Home Alone
or not...

It was a struggle to carry four pieces of luggage down the long hallways of Elizabeth's apartment building, and she had barely managed to reach the elevator when they all spilled from her hands. With a frusturated sigh, she snatched the suitcases back into her arms and exited the elevator, just to find Jack waiting for her by the exit. A cigarette was sticking out of his mouth, but Elizabeth could tell it wasn't lit, and for that she was relievied. Elizabeth had caught onto smoking when she met Jack, but now as she organized her life, she was trying to get rid of the habit. It didn't help when your boyfriend was smoking every second.

"Hey Liz," He said, a small grin playing on his face as he tucked the cigarette into his pocket and took half of the luggage from her. He kissed her lightly, before brushing some of the golden curls away from her face and proceeding out the door.

"Hey," She replied with a sigh once they were outside. It was pretty chilly for a summer morning, but Elizabeth knew that in Southern California it would be atleast twenty degrees warmer. She was going to have to get used to the weather change from Northern California, to Calabasas.

The silver Lexus was waiting for them, and after sliding their luggage into the trunk, Jack pulled out of the apartment complex. Elizabeth wouldn't be back for two months, and although it was sad, she was excited to see a new part of California.

"Here we go," Jack said with a smile, as he rolled down the windows, letting the breeze fly through the car. Elizabeth quickly rolled hers back up and straightened her hair out before glancing over at him.

"Yeah, hopefully it'll be easy, but I doubt it. They're all teenagers."

Winnie hugged her mum and dad once they'd come down the stairs, lugging their suitcases behind them. Of course, she wasn't happy to see them go - She'd miss them like crazy, but she was excited about being at home, alone, with her siblings.
"I'll see you both soon!" She smiled and kissed each one of them on the cheek. Winnie loved her parents; Always had done, always would. She took a step back then and waited for her brother and sisters to say their farewells.

She laughed a little, remembering the last time they went away. They'd had a goodbye ceremony like this then to. However, last time, they'd sent a god awful nanny to look after them. Winnie kept her fingers crossed, hoping this time one wouldn't show up. It was no fun to be baby sat.

She then looked at her twin, Eljas who stood next to her. She shoulder bumped him lightly. They'd had many in depth conversations about what the summer was going to be like with all the freedom they had.

"Yeah mom, everything will be fine," Tyler assured his mother as he helped her carry the rest of her luggage down the walkway and into the back of a taxi that was waiting between their house and the Hinton's home. He smiled at his mother before hugging her, and quickly assuring her again that they would manage without them. "I'll go get dad," He offered, waving to his mom before he jogged back inside of the house. His father met him at the stairwell, and he shook his hand firmly, before saying goodbye and watching his father walk out the door. They probably wouldn't leave for another few minutes, because Tyler knew that now everyone would want to say their last goodbyes. Although they would all miss their parents, Tyler knew that the excitement of spending a summer alone was over-riding the sad feelings.

Katy pushed past Tyler once she saw her parents walk out the door, and she practically jumped onto her father. "Bye dad," She said before reaching up at kissing him on the cheek. Katy had always been somewhat of a "daddy's girl", not only because she was the youngest but because both of her parents knew that Katy needed to be protected, because it was never a surprise to come home and find their little girl hanging out in the basement with a group of guys.

"Bye mom," She said as she kissed her mother, before agreeing to behave. She smiled, as she ran her hand through her straight blonde hair. The thoughts of the perfect summer were already brewing inside of her head, and she was ready to finally have the freedom to do whatever she wanted without getting in trouble.

Gabriel was outside in nothing but his firefighter monkey pajama pants, he was even barefoot while carrying some of his parents luggage to their car. Side stepping a large rock, he set two suitcases and a duffle bag in the back of their SUV, before shutting the trunk. Attempting to ruffling some bed head out of his curly brown locks, and probably only making it worse, the lanky twenty-one year old strode back into the house, still half asleep. Opening and shutting there front door, gave strode by gave his father a pat on the back, and his mother a peck on the cheek. In which, she ended up hugging her face into his chest before she was much to short to reach and pinch his cheeks.

