Risk & Reward

Four

"Draw four! And I pick blue." Shi lays down the card, chuckling under her breath as the eight year old groans, adding four cards to the two she'd had in her hand.

"I don't have blue!" Lexie whines as well, the ten year old taking a card and adding it to her hand before running her fingers through her long brown hair.

"Well, I do." Shi laughs, placing her higher point blue card on the stack. "Uno."

"You always cheat at Uno. I bet no one has ever beat you." Ari whines, placing one of her cards on the discard pile.

"I never won against Sabi. She was the real queen of Uno. Even your dad could rarely beat her." Shi shrugs, placing her final card after Lexie takes her turn.

"This was not fun. I'm done." Ari sighs, her eyes as bright a blue as Shi's.

"I won so I'll clean up." Shi offers. "Why don't you two go get in your pajamas and I'll make some popcorn, we can have a movie night."

"Yes! Can we pick the movie?" Lexie asks excitedly.

"As long as you two don't fight over what we're watching." She laughs. Sliding the cards towards her on the kitchen table so she can organize them."

"We won't!" The girls say in unison before running from the room to get ready.

Putting the cards away in the game closet, Shi puts a bag of popcorn in the microwave, leaning against the counter while she waits for it to pop. Pulling her phone out for the first time in a couple hours she sees a notification that makes her heart jump. Tapping it quickly she chews on her lip nervously as the thread loads.

Calum Hood

Hey Shi, just wanted to say
thank you for last night. I
didn't realize it until today
but it was really nice,
especially in that kind of
setting, to have a real
conversation with someone
for a minute. Thanks for not
asking for a photo or
screaming in my face. It was
really nice to meet you.

Um, you're welcome. I didn't
realize it was a big enough
deal to message me over
though. It honestly didn't
occur to me to even try to get
a photo. I enjoyed the
conversation though. Thanks
for stopping to check on me,
it's not something most people
would have done.

Tucking her phone back into the pocket on her hoodie she pulls the popcorn out as it finishes, dumping it into a big bowl. Wandering into the family space where the girls are picking a movie her mind is still caught up on Calum messaging her. He definitely did not have to do that.

"We picked Parent Trap." Ari announces as Shi curls into the corner of the sectional, setting the popcorn on the ottoman for the girls to share.

"A most excellent choice." Shi nods in approval, pulling a blanket over her mostly bare legs as the girls settle in too.

Her phone buzzes in her lap about five minutes later and she can't help but panic at the thought that Calum responded again. Not at all wrong when she pulls the device out, unsure how she ended up in this situation.

Calum Hood

If I'm being honest, it wasn't
really something I would do
regularly too, especially in a
theater full of fans. But
something about you made
me stop and want too. Sorry
if that sounds forward and
creepy, it really isn't supposed
to. Also, full disclosure I was
just planning to follow you as a
little thank you for the
conversation last night. I know
that's a fun thing for fans. But
I already follow you apparently.