Fight Left In Me ✔

Chapter 37 - Puzzle pieces

Dart finds a few albums and carries them over to the table where Jo is already sitting. He lays one of them down in front of Jo and walks over to the kitchen. He comes back with two glasses and a bottle of wine. He pours them both a glass and sits down next to her. Jo opens the album and stares at the cutest baby she's ever seen. Chubby, blonde and staring right into the camera. She stares at the picture and says: "You have always been handsome." 

Dart chuckles and says: "Yeah right. Next." Jo falls in love with baby Dart immediately. He looks way too cute in all of his pictures. Jo turns the page and sees little Dart in a high chair, covered in chocolate with an ecstatic look on his face. 

Jo laughs and says: "You look very happy there." 

Dart chuckles and says: "My mom hated that picture. But my dad put it in the album anyway. He always said that kids weren't supposed to be perfect." 

Jo turns the page and tilts her head, looking at a picture that seemed like one of Dart at first glance, but she quickly realizes it's his dad. "You look so much like him."

Dart leans over and studies his dad's picture. "Yeah, I guess I do. Never seen it, until now. He must be about the same age as I am now, in that picture." Dart points out a picture of him with a dark haired boy in a tent and says: "That's Pierre. We were six or seven there and I had convinced my dad to let us camp in the backyard. It was very scary, all alone in a tent, in the dark. But we didn't want to admit we were scared, so we stayed in the tent and eventually fell asleep. It was Pierre's first holiday experience."

Jo smiles at the story and Dart points out another picture with a grin. "If only we had grown up in the same area Jo, we could have read comic books together in our tree house." Jo looks at the two boys in a tree house, surrounded by comic books, both smiling wide. 

"Were there any girls allowed in your tree house?" 

Dart looks into her eyes and says: "To be truly honest, we were convinced girls didn't read comic books." 

Jo laughs and says: "I thought so, after reading the comic you made with Pierre."

Dart flips through the album and shows her another picture and says: "See? Tall, skinny and awkward." Jo looks at the picture and she sees all he mentioned, but she also sees that signature smile. A little crooked and sexy, even at that age. She tells him and he looks at her in disbelief. 

Jo kisses him and says: "I'm pretty sure some girls must have seen it too back then." 

Dart thinks about it for a second and says: "Hmm, maybe. But I always managed to trip or say something weird. Even Pierre had more game and he has always been the silent one." 

Jo takes a sip from her wine and says: "I can see that. I was drawn to him too. But I would at least have admired you from a distance with a smile like that." 

Dart kisses her and says: "From a distance? Why?" 

"I don't think I would have been able to talk to you. I still find it hard sometimes, when you smile at me." Dart immediately smiles at her and Jo covers her eyes, laughing. 

Dart searches for a picture in a different album and finds it. "The first pictures of me in a suit." Jo looks at the pictures and sees a tall, skinny Dart, in a light blue suit. His arm around a girl with curly hair and a friendly face. 

"Light blue looks good on you. And who is the cute girl?" 

Dart says: "She was the daughter of my dad's business partner. She was one year older and I think her parents made her go to the dance with me. I thought she was cute too. But yeah, awkward."