"Alright, mom you can let go now. Love you to." He mumbled still groggy from being woken up before noon. The shorter middle aged woman turned her attention to his other siblings and Gabe took the opportunity to hug her back, say his goodbyes and backup, and sit himself on the stairs while they waited for the rest of the siblings to say goodbye, and for there mom to finally be able to seperate herself from her kids. Yawning and flicking his gaze to El. J, and his sister, he leaned back and let his mind wander to the fun they were gonna have over this summer.


EDIT

Eljas was not terribly happy about being awake so early but he had managed to pull himself out of bed to say his goodbyes to their parents who would be gone for the whole summer. Now, he stood downstairs with the rest of the family in an intricately designed band t-shirt and jeans that he had pulled on that morning in a half daze. His hair was still a mess and he didn't bother with it at this point, letting it drape carelessly around his shoulders in knots.

He smiled over at his twin sister as she moved away from their parents to give his shoulder a light bump. He returned the gesture. This summer was promised to be one large party for both their family and the family that lived next door. Parents out of the house for a full two months? What could be better than that? Working hard to suppress a grin for the sake of everyone around, he stepped up to bid his parents farewell as well as Gabe took a seat on the stairs near-by.

“Now, don't play loud music and disturb the neighbors,” his mother reminded him for what seemed to be the hundredth time in two days. “I won't, mom,” he replied to her, giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Yeah, right... Music was such a large part of his life that he doubted that 'rule' would last much longer than ten minutes once the parents had left. Besides, there was one neighbor that he was sure would not be 'disturbed' by his playing. His best friend, Jolene. He couldn't wait to be able to play with her without having his parents calling for them to keep it down.

As he moved back, he hooked his left arm around Winnie's shoulder, pulling on an innocent face. “We'll behave ourselves,” he assured them with a slight nod of his head. He knew that his words wouldn't have much impact on them, but they were leaving them all alone, after all. There had to be some trust there. Or so he thought. Glancing to Winnie, Eljas grinned slightly before letting go of her. “Ready for the summer to start?” he asked her quietly under the cover of the others saying their goodbye's.

Winnie watched her parents warn Eljas about his loud music. She snorted as she supressed a laugh, knowing full well this rule was broken before it was even made. As he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, she did the same - Their signature twin gesture. She grinned back at him, knowing the same wicked thoughts were fleeting through his mind. "More ready than I'll ever be." She chuckled and watched her parents leave the house. "I hope they said goodbye to a clean house." She raised her eyebrows and then turned and headed up the stairs. She pushed her older brother's shoulder slightly as she tripped past him and wandered up to her room. She flung herself on her bed and curled back under the covers. Sure, she'd been wide awake when she was saying her goodbyes, but she could easily drop off into a slumber again until it was at least noon.

Jolene had said goodbye to her parents the night before. It was what she always did when they went away. It was easier that waiting in line for a kiss. With so many siblings it could take forever. So, after waking up and getting dressed in a pair of jeans and a tank top, she'd climbed from her window so that none of her siblings could see or stop her, and made her way to the Hinton house.

It was common for her to sneak into Eljas's room. He was her best friend since they were small and she knew that him finding her in his room wasn't anything strange. She also knew that he would be in the long line to say goodbye to his parents. She didn't expect him to be in there for a few minutes. So, like always, she climbed into her friend's window and situated herself on his bed, actually laying down.

The motion brought her tanktop up to reveal her rose navel piercing, and a line of butterflies tattooed over her hip bone. She lifted her hair and then dropped her head, letting the blonde and black tresses cushion her head.

Blaire stood there with a slightly upset expression. She was currently in the middle of pretending to be angry with her parents for leaving her behind and not taking her on holidays. She actually had it all worked out though. If they thought that she was upset, they were more likely to bring her back presents. Blaire was, like all of her other siblings and friends, excited about her parent's leaving. She couldn't wait for the first party to start at one of the houses. It was going to be so much fun in her mind.

