Vintage Red [GL]

With all the groceries now collected we brought our stuff to the check out, and paid for everything. Claire had the brilliant idea of just putting one of those splitty sticks in between our groceries and those of the neighbors so we could easily ask for two different receipts like they asked for. The cashier was just a tiny bit confused at what we were doing, but then again, she didn’t really care much in the end as we were paying for it anyway. 

When we left the store with our bags, we asked the police officers if we could have one of the sleds, just like the firefighters had told us. They gave us a quick look over and as we were carrying quite a few bags they nodded and started to unload one of the sleds from the stack, and they even helped us secure our bags on top of it. They also gave us a receipt to go with it. 

It basically explained what we had to do to bring back the sleds and to keep the receipt with us. I’m not really sure why, as we didn’t really have to pay a deposit for the sled. But it probably had a reason, so I didn’t question it much after the fact. 

The three of us pulled the sled together on our way home. I was surprised that it took so little effort to pull along, so much so that I looked back a couple of times just to make sure our groceries were still on top of it. 

Em chuckled. “Don’t worry, the nice officers secured it pretty well. It will need quite a bit of force to get dislodged.” 

“It’s just so light.” 

“That’s the lack of friction for you.” Claire replied. “I think we could easily have bought a multitude of this and still barely feel it.” 

“Then again, we barely have any friction of ourselves though.” Em countered. 

“Hmmm… Fair enough. Maybe we would need our spikes for that then.” 

“Yeah, that would probably work.” 

“Why do you have spikes, Claire?” I asked. “Do you need those for fencing?” 

“No, not really. But I own a pair or two for running on track and things like that. It’s useful to have, even if it’s not really necessary.” 

“Oooh. I didn’t know you did track as well.” 

“I need to keep in form after all. Both for fencing and for my girlfriend.” She gave me a wink. 

“Hehe.” I giggled. 

“We can’t all be cheaters like Aurora.” 

“That’s very true. We actually need to work for our condition.” Em lamented, but by the chuckle that followed it, it was clear that she was still pretty much joking. 

 

We arrived back at our street without any issues at all. All our groceries still nice and tightly secured to our sled. 

Em went over to Lady Blanchet’s house and rang the bell. Only five seconds later, we were already met with Julie at the door. 

“Ah, you are back?” She clapped her hands enthusiastically. “Did you find everything we needed?” 

I nodded. “We did! We packed it separately, too.” Looking at the sled behind us. 

“Oh, that’s a nifty way to transport things.” Julie looked the sled over for a second or two. “Could you haul the thing inside for a little bit? Or is it too heavy?” 

“I mean, we can just take the bags off for you, that’s no problem.” Claire replied. 

“Well, about that, the lady of the house would like to invite you inside for some cookies as a thank you for your help.” 

“And she would be really disappointed and very sad if the nice girls would say no.” A somewhat muffled voice called out to us from inside of the house. It made the three of us laugh. 

“You heard her.” Julie smiled. “And it would probably be best to not keep your groceries standing outside like that.” 

“Hmm.” Em humphed happily and then looked at me. “What do you think, Ria, would you like some cookies?” 

“I am always up for some cookies. You should know that by now.” I grinned. 

Em laughed. “True, and what about you, Claire?” 

“Sure thing. But what about Aurora and Anya?” 

“They are invited too of course.” Julie quickly replied. 

“I’ll send them a message to ask them!” I took off my mittens and took out my phone.

“Alright.” Claire smiled and tested the weight of the sled. Before she could even ask, Em was already helping her lift it. Julie tried to help them too but they were already pretty much carrying it so she didn’t really have much left to do. 

 

When we got inside we took off our jackets and hanged them on the coat hanger. The inside of the house was nice and toasty, it was definitely warmer than in Aurora’s house. Older ladies do generally like that kind of environment, don’t they? 

We followed Julie into the living room where we were immediately met with the tiptaps of paws on the floor. It was Bobby, the little white doggo that belonged to Lady Blanchet. 

“Bobby!” I crouched down, and he instantly came over to me to jump up against me. 

“You can hold him if you want.” Lady Blanchet said with a smile. She was sitting next to the fireplace with another blanket draped over her lap. 

“Can I?” 

“Yes, he very much likes being held.”

The moment I tried to pick him up, he pretty much jumped into my arms, ready to give me some licks on my chin. 

“Hehe.” I giggled as his tongue tickled quite a bit. 

Em gave Bobby a scratch on his head while Claire opted to go and give Lady Blanchet a hand. “Hello there, I am Claire, I am a good friend of your three neighbors.” 

“Nice to meet you, Claire.” Lady Blanchet offered her hand as well and gave Claire a short nod. “My name is Amandine Blanchet. Lady of the house.” 

Claire nodded back politely. 

“Is your partner not joining?” She asked. 

“Oh, sorry. I was too distracted by Bobby. I sent them a message to ask if they wanted to come over.” I was a bit at a loss about what to do with Bobby. I was just holding him, I didn’t really want to put him down. 

“Ah, I’ll get it for you.” Em sensed my predicament. “Your phone is in your purse, right?” 

I nodded and just like that Em quickly fished my phone out of my purse. Entering the pin code swiftly as well. “Ah, looks like they’ll stay home to clean for a bit longer.” 

“That has to happen as well.” Lady Blanchet nodded. “They are very diligent.” 

“That they are.” Em nodded and put my phone back into my purse. 

“In any case, I think the three of you definitely deserve some cookies after helping us out. Julie, could you go and get them?” 

“I’ll bring them right to you.” Julie nodded and walked off into one of the doors. Cookies have never hurt anyone. 

 

Apparently it was Lady Blanchet herself who had made the cookies. According to her, it’s pretty much the only thing she still does by herself. Originally they were meant to be somewhat of a gift to Julie and her family for the new year, but she ended up baking all the ingredients because it would be somewhat of a waste to not use them up. Thinking that she would be able to give away the leftovers anyway, and it seemed she was right. Though I was pretty sure she made them with us in mind to begin with. Especially as she let Julie wrap some more up for Anya and Aurora to eat as well. 

Besides eating cookies, Lady Blanchet spent some time getting to know Claire and her story about how she got stuck here with her girlfriend at our home. For the rest, we just spent the next hour or so catching up like you’d normally do with your grandparents. With the feeling as though grandma is trying to overfeed included in the experience. 

But as we didn’t want to let our girlfriends wait for too long, we decided to go home rather than spend the entire day eating sweets at our lovely neighborhood granny. 

 

We made the hop and a skip to the house next door, where Aurora came to greet us. Although I had called out to her, her suddenly showing up in front of me made me jump a little. We then told them about our trip to the store and the sled we managed to procure. 

During this conversation, I noticed that Anya was rather silent as she was standing behind Aurora. It seemed as though she wanted to say something but couldn’t really find an opportunity to do so, that is, until Em gave her a shot when she asked how things had gone here. That’s when she told us that Rora had revealed her secret and that she was perfectly fine with it. That explained the feeling I got to some extent, but something about Anya still seemed off to me. I couldn’t really put my finger on it, though. I hummed and looked inquisitively at Rora, but she just gave me an affirmative nod in return. 

That still didn’t really answer anything, but if they are holding something back for now, there must be a good reason for it. So I decided to drop it for the moment. I trust Rora’s judgment plenty enough. Besides, there were hamburgers to be prepared, and I wouldn’t want to spoil their taste by fretting over something I couldn’t control anyway. Cookies are good both as dessert and as a starter. You can’t tell me otherwise, as I would just humph my way out of that.