There's a couple of footsteps on the other side, then the wooden door swings open to reveal a tall girl with skin the same rich tone as Annabelle's, as well as the same sparkling eyes and curly hair.

The girl looks at Annabelle, then looks at me. A smile spreads across her face, and she pulls Annabelle into a hug.

When they pull apart, the girl turns to me and pulls me into a hug too. I'm surprised by the strong movement, which is probably obvious from the 'oof' that tumbles out of my mouth, and then relax against her.

"Felicity," she introduces herself. There's a silver ring in the side of her nose.

"Hazel."

"Yeah," she laughs, shooting a glance over at Annabelle. "We've heard a lot about you."

"As have I."

She gestures us in with a nod of her head, and Annabelle steps back to allow me in first.

The kitchen is small and comfortable, with warm wooden cabinets and hexagon tiles on the walls in shades of blue and two huge windows allowing natural light to flood the room.

A short, plump woman is standing in the kitchen, taking something out of the oven.

Felicity clears her throat and knocks on the wall to alert her of our presence.

At the noise, the woman spins around and smiles, pulling oven mitts from her hands. They all have such similar smiles. And they're all huggers. Very strong huggers, as I can tell from my lack of breath once I'm pulled into Bonnie's arms.

We're about the same height, which is sort of relieving. I didn't fancy being a foot shorter than everyone here.

"My goodness, Hazel. It's nice to meet you after hearin' so much," she says. She's got an endearing twang to her words, and her skin is darker than her daughters'. "You had great timing, these just finished!"

She gestures with a dark hand to the delicious-smelling tray behind her. It's full of luscious cinnamon rolls.

"Those smell amazing, Momma," Annabelle says, and I nod my head enthusiastically in agreement. They really do.

I tell her so.

She beams, in likeness to her daughters, and bounces a little on her heels, causing her vivacious curls to do the same.

"Glad to hear so. Now, you guys run along. I'll finish dinner."

Felicity promptly leads me up the stairs to put my things up in Annabelle's room, and then offers to give me a tour of the house while Annabelle catches up with her mother.

And when Felicity opens the door to her room, I catch my breath and realize exactly what Annabelle was talking about with the 'most aesthetic room you've ever seen.' It's got a light wooden floor and a spectacular window taking up most of the far wall and a curved ceiling and white walls and a pallet bed with blankets and plants and pillows and I love this room.

"Annabelle did not exaggerate your room one bit, Felicity," I say seriously, looking her in the eyes and placing my hand on her shoulder. I hope she misses the fact that I have to step on my tiptoes to do so.

By the snort that makes its way out of her mouth, she didn't.

"This is the most aesthetically pleasing room I have ever had the pleasure to set foot in."

"Really?"

"I speak no lies."

Felicity laughs, and it's so endearingly similar to Annabelle that I beam.

A soft 'aw' escapes her lips, and she giggles again. "And Annabelle did not exaggerate how cute your cheeks are when you smile."

"I guess Annabelle is just not the exaggerating type."

"I'm not what?" comes a warm voice from behind me, and soon enough she's draping herself over me like she always is.

"An exaggerationist," Felicity replies, deadpan. Annabelle giggles, the action shaking her entire body and mine too.

I peek further into Felicity's room, my gaze immediately drawn to the crate of records neatly tucked under a cute wooden table.

"Ooh!"

I rush over, socked feet sliding across the floor in my haste to get to the music.

"What's your favorite band?"

"Florence and the Machine. Or the 1975."

I nod my approval calmly, though internally I'm squealing. "I love both of them! I could honestly go on for hours about either ..."

"She has, and she will," Annabelle says to Felicity. They share a look and both laugh. I pout at Annabelle.

"Love you," she supplies quickly. She pecks me on the cheek and smiles winningly. Felicity looks at the two of us, and a smile tugs at her lips.

Then she bends down and gets a record out of the crate, then walks over to the desk against the wall and places it on the turntable.

