The Surrogate Mother

Chapter 13

"So, what would you like to do first, oh knight in rusting armour?"

"Well, devil in distress, I would like to do something fun. Karaoke, maybe?"

"Ooo.. nice idea. We have an amazing karaoke centre. It also has a diner next door. We could get lunch after we tire ourselves out."

Dylan raised his eyebrows suggestively, "Eat after tiring ourselves out?"

"Oh come off it! You know that's not what I meant. Although" she leaned in really close and whispered into Dylan's ears "that is something that also sounds like fun to do."

He gulped visibly and a drop of sweat formed on his forehead which he pretended to casually brush away.

He knew Alice was flirting with him as a distraction from her life, but this particular move definitely got to him.
He just shook her head at her and walked behind her, silently.

"Dylan? You've been super silent for the past 10 minutes. You okay?"

"Yea.. yea.. don't worry."

"Dylan."

"Alice." he mocked.

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Shutting me out and mocking me. Only kindergarten children do the latter."

"I am not shutting you out, Alice. I just need to get my blood pressure down from the stunt you just pulled."

"What? That whispering thing?"

"Yeah. Obviously."

"That actually affected you?"

"Was it not supposed to?"

"Well.. no.. yea.. but no.. NO. Dylan. I.."

"Alice. You don't have to explain yourself to me. I get what you're doing. You're using all your energy and concentration on flirting and playing with me. I am all up for that. But it's hard not to get affected by that and even harder to not do anything."

"Do what?"

"Alice."

"Dylan."

"Kindergarten much? Well. You know what. Come on. I like you, Alice. You told me you like me too."

"I know. But that doesn't mean we could dive straight into it, does it? I mean, I don't know if you noticed, but my life is a stellar screw up."

"Of course, we are not diving into it. And I don't want you to stop flirting with me, either. But all I am asking is for time to recuperate and calm the hell down before I do something stupid like kiss you."

"You needed 10 minutes to calm down? And maybe more if I hadn't opened my mouth?"

"What can I say? You affect me too much. I don't affect you?"

"You do. You really do. I guess I just acknowledged it as something that's inherently present. You're affecting me right now too, you know."

"Yeah. I can feel the affecting-ness going through."

"Affecting-ness?"

"This is more than affection, Alice."

Alice just looked down and announced that they had arrived at the karaoke bar.

"Prepare yourself for a morning of thorough humiliation, Dylan. I am the freaking queen of this place."

"And there comes the devil not-so-much in distress."

Alice and Dylan enjoyed their morning singing songs and rapping Eminem. Alice beat Dylan by a mere few points. Turns out, Dylan was as good a singer as Alice was, if not better.

They were too tired from dancing around too even move to the diner from the centre, but they did. They teased each other through lunch about and Alice felt grateful for Dylan.

However, unbeknownst to them, somebody was watching them have their fun. Lurking in the shadows and hiding out of plain sight. Following them silently as they head from the diner to the park.