At a quarter to five, Lyric arrives to pick up Janna, Emmie, and Kookie. They’ve all decided to ride together in his parents’ minivan. Melody, Yoon, Harmony, and her date all file into my house behind Lyric. Apparently, Harmony found herself a date.
As my eyes slide his way, I do a double take. This gorgeous young man looks very much like a certain worldwide handsome boy. I’m holding my breath as I wait to see if his name is also Jin. But as it turns out, I am to be disappointed.
“Mrs. Franklin,” begins the ever-polite Lyric, “this is my sister, Harmony, and her date, Jon.”
Jon. Ha. So close to Jin. I’m laughing internally even while I greet my guests with a smile. “Hello, Harmony. Jon. It’s nice to meet you.”
Quickly, my eyes scan Harmony before flitting across the space between her and Melody. I take in her sister’s form next. These two girls look remarkably similar. Suddenly, I recall Janna mentioning over a month ago that they are identical twins. But their outfits are quite different.
Melody is wearing a forest green gown with a fitted waist. It’s perfect for her slender frame. The dress flows in a form-fitting straight line almost all the way to the floor. It has long bell sleeves that travel below her wrists to cover the bottom of her hands.
Harmony, on the other hand, is wearing a pure white gown that bells out from her waist. I’m wondering how much tulle is hiding under that skirt to give it that much body. Her skirt falls nearly to the floor too, but the top of her dress is quite different from her sister’s. Harmony’s dress is sleeveless, its straps falling off to the side to cover just a couple inches of her upper arms. Her shoulders are completely bare. Which explains the silver wrap she’s wearing draped over them.
Everybody is standing awkwardly by the front door. I decide to be the meddling mother I am.
“Would you all mind if I take a few pictures of you?” I query.
“That’d be great, Mrs. Franklin.” Lyric speaks again.
“Yes. Thank you,” someone else murmurs, but I’m not quite sure which of the girls just spoke.
“If you’d like, I can take all the pictures with my phone and then text them to all of you,” I offer.
Everyone nods.
Just then, I watch Lyric as his head turns and his eyes nearly bug out of his head. He has just caught sight of my daughter. He clearly likes what he sees.
I glance her way. She’s clothed in a beautiful burgundy dress that brings out the rich tones of her dark gold hair. The top of her hair has been French braided into the shape of a heart on the crown of her head. The bottom half of her hair is flowing down her back in a beautiful cascade of straight tresses. Emmie is following behind her. Emmie’s clad in a long navy gown with wide pleated straps. The pleats in each strap are created by a swath of silver ribbon tied at the bottom of the straps where they meet the dress. Her honey hair is pulled up in a twist behind her head. Several cute wispies have fallen to frame her face in softness.
I glance at Kookie in time to witness him swallowing his tongue as he sees her for the first time. She smiles self-consciously at him as she crosses the room towards him.
“Emmie,” Kookie seems to get stuck on that one word as she comes to a stop in front of him.
Her smile fades. Nervously, she studies the toes of his shiny black shoes.
“You look pretty, Emmie,” he finally croaks.
She glances up at him in surprise. “I do?”
He nods. “Mmm-hmm. Real pretty.”
Her face begins to glow as a smile stretches across the entire surface of her countenance.
Lyrics walks up to Janna. His eyes are definitely appreciating her loveliness as he breathes, “You look beautiful.”
She blinks, and a tiny smile illuminates her face. “You look good too,” she murmurs.
“I got you a little something,” he admits as he pulls a floral box out from behind his back. A perfect red rose embraced by a sprig of baby’s breath beams up at her.
“A corsage?” Janna gasps. “Lyric, you didn’t have to do that!”
“I wanted to do that,” he grins. Then he pops the box open and pulls the corsage out before holding it towards her wrist. “Do you want to wear it?”
“Of course.” A moment later, her wrist is adorned by the crimson bloom. Janna smiles down at it as she draws it towards her face for closer inspection.
I see Emmie wistfully watching this little exchange.
“Em?” Kookie whispers.
“Hmm?” Her head swivels back towards my eldest son.
“I got you something too.”
Her eyebrows fly delicately up into the air. “You did?”
He nods as he slides his hand into his pocket. He withdraws a white jewelry box.
Emmie’s eyes grow wide. Kookie lifts the lid to unveil a silver necklace. Suspended from the silver chain is a heart-shaped sapphire.
She gasps. “You bought me a sapphire?”
We both know it’s her birthstone.
“It’s not a real one, Em. I didn’t have that much money.”
“Kookie! It doesn’t matter.” She’s gazing at it with wonder in her eyes. “It’s beautiful!”
“Do you want to wear it tonight?” he asks softly. Nervously.
“Of course!” She starts to reach for it, but then she changes her mind. “Do you want to help me put it on?” she queries sheepishly.
He grins at her. “Sure, Em.”
She returns his smile and spins around to give him easy access.
As he bends over her while he draws the chain around her neck, he whispers into her ear, “Thanks for agreeing to go to the dance with me, Em.”
I can tell that Emmie is brimming over with excitement right now. She closes her eyes briefly. Probably to concentrate on Kookie’s breath as it slides over her shoulder. A moment later, he straightens and reaches for her hand. He glances at me.
“Mom, is it times for pictures?”
“Yes.” My eyes search the room. I find an empty wall and gesture towards it. “Why don’t you all line up along that wall?”
All four of the boys are wearing white button-down dress shirts with black slacks. They all have a black dress coat on too. Every one of them looks truly sharp. Harmony’s date is the only blond among them. Jon’s thick blond waves are the perfect complement to his deep blue eyes. Kookie, Lyric, and Yoon all have midnight locks of various lengths. Yoon’s are the shortest. But his bangs still fall adorably across his forehead. Kookie’s hair reaches just past his eyebrows. But Lyric wins the contest. He has to keep pulling his own locks out of his eyes.
Janna loves his hair. She’s repeatedly begged him not to get a haircut for the last two weeks. During a couple of those conversations, I saw Emmie eyeing Kookie’s hair.
He glanced at her one night and queried, “What do you think, Em? Should I get an undercut?”
For some reason, her cheeks flushed, and she resembled a tomato for a few seconds. Then she mumbled something completely incoherent before fleeing the room. But his question made me ponder a new possibility. However, Kookie has yet to buzz the sides of his head, so perhaps he’s still waiting for Emmie’s answer.
Kookie and Lyric move over to the wall and stand in the center with Emmie and Janna. The twin girls flank them with their dates. I snap several pictures as I compliment them.
“You all look gorgeous tonight. I hope you have an amazing time at the dance.”
They all smile at me a few moments later before they shuffle out the door. I’m looking forward to their return and hearing all the details. I glance out the window as they pile into the van. Well, the boys piled into the van. The girls climbed in carefully. Thankfully, it’s not snowing tonight. And the school is just a short drive. So is the restaurant at which they’re stopping to eat.
I turn to head into the kitchen. Time to make some popcorn. It’s movie night for my husband and our little boys. There’s a pizza already cooking in the oven for them. I’ll get their sodas and popcorn ready too before I fly out the door to help with the dance setup.
But as my eye catches Abner and Alastair working together to build a Lego fort, I stop for a moment to simply watch them. To savor this moment. To store its memory away in the depths of my heart. I must enjoy them while I can. The twins are halfway to their own Snow Ball already. And I know those intervening eight years will fly by. Just like the last eight did.