The 1975 starts to play, and we are gestured to sit on the bed. When we oblige, Annabelle pulls me into her side and flings an arm around her sister.

"So, Haze," Felicity begins. "Because Annabelle doesn't like talking about college life, can I ask you about it? I'm graduating next year."

"Yeah, sure."

"Is the thesis paper really that bad?"

"The junior one isn't. I actually found it quite fun, and I'm guessing you will too, because you get to choose your topic, and it can literally be about anything. I mean, it is a lot of work, but it's definitely not the worst assignment you'll get."

"What was yours?"

"It was about the psychological effect that reading has on people."

"That's cool! Momma's a psychologist, you know. She's a therapist. Do you wanna be a therapist?"

"I've definitely considered it, but I want to write, and I think I'd be a better writer than therapist."

"Annabelle wants to write, too. Don't you, Annie?" Felicity nudges her sister.

"Mmhmm," Annabelle responds, nodding. I poke her side.

"Were you even paying attention?"

"Mmhmm," she mumbles, nuzzling her face into my neck.

"Honestly," Felicity sighs, dramatically flopping back on her bed. "She's impossible sometimes."

I laugh in agreement.

"Girls, c'mon down!" comes Bonnie's voice up the stairs, ricocheting around the hallways.

I stand up abruptly, making Annabelle fall over sideways. I grab one arm and Felicity grabs the other arm after stopping the record and together we tug the sleepy girl to her feet.

Bonnie's setting the table when we all stumble down the carpeted stairs. The stars are up and twinkling through the windows, and there's lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling, casting a twilight glow on the table.

There's shepherd's pie and cornbread, both steaming hot and smelling amazing.

"Hon, what d'you want to drink?" Bonnie asks me.

"I'll have water, thanks." She hands me a jar of water, then plonks some in place for Annabelle and Felicity.

"Momma, 's'that a new blanket?" Annabelle asks. Bonnie looks down at the heavy blanket on her shoulders.

"Yep. Knitted it yesterday."

"Yeah, Haze, what you'll inevitably take away from this visit is the fact that our house is always cold, and Momma's always cold. We have a lot of blankets," Felicity explains.

I smile, because that's why Annabelle is so cuddly towards me. But I can't say anything because my mouth is full of cornbread.

As soon as I swallow, I praise Bonnie's cooking.

She thanks me happily, then asks about my classes. We talk a lot about psychology together, seeing as we both love it.

Annabelle chimes in after we're done about how good I am at cooking. Bonnie's face lights up, and she insists on showing me something after we're done eating.

Felicity just watches me and Annabelle talk and look at each other with the happiest and fondest look on her face, making me note once again how similar the three of them are.

After we've finished dinner, Bonnie brings the cinnamon rolls back out and I have to physically restrain myself from just stuffing the entire thing into my cheeks; they could accommodate it. But I want to savor it.

I find myself once again mumbling a compliment through food in my mouth.

And true to her word, Bonnie brings me into the kitchen to test out a recipe and offer my opinion on what it needs.

It's a recipe for sour cherry scones, and I get really excited when she mentions this.

"You've read Carry On, right? I think Annabelle mentioned you've read that."

I nod, eyes wide. "That's one of my favorite books."

"Mine too!"

And at that moment, I've signed and sealed the bill to adopt Bonnie Lev-Damore as my mother.

We all curl up on the wraparound sofa and watch The Empire Strikes Back.

Annabelle and I split another cinnamon roll, and I curl into her side, growing sleepy from all the food. But my eyes stay open; I love Star Wars almost as much as I love Annabelle.

I snuggle into a blanket about halfway through the movie. It is drafty in here.

Annabelle just snuggles into me.

When the screen goes black, I let my eyes close. And before I know it, I'm asleep against Annabelle.

I'm like two percent aware of someone carrying me somewhere, and then just warmth and comfort.

a/n: hi i'm currently in nyc 

much visit very city wow

*hug*