It Is Just A Child's Game

The final credits of the movie began to roll and Cahlen slowly stretched from her position on the couch. She ran her hand through Frankie’s light brown hair. She saw Garrett let out a yawn and Kennedy scratch his eyes.

“What do you want to do now, Frankenstein?” Cahlen asked as she looked at the boy who was resting his head on her lap.

“Can we make ice cream sundaes, Kaykay? It’s so much hotter here than it is in London.” Frankie replied while he played with his fingers.

“That’s true, Frankie.” Cahlen agreed with a sigh. “Come on, let’s go make some ice cream sundaes.”

Frankie eagerly stood up and waited for Cahlen to do the same. She slowly stood up, adjusting her dress as she did so. She took his small hand in hers and started leading the way to the kitchen.

“You can join us, you know.” Frankie said, looking over his shoulder at the two boys in the living room.

The two of them looked at Cahlen, silently asking for her permission. She shrugged and turned her attention back to Frankie.

“What do you want on your sundae, Frankie?” Cahlen asked as he took a seat on a stool.

“I want candy sprinkles, marshmallows, whipped cream, chocolate syrup, chocolate kisses, wafer sticks, oh, and food coloring!” he exclaimed as Kennedy and Garrett entered the kitchen.

“Okay,” Cahlen said as she pulled out the things Frankie wanted. “We only have vanilla ice cream though, is that okay?”

“Yup!” Frankie replied, excitedly.

Cahlen carefully arranged the items on the island that was in the middle of the room. She pulled out four bowls and four spoons and placed them on the island counter.

“Can I start now?” Frankie asked as he reached over and grabbed a bowl and spoon.

“Yeah, of course!” Cahlen said as she turned around to get some paper napkins.

She grabbed a bunch of napkins in her hand and was about to turn around when she felt something cold hit her neck. Her mouth went agape as she turned and looked at the three boys in the kitchen. Her eyes scanned Kennedy first who was near the doorway. He instantly raised his hands up and shook his head. Her eyes then went to Garrett who was standing right beside Kennedy. He started shaking his head madly and discreetly pointed at the only other person in the room.

Cahlen let her blue eyes land on the little boy that was innocently licking his fingers. Cahlen took two steps to the island so that she and Frankie were on opposite sides.

“Frankie, hun” She said, her voice falsely laced with kindness.

“Yes?” he asked as he stared at her with wide eyes.

“Why are your hands all sticky?” She asked.

“Uh,” Frankie said, trying to think of an excuse. “They are naturally sticky?”

“I don’t think so.” Cahlen said before sticking her hand in the ice cream tin.

She grabbed a fistful then threw it in Frankie’s direction. Frankie quickly ducked but it wouldn’t matter because Cahlen has always been horrible with aiming. Instead of hitting Frankie, it hit Kennedy right smack in the face.

“Oops.”

Kennedy ran to the counter and grabbed the chocolate syrup bottle. He squeezed it and watched as the liquid chocolate went straight to Cahlen’s face. She quickly grabbed the canister of whipped cream and did the same to Kennedy.

Laughter filled the air. Frankie was laughing so hard he was falling of the chair and Garrett was doubled over, trying to control his breathing. Kennedy and Cahlen caught each other’s eye and knowing smiles appeared on their faces.

Still holding their weapons of choice, they each approached one of the laughing boys and quickly made them a victim. Cahlen snuck up on Frankie and sprayed the whip cream all over his hair. The little boy let out a squeal of shock but it was evident he enjoyed it.

Kennedy tried to do the same to Garrett but years of friendship had made Garrett a little bit smarter. When he saw Kennedy approaching, he instantly grabbed Kennedy’s wrists. He put up a fight but eventually lost because he was soon covered in chocolate syrup.

Thus, began the food war. Everything was flying all over the room. The melted ice cream was splattered all over the floor. It was raining candy sprinkles, marshmallows, and chocolate kisses. Wafer sticks lay broken on the floor alongside the empty bottle and canister.

All four of them sat beside each other on the kitchen floor. They blended in with the mess they’ve created and they were quite pleased with themselves.

“Something’s missing!” Frankie said as he crossed his arms.

“What is?” Cahlen asked as she tried to run a hand through her now multi-colored hair.

“I know!” He said and quickly stood up.

