Colors Always Bleed Together [DUFN]

Chapter Twenty-One: Honey Glow

I nod and she disappears back through the front doors. I watch her walk over to her family and start a conversation. I then look away and watch the cars drive by. It's not too long after that that Nicki tells me to follow her back inside.

She leads me passed all the booths filled with people chatting away and enjoying their meals. It occurs to me soon after that I might be meeting her family. I start to get extremely nervous at the thought.

But the feeling subsides when she walks passed her parents' table and sets at the empty booth beside theirs. I sit on the opposite side of her.

A waiter with short black hair takes out a notepad and asks us about drinks and appetizers. I order a sweet tea. I heard there is no place to get sweet tea that even begins to compare with the country side.

The waiter writes down my order and turns to Nicki. She politely tells him that she doesn't want anything. The man nods and sits down two menus, one in front of each of us, before going to check up on another customer.

"Do you want anything?" I ask Nicki as I open the menu and survey the selection of food in front of me.

"No, but thank you." She answers nicely.

"Please." I put down the menu to smile at her. "I insist."

"Ryan, I already have something coming to my table." She informs me.

"Oh." I say in understanding.

Just as I finish speaking, a toddler waddles his way over to Nicki and hands her a glass with both of his little hands on the cup. She takes the cup and sets it on the table before lifting the little boy into the air. She sits him comfortably on her lap. "This is Aiden," She introduces with a smile, "my baby brother."

I smile at the little boy. "Hey, Buddy. I'm Ryan."

He seems to completely ignore my greeting and continues to stare blankly at the wall. "What's he doing?" I ask Nicki.

"He has absolutely no intention span," she informs. "Don't take it personally if it looks like he's ignoring you. He does that with everybody. We're hoping he grows out of it."

She sits the little guy back on his feet. "Go back to Mommy and Daddy, Aiden." She mumbles and he takes off like a bullet to their parents' table.

I look over to her parents, Wendy and David. They have close to no resemblance at all with their daughter, but their son favors them quite a bit. "I wouldn't have thought you were related if you wouldn't have told me yourself." I admit.

She shrugs, seeming very upset at my remark. A part of me aches as well. "I know." She answers lowly.

"His real mother didn't make it." Her melancholy tone remains. "So we just kinda took him in. I always seemed like the odd one out, especially since their non-biological son looks more like them than their actual blood."

I nod, not really knowing what to say.

Thankfully, the waiter comes back right on time. He hands me my drink and asks me if I'm ready to order.

I glance down at the undisturbed menu laying on the table. "A few more minutes, please." I reply.

"Sure thing." The man says with a slight smile and nod. He walks quickly away to pick up an order for an adjacent table.

I finally get interested in the menu and scan through the pages, actually looking for something to order this time. "What do you think is good?" I ask the woman across the table.

She opens her mouth to reply, when a different waiter approaches our table and sets a plate in front of her. "Your parents asked me to deliver this to your table."

"Thank you." She says to the man.

Quickly, before he leaves, I pull my wallet from my back pocket. Nicki gives me a confused look, asking me in a nonverbal fashion what it is I'm doing.

I pull my credit card from its slot in my wallet. "Pay for their meal." I say and point to the table seating Nicole's family.

"Yes, Sir." The waiter says in his natural deep voice. He takes my card and walks to the back of the restaurant, to the cash register - I would guess.

Nicki blushes slightly and looks down to her lap. Her meal remains untouched.

I smile. "What's with the honey glow, hmm?"

She bites her lip slightly before answering, "It's nothing." She still refuses to look at me.

"I won't take that as an answer."

Her blush deepens and she lowly mutters, "you're paying for my meal and we're eating alone at a table." After a moment, she adds another question.

"Ryan, is this a date?"

I truly never thought of that.

I feel my face turn red hot and quickly hold the menu up higher. I hide my face from her the best I can. Lowly, I question, "Do you want it to be?"

I peak over the top of the menu. She is almost completely flushed at this point. She stares at her steak. She steals a glance at me and I almost recoil. Almost.

She looks stright into my eyes as she nods. Yes.

I lay down the menu and offer a shy smile. "Then yeah." I feel my face redden only a little this time, but enough. "I guess it is."

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Guys! We're almost to 1.5k!

Also, my friend panemreads is writing a one shot book. He's taking requests, if you're interested. He has a list of fandoms he's most familiar with, but is also okay if you request others. He wrote a Brent x Safire one shot also, if you're interested. I honestly couldn't have written it any better myself! He is a very good writer, and if you're looking for a good otp moment, I would highly recommend asking him!

I'm also out for Summer, so hopefully updates will be more frequent. Hopefully.