Roni and Joey: Chapter 14: Breakfast

Joey exited the bathroom after taking a shower, fully clothed in a pair of tan shorts and a red polo, and started to head to the stairwell when what could only be described as a monstrous roar could be heard coming from the door at the end of the hall. The sound echoed through the house, eliciting a chuckle and grin from Joey. As the door swung open, Roni appeared, looking like a demon from hell. She wore white lounge pants and a pink tank top. Her black hair was frizzy and standing up in all directions, with some dried drool present on the corner of her mouth. Her eyelids were halfway open and bloodshot, and her facial expression shouted “need coffee.” She let out another monster yawn before her eyes adjusted and she realized Joey was grinning at her.

“Fucking morning people,” Roni muttered as she padded past him, scratching her back as she went.

Still grinning, Joey moved out of the way before giving her a small taunt. “Hey, is that any way to talk to your big brother?”

“Ugh, you’re insufferable in the morning! And you aren’t my brother yet!” she whined, trying not to smile at Joey’s joke. “Is this something I’m going to have to deal with if everything works out?”

“Oh, little or not, my three months of living experience will be made apparent whenever possible, LITTLE sister,” laughed Joey as he headed downstairs to help with breakfast, while Roni groaned and headed into the bathroom.

Joey made it to the kitchen and smiled, seeing a French toast battering station set up on the island. Mrs. Hale was dipping Texas toast into an egg, vanilla, and cinnamon mixture before setting it into a pan next to another pan loaded with bacon. The rich aroma of cinnamon and sizzling bacon filled the air, creating a warm and inviting atmosphere.

“Morning, Mrs. H… I mean… mom,” said Joey as he leaned onto the island, resting his chin on his hands. “Need a hand with anything?”

With a twinkle of appreciation, Mrs. Hale smiled at Joey and nodded to a carton of eggs that needed to be cracked. “If you wouldn’t mind. I’m making a big breakfast today, and you know how everyone in this house likes their eggs…”

“Scrambled,” both Mrs. Hale and Joey said in unison, each with a big grin. Joey grabbed the carton and began cracking them into a bowl for whisking.

The two worked on their dishes separately, but still managed to maintain a good amount of small talk as they went, just like when prepping for dinner the previous night. However, Joey noticed there was a slight difference in Mrs. Hales tone as they spoke. He couldn’t quite place it, but to Joey, it sounded like she was still sulking in guilt from her reaction. Joey wanted to reiterate that he was okay and that he completely understood where Mrs. Hale was coming from, but the reality was a bit more complicated. He didn’t want to hold a grudge, and he just wanted to move past everything from last night, but Joey just couldn’t. Mrs. Hale and Mr. Hale were the two people that he always thought would have his back almost at the drop of a hat, but last night, the way they acted to his revelation, only highlighted the truths of the stories he had read online. The moment you’re label changes, thought Joey, is the moment when how you are perceived changes.

“Joey? Is everything okay?” asked Mrs. Hale with genuine concern. “You started to space out on me, sweetie”

“Huh? Oh, sorry. Still tired from everything from this past week, ya’ know?” replied Joey halfheartedly. While this didn’t convince Mrs. Hale, she simply nodded and opted to not push the issue. After all, she thought as they went back to work, this needed to be a fun breakfast before the day goes south.

About twenty minutes later, the three Hale daughters filtered into the kitchen, all drawn in by the smell of breakfast. Roni made a beeline for the coffee pot, pouring about half a mug full before opening the fridge and adding a caramel coffee creamer to it. She proceeded to take a sip and let out a contented sigh.

“I don’t understand how you can function without this, Joey,” Roni said as she started to head to the dining room.

“It’s just my cross to bear, Roni. Besides, it’s not like you love coffee” taunted Joey, “half of that is sugar from your creamer, you know!” he called out with a laugh.

As Roni entered the dining room, she immediately noticed something wrong and frowned. At the table, both Sandi and Ciara were sitting next to her chair rather than Joey’s as usual. The two looked up at their sister, greeting her with a smile.

“Morning, Roni,” both said in unison as she took her seat between them.

“Why are you both sitting here? You normally like sitting next to Joey when he’s staying over,” Roni asked in a hushed tone.

“Oh… uh… well… we just uh… wanted to sit with you this morning, is all,” replied Sandi in a nervous tone, Ciara nodding enthusiastically as she spoke.

“Yeah, Roni! Plus we don’t want JoJo getting Smallara!” Ciara added naively, causing Roni’s brows to knit together in annoyance while Sandi facepalmed.

