Two of a Kind

Chapter Four - Mud Pies and Kisses by Accident

(Still Seamus' PoV)

Seven year old Seamus was bored. He had already swept the kitchen floor, watched two movies, rode his bicycle, and played with his Tonka Trucks. Now he was sitting on the top step of the staircase leading from the living room to the foyer (where the front door was), just waiting for someone to knock on it.

Natalie MacDonald, preferably. Natalie had been his friend ever since she was a baby. He was like her big brother--he had always wanted a sister, but his parents had said that he was enough to handle. So, Natalie had filled the position. Normally, he would push her around on her tricycle in the afternoon, or they'd go down to the creek and catch frogs. That, or they's play some type of board game, but they didn't do that too often because Natalie didn't really understand rules.

Natalie, however, had been enrolled in a Muggle preschool. Her mother was a witch, but her father was not, and he demanded that she be at least a little "normal." She wouldn't be back until five o clock.

It was three o clock now.

He sat on the step awhile longer, just staring at the door, when there was a knock on the door. Happily, Seamus raced down the steps and swung it open. Annie Peters was standing in front of him, clenching tight to the leash on a huge dog, a St. Bernard, if he remembered correctly.

"Wow, Annie, is that your dog?" he said in awe, petting its silky fur.

Annie nodded, struggling to keep hold of the dog as it jumped toward Seamus. "His name is Willy. We got him yesterday. You wanna' take him for a walk or something? I was going to go down to Jack's house. He got a turtle!" She said all this very quickly, and with a bright red face to match her hair, as she tried to keep her dog from running away.

"Yeah, I'll come!" he said eagerly. "Mum, I'm going to Jack's house!"

"I don't want you walking there by yourself!" he heard her faint yell.

"I'm going with Annie and her big dog!" he yelled back, the door still wide open, Willy's tail wagging furiously.

"Okay!"

Seamus grinned, a dimple showing in his left cheek. "Can I take him?" he said as they began to walk. He gestured toward Willy, who was dragging poor Annie far ahead of him. He ran to catch up.

"The only guy that can control him is my dad," she said breathlessly, handing him the leash. Annie was right; the minute his fingers grasped the leash, Willy was dragging him along. His arms began to ache and he breathed a sigh of relief when they reached Jack's house, five minutes later.

Annie knocked on the door, then patted her pigtails. Jack was a tall, skinny boy with dark hair and freckles. He had a wide smile on his face. "Wanna see Homer, don't ya'?" he said, opening the door.

"Who's that Jack?" called a shrill voice, and Annie winced a little as the voice of Jack's grandmother travelled down the steps.

"My friends, Grannie," Jack muttered.

Annie and Seamus braced themselves for what was to come. Jack lived with his father and his grandmother; Seamus thought his father was nice enough, but his grandmother was scary. Annie and Seamus looked fearfully at each other as Jack's grandma thundered down the stairs leading to the foyer, where they stood. Annie was chewing on her lip.

Jack's grandmother was an enormously fat woman, who always wore a light blue dress and large, tattered brown slippers, and too much perfume. Before she even reached the third to last step, Seamus could smell it. He sneezed as she ran a rough hand through her frazzled white hair, smiling so wildly her eyes seemed to have disappeared. Seamus raised his eyebrows.

"Why hello dearies!" she said shrilly, pushing Jack aside and bending down to pinch both Seamus and Annie on the cheeks. Seamus winced and closed his eyes. "Would you like some tarts?" Her voice boomed throughout the tiny house.

"N-no thank you, we want to see Jack's turtle," said Annie, looking at her wide eyed. Jack's grandmother released their cheeks and Seamus rubbed his face, more than a little miffed.

"Come on, I'll show Homer to ya!" Jack yelled excitedly, and he stomped up the stairs. At this point, Willy the St. Bernard wagged his tail ferociously and bounded up the steps after him, unbalancing Jack's grandma from her feet. Annie grinned in nervous apology and chased after her dog; Seamus followed, in such a hurry that he nearly tripped over his own feet.

When they were inside Jack's room, Seamus and Annie shrank against a wall and panted, while Jack bolted the door. He took something that looked like a key from his pocket and opened his closet with it. Jack loved locks and keys; he didn't own one single thing that didn't have a key. Even the black box under his bed which held all his keys was locked.

The closet opened to reveal all of Jack's clothes (which consisted of about ten outfits) and on the right, a habitat for his turtle. "Homer's his name," Jack said, presenting the turtle to Seamus and Annie.

"He's cool," Annie said, "but he needs another name."

"Another name? Why?" said Seamus, narrowing his eyes in confusion.