It became her turn to say goodbye to her parents as she walked over and gave each of them a hug. "Bye Mum, Bye Dad" She said in a soft voice as her parent's looked at her with a smile. "Come on Blaire, we have been through this. It is a couples type thing, plus you will have fun here with your siblings and..." Her Dad explained to her before her mother jumped in. "And remember to be good. Blaire we are serious" Her mother said but with a smile. "If you are good we will bring you back a present" Her Mother said as Blaire smiled, giving them one last hug before letting another one of the siblings have their turn.

As she looked around she noticed that everyone was there except Jolene. That wasn't surprising since Blaire noticed at most of the farewell's she wasn't there. Now that she had said her goodbye's Blaire was ready for them to leave already.

Eljas chuckled softly at Winnie, as she headed upstairs, before turning his attention back to the others. His youngest sister, Blair, was in the middle of her farewell. That only left one daughter to bid them a good trip and they would soon be off. Lifting a hand to cover a yawn, Eljas shook his head slightly to try and wake himself up while he waited for his parents to finish up and head out the door. He loved them. He really did. But right now, he was simply too excited for the summer and impatient for them to get a move on so the parties could start.

“Have a good trip,” he waved as he turned and headed up the stairs. No, he couldn't wait that long. Passing Gabe on the way up the stairs, Eljas muttered something about breakfast, not waiting for any particular response and moving on. He wanted to sleep and then he wanted to start their parent-free summer. No homework, no chores, no worries. A silly grin still plastered on his face, he finally reached his room and opened the door to find that his bed was already occupied.

“Hey, Jo,” he greeted Jolene as he stepped inside. He was glad to see her, though instantly knew that his little plan for a power nap would not work. “You parents leave yet?” he asked her as he made his way over, collapsing on the bed beside her. The morning had been a hectic one. Being poked and prodded out of bed was not his favorite way of being woken up.

Gabe looked to Winnie' as pushed his shoulder and tripped up the stairs. Playfully rolling his eyes, Gabe yawned and pushed himself back into a standing position. As Eljas mumbled something about breakfast, and as if one cue his stomach growled. Mentally shushing his stomach, he stretched and dragged hisself back up the steps, wearing a lopsided smile. His parents were gone. For a little over two months. And despite being twenty-one, it still felt great being home from college and having your parents go on there own vacation.

Running his hand through his hair, Gabe nudged open his door with his shoulder, and kicked it shut loosely with his foot. Collasping onto his bed, his slate gray eyes shut and he exhaled, inwardly knowing that mom and dad were driving down the street now, getting farther and farther away with every passing minute. After a minute he sat back up and began rummaging through his draws for some clean clothes. Slinging a towel over his shoulder, and with clean clothes stacked up in his arms, Gabe exited his room and made his way to the bathroom, locking the door and turning the shower on. Living with siblings you learned to lock the door quick, especially as he oldest, and the twins a couple years younger than you constantly needed to go potty. --Stripping down and hopping into the hot water, Gabe decided he was going out and coming home with a bunch of things for the party that was most definitely going to happen.

Jolene looked up to see Eljas come in and she smiled. "Hey Tripp." She said, laughing softly as he landed next to her. She turned on her side and looked at him, playing with his tangled hair. "Yeah, they should be.. I said goodbye earlier." She told him, actually curling her body slightly to fit his.

"Your parents leaving now?" She asked, moving to scoot up and lay on his pillow. She still had some of his hair in her hand and began to untangle it with her fingers, playing with it. "I say I spend the night." She smiled mischievously, looking down at him. She hadn't been allowed to spend the night since the day his parents found out that she'd started her 'monthly ritual'. "You wouldn't mind sharing a bed with me again, would you?" She giggled softly and winked at him.

Finally, after a minute, she gave up on untangling his hair with her fingers. "That's it...Get me a brush. I need to fix your hair." She said, dropping his hair.

Blaire soon got bored with standing around outside waiting for her parents to leave so with a smile she walked back inside. She was really looking forward to the next two months without parents and knew that it would be a lot of fun. Her siblings were just as bad as her when it came to having a good time so she didn't doubt at all that she would be able to do whatever she wanted.

