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Italic - inner monologue bold - past
Chapter thirty - JUST THE BEGINNING
The following morning (December 14, 2012) - 8:59am
Their final day in Orlando. Justin was excited and had so many plans. One was to make it up to Daniel for letting him down last night. He was going to take him on as many rides he wanted. Whatever it took.
He departed the bedroom after getting ready. The first thing he was going to do was order breakfast. "Daniel!!" He noticed the little boy sitting on the sofa in the living room watching cartoons. "Hey, lil man. Are you excited about today?" He met his gaze, shaking his head no with this pout on his face. "Well you should be excited. We're going to get on ALLLL the rides we can until we feel SICK. Oh and THEN we can eat whatever you want. Candy! Pizza..." He still didn't smile. This wasn't good. That meant he was still angry with him.
"You didn't take me to see the fireworks." He spoke up; tears forming in his eyes. "You lied Justin." The smile on his face slowly faded. He didn't lie. He just got caught up but he knew he wouldn't understand.
"I'm sorry. I'm...I'm a bad person. It's just that...I was tired. Me and your aunt were so busy talking. I lost track of time and..." He took a seat beside him. "I'm sorry, Danny. It won't happen again. Let me make it up to you. We can do whatever you want today." He slowly looked up to peer in his eyes. "Whatever you want."
"Really?" His expression quickly changed. "Can we get on the water slide today?" He nodded yes.
"Of course." He quickly embraced him in a hug.
"Thank you, Justin. I love you." He wrapped his arm around the little boy as well.
"I love you too." Now that wasn't so hard.
"Justin, I'm gonna get ready so we can go and swim." He spoke while standing up.
"Okay. See you in a few." The sound of running water got his attention. He quickly looked away to gaze at Solange who was in the kitchen facing his direction. She was standing in front of the sink which happened to be in his direction. So he could see her. He could see the serious look on her face. She didn't see in a good mood at all. And he had no idea why. Lately, she'd been acting weird.
He stood up, making his way to the kitchen.
"Good morning." He greeted while entering the room. She didn't respond. She just turned the water off, ambling towards the microwave with a mug in her hand. She set the timer for sixty seconds and sat the mug inside, powering the machine on.
"Daniel was really upset this morning." She spoke up, looking in his direction. At the time, he was going through the refrigerator for something to drink.
"I know. We straightened it out. It's all good now." He grabbed a half gallon of orange juice and shut the door, preparing himself a cup.
"What makes you think everything is all good now?" He had his back to her as he poured himself a glass of the substance. She wanted to start a fight with him. He could tell. "You can't make promises to little children and then break them." He decided to guzzle down a portion of his orange juice before turning to face her. "He was hurt. Now I told him to go to bed but apparently he didn't. He went to you after I fell asleep. Then you just made matters worse. You lie to him...get his hopes up high. He's been through enough. He doesn't need some man letting him down again."
