Undefined

Cartoons, Crayons, and Blackmail

Alex gives me a confused look. I smile and dive underwater. Alex follows me. I swim until I reach the shore. I look behind me to make sure that Alex hasn't drowned and sure enough, he's climbing out of the water too.

I walk to my beach bag and wrap my towel around me. I take my hair out of the loose bun and run my fingers through the tangled brunette mess. Out of nowhere, Alex picks me up from behind and starts carrying me towards the beach house.

"What the hell Alex?" I yell playfully.

"We have to babysit," I can tell he's smiling even though I can't see his face. I didn't realize how late it had gotten. We must've been talking out there for hours.

"Well I have dibs on the shower," I say.

"Don't blow-dry your hair," Alex says. Now this, really surprises me.

"Why not?" I ask.

Alex sets my down on one of the deck chairs and looks me in the eyes. "I just don't think you need to. It looks beautiful just like it is." I fell myself blushing. It's so sweet of Alex to compliment me.

I look him straight in the eye. He's gorgeous! I have no idea what to say. I look back down at my feet and smile. I stand up and walk across the deck, towards the door. I open one of the white french doors, look back at Alex and say, "I'll shower and order take-out. Do you still eat sesame chicken?"

Alex looked genuinley surprised. "You remebered." He walked towards me and I watched him.

Alex moved me away from the eggshell white door and pushed me against the side of the house. He leaned in his lips brushed the edge of my ear. I look to my side. "What are you doing?" I whisper.

Instead of answering. Alex leans down and kisses my neck. "Don't tell anyone about us yet."

"If that's what you think is best." I pull away and walk through the door. I walked as calmly as I could to the bathroom.

I showered as quickly as I could. I took extra care in washing my hair. Saltwater always dries my hair out. I made sure to use a little extra conditioner to rehydrate the dark brown mess that is my hair.

--------

"I want to watch Spongebob!"

"Casey, you know you're not allowed to watch that," Alex explains calmly.

"But I wanna watch it!" Casey crys.

I pull Alex to the side. "Can't we just let her watch one episode?"

"My mom's really strict about this kind of stuff," Alex says.

"Please, Alex."

Alex turns back to Casey in the living room, "One episode, but that's it." He turns back to me.

"Thank you," I whisper. Alex turns and looks at me as he walks toward the couch. I pull the hair-tie out of the loose bun that I had put it in and followed him back into the living room. Alex and I sat down on the couch together. He was sitting against the arm of the couch, and I was curled up with my head on his chest.

About five minutes into the show, Alex bent down and whispered, "You know, I'd take you to see a movie tomorrow, but the nearest theatre is a half-hour away."

"It's fine," I whisper back. I'm still focused on the TV. "There aren't any good movies out anyways."

"I thought you were going to see 'The Smurfs' with Amy next week." Alex whispered.

Amy is my best friend. We first met in sixth grade when she and Alex were dating. I didn't like her at first, but we gradually became friends. When Alex dumped Amy, I was genuinely pissed at him for breaking her heart. Amy and i have been friends ever since.

"Only 'cause she's forcing me to. If it were up to me, I'd hang out with you all day," I say. Alex kissed my forehead.

"Are you guys dating?" Casey asks. Alex and I look at each other. "If you are that's fine, but I just want to know."

"Listen Casey," Alex says, "If mom finds out, she'll put Skyler on the next flight home and you know that. DON'T say anything."

"Wait, what?" I ask.

"Fine, but when you babysit, you have to let me watch Spongebob whenever I want."

"Fine!" Alex turns and looks at me, "Damn! She's only seven and she's already learned how to blackmail."

"Why would your mom send me home?" I ask.

"Don't worry about it." Alex kisses my forehead.

"I can't help but worry about it now. Would you're mom really send me back to Virginia?" This really scares me to think about. Why would Mrs. James, who I've known for pretty much my whole life, send me away for dating Alex?

Alex ignores my question and returns his attention to Casey. "Nobody hears about this."

Casey traces a cross across her heart and says "You have my word."

God. You'd think she was in fifth grade the way she acts. "Thank you Casey," I say.

"Mhm." She turns back around and continues coloring what looks like an orange cotton ball with legs. "Do we have any more crayons?"

"Check the bins in your room," Alex says.

"There ARE from the bins in my room."

Alex sits me up and walks into Casey's bedroom. He opens one of the plastic drawers, closes it and walks back into the living room.

"Casey, we don't have anymore crayons, but-"

Casey cut him off. "I. Want. More. CRAYONS!" Casey either acts like a fifth grader or a preschooler. This is getting ridiculous.

"Everybody, SHUT UP!" I yell. Casey immediately stops crying, and Alex looks at me with suprise. "The next person. Who complains. About crayons. Goes to bed. Understood?" Alex and casey both nod. "Good."

Casey turns back to her drawing and Alex sits back down next to me. "Where did that come from?"

I smile and look up at him. "I've babysat third graders more immature than Casey. I guess I just know how to deal with them."

Alex laughed and pulled me closer to him. "How 'bout we do something tomorrow, just you and me?"

"That depends," I say, "Where are we going?"

"Wherever you want." Alex smiles, kisses the top of my head, and goes back to watching Spongebob.