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Antonia woke up shaking and silently sobbing. While this wasn't exactly common, it wasn’t uncommon either. Lucky for her, she had the best sisters ever to help her through it.
Dragging up enough courage to get out of bed, she slipped down from her top bunk and padded across to Jac’s bottom one. Whilst doing so she snuck a glance at the clock . 0:03. Happy Saturday, she thought bitterly. She wiped the still flowing tears from her eyes and jerkily tapped Jac’s shoulder. Jac was a very light sleeper so she immediately awoke, looking very disoriented and confused.
“Tonia?” She mumbled, rubbing sleep from her eyes, a worried look replacing the dazed one that adorned her face moments ago. “You OK?”
“Nightmare-“ was all Race could manage before a new wave of tears streamed down her face.
‘Oh- Racer I’m so sorry-“ Jac said, meeting Race on the floor beside her bed. “Can I?” She asked, moving her arms out slightly. The only thing Race could do was nod. Jac immediately pulled her into a tight hug, letting her sob into her shoulder. She could feel Antonia’s tremors and shakes beneath her fingers. She rubbed her back gently, ‘I’m sorry Tonia,” she sighed.
Jac will never not be angry at what caused this. She couldn’t comprehend why all these horrible things had happened to one of her best friends, her sister. Hell, terrible stuff had happened to her too, but she didn’t know why Race was dealt such a bad hand. Damn, using a gambling metaphor really isn’t the vibe here.
“Do you wanna… talk about it?” Jac finally voiced after glancing at the clock (0:19). Race just sighed deeply, “maybe, uh, in a bit.” She looked down at her hands, “ ‘m sorry, and thank you.”
“Hey,” Jac took Racetrack’s hands in her own, squeezing them gently, knowing how much physical contact helped her sister, “you have nothing to be sorry about, and its always my pleasure to comfort you, and any of our siblings, or friends for that matter.”
Suddenly a groan was heard from across from the room, and the shape of Juliet abruptly falling out of bed, onto her face.
“Wha-“ she mumbled from the carpet, while Jac and Race just stared at her. In this Juliet had managed to successfully wake Charlie, residing in the bunk over Jac’s.
“Ew. Mornings.” They heard Charlie gripe from above, and then apparently noticed the clock, “Oh, not morning then.”
Juliet had by now managed to roll, akin to a slug, over to where Jac was hugging a still-shaking Race on the floor. “You good besties?” Juliet enquired in her usual meme filled way.
Jac exhaled and turned to face her youngest sister, “Racer had a nightmare, so,” she looked back at Race and then at Juliet, “…Rocky Horror night??”
“Obviously.” Charlie spoke up from her place high above the rest. (Side Note: i was gonna say - where Race usually was - after that but then i realised it was a really bad taste joke- ignore me)
Race nodded, a small ghost of a smile flitting across her face. Jac then crawled across the floor to retrieve Juliet’s iPad from under her bed and pull up Disney .
Unwrapping herself from the tangle of blankets she ended up in, Juliet patted Antonia on the back awkwardly and stood, brushing herself down, “I’m on Jammy Dodger duty?”
Jac hummed distractedly and Race sniffed in assent, Charlie had finally slipped down to the floor opting to hug Race while Jac set up the pillows against the side of her bed.
Racer raised her head and looked at her older sisters, “thanks- thank you guys, it, uh, it really means a lot,” she tried a weak grin and failed miserably, ending up looking like a puppy who just got stood on and was still trying to wag its tail. That’s honestly quite a good analogy for her in general actually.
“You’ve already said that,” Jac laughed from the corner, setting down the final pillow in the mound, “but the answer is still it’s no problem.”
“Plus I was reading until like 15 minutes ago so-” Charlie volunteered.
Jac scoffed, “like that’s a revelation.” They plopped herself down on the nest they’d built, opening her arms as an invitation for her best friends, who also happened to be their younger sisters. Race and Charlie fell into her and pulled blankets over themselves till they were all comfy.
There were a few moments of comfortable silence until Juliet burst in, 5 packets of Jammy Dodgers in hand. She put them all under her arm and clasped her palms together.
“So. Guys. These are gonna have to last all night.’” She paused, “also Racer gets 2 because she’s the one who just came out of 3 weeks of withdrawal.”
Then, simultaneously,
Charlie: “HEY I WANT JAMMY DODGERS!”
Jac and Race: “AREYOUTALKINGTOME-NONOTATALLLLLLLLL”
“Mkay guys, let's do the time warp again.”
“Jac-“
“Your jokes are goddamn terrible”
“I t s j u s t a j u m p t o t h e l e f t-“