Hidden Behind Walls

Chapter 36: Normality

Clayton just shook his head.

"What am I going to do with you?" He mumbles. His forest green eyes looked me over.

"Love me as I am" I say with a childish grin. He gave me an amused look.

"I don't know doll, you're getting to be a bit of an airhead." He responds with sly smile. I stick my tongue out childishly.

When our public transportation adventure had ended, it had taken us quite of few different modes to return home, we ended up in front of Miss Marisol's house. I unlocked the door, and traveled into the kitchen. Leon was sitting on the benches that ran across the far-side of the kitchen wall. He was stuffing his face with sliced strawberries and mangos, as he watched cartoons on his tablet. Megan was at the sink that sat on the butcher block counter that sat off-centered in the kitchen space, washing away the few dishes in the sink, and Ruri was drying them. Daren was splayed on the rest of the bench, making sure that when Leon went to grab more fruit he didn't fall off the bench.

"We're homeee" I sing-song.

"Took you long enough, it's your turn to babysit." Daren says as he begins to sit up.

"Yep, we're going out." Ruri states putting down the towel she was using to dry dishes with.

"Out? Where?" Clayton pipes up from behind me.

"Well, Meagan here has a date, and Daren and I are going to this underground concert." Ruri responds. She drops the yellow sponge, and looks at the clock hanging beside the fridge.

"Yeah, it's some dude that's supposedly really good." Daren adds. His hand shoots out in time to catch a rogue strawberry slice that had missed Leon's mouth.

"Mhmm, and it's your turn to stay with Leon while Miss Marisol is working at the theater." Megan continues. She does a small twirl out of the kitchen. Her bouncy blonde curls jumping with the motion, and her slightly browned skin disappearing down the hallway.

"She's very excited, and the dude's really cute." Ruri playfully whispered.

"Oooo, I want to see a picture."

"A picture, darling, we've got it all. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc, etc. She wasn't going out with a rando dude if we didn't have a feasible idea of who he was." Ruri chattered away. I couldn't hold back the grin on my face while Ruri began to flip excitedly through this guy's social media.

"You act like you're the one going on the date" I laugh. I turned away from the screen to cast a glance up at Daren, and was met with Clayton leaning against the doorway by the back of the kitchen studying my face.

"I'm living vicariously through Megan. Ah, young love." Ruri whispers nostalgically.

"You do remember we're only 18, and that I'm your boyfriend. Right?" Daren interjects.

"Shhh, stop interrupting babe" Ruri chides. Daren jokingly rolls his eyes.

"Yeahh, shhhhhhhhh " Leon pipes up.

Daren's head snaps up in surprise. "You, too Leon!" he says exaggeratedly, "You too!" He fakes a faint, putting exaggeration in his every move.

Leon bursts into a fit of giggles at Daren's antics. Yet, Clayton is still silently standing by the doorway. I see the corner of his lips quirk up into a telltale smile. I relax slightly. I cast a glance at Ruri. She suppresses the smile that's fighting its way onto her face, and quickly changes the subject. She slid her phone into her back pocket.

"Well, I'm getting changed. I need time to curate the perfect, badass outfit."

"Don't take hours like last time. You spent a whole 60 minutes on picking an outfit. We've got to actually see the performance this time." Daren teases her.

"You can't rush a masterpiece" Ruri quipped with a shrug, and left the kitchen with that. Darn sighed, and slowly stood up.

"I guess I should change to. You got Leon?" Daren asks, casting a glance between the two of us. I shoot him a thumbs up, and he nods leaving as well. Clayton finally sits, making sure that Leon doesn't tumble off the bench while he reaches out for yet another mango slice.

"So am I dealing with bathtime or are you? Or are we going to tag team this and hopefully he doesn't run around the house buck-naked." Clayton comments with joking smile on his face.

"We've got a way better chance tag-teaming this. I have no clue how Miss Marisol does it on her own." I retort, looking over the visage of the little boy. Leon knowingly raises his head from the cartoon he was engrossed in at the mere mention of bathtime.

"Bathtime" he mumbles, and, with his very sticky fingers, begins to try to pull his t-shirt over his head.

"Whoa, there Leon. It's not bathtime yet." Clayton says quickly tugging down the toddler's shirt. The boy pouts, his springy brown curls settling into place, and reaches out for strawberry slice.  I move to sit next Leon, taking the spot Daren had previously occupied.

"Bath time means it's almost bedtime, and I know you want to finish this episode of Paw Patrol." I explain. He instantly perks up.

"Is it bad that we rely on tv shows to have any form of feasible control over him?" Clayton comments reflectively.

"Mmm, probably." I respond looking over Leon's preoccupied face.  I run my hand through his slightly frizzy hair. He turns his head towards me, and offers a mango slice. I consider quietly turning it down, his fingers were covered in his saliva and the sticky nectar of the fruit, but decided to take it anyway. I popped the slice into my mouth and thanked him.

"Leon, can I have some?" Clayton murmurs. Leon's face creases into a very hard frown. There was one large mango slice left, and the bit of strawberry he was eating. He obviously didn't want to give it away.

His answer came out slowly, and his lip was quivering as he said, "Clay can have my mango." His sticky fingers pushed the bowl towards Clayton.  Leon's tear filled eyes were heart-wrenching. The alarm that crossed Clayton's face was unmistakable.

"No, it's fine, Leon you can eat your mango.  Gah, fu---fudge. Don't cry."

Leon sniffles, and then shovels the slice into his mouth before Clayton changes his mind. Clayton rubs at his temple, and groans.

"Quand va-t-il dormir?" [When does he go to sleep?]

"Sept heure" [7:00]

"It's 5:30 right now. We should probably give him a bath then."

Leon's head popped up to look at us. He gingerly lifts his t-shirt. Clayton and I exchange glances.

"It's Bathtime" we say with finality. Leon quickly wrenches off his shirt, leaving tiny little stains were his fingers gripped the shirt.

"Bathtime!" He exclaimed, scrambling off the bench.