———
s 3, ep 8
———

"poor reuben, huh?" manny stepped up to luke and effy "having to rebuild his life at age twelve"

"yeah" effy nodded her head "they lost like everything right? how terrible"

"totally" luke agreed "that blows"

"i know we're all shaken up, but let's watch the language"

"okay" gloria walked out of the house with a package in her hand "put this in a safe place. it's for reuben, it's one of those.. um, how do you say again? takatakatakataka?"

"is that the helicopter with the camera in it?" luke interrupted "that you control with your phone?"

gloria nodded proudly.

"the one i asked for?" manny turned to his mother, looking at her accusingly

"okay, when your house burns down, you get one of those" she turned around to leave before she took a quick look at her son "no, don't burn your house down" she walked back into the house

"i'm sure you will get one for your birthday.. or christmas" effy said sympathetically, sensing manny's disappointment.

"thanks, effy"

"how lucky is reuben?" luke chimed in

"so lucky" manny nodded, his eyes falling back onto the toy

"considering that his house just burned down, i wouldn't say he's particularly lucky at the moment"

"charlie" effy said surprised as the boy walked up to the three, taking part in the conversation, while luke and manny completely ignored him. luke just rolled his eyes, as he noticed the usual look of amazement enter his sister's face.

effy stepped next to charlie. "what are you doing here?"

"oh, i thought i would do my part" he raised the cardboard box he was holding "my brother had a lot of old toys and i found some things i don't use anymore"

"that's so nice of you" effy smiled, taking the box from his hands and motioning for him to follow her inside. luke and manny were still concentrated on the helicopter, whispering eagerly to each other. "don't take it out, you hear me?"

"¡hola! charlie!" gloria walked down the hallway, and her eyes fell upon effy and charlie.

"¡hola!" charlie replied politely and effy smiled

"look who came!" effy walked into the kitchen, where mitchell and claire were sitting talking.

"hi charlie" the adults exclaimed in unison, charlie repeating the greeting.

"it mostly just old toys, but maybe you could use a bit of it"

"we can use anything" claire smiled

"i had hoped so" charlie laughed

effy, who sensed that the conversation had come to an end, motioned for charlie to follow her upstairs.

"leave the door open!" claire called behind the children, and effys cheeks turned red in embarrassment

"sorry" she apologized, letting charlie walk into the room, before shutting the door as far as possible without closing it.

charlie sat down on the chair, while effy climbed on top of her bed.

"i guess we're too old now to spend time in a room with a closed door" charlie shrugged

"sorry that she made it weird"

"oh no" charlie shook his head "it's not weird. it's normal, i guess, parents have always been like that, haven't they?"

"i guess so" effy shrugged

"crazy what happened there, right?" charlie got serious "imagine if one of them would've been inside, they could all be dead"

"yeah" effy muttered "it's terrible. i hope such a thing never happens to any of us, or anyone i know in general"

"even if this seems terrible, i guess they lucked out, the best outcome was losing all their stuff"

effy just shrugged

she thought it was unimaginable how you could just lose everything, basically overnight.

suddenly, charlie got up. "sorry, lou" he said "i have to go home now"

"oh" effy climbed down the ladder "can't you stay for a bit longer?"

charlie just shook his head. effy knew him so well, she sensed that something was bothering him.

"is everything alright?" she asked "did something happen? is it because of your parents? because of davy?"

"no" charlie tried to escape her eyes "i'll call you later" he quickly left the room, and effy stood dumbfounded.

effy spend the rest of the day trying to keep manny and luke from ruining reuben's new toy, which wasn't really successful.

in the evening, she was laying in bed, watching her phone and wondering, why charlie hadn't called.

EFFY
hey, are you up?

charlie...? i'm scared. are you sure everything's alright?

did i do something to upset you?

would you please answer me?

charlie?!

???

it took her a long time, but effy eventually fell asleep. her mind wondering what had gotten into her best friend, while she worried that something had happened to him, something he did not want to tell her.

A/N

being back feels so good!!
i'm so motivated again and feel like i'm finally ready to properly write this story.

like i said before, ive planned everything out and am ready to tackle all the seasons that are to come!!

also.. i was so happy how many comments i received so i not only decided to post sooner than i planned, but to post today and tomorrow!! and then i will publish a chapter a week, or if i have enough time to finish more and/or the engagement of you guys is as amazing as in the info chapter, i'm going to post two chapters a week.

thank you so much for reading, stay tuned for everything that's about to come!!

:)

———