The Safety Pin Affair

t w e n t y-t w o - we don't want to torture you

i never saw you coming,
and i'll never be the s a m e . . .

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Every time I watch Gracie, she's always hopping from one activity to the next. As a five-year-old, I expect this behavior from her.

The one thing that never changes though, is her love for movies. It varies each week what genre she wants to watch – princesses, talking animals, superheroes, or all of the above. But her all time favorite is Sleeping Beauty, and she makes sure that we watch it whenever we can. Usually, it's whenever she can manage to calm down for at least an hour and a half.

It's Wednesday evening of the next week. Which means in two days, I'll be going away for a weekend with Josh.

I can't believe it's already here, but he only asked me last Thursday and it's not like I had months to prepare for it. I sort of like how spontaneous this whole thing is and how I actually agreed to it. I'm actually really excited.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Gracie whispered to me suddenly.

I chuckled, nodding my head. "Of course," I whispered back. I kept stroking my fingers through her tiny pigtails as her head rested on my arm.

We were both curled up on the couch watching Sleeping Beauty, waiting for Mrs. Ferguson to get home. Well, I'm doing most of the waiting because I can't wait to go home and eat dinner. Gracie is mainly focused on the movie.

She leaned her head up to look at me as a serious look washed over her face.

"I actually like Maleficent," she admitted with a sheepish grin.

I gasped dramatically and threw my hand over my heart in dismay.

"What?" I uttered, faking shock for her amusement.

"I know," she giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. "But she is a good villain."

"And why is that?" I tried to hide my smile as I looked down at her. She paused to think as her eyes went up to the ceiling, her gears grinding to come up with a response.

"Um," she sang. "Um, well, she didn't mean any harm. She was just upset that she wasn't invited to the party. I would be sad too."

I nodded my head at her answer and smirked at how smart she is for her age. She blows my mind sometimes with the stuff she comes up with.

"You've got a good point there, Gracie-girl," I agreed, trying to hide my yawn.

The movie was almost over by the time the front door swung open and Mrs. Ferguson walked inside. Gracie perked up at the sound of her mother coming home, and grabbed onto my arm for dear life. She dug herself deeper into the couch, and my side, as she attempted to hide.

"Maybe she won't notice us and you can stay longer," she whispered to me, and I quietly laughed. At both her comment, and the fact that Mrs. Ferguson was slyly watching us with a smile from the front door. Without even being home for a minute, she knows her daughters antics.

"Gracie, Victoria has to go home eventually," she waltzed into the living room with a chuckle.

"But we were having such a good time," Gracie huffed obnoxiously and crossed her arms in disappointment.