van.
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They barely made it home in time before their mother did as well, hurriedly placing the pizza boxes on the table and saying goodbye to Argyle— ushering him out of the house to let their mother in from work. The boys began setting the table as Jane rushed over to their mother. "Hi mom!" Jane exclaimed, excited to talk about their day.
"Hey sweetie," Joyce said warmly as she hung up her coat by the door. "So what have you three been up to?" She asked as she made her way over to the dinner table.
Jonathan speaks up at his mother's question, moving to the dinner table as well— pizza slices on his plate. "I took your children to the roller rink as a reward for being so.. cooperative. Isn't that right?"
Joyce quirks her eyebrows slightly in confusion before looking to Will. Jane stands next to him, visibly holding something back. "Is that true?"
"Uh yeah, it was really cool actually! I thought it might be overwhelming.. but I hardly noticed the other people." Will smiled to himself and motioned to Jane who looked like she'd burst if she didnt get the words out.
"We made new friends! There was a girl from Will's class there— her name is Maria. Oh, and her cousin too. He seemed to really like Will." Will looks shocked, embarrassed at his sisters unfiltered words. "Anyways, Maria gave me her number, so is it okay if I call her tomorrow? Oh! Also, can I go to the mall with her next weekend?" Joyce let out a laugh, happy to see her daughter so excited.
"You can call her, sure, but I'll need to meet her and her parents before you can go out with her. Oh— and have her bring her cousin with, I'd like to meet him aswell." Janes smile grew larger as she gave her mom a tight hug.
"Yay! I'm so excited this will be my first friend in Lenora!" She released her mom from her crushing embrace and grabbed a couple slices of pizza. She then joins her bothers at the dinner table, the four of them eating in comfortable silence.