Once inside Blaire headed upstairs towards her bedroom to get changed out of her pajamas. She had to get out of bed quickly this morning since she had slept in and had to be rushed downstairs to say goodbye. Blaire didn't like being rushed to get ready so she had planned on going back upstairs and spending the next few hours getting ready for the day ahead. As she walked past Eljas room she saw Jolene in there playing with his hair. It looked kind of funny and Blaire laughed softly.

"Gosh when are you two going to realize that one day you will grow up, get married and have six kids of your own?" Blaire said teasing the two of them. She knew that as of yet they were just best friends, yet she couldn't help but think that they would make a cute couple.

Katy pranced back into the house after saying goodbye to her parents, and she quickly headed into the kitchen. Her strict diet left no room for breakfast, so Katy subsituted the meal with a Gatorade. Sure, it wasn't the healthiest choice but a bottle of Gatorade only had 130 calories, and to Katy, that was heaven.

She pulled the lemon-line bottle out of the fridge and slipped the orange cap off before pouring some into her mouth. The container was left on the table, because Katy now went upstairs to get dressed. Her bedroom was the farthest door to the left, and was marked with 'Katy', written in black cursive letters. She pushed the door open, revealing a room with hot pink and neon green walls. The hardwood floor was cold as she slid her barefeet over it, but she was too occupied with picking out a nice outfit to notice. It was simple today, because the previous day Katy had went shopping, so it was easy to grab her new clothes- a short pair of ripped white shorts, a pink tank top with peace signs all over it and a pair of pink flip-flops. She threw her blonde hair into a pony-tail, and brushed it out so it looked good. The last step was mascara, and then Katy considered herself ready for the day.

She grabbed her cell phone and began down the stairs, as she texted Blaire.

heyy. have ur parents left yet?
xox katy

Blaire was a friend of hers, and she was the only one in the Hinton family with an age that was close to hers.

As she walked downstairs, she noticed Scarlet also walking down, with her big headphones on. Katy rolled her eyes and pulled the silver headphones from their place. "I'm going to invite people over for a party tonight," She declared, "so I need you to show me where mom and dad keep the alcohol." It was true; Katy was only fourteen and she liked to drink, but it wasn't an addiction or anything. Her friends did it, so she did too. Besides, what would a party be without alcohol?

Tyler happened to over hear Katy's comment, and normally he would've quickly said no but he didn't this time. He hadn't been to a party in over a month, and it was easier to relax with beer, so he pretended he hadn't heard Katy. He wouldn't be a good older brother if he let on that he heard it and didn't do anything about it, so he walked into the kitchen and sat down after sliding a bagel into the toaster.

Eljas laughed softly at Jolene. She had always been a bit of a tease, even at a young age, and he was quite used to it by this point, even joining in with his own innocent flirting at times. The girl had a lot of great qualities about her. The fact that she was practically his personal hairdresser was only one out of a full list. Despite the fact that his hair was longer than half the girls' in school, he really was useless at taking care of it.

Rolling his eyes playfully at her, he rolled himself off the bed to go retrieve the brush, knowing full well that this was going to be painful. “They'll be gone in a minute,” he told her meanwhile, shuffling a mess of sheet music aside on his desk before he located the brush and tossed it over on the bed. “I have a feeling we'll be having a party tonight anyways so you can stay the night,” he laughed with a slight shrug.

Walking back to the bed, he took a seat with his back to her, just in time to see Blaire sticking her head in the room to have a laugh at the two of them. “Dunno. You'll just have to wait and see,” he replied to her with a tone of amusement. All of the years spent with Jo, he was quite used to Blaire and some others teasing the two of them. When he was younger he would get riled up and protest against it, but as he grew he lost interest in arguing the matter.

“Hey, do you know where Gabe is? It's about time we get that party together,” he added to his younger sister with a grin. He knew that she would be as much into this as the others and knew that he would be making sure that she didn't get into too much trouble along the way.

Blaire smiled at Jolene as her attention turned back to her brother who was asking her where Gabe was. Blaire hadn't seen him all morning but she had guessed that he would be around here somewhere. However what really caught the sixteen year olds interest was the mention of a party. Blaire loved parties and was even known to climb out of her window at night to attend them once her parents had told her that she couldn't go.

