19 Toes curl

This is moving forward really fast. I don't know what I'm doing other than going with the flow. 

I should see how the day goes. Maybe it's just because of yesterday's emotional rollercoaster and all the amazing sex we've had?

Jackson gently tugs my hand to gain my attention, "Penny for your thoughts?" 

I shake my head, "A penny? Are my thoughts so cheaply bought?" I roll my eyes at him before blinking them with a tight sarcastic smile at him.

"Well, If your mind still goes a mile a minute with its thoughts, I'd still go broke before we arrived at our destination." He squeezes my hand a little, teasing me with a grin.

I scoff, "You...." ug... he's an ass, but probably right. " are probably correct on that statement." I stick my tongue out at him, before I sniff and lift my chin to look out the window. It's always been easy to fall into this playful banter we do, it's what we used to do all the time. We would only be serious if it was a bad day. 

"So care to share what has put that concerned look upon your face?" Jackson asks again.

I should have known better he wasn't going to let it go yet. 

"Just thinking of future things is all." I give him a grim smile, "Not looking forward to tomorrow." 

He nods, "Well lets try to enjoy today then. Handle tomorrow once it gets here." He raises my hand up to his lips, placing a soft, reassuring kiss on my knuckles as we head to Meow Wolf. 

"I will try." 

The buildings fly by as we make our way, excitement starting to build up in me. When we arrive we're a little early but Jackson just suggests we head next door to the cookie place.

"Ah... does Jackson want a cookie?" I giggle as we head that way.

Jackson clears his throat before giving me some side eye, "Yes, but I was thinking more about making sure your blood sugar did not drop. They don't allow food inside of the exhibit." 

I pause, slightly surprised.  He's making sure my blood sugar doesn't drop... 

"Thank you." I murmur, pushing a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "That's very considerate of you." 

Jackson purses his lips, like he just tasted something sour. "You don't have to thank me for something like this. It's nothing." He sticks his hands in his pockets as we wait in line to make a purchase. 

I wrap my hand around one of his arms and whisper, "I know that I am not obligated to thank you, I wanted to thank you." 

He snakes his arm from my hands and wraps it around my waist, pulling me closer to him. He places a soft kiss on the side of my head and whispers back, "You're welcome."

We both make order the same cookie, a chocolate chunk and a cup of hot cocoa. It wasn't freezing since it was still the middle of the day, but it did help with the light chill that came with the breeze. 

"Oh wow." I mumble, chewing my cookie and sipping my cocoa. "That is a good cookie." 

Jackson smiles smugly, like a child that was just praised by the teacher for having the right answer. We finished up and went to the exhibit and had a blast walking through and  trying to find out what happened to the family. It was weird, different, but an experience none the less. 

We exit the exhibit and realize we were in there longer than we planned. 

"Did you want to still go to the aquarium or did you want to get some thing to eat?" Jackson asks as we stroll along in no particular direction, holding hands.

"Well, there's the aquarium that's on the other side of here. We can go there and then eat. I'm alright. I have a butterscotch candy I can suck on." I let go of his hand and open my purse to pull out a candy, popping it into my mouth before taking his hand again.

While in line for the aquarium, I pull out my wallet to pay for our tickets.

"What in the world are you doing?" Jacksons voice is low and deep right next to my ear, making me start. 

Spinning on my heel, I raise a brow, "I'm going to buy our tickets this time."

He crosses his arms over his chest, raising a brow right back, his body suddenly seeming to be larger than it was before. "No, you're not. Please put it away. I told you I'd be taking care of you today." 

I huff and put my wallet away, grumbling about male bullshit under my breath.

I could take care of something too.

The aquarium was cute, with the different sea life and my earlier irritation quickly evaporated as I tugged Jackson along with me to look at the next thing. We decided to get take out Chinese food from the food court and take it back to the house to eat. 

"Mmm Chow Mein, fried rice, broccoli beef, cashew chicken, paper chicken, orange beef, egg rolls, pot stickers, and rangoons. I'm in MSG heaven!" Jackson chuckles as we plate ourselves from the to go containers.

I snatch a pot sticker from his plate with my chopsticks, "You got that right!" before popping it in my mouth. I have to cover my mouth when his jaw drops, trying to make sure I didn't flash him a mouthful of his stolen potsticker.

As I am busy chewing and swallowing, he steals a rangoon from me. "Hey!" I attempt to snatch it back with my chopsticks, sending the rangoon flying and smacking me in the face.

"HA! Hahaha!"  Jackson cracks up as I wipe my face and pick up the rangoon that has now fallen to the floor. 

I stick my tongue out at him and toss the rangoon in the trash. I sit back down and start eating my food, noticing a potsticker missing  but a rangoon placed on my plate. 

I raise my attention to Jacks who winks at me, grinning, before taking a bite of chow mien. I scoff, smiling and pick up my rangoon and start eating it. 

He's something else... same Jacks I remember, but so much ... more. I am unable to recall the last time I have smiled so much in a single day. That I felt this ... easy to spend time with anyone. I wish the day could last longer though. It went by way too fast.

"So, Lita. Do you have an idea of what you are going to do tomorrow?" Jacks clears his throat as he waits for me to chew and swallow the large bite of chow mien I just shoved in my mouth. He sits there doing his best to suppress a grin, "You look like a chipmunk right now." He snorts as I glare at him, chewing on my mouthful.

I swallow as much as I can and take a sip before finishing, feeling like I'm taking forever. Why do people always have to ask a question as soon as you take a bite of something? 

Jackson takes a bite of an eggroll as I finally finish, "I plan on playing it by ear tomorrow. Show up to my job like normal and see what he says." I take a sip of my drink and think about the different ways Eric might act towards me tomorrow and how I should respond. 

Jackson nods, "Alright, well I still want you to submit an application to my company. It doesn't hurt to have a backup plan in motion depending on what happens tomorrow."

I roll my eyes, stressing the word, "Fine." I reach for another eggroll, "If it will make you happy." I add.

He smirks, leans forward and takes the last potsticker, making me whine that he'd hogged the majority of them.

"It will make me happy." He puts the potsticker on my plate and winks.

I give him an accusatory smile, but take the potsticker and eat half of it. "Here you go." I offer him the other half and he flashes his dazzling smile before leaning over the table to bite it. I pull it back and giggle. 

He scoffs as I hold it back out, "I'm sorry. Here you go." I offer it back out to him. He leans back to bite it, but grabs my wrist and tugs me closer to eat the potsticker.

"Didn't trust me?" I giggle as he pulls me closer and almost out of my chair where we sat, him on one corner of the table, while I sat right next to him on the other side of the corner.

"I know how you like to tease." He states, releasing my wrist and blows me a quick little kiss.

"I think you just wanted to touch me." I raise a knowing brow as I munch on my eggroll.

"You're right about that." He says it so nonchalantly that I almost choke on my eggroll and have to sip from my drink as it goes down hard.

"Whoa... you okay? I didn't think you'd get all choked up over that since I've already touched you so much." Jackson leans closer to me in concern but the amusement is still evident on his face.

"Asshole." I rasp out and take another drink before clearing my throat as he chuckles at me, "You knew that was going to get me one way or another."

"No, but I know that I am going to keep you one way or another." He winks at me and this time, his smile makes my toes curl at his words.