Cousins - Episode 2

    Hey guys! I'm here with this week's episode, which I meant to post earlier but I forgot to take pictures for. Again, it's short, but it is what it is. Enjoy! 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

POV LOTTIE

I think every family has that one cousin you can’t stand to be around. You know, the one you’re always forced to hang out with during family gatherings because you’re close in age and got along when you were 3. The one that’s completely insufferable and annoying and only a jerk to you, so whenever you complain about him, none of the adults believe you. Not that grown-ups listen to me anyway. Exhibit A: when my parents decided to move closer to said insufferable cousin and refused to let me convince them otherwise. 

That’s how I found myself in this mess to begin with. I was moving from the big city to some small town called Piney Grove, which was apparently tucked deep into the forest and only had one Walmart. On the car ride to Piney Grove, I pressed my face against the car window, watching the city— and my old life— disappear into forest. I still couldn’t believe we were moving away from the city  I grew up in. I couldn’t decide what was worse: moving away from my old home and my old friends, or moving across the street from my awful cousin. I decided on the latter since I hadn’t seen my cousin in years. Something told me my cousin had plenty of time through the years to turn into an even more insufferable kid. 

It was even worse when my parents announced that we would be eating dinner with my aunt’s family. I knew that was code for “We’re too lazy to get dinner ourselves so we’re crashing at Aunt Summer’s house.” My mom’s sister, Aunt Summer, is one of my favorite adults ever. She’s super talkative and doesn’t act too good to have a conversation with me. Uncle Brad isn’t too bad either. Though, he is a lot more shy than my aunt is. Their son, Troy, however— well, you’ve probably already figured out that he’s the awful cousin I was talking about earlier. He’s a nightmare in human form. 

We arrived at the Everhart’s house, and the next thing I knew, my cousin and I were outside on the porch, serving what the grown-ups called “cousin-bonding-time.” That was fancy talk for “Go suffer away from the dignified people.” I tried to take in as many details about my cousin as I could. I didn’t know what I had expected. He was taller than me now. (He was a 16-year old boy. Of course he was taller than me.) It looked like he put more attention into the way he dressed, too. There was something else  I couldn’t quite place. He gave off a different aura than he had before. A whisper-voice inside of me said that he wasn’t the same kid I remembered, but I ignored it. After all, all 16-year old boys are awful. That’s basically one of the facts of the universe. 

The awkward silence was thick enough to cut with a knife until my cousin finally decided to speak. “Hey Lottie… Long time no see.”

“Yeah. Long time no see, Troy,” I replied. 

“How’s life?”

“Good.” Of course it was not good. I just moved away from everything I had ever known to two streets down from my mortal enemy. I cringed, waiting for Troy to say something insulting.

“That’s good. My life has been good too.”

“Um, I have to go,” I lied.

“You do?”

“Yeah… I have to go walk my goldfish.”

“Oh… Have fun with that?”

I slipped back inside Troy’s house, not really caring about how awful my lie was. I didn’t have a goldfish, nor did I have anywhere to go. I just really didn’t want to talk to Troy. I could already tell my time in Piney Grove was going to be interesting…

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Sorry guys, lemme just- 

    EEEEEEEEEEKKKK LOTTIE IS SO CUTE.

    I felt like that was deserved.

    ANYWAY, time to write my sign-off as though I'm currently a functioning member of society. I have no clue what to write. But yes, this photo series is introducing Lottie! Lottie isn't technically a new doll. I've actually had her since 2019, and she's taken on many forms over the years. Lottie was originally a Jly 23 that I had named Nicki (though she later went by her full name, Nicole. She's not to be confused with Nicki Hoffman). I think Nicole was mentioned on the blog maybe 2 times, but I wasn't bonding with her, so I killed off her character and turned her into Lottie. That's normal doll collector / writer stuff, right? Anyway, I finally got Lottie's wig (that was the package I was oh-so-excited about in the last post), and I am OBSESSED with her. 

    ^The before and after. 

    I think I'm gonna end this post before I start rambling on about Lottie and Troy. I'll be back soon (again aiming for next Monday, but you all know how I am sometimes) with the next episode, but until then, have a great week and remember to eat your veggies! Bye! <3