Love is a Flower

Chapter 4

"Here you go." Gabriel hands me a large t-shirt and I slide into it. It's baggy and hangs down to the middle of my thigh.

"Thank you."

"Not a problem." We get back outside and I see that there is a lot less people here. The sun is lower in the sky making the sky turn different colors.

"You want to make one?" I look over and see Matthew offering a bag of marshmallows to me.

"Sure." I grab a marshmallow and roaster stick and stand near the fire. I stick the marshmallow above the fire careful to hold ot a good distance from the flames. I glance around the yard and see Alex and Noah kissing on the grass next to the pool. I quickly look away and down at the fire.

My marshmallow is on fire so I quickly pull it out of the fire and blow it out. The outside of the treat is now charred. Frowning at it I question if I should eat it or not. I don't want to waste it but I don't like mine burnt like this.

A hand reaches out and snatches the marshmallow of my stick. I look over and see Noah toss the hot treat in his mouth. He squeezes his eyes shut and fans at his mouth.

"It hot!" He cries his mouth full of the charred marshmallow. Everyone around the fire laughs but I feel a bit guilty.

"Do you want another one?" Matthew asks from my side.

"Uh, yeah. I like it to be golden brown but I always end up burning it."

"Do you want me to make it for you? That's the way I always cook mine."

"Oh you don't have to." Matthew ignores me and puts two marshmallows on the roasting stick, after taking it from me.

"Uh, thank you." I say glancing over to see Catrina coming up to us.

"I'm leaving hun." She kisses Matthew's cheek and he smiles at her.

"Okay. Thanks for coming Mom."

"Of course baby." She passes Matthew and smiles at me. "It was great to meet you hun." She hugs me tightly causing me to laugh and return the hug.

Matthew finishes the marshmallows and leads me to a table were chocolate and graham crackers are.

The sun begins to set and Matthew walks around the yard lighting tiki torches. There are a few children still here so he warns them not to touch them. He leads the children to a bench and takes the lid off.

He begins to hand out what looks to be sparklers. The children cheer and run over to the fire to light them. I watch them as they run around the yard and make designs in the air with the sparks. The dog from earlier runs around with them until Matthew calls him away. Apparently the dogs name is Bear.

I finish my beer and sip on another on as I watch everyone mingle around the yard. Slowly people begin to file out and I realize I'm one of the last people left.

"Hey Eli want to go swimming? Since it's dark now we can turn on the under water lights." Noah asks coming up to where I am sitting near the fire.

"Ah, sorry. I should probably leave." I say standing.

"Leave?" He asks shocked.

"Um, yeah. I still have to call an uber."

"You could stay here!" Noah suggests quickly with a smile.

"Here?" I ask surprised.

"Yeah, we have a guest room you can stay in."

"Uh, I don't know."

"I'll ask the guys if there okay with it." Noah says ignoring me and turning around. I finish my beer quickly and put it in the trash. I walk inside and see Gabriel and Alex putting the leftover food in containers. I'm guessing people already took a bunch because there isn't much left.

"I'm gonna get going. Thanks for letting me come." Alex ducks his head and chuckles. Gabriel elbows him and smiles at me.

"Of course. It was great to meet you. Do you want leftovers?"

"Um, is there enough?"

"Of course." Alex pipes up. "What do you want we have cornbread, brownies, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese and baked beans left."

"Um, I guess cornbread and mac and cheese."

"Okay." Alex hands me the containers.

"You're clothes should still be upstairs. I'll get them for you." Gabriel says as he turns to the sink to wash his hands.

"Okay. Thanks."

Gabriel dyes his hands and heads upstaires and Alex begins to clean the kitchen and dinning room. Alex's hair is messy and curls at the ends. His skin is tan either from his ethnicity or the sun. I can't quite tell.

"Do you want help?" I ask timidly.

"Nope, I'm good."

"Oh, okay." I look around awkwardly. When Gabriel comes down Matthew and Noah are behind him. I didn't even realise they were up there. Matthew wraps his arms around Alex and leans his mouth against Alex's ear. I see his lips moving but can't hear anything.

"Here's your clothes." Gabriel hands me my clothes which are folded and my shoes are on top.

"Thank you."

"I'm okay with that." I hear Alex say from the kitchen. Noah grins and turns to me.

"Everyone is okay with you staying. So I'll show you the guest bedroom." He says grabbing my wrist.

"Noah I thought I told you to ask him if even wanted to and didn't I tell you earlier not to drag him around like that." Matthew says, his arms still wrapped around Alex.

Noah pouts and looks at me. "Please stay." I look at him and can't help but melt.

"Okay." Noah grins and leads me upstairs.

"This is the guest bedroom." He says as he opens a door and walks in. The room  very minimalist except for a queen sized bed, night stand with a lamp and a dresser. The walls are a pale yellow and the bedding set a baby blue. I set my clothes and leftovers on the dresser.

We go back into the hallway and he opens another door. "This is the bathroom. You can take a shower if you want we have extra soap in here and chlorine isn't good for your hair."

"Um, okay, thanks." Noah hums and leads me down the hall to the room we were in to get the swimsuits.

"This is our bedroom." He says as he opens a drawer in one of the dressers. They have two and with four people I'm sure there are a lot of clothes. He pulls out sweat pants and a white tank top and hands them to me.

"Here. There should be towels in the bathroom." Noah leaves me in the bathroom across from the guest bedroom where I take a quick shower.

When I'm done I go down stairs and see the couple. Is it even couple since there are four of them not two? They are all sitting on one of the couches cuddling under a few blankets watching a TV show I don't recognize.

"Um, thanks for letting me stay the night." I say making them all turn and look at me.

"Of course."

"Do you want to put your leftovers in the fridge?"

"Sure," I run upstairs and grab the leftovers. When I come back down Alex is in the kitchen. He opens the fridge and moves stuff around so there is room. "Thank you."

"Not a problem."

"See you tommorow."

"Goodnight." We leave the kitchen and walk into the living room.

"Goodnight." I say to the group.

"You're going to bed?" Noah asks turning around.

"Yeah, I'm tired."

"Oh, okay. Goodnight." He looks a little sad.

"Night." Matthew and Gabriel tell me goodnight as I walk the up the stairs.