Late the next afternoon, I pulled into the parking lot of the daycare. I was there not to actually work, but to pick up Calum. Although I had the rest of the week off, he still had some maintenance jobs to take care of.
As I waited for him to finish up and come out of the building, there was a tap at my window. To my surprise, Ashton stood on the other side, grinning adorably back at me. Cutting back the air conditioning, I rolled down the window.
Leaning in, he rested his arms on the sill. All of his work shirts remained sleeveless. "Hey, Leisa! Haven't seen you around in awhile."
Today, like most days, there was a bandana tied around his head. This time, it was printed with an American flag pattern.
"Yeah, I took some time off for my aunt's wedding. Anything interesting happen while I've been gone?"
"Well Julie is still in love with me. Her mom told me she wears my bandana every day. Then Max swallowed some Legos and had to have his stomach pumped
"What? Ashton! How could you let that happen?" Though I was concerned about Max, I couldn't keep myself from chuckling.
These kids were a mess.
"It wasn't me! Josh was supposed to be watching them!" We both laughed together, tears in our eyes. Ashton sniffled. "We've been a mess without you here."
Smiling, I shook my head. "Clearly! You guys are going to kill these kids. They're lucky I'm coming back next week."
Ashton nodded and tugged at a bracelet on his right wrist. It looked familiar for somehow, but I couldn't figure out why.
"But before then, do you wanna hang out? I mean it's been awhile since we have."
He wasn't wrong. Ashton and I used to hang out all the time. We had been close friends for awhile and spent a fair amount of time together over the past few years. Since Calum had come around, however, our time together outside of work had been scarce.
"Yeah. I would love to. Just give me a time and a place."
Ashton's face broke out into a toothy grin. "Alright, how about tomor-."
Before he could finish, the passenger door popped open sharply, catching Ashton and me off guard.
"Calum! Jesus, you scared me!" I slowed my breathing as I turned back to Ashton. "Will you text me the details? You know how forgetful I am."
Ashton agreed and backed away from the car. "See you later, kiddo."
"Bye, Ash! See you soon."
*
As we began the trek to the city limits, I noticed Calum wiggling around in the passenger seat. Glancing over at him, I nearly swerved off the road. He had removed his shirt and was focused on unraveling a second one.
"C-calum. May I ask what you're doing?" My attempt to keep my voice steady had failed. He smirked at me, putting his arms in the sleeves.
"I didn't want to go out in public with a dirty shirt, so I brought a spare. It's not like you haven't seen me shirtless. Especially considering what happened last night..." He trailed off, pulling the shirt down over his head and torso.
The car instantly became 20 degrees hotter. Clearing my throat, I gripped the wheel a little harder.
Calum snorted. "Sensitive topic?"
Smacking his chest, I scoffed. "What? You think I can't handle it?"
Out of my peripheral, I could see him shrug.
"I mean, you did just turn the air conditioning up at the suggestion of it."
He continued to laugh as I playfully glared at him.
"I'm a mature adult, I'll have you know."
Tapping at the buttons on the stereo, he nodded.
"Oh, I'm sure. Just say it once."
I peeked over at him again.
"Say what?"
He replied with only an eyebrow lift.
"Fine," I cleared my throat quickly and focused on the road. "We had sex last night."
Calum put his foot up on the dashboard and burst into laughter.
"Come on! That was barely a whisper. Don't be ashamed of the magic, Leisa."
I dug around in the cup holder until I found a peppermint and then threw it at him.
"Alright, then. You'll love this then. Take the wheel."
He sat up quickly and leaned over. "What? Why?"
As I pushed the square button on the console, the sunroof whirred open.
"This is why." Before he could stop me, I had unbuckled my seat belt and popped up through the roof. With every ounce of strength I had in my vocal chords, I shouted, "WE HAD SEX LAST NIGHT. THAT'S RIGHT. WE DID IT! WHOO!"
Sliding back into the car, Calum was doubled over, cackling hysterically and clapping.
"Okay, that was impressive. Look who's growing up." He nudged me, and I smiled wide.
"Only for you would I do that. I hope you enjoyed the show."
He wiped a tear from his eye and sighed. "That, I did."
Soon, we arrived at the cafe I had shown Calum awhile back. He had liked it a lot, and had even gone back a few times by himself.
Then bell jingled per usual as we pushed through the door, and Michael immediately looked up. This time, his hair was a ghostly white.
"Leisa and Calum, my favorite couple. How are you guys?"
I giggled and led the way to our usual booth in the back.
"Michael! My favorite waiter! We're great. How are you?"
Michael slid over the counter and over to the other side. How he hadn't been fired yet still remained a mystery to me.
"Looovely. And do you know why?"
Adjusting myself in the seat, I shook my head. "No idea. What's up?"
Michael strode over and pulled his phone out of his apron pocket. He scrolled for a bit before smiling at the screen.
"Because of this beautiful lady right here." I took the phone from his hand and looked at the photo. It was a picture of Michael and a girl sitting on the beach with his arm around her. She beamed at the camera, a pair of heart shaped sunglasses were perched in her long brunette hair that was flowing effortlessly over her shoulder. The sun danced off her hazel irises.
"Damn, Michael. Where did you find this one? A model casting?"
He shrugged and took his phone back.
"Her name is Ashley. I was in Melborne a couple weeks ago and met her on the pier. Her little brother hit me a toy sword, and she came over to apologize. One thing led to another and now she's my lady."
I shuddered. "Can you not call her that. I'm creeped out for her."
He rolled his eyes and head back behind the counter. "Don't be jealous because you're not my lady."
*
Seeing the Welcome to Sydney was the last thing I wanted. The time I spent with Calum always seemed to go by a little faster than I would have liked.
We cruised past the daycare, and he shook his head.
"My brother dropped me off today. He needed my car for something. You can just take me home...and stay if you'd like." He winked and rested his hand on my knee.
"Yeah, yeah. We'll see about that."
He gave me street by street directions until we were finally in his subdivision. I was impressed to say the least.
The houses were all at least two stories adorned with balconies and intricate columns on the front porch. The yards and gardens were unusually green for the scorching summer and filled exotic floral arrangements. The driveways swirled and dipped around the grass and finally settled around the back of the house.
My neighborhood was nice, but his was on a whole other level.
"Wow, Cal. You never mentioned you were a millionaire." He chuckled next to me and his eyes slipped shut.
"I didn't want you falling for my riches. I needed you to see the real me."
I snorted and turned onto the last street of the neighborhood. Immediately, I slammed on breaks at the sight before me.
At least a dozen cop cars swarmed the street, blue and red lights a glow. Various officers were littered about, speaking into walkie talkies and peering over their shoulders.
Panic washed over me as I jiggled Calum.
"Calum! Get up."
He groaned and opened his eyes. He instantly shot up in his seat, eyes wide.
I could see the terror on his face as I stared at him.
''Calum. What the hell is going on?"
____
Aaaye, I'm back. Didn't mean to leave you guys hanging for so long, so I'm coming back full force.
It's about to get reeaaal interesting so stick around
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