Lovely

5. Both were perfect to me

"Sleep well?"

Kahlo's arm slung over my shoulders felt heavy to my tired body, but I managed to cope until we dropped into chairs at the dining table.

"Like a log," I replied. "I think that swim yesterday tired me out completely and was the reason why I slept so soundly last night." Kahlo sent me a wink as he crunched down into a piece of buttered toast. I rubbed my face in hopes that all the traces of sleep that were left would stick to my hands. "Good morning!" Delilah almost sang whilst placing plates and utensils onto the table, kissing our foreheads as she went. "Morning, Delilah. Shall I help you?" The woman chuckled. "Please, call me Del," she offered, "and no honey, I've almost finished anyway." Kahlo only shrugged when I looked over him, continuing to eat before anyone else had gotten to the table for breakfast.

"So what is the plan today kids?" Mark asked. "I don't want to go to the beach again, I have enough sunburn to last a lifetime," Callista replied before anyone else had thought of an answer. "Lis, you didn't even get that burnt," Isiah argued. "The beach is fun!" Isaac seconded. They obviously wanted to go back to the beach. "Perhaps, but don't you think we should take Aurora some place else? She might get bored." The twins huffed at Kahlo's remark and went back to eating. "It's further than the beach, but why don't you guys go into town for lunch? There's some great places to eat and Rora hasn't seen it yet." I smiled at the use of my nickname. "That sounds like a great idea, May. You kids may also find something you like, maybe a book or a doll. And yes, Lacie, you can get some candy." Lacie smiled wide at her mother's promise, and everyone dug into their meal.

That morning I had more time to get ready than I had gotten the previous morning. I had dressed myself in a long skirt and a short singlet. Both were lightweight and exposed enough skin so as not to let me overheat. My hair was frizzier here, due to the humidity, but because of the heat I pulled it up into a bun. Birds chirping outside my window reminded me of the world I was in. A totally different one. A world that was new and had only become a tad exciting. A world that was unfimiliar, but not one that scared me. Little Lacie then barged into my room. She couldn't possibly hide her anticipation, I knew she was just content about the thought of candy. I picked her up and carried her in my arms. Being an only child should have made me awkward with other kids, but I couldn't get enough of them. Wanting a younger sibling had stuck with me my whole life. "And they were really big! And.... and.... cold! I couldn't stand up but Isiah helped me and -," I tried to zone in on her words but was lost immediately. I resulted in picking a rose from the bush that was right beside one of the doors that served as an exit and shoving it into her hand. Her attention was on it straight away, she loved it, and by the time we reached the rest of the group who were waiting with their bikes all of the petals had been ripped up or completely ripped off. Clicking his tongue, Kahlo shook his head disappointingly. "Rora, you really need to learn to keep up. You're so slow." After the first day, you hold hands. After the second day, you can move onto nicknames. I liked how it sounded coming from his lips. Just as I did last time, I rolled my eyes at the comment. Lacie was returned to the ground and she ran to her own bike. We were ready to go.

I didn't know why I was surprised to see the young kids leading the way, knowing exactly how long to go straight and exactly when to turn. They lived there. It was interesting, is all. "How did you like Ash and Celia?"

I shrugged.

"Use your words." I chuckled at this, but obeyed nonetheless. "I didn't get much of Ash's time, but Celia is nice. We ate some of the peaches they picked together." Kahlo smiled. "I'm glad to see you got along." I wouldn't tell him, and a chuckle at his word choice of got along would be too obvious so I had to stifle it. I think I did more than get along with her.

"The boy, Max, he is...." I trailed off to show I needed him to cut me off.

"Ash's little brother. Cool kid, I think he has the hots for my sister."

"He totally does!" I agreed. He looked over to me and gave me a crooked smile. A smile I would savour every time I saw it.

My mother was right, the town was further away from her house than the beach was. But it was a bike ride full of smiles, laughter and jokes. We got there in one piece, thankfully, but by the time we got there we were too hungry to wander around. The group headed straight to the nearest cafe and sat for something to fill them up. My eyes lit up at the sight of our bikes lining the cafe wall.

We ate. We walked. We brought candy. For Lacie. The younger kids all agreed that they were all a smidge sleepy and wanted to get home so that they could spend the rest of the slow afternoon doing the only thing acceptable at such a time: sleeping. Callista took them home as one of us older ones would have had to go, and she too was sleepy enough for a nap. Kahlo and I wandered through the streets and through the alleyways, hand in hand, sometimes with my head on his shoulder. A path we were walking on took us to a bookstore, I dragged Kahlo inside. He told me he had read too many books to be in a bookstore, and he bet me $10 that I couldn't find a book that he hadn't read. And that's what I proceeded to attempt for the next 20 minutes. "How about this one?"

He would shake his head. "Read it. Boy finds out he's a werewolf and ends up killing his father."

I would set it down, walk a few steps to grab another random book. "You couldn't have possibly read this one!" His crooked smile would appear.

"Her lover is kidnaped and she has to rescue him before he is murdered."

I would just sigh and move on. "Where do you find the time to read so many books?" I asked once. "In the winter there isn't much at all to do, so I read whilst I wait for summer."

Fortunately for me, there was one book he couldn't remember and asked to read the back of to jog his memory. I took this as a victory, even though there was a high chance that he actually had read the book, and he kindly let me take the win. After acquiring an extra $10, I then dragged him into the ice cream shop across the road. Kahlo teased me about how I won that money by default and I chuckled, but I stopped as soon as my eyes landed on the person being served. "Lia!" Kahlo called happily. The girl turned around, and when she recognised us, she smiled. "Hey guys! Funny seeing you here," she joked, hugging us. She waited as we ordered and were served our ice creams. "Peach, great choice."

I looked over to her ice cream.

"Vanilla, I wish I could say the same for you." Celia laughed at the fact that it was now I teasing her and hit me lightly, like I had done to her, before saying "vanilla is a classic. It's iconic. And it may be boring to some, but it's perfect to me." I don't think Celia understood the whole meaning of her words. She had just said them, no thought required. But I took them and buried them deep. It may be boring to others, but it's perfect to me. Perfect to me. I started to apply that to my own situation. She was perfect to me. Kahlo was perfect to me. Both were perfect to me, I was undeserving of either of them.