A Fostered Love

Chapter Six: Layla

I open my eyes and see his, staring expectantly at mine. His don't look sleepy at all, as if he's been awake for a while. "Good morning." He whispers, making my heart flutter a little. Things seem a lot different between us today, and I love it. We don't have to act awkward around each other anymore. There was no point. We already know how we feel about each other, so what's the point of trying to ignore that situation.

During the short amount of time I spent in high school, I did get asked out a few times. I turned them down, of course, because I was waiting for Kyle. At the time, I had fallen back into my old ways and started thinking that he still liked me. I didn't know I was right until last night, but I had a feeling.

"Morning." I let out a smile I didn't realize I was holding in. He raises an eyebrow and asks,

"What is it?"

"Oh, nothing." I brush it off trying to figure out why I was smiling so much.

"So I was thinking," his voice interrupts my thoughts, "we should go to the park again, or we could stop by the Empire State Building."

"Why not both?" I say and can't help thinking about the girl on those taco shell commercials, "We could do the park now then go to the Empire State Building later. Maybe we can catch the fireworks from there?"

"Sounds like a date." He smirks.

"Wow, our first date is exploring New York City."

"Well, in all technicality, our first date was yesterday."

"Oh yeah, nothing can top the sugar rush and you almost peeing yourself."

"Okay, so first date it is."

I laugh, "You can do whatever you want to count this as our first date, but I will never forget that."

"Dang it. Maybe I should have kissed you just to make you forget that part."

"I wouldn't have forgotten. You will never live that down. I'll take you up on that kiss though." I say as I lean in a little closer.

"Nope, not yet." He slides away from me a little.

"Fine." I say and start to crawl out of bed a little disappointedly.

"Wait." He says and as I turn back around he plants a soft kiss on my cheek so close to my lips that if I turn a centimeter, we would be lip locking. He pulls away and says, "There, now you can go."

I roll my eyes at him and crawl out of bed, touching my cheek as the sweetness of the kiss slowly starts to fade.

-/-

We manage to snag the same bench as we did yesterday around sunset, after a day of trying to tackle the stores of Times Square. Unfortunately, the flower vendor was not there today. Instead there was a newspaper/magazine stand in its place. I hadn't seen the news lately, so I figured I'd grab a random newspaper.

"You read the newspaper? You're so old fashioned." Kyle says as I sit down clutching the paper.

"Oh shut up." I say and scan the front page.

Then I stop.

Kyle notices my sudden stiffness and asks, "What is it, what's wrong?"

I point to the picture and he takes in a short breath as well.

The headline reads, 'Local Orphanage Burns Down'. And there, on the front page, is a picture or MRCH in flames.

"The old orphanage Miss Richards' Children's Home was mysteriously set on fire yesterday morning at around three am. After discovering the fire, fire fighters managed to rescue six children stuck inside the building along with Cynthia Richards, the woman who owned the orphanage. Unfortunately, they did not have time to rescue everyone before the building collapsed, killing three children.