Characters: Tatum & Mack.
Setting: Summer of 2002 in Portage Lake, Maine.
Content: SFW.
Summary: Being cute before everything went to shit.
It had been an excruciatingly boring day so far. Church first thing in the morning, and then shopping in town with her parents the whole afternoon after that. It was way too hot to be following her mother around department stores and grocery stores for hours and hours. She never even made the twins walk the whole day, even though they took up most of the room in the cart. It wasn't fair, it never was. Just about as soon as the car was pulling into the driveway,
Tatum saw a chance to slip off, she was taking it, flinging her door open practically the second the vehicle came to a stop. Ignoring the grumbling of her father about taking the door off the hinges, she was already feeling better, humming to herself and heading through the backyard and into the woods, following the familiar pathway.
Mack had to be home, what else would she be doing on a Sunday afternoon? It was late summer, a bit chilly to go swimming, but Tatum wasn't totally opposed to it. There had to be something to do, and if Mack didn't have an idea, then probably Kia would. She couldn't even stick in the house and play her Gameboy, not after Sera had broken it a few weeks earlier, a fact she still hadn't forgiven or stopped pulling her sister's hair about. Basically anything was better than being stuck playing with the twins like she normally was. Mack was her best friend, but there weren't exactly a multitude of other kids to choose from when class was out for the summer. They had just sort of found each other. It was one of the many drawbacks of living so far out in a rural area. It sure was scenic, trees and trees for miles, but it sure was far away from everything and everyone else. Mack was the nearest neighbor, and even getting to her house took a few minutes through the path.
It was a pretty easy climb to jump over the fence and into Mack's backyard, but Tatum did struggle a little without a boost, almost losing her balance as she hoisted her legs over and tumbled into the grass on the other side. Kate always had people over making the backyard look
presentable, and Tatum always found herself wondering where all of the crazy plants and things Mack's mom made her gardeners plant came from. It was definitely more refined than her own shrubbery maze of a backyard, but she liked her yard better. She felt less like she was going to break something, or get yelled at for climbing the wrong tree.
Bolting up the steps on the deck, Tatum was careful not to leave fingerprints on the glass as she knocked loudly on the back patio door, bouncing on the balls of her feet a little while she waited for someone to answer. Mack, hopefully. She hated calling for her friend when her mom answered, she always gave her weird looks. She liked their maid though, even if her own mom was always complaining about how boastful Mack's family having hired help was.
