30

"Babe, can you pass the sparkling water please," I say, asking him a favor.

"Of course, beautiful."

Dalton surprised me with a picnic after my shift. I made subs for our main course because he asked, and I went along with it. I was unaware it was for this purpose. He is so adorable. He treats me amazingly and doesn't ask for anything intimate. We haven't got to that stage yet, but I know it's on his mind if it's on my mind, but I don't think I am ready for that next step. We have been seeing each other since June, and it's already July. Our one month is coming up soon on the 20th.

Tonight our family are going to have dinner. My parents love Dalton as if he was their own son. I think it's because of my brother. Oh, how I wish he was here to meet him. They would get along like brothers. It's almost the 29th of my brother's death anniversary. July 4th was hard, but Dalton helped me through it. It was new to me to have someone there because I am independent when it comes to my feelings. I don't like to be a burden to people with my problems.

Dalton and I lay on our cozy blanket with the fresh summer breeze flowing over us. We are staring at the clouds, pointing out which cloud looks like what. I have always loved this activity when I am in a car or on a road trip.

"That looks like a Japanese dragon," I say, pointing out.

He sits ups. "Holy shit, that does." He responds, looking amazed. He lays back down.

I reach for his hand and hold it. I roll over on his stomach, and he wraps his arms around me. I close my eyes. "I am taking a nap."

"Right in the public park?"

"Yes."

"I will nap with you. Let me set an alarm, so we are not late for dinner."

"Mmm k," I say relaxed.

Soon as my eyes closed, they are open again. I hear the alarm clock go off. I rub my eyes and flip my hair back and stretch over him to turn it off. He snakes his hands around my waist and begins tickling me.

"Haha, stop!" I say, giggling.

He stops. "How was your nap?"

"Great! I had the comfiest pillow."

He gets ups and straightens his pants. He smiles. "Good. Let's pack up and get ready to go home."

We make it home with dinner set nicely on the table. Daltons dad is in the living room with my dad relaxing. I throw the blanket in the laundry room and threw out the remaining trash in the picnic basket.

We are at the table, enjoying the food my mom whipped up. She is a marvelous cook. I could never turn down her food unless I ate before or I ate too many sweets like that one time last year. At the table, we are talking about a mix of things. Places we want to go, weird theories, and any strange shit that pops in our heads, which my mind was the main conversation at the table.

"Haha, oh my god, imagine you in twister, mom."

"I could still rock that!"

I giggle. "I will believe when I see it."

"Let's do it! We have the game, dear."

"We do?" I question, thinking back to the closet of games.

"Yes, I will go get it." She says, setting her napkin on the table. She comes back into the kitchen with the Twister box in her hands. She sets the box on the table. "Who's up?"

"Not me, darling. I don't need to be that grown-up that can get up or be that silly meme." My dad responds.

I burst out a laugh. The "Help, I have fallen, and I can't get up" meme fills my head. "I volunteer as tribute," I say to my mom.

"Is that from The Hunger Games?" Dalton asks me.

"Yessir."

"I also tribute," Dalton says to my mother.

"Good! Let's get this thing laid out.

My father and Daltons dad begins to get up from their seats with their beer in their hand.

"Oh, nu-uh." My mom says, pointing at the dads to sit back down. "You boys are going to watch."

They frown. We get the mat spread out and the spinner alongside it.

"One more touch!" I say, quickly heading to the fridge and grabbing the whipped cream.

"Oh, boy!" Dalton chuckles.

I spray some in mine and Daltons mouth. I kneel, spraying each of the circles with the sweet whipped cream.

"Good thinking, dear! Whose spinning first?"

"Oldest goes first," I say, laughing.

She gives me that look whenever I would call her old. She looks past it and proceeds with the game. She picks up the spinner and flicks it. The arrow lands on the left foot on green. Daltons spins next and lands on the left hand on blue. I notice she forgot to take her socks off, so I take mine off before taking my turn. I spin, and it lands on the right hand on red.

Fast forward into the game, all of us are struggling to stay up. My dad had to spin for us since no one could lift a muscle to spin. I am on all fours but facing up. It's tiring, and my mom and Dalton are twisted up together. Me explaining it would make me sound twisted.

"There's no room for all of us to pick any spots." My mom says, laughing.

I let go and fall. "I think it's supposed to be two players on the mat."

"Okay, shoo." She says, laughing.

"Wow!" I say, playfully hurt. "Wait, shouldn't you have known?"

"I haven't played this in years, so it must have slipped out of my mind."

"Gotcha," I reply.

I stand back, watching them advance in the game.

My dad bites his lip. "That's my flexible girl"

Once my mom takes her next move Dalton falls with a displeased face, letting her win.