"Because," said Annie knowingly, expertly taking the turtle from Jack and sitting down on his bunk bed, "everybody has two names. My name is Annie Elizabeth. Don't you have two names?"

Jack looked thoughtful. "I'm Jackson William," he said. "That's what it says on my birth certificate."

"I don't have two names," Seamus said dully, feeling a little put out.

"You're weird then. Everyone is supposed to have two names!"

"How do you know?" he retorted defensively.

Annie ignored him and handed the turtle back to Jack, who raised it high in the air. Willy the St. Bernard was looking at Homer in a very odd way, indeed. "We could spray paint his nitials on his shell!" Jack said, lighting up.

"Initials," Annie corrected. "Your dad should have some, doesn't he?"

"I'll go check."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Three hours later, Seamus was back at home, staring blankly into the telly. He and Jack and Annie had dubbed the turtle Homer Lego-Light-Up ..... Then Seamus' mum had called to tell him to come home immediately. Seamus had walked home alone, hands in his pockets, rain drizzling lightly, making soft pitter patter sounds against the dark pavement. He kicked pebbles, wondering why he was weird. Was it because his mum was a witch? But that had nothing to do with not having two names! He was confused, to say the least.

He tried to push his thoughts to the back of his brain, but his attempts were useless. He walked dejectedly to the window, pulled back the curtains, and gazed outside. It was raining harder now. "Seamus, Natalie's going to spend the night!" he heard his father's voice call. "She's coming over now with her sleeping bag!"

Seamus ran away from the window, now grinning, and jumped down the steps into the basement, where the fireplace was. He seated himself on the moth eaten sofa and waited for her to arrive. About a minute later, there was a blinding light and Natalie toppled out of the fireplace, did a sort of somersault and landed straight on her bottom. Seamus stifled a snigger as he took her bag from her; she dusted his pants with soot, because she couldn't reach his face. "Ha," she said simply, pushing back her blonde hair.

"Let's play Upside Down," Seamus said, a cruel smirk on his face.

Natalie knew that look. Her face scrunched and she shook her head defiantly.

Seamus decided to play anyway.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"No, Seamus! Stop!" Natalie whined, as seven year old Seamus picked her up and flipped her so that her head nearly touched the ground. "No, no, no, no!" Natalie cried, and Seamus gave in and set her down on her feet.

She gave him a dirty look as he grinned at her. And then, she did something only a three year old would do. She spit on him. On his forest green shirt, to be exact. His jaw dropped in disbelief as she clapped her hand to her mouth and started to giggle.

"How's everything going up there?" his mum called from the basement.

"Er...fine mum!" Seamus called, rubbing his spit covered shirt against the wall. He looked down at Natalie, who was now on the floor, giggling her heart out.

He narrowed his brown eyes. "I'm going to get you!" he said, but before he could grab her, she sprinted away. Seamus ran after her, wondering how somebody so young could run so fast. "Come 'ere kid!"

He chased her outside, and around the front yard, not noticing the rain. She was looking over her shoulder at him, still giggling. "Natalie, watch out!" he yelled, as she started to trip over a tree root.

He sped up, but not in time to catch her before she fell. She hit the ground with a hard thud, right in her face. He stood over her, not realizing he was holding his breath. "Nat?" he said, cautiously.

A giggle escaped her throat and Seamus sighed in relief. "You landed in a pile of mud, there," he said, snorting. Natalie stood up, wiping her muddy hands on the front of her white shirt and bent down. Seamus knew what she was going to do before she even did it. "You better put that mud pie down," he said warningly, raising his eyebrows.

Suddenly, he felt the splatter of mud on his face. "Babies," he muttered, trying to wipe the slime off. He took a step back, not noticing, that he was also standing in mud. He slipped backward and landed hard on his back on the ground. "Shit!" he yelled, his back in aching pain and mud in his eyes.

"Seamus, is you hurt?" Natalie said, in a childlike whimper, bending down next to him, and he saw her large eyes when he swiped all the mud from his face.

"Nah, I'm fine," he started, but he was cut off.

"Natalie will make better," and before he knew it, three year old Natalie had pecked him quickly on the lips. "Better Seamus?"

Seamus sat up in the mud, wide eyed, and stared at her in horror. She pushed her sopping blonde hair from out of her face and rolled her eyes. "Why did you do that?" Seamus said, still not believing that he had been kissed, and by a toddler at that!

"Mummy does it to me so I feel better," she said, as though this was obvious, and she stood up and immediately began to jump up and down, squishing mud all over her brand new shoes.

"Mum is going to kill me," Seamus said, standing up. He motioned for Natalie to follow him into the house, and turned, but stopped dead.

Natalie had nailed him in the back of the head with a mud pie.