Slow Me Down

Chapter 15

Dawn arrives with Cocoa around nine. Cocoa wriggling like a madwoman wants to escape the flesh jail and run around this new place. Dawn sets her down on the ground and in the blink of an eye cocoa vanishes. Dawn hands the house key to Foster and gives him a big ol' bear hug. It ends after a few minutes. Dawn wishes it could last longer. She is really going to miss her little guy.

"I guess that's it. Thank you so much Sylvia. I know you have a lot going on right now, just moving in and starting up your own business and all. I'm sorry to add this to your growing pile of responsibilities. I just didn't know what else to do."

"Don't worry about it Dawn. Foster is basically part of our family already. We will be fine here. Just go worry about your sister." Sylvia quickly embraces Dawn and watches as she turns to leave. Dawn turns back around one time to check on Foster before she can't any longer and then exits the building.

"I hope she'll be okay." Sylvia looks to Foster who holds the same worried expression. Once Dawn's car is no longer in sight, they head back inside and up to the second floor. Cocoa has already found L and adopted him as one of her own. L struggles to run away, eventually accepting the cleaning he was so hoping to avoid.

"Do you want to go home now to get your things, or should we do it tomorrow? I will call the school in the morning to let them know that you two are going to be absent for a few days. That should give us some time to get everything sorted out."

"It's kind of late. I don't really know how safe it is to be rushing in and out of the café gathering things. Someone could slip in and stay hidden without us ever being aware of it. I think it will just be better to go tomorrow when it's light out. I don't want anything to happen to the café while mom is gone."

"Whatever you think is right is what we'll do Foster. Okay, I'm going to go back to bed. I guess for tonight you can sleep on the couch? Or you can sleep in C's room? It's happened before. I'm not really worried about anything. I trust you kids." Sylvia gives C a hug and then returns to her room to get some sleep before the long day ahead. C and Foster head back into C's room together.

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I take Foster's hand in mine and lead him back into the room. He sits down on the bed. I turn out the lights, the screen of the TV being what illuminates the room. I join him on the bed, shifting a bit so I am right up against him. I lay my head on his shoulder and try to find a movie for us to watch. I don't know if he is going to be able to sleep right now. He's probably digesting everything that just happened. It's a lot.

As soon as I find a good movie, I pick a comedy special to keep the mood light, I place the remote down and focus my attention on the TV. Foster decides that this isn't how he wants to sit and scoops me up. He sits with his legs crossed at the ankle and sets me down right in the gap between his legs. He drapes his arms over my shoulders. His hands hover in front of my stomach. I grab onto them and look up at him. He is watching the comedy special, but his mind is elsewhere. I cuddle up against his chest a bit more. He puts his head atop mine and we sit like this for the entirety of the movie. I play with his large, rough, but gentle hands as he remains still. It's nice, but I'm worried about him.

When the movie ends, I put the TV back onto the home screen and twist around so that I am still in between his legs, but now facing him instead of with my back towards him. I give him a peck on the cheek and push him down on the bed. I lay directly on top of him, staring at him, wondering what he will do. He folds his arms around my back, and we just hold each other. Before I know it, his eyes are closing and although his arms are relaxed enough for me to escape, I stay. I don't want to accidentally wake him up. It's good for him to get some sleep after the crazy day that he had.