i don't wanna be, ᵒⁿᵉ ᵗʳᵉᵉ ʰⁱˡˡ

⤷ vii. love is embarrassing.

Lydia beamed with pride, "Yep, that's me. I'm the coolest little sister in the world." She seemed very proud of that fact. Her eyes naturally glanced toward where Jamie had been serving a couple of guests while talking to them before they rested back onto Parker, her smile and bright eyes still evident.

Parker raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "Really? How so?" She paused for a moment before she remembered something. Just moments before, she had noticed Parker's gaze soften and stay focused on only one person in the entire room. She'd known exactly who it was out of curiosity, and she was going to do exactly what she had already done plenty of times for Jamie with Madison.

She leaned in conspiratorially, her eyes twinkling. "I just am and I can prove it to you."

     "Okay," Parker said with a grin, his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes squinted slightly in anticipation as she looked behind to find Jennifer. And when she had, she looked back at Parker who noticed it straight away. His cheeks flushed with embarrassment as he wondered if he really was that obvious. Did this eleven year old know? Does that mean that everyone else would know too?

     "You like that girl over there, don't you?" Lydia asked, her gaze flicking towards Jennifer. "I can get her to come over here and talk to you."

Parker's eyes widened, and he stammered, "Huh? Wait, no—I don't, wait, Lydia—" But before he could finish, Lydia was on her feet and heading toward Jennifer who immediately noticed her and widened her smile in greeting. To avoid the embarrassment of being pointed out to the girl he had a crush on, Parker pulled his phone out and began scrolling through Instagram absentmindedly, fighting off the urge to see what Lydia and Jennifer were talking about.

But then, moments later, he couldn't resist anymore and looked up just in time for Jennifer to approach him, a charming smile on her face once she realized how red Parker's cheeks were, "Hey," She muttered before she sat beside him, "Some kid promised me ten bucks and a free hot chocolate on the house at my next visit to Karen's Café if I sat with you and pretended to be interested for the next five to ten minutes."

     "Of course she did," Parker laughed, trying to see where Lydia had disappeared off to, finding her now with Jamie - pulling at him for something, "Way cuter and cooler than Jamie huh? And strategic too. Think she'd make a good point guard one day?" He asked curiously as he tried to imagine it.

Jennifer shrugged, "When she's not like three foot five, sure," As soon as she had finished talking, a new song began to play through the speakers of the lakehouse and immediately, Jennifer perked up, "Oh my god, this is my favorite song!" She widened her eyes at Parker, her smile so wide that he couldn't look away before she shyly asked him, "Would you... maybe want to dance?"

Parker glanced back at the kids' table. "I gotta keep an eye on the kids, can't have any of them running off. What if something happens?" He muttered dejectedly. He would have loved to join her but considering he was the eldest there, he felt it was his responsibility to look after them, "And besides, what if my dancing skills are too much for you and you can't handle it?" He asked cheekily which only made her scoff in response.

     "We'll invite the kids to dance with us too," Jennifer suggested, extending her hand. "Come on," Parker accepted her hand and she pulled him up with her before glancing at the kids with a wide smile, "Apparently Parker here thinks he's a way better dancer than the rest of us, you kids up for proving him wrong?" All five of them had yelled in agreement before rushing off to the dance floor alongside Jennifer and Parker.

Parker rolled his eyes playfully when Jennifer looked back at him before he felt himself becoming shy. He looked down at their intertwined hands and then fought a beautiful smile at how perfect it had looked for their hands to be intertwined like this.