75 AMAZING PICK UP LINES

Hardwood (Library Pt. 3)

A/N: Long A/N at the end because wow, lots of stuff to talk about! Enjoy yet another installment of the Library saga! lol :)

"Are you hardwood flooring? Because I prefer you over carpet...'cause you're easier to clean."

"Okay, Lauren," Scott called out as he walked into the living room from the kitchen, carrying a stack of board games in his arms, "we have Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, Hi Ho Cherry-O, and Cariboo. Which one do you want to play?"

"Candy Laaaaaaand!" Lauren squeeled, dashing into the room and nearly diving head-first onto the carpet in the center of the room. "Candy Land, Candy Land!"

Scott laughed, placing the stack of games on the couch and taking the box on top of the pile. "Candy Land it is."

"Yay!" Lauren was bouncing up and down uncontrollably like a wind-up doll. Ever since Tuesday, Scott had been watching her while his sister was in the hospital recovering from knee surgery. Lauren had initially been confused and a little upset when told that her mom wouldn't be coming home for a few days, but immediately perked up when she realized that it meant spending all her time with her Uncle Scott for a whole week. Now it was the fourth day, and she hadn't calmed down much at all. She absolutely adored him, and he loved her more than anything. Except maybe Mitch. Ever since he had moved in with Scott a few months ago, it seemed that Lauren's wishes of wanting an Uncle Mitch were soon to become a reality. Mitch had gotten some extra parenting practice in during these past few days, making breakfast for the three of them every morning before leaving for the library and helping Scott put Lauren to bed at night. The first night, Scott tucked her in, and Lauren had demanded Mitch to read her a story. He had happily obliged, sitting Indian style in the chair next to Lauren's bed, reading from "Goodnight Moon" in the most melodic voice Scott had ever heard. The next couple nights, per Lauren's request, they sang her lullabies together in harmony, which actually sounded really, really good. Good enough to put Lauren to sleep, at least. Unfortunately for them, young kids like Lauren aren't very heavy sleepers, so they'd been trying their best to keep it down the past few nights.

Mitch was due to come home any moment now, and Lauren knew it. "I'm the yellow one, you're the red one, and Uncle Mitchie is the blue one," she determined, setting up the pieces on the colorful board.

"Are you sure? What if he wants to be the green one?"

Lauren shook her head furiously, waving the blue piece around. "Nuh-uh. He's blue."

Scott just smiled as he took out the little white cards. Mitch's favorite color was blue. Lauren was pretty smart if she knew that. "Okay," he said, shuffling the deck and placing it in the middle of the board, "sounds good to me. Here we go!"

They hadn't been playing for long when Scott heard the deadbolt click as the door swung open. "I'm home!" Mitch announced in a sing-songy voice as he came inside, grinning and carrying a sleek black bag in one hand and a bottle of Chardonnay in the other.

Lauren was all over him in seconds. Scott swore that she broke her own record with every passing day of Mitch coming home from work. "Uncle Mitchie's home! Uncle Mitchie's home!" she cried, overjoyed as she clung to his leg in that adorable way she always does.

"Whoa there!" Mitch laughed, stumbling a little at the sudden addition of weight on his leg as he placed the bag and the wine down on the carpet. "Hi, honey! I missed you. What are you guys playing?"

Lauren let go of him, racing back over to the game board to retrieve the blue piece. "Candy Land! You're the blue one," she told him, standing on her tiptoes and stretching her arm up as high as she could to give Mitch the little blue gingerbread figurine.