Milo & Judah

Chapter 26 - Surprise

With the following day being New Year's Eve, Milo got an idea. A way to make up for missing the ball. But he would need help to pull it off without Judah suspecting anything.

So, while Judah was in the shower, Milo sought out Mrs. Sofer that evening and laid out his plan. "What do you think?" he asked.

Mrs. Sofer put her hand to her mouth. "I think that might be the sweetest thing I've ever heard."

Milo smiled. "So, can you help?"

"Of course." She gripped Milo's hand. "I'll call Naomi, too. She's good with this sort of thing."

"Great."

"Milo," Judah called out.

"I'm in the kitchen." Milo yelled back. He leaned toward Mrs. Sofer. "Don't say anything to him."

"Don't worry. I'm a vault." Mrs. Sofer mimed locking her lips.

"What are you guys doing?" Judah asked. He was shirtless, with a towel hanging over one shoulder, using it to dry the side of his damp hair. It looked so much darker when it was wet. You could hardly tell that he was even a blond.

Milo pushed the photo album to the side to show Judah. They were still sitting out on the table from when Mrs Sofer showed them to Milo earlier that day, while Judah was out running errands for his parents. Milo figured it was the best excuse, since there was some truth to it.

Judah groaned and glared at his mother. "Really, Mom? You had to bring these out?"

"He asked to see them."

"I did." Milo confessed. He scanned the page of baby Judah. "You were adorable even then."

Milo flipped forward a few pages. "This is my favorite though."

Milo pointed to a photo of five year old Judah in hockey gear. He was practically swallowed up by all the oversized gear. But he looked so happy, beaming at the camera with his snaggletoothed smile.

Judah wrapped his arms around Milo, resting his chin on Milo's shoulder. "That was back when I thought I was going to go pro."

Milo twisted his neck to kiss Judah's cheek.

Judah reached out to tap a picture of himself dressed like a Ninja Turtle, presumably for Halloween. "I forgot about that costume. I loved that thing. I wore it everywhere for like a month."

Mrs. Sofer shook her head. "I tried so hard to get him to wear something else. But as soon as he got home from school everyday it was back in his turtle suit. Even wore that damn thing to temple."

Milo laughed. "That's the cutest thing I've ever heard." Milo stared at the picture. "So, which one were you?"

"Mikey, of course." Judah said, straightening up to cross his arms over his chest. "He's the best."

"I'll have to take your word for it. I was never into them."

Milo stood up. He turned to Mrs. Sofer. "Thanks for showing me these."

"My pleasure." she said.

Milo took Judah's arm and steered him away. He looked back to offer a conspiratorial wink to Judah's mother. She held her index finger up to her lips before he turned his attention back to Judah. "What else were you into as a kid?"

"Um, Power Rangers, Batman, all the Marvel stuff. Uh, the whole Dragon Ball saga."

"I loved that as a kid. Me and Ellie watched everything starting with the original Dragon Ball. DBZ was my favorite."