Just you and I

XXXVII

(POV Dani)

I look down at the girl breathing steadily on my shoulder. She fell asleep laying like this, so I figured why not let her. She looks peaceful, even though I'm sure she's everything but at peace. It's hard to know what goes on in that head of hers.

I know I did the right thing getting a different job, it'll be good for the both of us. The hours won't be as long either since it's a private school, so I'm quite excited about that, and obviously the pay is a lot better. I hope Saylor is able to settle down a bit now with this, let go of some of the stress and thoughts she is so dearly holding onto with her life.

"Dani" I hear someone whisper behind me. I slowly look back towards the window, where I see a sleepy Sofia standing. "Good morning sleepy head, you hungry?" She nods. I slowly pick Saylor up and head inside with her in my arms. She murmurs something, which makes me worried she's awake, but as soon as I lay her down in bed and cover her up with the blanket, she goes right back to sleep. I quietly tiptoe back to the living room where Sofia's patiently waiting.

"How'd you sleep in your big girl bunk bed?" Her eyes light up, "It was awesome!" I chuckle. "Well I'm glad it was. You want pancakes?" She nods and I get the pre-made mix I found in the cupboard. "Dani." "Mhm?" She looks up at me, "are you and Saylor together?" Oh. "I mean, not technically. Not yet."
She frowns. "Why not?" How do you explain this to a little girl. "It's not that easy, two people have to be really in love to be together, and they have to communicate and have a lot of hard conversations."

I spray some butter in the pan and start the first pancake. "But don't you love Saylor, Dani. I love Saylor and that's so easy." I flip the pancake, "I love Saylor too, but it's not that easy, little one, it's different." I take the pancake out of the pan and cut it up in smaller pieces, pour some syrup on it and hand it to Soof. "Maybe you guys are making it diffult." She puts a piece of pancake in her mouth, I chuckle, "uh-uh and it's difficult, silly, not diffult." She shrugs her shoulders and I continue working on the rest of the pancakes.

Saylor walks out of the room as I finish making the last pancake. Soof's on the couch watching an animal channel, of course. "Good morning, Soof", she says as she walks out. Sofia's too invested she doesn't even notice her. "Alright then." She walks over to the kitchen counter and sits down where Sofia sat earlier. "Hi", she says with a shy smile. "Good morning, my love." Her cheeks get flushed immediately, it looks adorable on her.

I grab a pancake, pour syrup over it and hand it to her. "Thank you. Did you eat yet?" I shake my head. She pats her hand down on the seat next to her. "Eat with me?" I smile and walk over towards her side. I give her a small kiss on her cheek before sitting down.

---

After eating breakfast, we all got ready and headed out to go grocery shopping. The stores are relatively close to the apartment, and the short walk there's beautiful. The sound of the waves in the distance are definitely calling my name, that's for sure.

Soof's holding my hand as we're trying to find the right aisles in this store, while Saylor's pushing the cart. She's wearing denim shorts with an asymmetrical off the shoulder printed shirt and she looks adorable. I might even have spotted a small sparkle of hope and happiness today in her eyes. Soof's wearing a matching set, and I decided on just a simple beachy coastal jumpsuit.

Saylor and I shared small glances and smiles throughout our grocery shopping trip, and after what felt like forever, we are finally done getting everything, more like finding everything, so we head to checkout. Saylor's putting everything on the register while Soof and I stay behind the shopping cart. The cashier's a teenage girl, probably a senior if I were to guess. She greets Saylor a little too nicely for my liking, but it's fine. I roll my eyes, and wait for her to finish scanning everything.

"Are you new? I don't think I've seen you here before." Saylor packs the groceries in bags, "um yeah, I got an art internship here for 2 weeks."
"Oh wow, you must be crazy talented!" Gag. Even Sofia looks unimpressed. "I suppose, haha."

Sofia and I move past her to put the cart back. As we walk back, she finally scans in the last item and waits for the total to show up. "Alright, that'll be 67 dollars and 55 cents please." Saylor grabs her wallet, but I stop her. "Saylor, I got it." I scan my card before she can and give her a smile, which she returns with shaking her head. "Saylor. I like that name", the cashier says while handing her the receipt. Seriously? "Thank you." Saylor grabs the last grocery bag and turns towards Soof and I. "Have a good day, Saylor." I put my hand on her waist while turning to the cashier, "we will. You too." I give her a pathetic smile and walk away.

"Dani, what was that for?"
"She was flirting with you."
"And?"
"She can't."
"Why?"
"You're not available."
"Says who?"

I spin her around, look into her eyes, give her the biggest smile and kiss her. She returns the kiss while shaking her head. "Says me." Her cheeks get a light pink color and she smiles. "Ewwwww", Sofia chuckles. I gasp and tickle her while she keeps laughing. "See, Dani, it's not diffult."
Saylor gives me a frown, but I shake my head.
"Difficult, Soof."