Age

Chapter 3

The twins had been out of school for a week. Tomorrow Casey was driving them to the airport. They were going to be gone until the second week of August. It was night time. Casey and Drew were waiting for Daniel  to come downstairs so they could all watch a movie. As they were waiting Casey got on Twitter on her phone. She saw she had a notification and tapped on it. It was from Max. It read.

Please beautiful?

With a GIF of a puppy with sad eyes. She smiled and rolled her eyes.

No. She typed back and hit reply.

"Why are you smiling mom?" Drew asked.

"It's just something stupid on Twitter."

"I normally only see a girl smile like that when she has a crush on a guy."

"No crush, just stupidity."

Max had responded and sent back a frowning and broken heart emoji.

She replied with a rolling eyes emoji.

Daniel came downstairs.

Early the next morning Casey pulled up to drop off the boys.

"Ok you two give me a hug." They both hugged her and kissed her on the cheek. They got out of the car and got their bags. "I love you both."

"We love you too."

"Text me when you land, both of you."

"We promise." Drew said. They went into the airport.

Even though this had been the routine for years, it always hurt Casey when they left. She knew they were growing into young men she couldn't be prouder of, but to her they were still her babies.

A week had passed. It was very public knowledge that Casey would be involved in a charity auction in Chicago tonight. Five men and five woman, including Casey, would be auctioning themselves off as dates. It was Casey's turn.

The bidding quickly went from a hundred dollars, to two, to three, to four, to five.

"Ten thousand dollars." A man's voice said. Casey couldn't see him but thought his voice sounded familiar. When a few people moved out of the way she saw Max. She was officially sold.

Once everything was done Max went over to Casey.

"Please tell me you didn't come all the way here just to buy a date with me." She said.

"I had an autograph signing in the area."

"Sex is completely off the table when we go out."

"I just want to get to know you."

"I'll give you what you paid for." "This will be our one and only date." "Do you understand?"

"You got it, beautiful."

"Good." She walked away.