Fourth of July

Chapter 17

We walked into a coffee shop and I saw Alicia behind the counter.

"Oh, I didn't think I would see you so soon," she said. "Maybe I can go on break and we can have a quickie in the bathroom."

"Can I have a cookie in the bathroom?" Gee asked hopefully, tugging on my hand.

"No, no cookies," I said.

Gee started crying and I rubbed his back.

"Oh, Princess, I'm sorry, I just meant no cookies right now," I said. "It's too early, you can't have cookies for breakfast."

Gee sniffled, wiping his eyes.

"Can I have cookies later?" He asked.

"Yes, you can have some later," I promised.

Gee nodded, nuzzling against me.

"Who is this?" Alicia asked.

"My name is Gee Bear and I was kidnapped and I have purple panties with rainbows on," Gee said.

"Y-you kidnapped him?" Alicia asked.

"No, no, oh my god," I muttered. "He wasn't kidnapped by me I was the one who saved him. Gee, what did we talk about?"

"Not to tell everyone everything about me," Gee said. "Do you wanna see my panties?"

"No, Gee, you don't show people your panties," I said. "I'm sorry, can I get three coffees, two lattes and a smoothie?"

"What about for my tummy?" Gee asked.

"And a blueberry muffin," I added.

She nodded, getting our order together. The others walked in from where they had all been looking around at a nearby shop.

"We can maybe go to the pier," Alexx suggested.

"That sounds like fun," I said. "Gee, do you wanna go see some boats?"

"Boat," Gee repeated.

"Gee, do you know what a boat is?" I asked.

"Boooaaatt," Gee said, exaggerating each letter.

"There's some pigeons outside, Gee, you wanna go see?" Evan asked.

Gee nodded, holding his hand. The two walked outside and I paid for the drinks before we went outside. Evan and Gee stood on the sidewalk, looking at the birds. One started walking close to Gee and he screamed, scaring away all the birds. Having them all fly away seemed to only scare Gee more as he sobbed and clung to Evan.

"Oh, Gee, it's okay," I said.

Gee sniffled as he ran over to me. I gave him his juice and muffin, which was wrapped up.

"Please don't," I muttered.

Gee crushed up the muffin into crumbs before he opened the wrapper and licked the crumbs out. We walked down to the pier and Gee gasped.

"What is that?" Gee asked.

"It's a boat, people go on it to go across water," I said.

"That's a big bathtub," Gee said.

"It's called an ocean," I said.

"Big bathtub," Gee said.

I gave smiled, holding his hand when he finished his muffin.

"Frank! Frank!" Someone called and I looked back at Alicia. "You forgot your wallet at the cafe."

She handed me the wallet and I smiled.