The three adults watched him as he opened the fridge and stuck his tiny head in. they patiently waited for him as he pushed objects aside before finding just what he was looking for.

“CHERRIES!” he exclaimed before putting one on each of their heads.

They all let out light-hearted laughs before they let a semi-comfortable silence fall around them. Frankie, who was sitting in between Cahlen and Kennedy, let out a slow yawn. He raised his arms while yawning and almost hit both of them in the face.

“Tired?” Cahlen asked the little boy.

He simply replied by nodding his head and outstretching his arms. Cahlen stood up and brushed whatever she could off her dress. She wrapped her arms around him and lifted him up.

“We’ll just get you cleaned up first, okay?” She asked as she looked at his body covered in various sweets.

He nodded his head in a reply before yawning again.

“I’ll just give Frankie a bath.” She told Kennedy and Garrett who looked like they could use one too. “I won’t be long.”

They nodded their heads and watched as she left them in the kitchen.

Cahlen fixed her hair in a messy bun as she walked down the stairs. Frankie was now peacefully sleeping in her bed. She had changed out of her sun dress and into a light blue tank top and gray sweat shorts. She wasn’t able to take a bath so there were still multiple food articles all over her body and hair.

As she took a step into the kitchen, she realized it was nearly spotless. The island counter was clean and so were the surrounding counters. The walls were free of dirt. The only thing left to clean was the floor.

“You guys didn’t have to clean, you know.” Cahlen said, catching the attention of the boys who were currently kneeling on the floor trying to clean it.

“No, it’s okay. We don’t mind.” Kennedy said and Garrett nodded his head in agreement.

“No, really, you don’t have to.” Cahlen said as she got on her knees and began to help them. “I can just clean this up later when you’re gone.”

“Cahlen,” Kennedy said, looking at her. “We’re already cleaning it up. We don’t do this for just anybody you know.”

“Fine, fine, fine, okay.” She said in defeat. “I am helping you though.”

“Good because we don’t know what we’re doing.” Garrett said earning a pinch from Kennedy and a laugh from Cahlen.

The three of them cleaned the tiled floor. They made jokes while doing so and brought back good memories together. Although the kitchen got a whole lot cleaner, the three of them got dirtier. Soon enough, the kitchen was truly spotless except for the three of them standing there.

“We really missed you, Kay.” Garrett said, looking at Cahlen with a pout. “Didn’t you miss us?”

“Of course I did, Gare.” Cahlen replied, trying not to look at Garrett.

“So why’d you only come back now?” He asked with wide eyes.

“Because it hurt.” Cahlen said, now looking directly into Garrett’s eyes. “Besides I couldn’t just come back. I had a life.”

“In London?” Kennedy asked, remembering what Frankie said earlier.

Cahlen nodded in reply.

“Why didn’t you tell us you were leaving or where you were going?” Kennedy asked.

“You weren’t talking to me remember?!” Cahlen yelled, her anger getting the better of her.

“Still” Garrett said softly.

“Still what Garrett?” She yelled again. “You guys left me when I really needed you! You betrayed me and chose John! Don’t you see why I had to leave? I was all alone here!”

“But you didn’t even say goodbye.” Garrett said.

“Do you really think you deserved one?” she said, her tone was harsh.

“Okay, fine we were total asses and no we didn’t deserve goodbyes.” Kennedy said with a frustrated tone. “But you weren’t exactly innocent either! You didn’t tell us anything! You went behind our backs with John! You didn’t tell us you were sneaking around with John! It was hard to believe you when we heard things that turned out to be the truth! We had the right to be mad! But we weren’t even mad about you sneaking around with John, we were mad because you didn’t tell us! Sure, we’re guilty too because we didn’t give you a chance to explain but we want to make it up to you. Even though we were with John, we still cared a lot about you.”

“You had a horrible way of showing it.” She said snidely but her anger was subsiding.

“We’re really sorry for that, Cahlen.” Garrett said, looking right into her blue eyes. “Please, let us make up for it.”

“I don’t know.” She replied, doubt replacing her anger. “I don’t think that’s the best thing right now.”

“Please, Cahlen.” Garrett tried again. “Please”

“Please give us a chance, Kay.” Kennedy joined in. “We miss being the three musketeers.”

At that Cahlen let out a small laugh, remembering all the times they had as the three musketeers. “Okay, fine”