“CiCi! You weren’t supposed to say anything, moron!” Sandi whispered in anger before looking at Roni. “We… well… I… just want to keep Joey safe, Roni and… I figured if we sit far away, it’ll decrease his chances of catching Smallara…”

“Sandi… that’s not how it works…” sighed Roni, her expression softening as she knew her sisters meant well, but ultimately, their attempts would be futile. “Look, you two, I know this is tough—” she paused and looked at the door to the kitchen for a moment before letting her face fall into a more saddened expression, “I’m struggling with it too. I know you both love Joey, but the best thing you can do is just… be yourselves,” she said with a forced smile. “Joey needs us to treat him like we normally do because nothing is going to change, just his height, okay? Mom and dad might see things…differently, but I promise, whether or not he’s a little, it will still be Joey.”

Roni wrapped each of her arms around either sister and pulled them in for a reassuring hug. “Now… if you both want to sit with me still, that’s fine, but please don’t treat him any differently than you normally would, okay? It’s not fair to him and it isn’t fair to you two.”

Sandi and Ciara looked at each other for a moment and nodded, before getting up and moving to the other side of the table where they normally sat.

“Roni… is it going to be weird being Joey’s… owner?” Sandi asked as she sat back down.

Roni looked at her younger sister, whose face had concern and confusion written all over it. “To be honest,” she sighed, “I haven’t even thought about it… at least not in a lot of detail. I… guess it could be… different,” she conceded before immediately adding, “but I’ll get used to it… I’ll have to… anyway, let’s just… focus on one thing at a time, okay, girls?”

Roni looked over at Ciara, who had been quietly listening. “CiCi… sorry for yelling at you last night…I was emotional and exhausted.” Roni made sure to give her youngest sister her full attention as she continued, “are you doing okay with all of this?”

The eight-year-old had her hands in her lap and twiddled her thumbs, swinging her legs back and forth as she thought for a moment. Truth be told, this was all a lot to take in at this age, as littles weren’t really brought up that often in her elementary school, but Ciara was picking up that this was a big deal and that there was a lot of worry regarding Joey’s fate. She really did wonder what it would be like to see someone she idolized the size of one of her dolls, or possibly smaller. More thoughts of playing with Joey at that size filled her mind, but Roni’s words from last night were still fresh in her head, and even the reaffirming sentiment from just moments ago made her really wonder if she understood what exactly it is to be a little.

“I… think so, Roni” Ciara started, before a more concerned look formed on her face. “JoJo’s going to be okay, right?” she asked, her blue eyes looking for hope in her sister’s expression.

“Yes, CiCi. He’ll be okay. I’ll make sure of it,” replied Roni with a big smile as she tried to ease the uncertainty of the situation.

At that moment, Mr. and Mrs. Hale, as well as Joey, entered the room carrying dishes of eggs, bacon, French toast, and fruit. The three of them served the food onto all the ceramic dishes on the table, making sure that everyone had an even portion of food, before taking their own seats and digging into the breakfast.

The room hummed with satisfaction as breakfast progressed. French toast had always been something Mrs. Hale loved making, and the added help from Joey cooking the eggs and making sure the bacon didn’t burn only allowed Mrs. Hale to be more focused on her craft.

“This is so good, mom!” exclaimed Roni through a mouthful of French toast and bacon.

“Yeah, mommy! Thank you for making breakfast for us!” added Ciara with a smile as she smothered another piece of toast with syrup.

“Ciara! You need to eat fruit…” Mrs. Hale said sternly, to which Ciara immediately added a spoonful to her plate and flashed her mom a big smile.

“That’s better, honey,” Mrs. Hale affirmed with a smile of her own.

Sandi and Joey both exchanged a smirk as they teasingly took another portion of French toast without grabbing fruit, though that was short-lived when Mrs. Hale gave them a side-eyed glance, causing Joey to immediately scoop fruit onto both Sandi’s and his plates.

Meanwhile, Mr. Hale ate in quiet contemplation. While he appreciated the light-heartedness of breakfast, he knew that after he’d be taking Joey and Roni to the Calhouns’ residence to, for lack of a better term, blackmail them into letting them adopt Joey. He glanced at the boy for a moment while he considered how things would go once they were at the house. While he didn’t think the Calhouns would do anything violent, Mr. Hale wasn’t certain that they wouldn’t use whatever means they had to intimidate him into relenting on things. He nursed his coffee as he looked over at Joey, watching him behave as if nothing was wrong.

“That’s good,” thought Mr. Hale. “I may have reacted harshly last night. I owe the boy an apology for that, but at least he’s staying present and not dwelling on things, or at least not showing it bothers him.”

As breakfast came to an end and everyone worked on clearing the table, Mr. Hale cleared his throat, causing the rest of the family to look at him.

“Joey, Roni, finish helping clean up, and once you’re done, meet me in the living room. We’re gonna head straight to the Calhouns’ residence and… have a little chat with Joey’s parents.”

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