"Haha, you kids are weak." My mom says, getting herself up from the ground. She says, winking at my dad.

My mouth drops. "Sabotage!"

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Your disturbing comment."

She shrugs. "We talk like this all the time."

I gag. "I'm going to go get cleaned. Come on, babe."

I grab clean clothes from my room. I took one of Lucas's sweatshirt because I have nothing for Dalton to wear. He is giving me a sweatshirt of his own soon. He bought a new one and is trying to wear it so it can smell like him. I'm not even going to tell him where I got this one from. I hope that doesn't make me a horrible person. I see no need for him discovering out Lucas and I were something small. I look around for pants that he could fit in, but I had no luck. I am just going to help clean his off.

I walk into the bathroom with me staring in the mirror, looking at my hair. "Ugh, my hair is so sticky right now. I should have put it up."

He gets off the toilet. "I will get out of your way, and you take a shower, beautiful." He says, heading for the door.

I grab his arm. "Wait, let's take a shower together..." I say, tugging him towards me.

"S-shower?" He says, blushing.

I scatch my head. "Y-yeah."

"I don't think I am ready to be naked... I am self-conscious..."

"Aw baby, we can leave our main clothes on," I suggest.

He smiles. "Okay."

I start the shower, and I feel the temperature, and it's good. I began sliding off my pants and then my shirt. I am in my non-matching underwear and bra. I have a black bra and pink underwear on. He pulls his shirt over his head and slides down his pants, leaving him in his boxers. I'm admiring his figure. I don't see what makes him self-conscious...

"Are you done staring?" He asks me.

I snap out it. "Oh, haha yeah, sorry!" I kiss his cheek. "Your cute," I say, sliding my curtain over to the side.

I get inside, and Dalton follows behind. I am under the showerhead, getting soaked. I let Dalton through so he can get wet too.

"What are you two doing!" My mom yells from downstairs.

"We're washing our heads over the tub!" I say, looking over at Dalton and giggling.

"Okay, we got company, so hurry up!"

We went as quickly as possible but enjoying our time as well. He washed my hair, and I washed his. I face away from the showerhead as I'm washing myself with my sponge with my champagne toast body wash. Dalton grips my waist and brings me over to his body. I turn around, smiling. He spits water at me from his mouth.

"Dick head!" I say, laughing.

"Oh, I am a dick head now?" He says, laughing with me.

I bite my lip. "My dick head," I say, squeezing his face with my hand.

I move on and took my loofah that's in my left hand and washed his chest. We rinse ourselves off after being covered with soap. He leans against me with my back on the cold shower wall and kisses me. I take my hand through his wet hair and kissed him back. I hear my mom shout.

"Are you guys finished yet!"

Out of nowhere, I bite his lip. I put my finger on his lip. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry."

"Haha, it's okay. Is it bleeding?" He asks me as he touches his lip.

"No, not really."

"Guys?" My mom repeatedly shouts again.

"We are almost done!" I yell back.

We get out with our towels wrapped around us.

"Shoot, I just noticed that I am going to wear damp pants for the time being."

"Your gonna have to start leaving some of your clothes here."

He grins. "I might have too."

"There's a blow dyer underneath the sink. You can see if that will help."

"Okay, thanks, cutie."

I smile, and I leave my bathroom with my clothes in my hands to go get dressed in my room since he is doing his own thing. I settled into something comfy and went back into the bathroom. He turns off the dryer and puts it in the corner for it to cool off.

"Ready?" I ask him.

"Yeah, let's go." He responds.

Dalton and I walk downstairs to Lucas on the couch next to my mom and our fathers. He looks skims Dalton up and down in his sweatshirt. He doesn't look pleased nor mad. He skips looking at my face.

He gets up. "Well, I am just glad I was in the neighborhood to bring your dish back. I have been very busy lately as you can tell since it took weeks to bring it back."

"Oh, don't worry about it! I'm just glad you did." My mom smiles.

"Alright, I should get going, it's late."

"Thank you for stopping by. I wish you could have come over earlier. We finished playing twister."

"Oh, how fun! Maybe another night." He checks his watch. "Alright, goodnight, everyone." He says, ignoring that I am in front of him.

He would always acknowledge me.

My mom gets up from the couch after he left. "I'm going to go get in the shower. You two smell nice."

"Yeah, I sprayed on perfume," I say, thinking back to our moment in the shower.

Mr. Carrington gets up from the sofa. "I think I'm ready to hit the hay. Son, your driving."

Daltons laughs. "Okay, dad."

Dalton kisses me on the cheek. "Goodnight, babe." He says, helping his dad out of the house.

"Goodnight," I say, shutting the door.