"Umm I don't know. I can go and find him though" Blaire said as she walked away from the door so that she could indeed go and find her older brother. Blaire got along well with Gabe, mainly because they were the only two in the family that weren't a twin. As she walked away she felt her pocket vibrating and took her phone out of her pyjama pocket. Blaire didn't go anywhere without her phone, even to bed.

She smiled at the text from Katy who was two years younger than her and quickly sent a text back.

Hey. Yeah I think so.
Sounds like we are having a party here tonight. Wanna come?
-Blaire xoxo

Blaire then headed down the hall to Gabe's room and saw that he wasn't there. Thinking for a moment where he could be she heard the sound of running water. Walking over to the bathroom door she knocked loud enough for him to hear her. "Hey... Gabe? You in there? Eljas wants to know what we are doing about a party tonight?" She asked.

Rolling out of bed, Irene woke with a start. The twenty one year old began to throw curses out right and left as she stood from the floor.

Irene had woken up earlier than all of her siblings, so she could wish her parents good bye, and head back to bed. This was her second time waking up for the day, and it hadn't gone very well. Her parents had made her promise to not disappear from the house so much, and to at least try to stay around and watch her younger siblings whenever she could. She had promised; it didn't mean she was actually going to adhere to that promise, but it reassured her parents somewhat.

Groggily walking out of her room, fuzzy rainbow slippers on her feet, she made her way down the stairs. "Did mom and dad leave yet?" she questioned the first person she saw, which just happened to be her youngest sister Katy. "Because I think I'm going to make myself a Screwdriver, and if they're still here, they're gonna get pissed at me..." She smirked lightly to herself, scratching her stomach slightly through her white cami. She wore black and white plaid flannel pants as well.

Walking up to one of the cabinets, she pulled out a glass, and placed it under the automatic ice maker in the fridge. Filling it up with ice, she set it on the counter, and then grabbed the orange juice out of the fridge. Disappearing into the cellar, she came back with a half empty bottle of Vodka in her hand.

As she poured herself the drink, she ran through the recipe in her mind. '2 ounces of Vodka, the rest is orange juice...' She finished it up, placed the orange juice back in the fridge, and grabbed herself a lime, which she cut up, and dropped a piece into her drink. She placed the Vodka in a nearby cabinet.

Satisfied with her alcoholic beverage, she took a drink, gazing around the kitchen. Tyler was there, Katy was there. She thought she had seen Scarlet as well. Laughing lightly to herself, she grabbed a poptart. "Vodka and poptarts. What a wonderful way to start the morning..."

And then she wandered out of the kitchen, and into the living room, where she sat herself down in a rather large recliner, and turned on the TV to Cartoon Network. The girl may have been twenty one, but sometimes, she acted more like a child than anything else.

Jolene grabbed the brush and sat up, playing with Eljas's hair for a second as she readied the brush and gathered his hair to start brushing the bottom. She smiled and nodded. "I think that will be the best part of them being gone, parties and music all the time. And of course getting to be in bed with you again." She teased.

Seeing Blaire, she smiled and waved. When she heard what she had to say, Jolene laughed and switched to be on her knees, looking over Eljas's shoulder. "you know.. I don't think I want six kids. Do you mind?" She asked, teasing them both and smiling.

Starting to brush Tripp's hair again, Jolene just listened, humming softly to herself as she brushed.

Eljas nodded to his sister's suggestion to go find the older brother. He had seen him on the stairs but figured he had just gone back to sleep by this point. They were all fairly tired this morning with the early wake-up call. "I was aiming for twelve,” Eljas shrugged his shoulder nonchalantly before letting slip a laugh that he had been trying to hold in ever since Blaire had popped her head into the room. With a good effort, he refrained from saying anything further but did wince slightly as he felt Jo tug at one of his knots.

“So I was thinking,” he started after a minute or so of listening to her soft humming. Her voice had always put him at ease and it took him a little while to remember what he wanted to suggest. “If we can get those new songs finished up to our liking, maybe we can start looking at finding a drummer soon? What do you think?” They had never talked about expanding their duo into a full group but he figured they couldn't go forever without other instruments. He had always wanted to add more to their music and make it that much better but hadn't been able to.