"MOM! CANDI STOLE MY ACTION FIGURES!"

"THEY'RE DOLLS!"

"ACTION FIGURES!"

"DOLLS!"

"MOM! CANDI'S CALLING MY ACTION FIGURES DOLLS!"

"BECAUSE THEY ARE!"

"ARE NOT!"

"ARE TOO!"

"Just Joe King and Candice B. Fureal. Please come to the kitchen."

"Yes, mommy," I hear the two small voices say in unison.

I don't realize my mouth is open until Lucas leans into my ear and whispers something about a fly. That makes my mouth clamp shut.

A beautiful red-haired woman sweeps into the room, her ankle-length dress swishing between her legs. Resting on her hip is a small baby boy with bright green eyes and a small wisp of red hair upon his shiny head.

"I'm sorry about that," the woman says, stopping in front of us and pulling Justin's head down carefully to give him a small kiss on the top of his head. "I'm Mrs. Roig. But call me Amy. It's nice to meet you," she continues, turning to me and reaching for my hand.

"Paris," I return, shaking her hand.

"Dinner's almost ready. You can sit on the couch while you wait if you'd like. Is there anything I can get you to drink?"

"No, thanks," I reply.

This has to be a nanny. This graceful lady can not be Justin's mother.

But the similarities in their facial features, hair, eye color, and build is uncanny.

Personality-wise?

Never seen anything more different in my life.

I hear the soft tapping of small feet against the wood floor as two excited children rush forward. The girl immediately comes up to me and grabs my arms. "How much did he pay you?" she questions, looking deeply into my eyes with her vibrant green eyes.

"As much as he paid Justin's house mall," I reply with a frown.

"You poor thing." She looks down, a thoughtful look on her face. Then she pops her head up, a smile lighting her face. "I'm Candice, by the way." The boy that had come with her tries to jump on her, but she holds out her hand, and his forehead crashes against her palm. He swings his arms for a good half-minute before letting his arms fall to his sides in defeat. He rests there until the girl removes her hand, causing the boy to fall on his face. "That's my twin, Just. Believe it or not, he's even more annoying than Justin."

"You're right, I'm not sure if I can believe that."

"Dinner!" Justin's mom calls.

Instead of trying to convince me, Candice simply whispers, "Good luck," into my ear before skipping off to the dining room.

This should be interesting.

———————

Interesting was an understatement.

You know the idiom, 'What goes up, must come down'?

Well, unfortunately, gravity applies to Cottage Pie as well.

"I'm so sorry," Amy says for the millionth time as she helps me remove the sticky mashed potatoes from my hair.

I don't say 'it's fine' or 'it's alright', because it isn't—but I also don't say 'don't worry about it', because she will anyway.

What else do you say in this situation?

"Rest in peace," I finally say, patting her arm gently.

Rest in peace?

REST IN PEACE?!

Darn it, Paris, she's not dying any time soon.

Or is she?

Maybe she's sick—

Amy gives a little laugh, interrupting my thoughts and smiling down at me as she removes the last chunk of mashed potatoes from my hair. "Don't worry, I will."

She will die?

Or she will rest in peace?

Or will she die and rest in peace?

"Tonight's board game night," Amy begins, changing the subject and chasing away my thoughts. "Would you like to stay for a game or two?"

No.

No, I would not.

I'm about to decline when young Candice comes up beside me with her hand on her hip. She leans forward into my ear and whispers. "If we team up, we can crush the boys like bugs."

I raise an eyebrow, giving a sly grin. My mind is made up in a second. "Let's destroy those cockroaches."

"I'm guessing that means you're staying?" I hear Lucas say from behind me.

I turn to face him, placing a hand on my hip to match Candice. "What board game are we playing?"

"Twister," Justin replies, seeming to grab the game out of thin air from behind his back.

"But that's not a—"

He cut me off with a hand. "Of course it is. It cures boredom, doesn't it?"

"That's the wrong 'board', genius."

But Justin isn't listening. Instead, he's already taking the mat out of the box and laying it down on the floor, right on top of Just.

I grab onto my ears as a surprisingly high-pitched scream escapes from beneath the mat. Suddenly it flies into the air and lands right on my head, shrouding me in darkness. The smell of feet is overwhelming, and I immediately throw it off me. "What died on that?"

"Nothing..." Justin replies with a confused expression. "Unless you count Billy the long-legged spider—"

"Only our noses," Candice whispers in my ear with a wrinkled nose.

"Well, now the mat has another death on its death count," I whisper back. "My nose."

The girl gives a little snort giggle.

"Alright, everyone knows the rules," Lucas announces, clapping his hands together. "Should we do teams?"

"Girls against boys," I reply at once.

Lucas raises an eyebrow and gives a cocky grin. "You sure you want to do that?" he questions.

"Oh, we're sure," I return. Candice and I drop into a split, giving the boys matching smirks. We turn to each other and wink as though we had rehearsed. Then I push off my hands and jump to my feet, holding out my hand for the spinner. "Girls will go first," I say. He hands me the spinner, and I quickly give it a thwack.

Left foot green.

I leap confidently over the circles and land on the closest green one with my left foot. Twirling, I turn to face the rest of the group, tossing the spinner to Lucas.

He catches it easily, giving it a spin without turning away from our silent unofficial stare-down.

What?

I'm competitive.

Okay, not really, but I really want to beat the boys.

Left-hand green.

Well, isn't he just the lucky one?

I grin as he leans down before me as though bowing to touch his hand to the next green circle.

Candice and Justin's turns pass quickly and for some reason, we're already tangled.

This does not look like round one.

"Mrs. Roig—" I begin.

"Amy," she corrects, removing her hand from her ear, which made me realize she had just been on the phone—but it appeared that her call was over.

"Amy," I start again. "Are you playing with us?"

"I wish I could...and normally I would, but I just got off the phone with my husband. His car broke down, and he can't get home." She sighs. "Just, come with me."

The kid looks almost as relieved as I am to get away from us. He leaps up from the floor where he sat and grabs his mom's keys, flying out the door at record speed.

"Ju—Lucas is in charge while I'm gone."

Smart move, Amy.

Everyone nods from their uncomfortable positions, secretly begging the woman to leave so we can all spin again.

She finally leaves, and I swipe the spinner from the floor.

Right foot green.

I step my right foot over Lucas, setting it down on the next green circle. I hand the spinner down to him and then sit on his back.

Before he can say anything I interrupt, "I'm still touching my assigned circles."

He sighs, spinning the spinner with his free hand.

We continue like this until Justin's long form is stretched across the mat, Candice is in an extremely uncomfortable backbend, Lucas is weaved through them quite painfully, and I'm—

Well, I'm still standing on my two green circles.

"This isn't fair," Lucas grits out, his face turning a dangerous red. His arms are shaking and sweat is dripping down his arms. I almost feel bad.

Almost.

But the idea of crushing cockroaches is still fresh in my mind and puts the idea of being competitive into my bones.

So, I just stand and watch.

Ｔｗｉｓｔｅｒ （ｔｈｅ ｇａｍｅ）

𝐚 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐔𝐒𝐀. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐦𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐱 𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐫𝐨𝐰: 𝐫𝐞𝐝, 𝐲𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰, 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐞.

Ｔｗｉｓｔｅｒ （ｔｈｅ ｇａｍｅ）

𝐔𝐧𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐞