You Can Paint Me

Chapter 22

The moment I stepped out of the cab and closed the door behind me, I was instantly greeted by an over-excited dillweed, that stood right outside of my apartment building.

"Shortcake!", he had a ghost smile on him, waving his hand to me like there's no tomorrow.

Rolling my eyes, I walked closer to him and my eyes landed on his hands, my brow arched in disbelief.
"Do you really think, that coaxing me with flowers and chocolates, is gonna change the fact that you are a stalker, who violated my personal space and got my phone number?", I folded my arms.

"What?", Chris looked at me puzzled.
He watched as my eyes were fixated at the beautiful bouquet of soft pink and lilac peonies that he held on his one hand and the milk chocolate heaven on his other.
"Oh, these? These are for your mom, I couldn't come empty handed.", he gave me a smug smile.

I let out a scoff at his reply. "Oh, so you became my stalker and you didnt even bring anything for me.", I said sternly.

"Y-you wanted me to bring you something..?", he trailed off slowly, looking at me with big eyes.

My head snapped back up.
"No. I don't want anything from you.", I said quickly and walked passed by him, shoving him to the side.

I approached the main entrance of the building and took out my keys to unlock it.

"You know, I have some strawberries in my backpack that I could give you. I was saving them up for after practice, but anything for you, Livy boo.", I heard him say from behind me. I could practically see him smirking.

I sighed and proceeded to insert the key in the keyhole. "Why are you here?", my voice came out annoyed and I turned my head to look at him.

At the sound of my words, his mood changed completely. He had a puppy face on, with sparkly eyes and pouted lips that trembled.
"I need your help...", he stated hopelessly.

".... Don't look at me like that.", I snapped my head in the front and opened the door. "Come upstairs.", I ordered him once I stepped inside and he followed me from behind like a puppy.

"What's your mom's name?", he asked out of the blue.

"Claire."

"Nice.", I heard him whisper.
"Your father's?"

"My father is not here right now."

"But I want to know my future father-in-law.", he said dissapointed.

. . .

"I'm too old for this crap...", I muttered frustratedly and I started picking up my pace, in hopes that I could leave him behind. My feet climbing the stairs, as if I was chased by  hungry wolves.

Unfortunately for me, the dillweed was able to catch up with me by running behind me, however hard I tried to run away from him. He stumbled on his feet and was about to fall of the stairs at some point, but never did I turn to check on him.
"Anyways, I need your help, shortcake.", he manage to say, panting.

I rubbed my face in frustration, massaging my temples. "You already said that, but you didn't say why.", I said annoyed.

"I... Well, I- is that your house?", he changed the topic once again, when he saw me stopping outside of my house's door.

"Yes.", I swiftly unlocked the door.
When I opened the door, my mom's petite figure was standing to the view.

"Where were you, it's dinner ti-", she was about to put me in an interrogation room and bombard me with questions, but she paused her momentum when she realised that I wasn't alone like usual. Her eyes averted to the smiling boy behind me.
"Hello there... Who are you?", she trailed off slowly.