Cruel Summer - Taylor Swift
"How come you talk silly?" Charlie asks, swinging her legs from the counter.
"Maybe it's you that talks silly." I say, bopping her nose.
"No! You talk silly!" She says, bopping my nose back.
I reach over with both hands, tickling her sides. She laughs, throwing her head back. "Brinley!" She yells through laughter. "Stop it!" I continue to tickle her until Christian appears in the doorway, catching my attention.
His light brown hair was damp, making it slightly darker. He had on a navy blue v-neck with a pair of tan joggers, that I just knew made his ass look good.
He leans against the doorframe, grinning over at us. Charlie eye's follow in my direction. "Hi Daddy! We're making supper!" She says as he pushes off the wall, walking over towards us.
"Oh yeah? What're you making?" He asks and I grin.
"Dinosaur chicken nuggets." I say and he laughs.
"Are those only for Charlie?" He asks, coming around the corner of the island.
"Nope." I say.
He picks Charlie up off the counter, and she leans in a kisses him. In full, toddler kissing glory.
He takes a step towards me, leaning down his lips meet mine. "Hey." I say when he pulls away.
"Hi." He says, kissing me on the cheek. "What'd you guys do?"
"Let's see, we played Chutes & Ladders, we colored-"
"We had a tea party!" Charlie interrupts.
"That we did." I say, my eyes slightly widening at the memory of that mess. "And then we came down here to make food."
"Well, what do you say to a little ice cream trip after dinner?" Christian asks, poking Charlie's side.
"Yay!" Charlie yells, a giant grin on her face.
The timer on my phone goes off as Christian sets Charlie down. "I'll get it." He says, opening a drawer.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah." He says as Charlie grabs my hand, leading me towards the table.
"What do you want to drink Sis?" Christian asks, setting the pan on the stove.
"Root Beer!"
"Not right now, it's getting late." He says and she pouts.
"Water or juice?" He asks, opening the fridge.
"Juice!" She says.
"What kind?"
"Apple." She says, turning to look at me. "Do you want some apple juice?"
"Of course!" I say and she turns to Christian.
"Brinley would also like some apple juice." Christian chuckles.
"Honey mustard or ketchup."
"Honey mustard." We both answer at the same time, grinning at each other.
"Jeeze. Do I have one child, or two?" Christian asks and I narrow my eyes at him.
"You know you what some of those Dino nuggets."
Everyone quickly eats, mainly because Charlie was rushing us so we could get ice cream.
We walk out onto the driveway, where Christian's black Cadillac Escalade.
"Holy fuck it's cold." I say hopping into the passenger seat of the already started car.
"Relax lady. It's not even that bad."
"It's snowing!!Are you forgetting I come from a place that's quite warm?"
"No. I just think you're wimpy." He quips.
"Says the one wearing a coat!" I yell "Remind again why we're getting ice cream in December."
"Because I have a toddler who can handle the cold better than you."
"Again, coat!" I say pointing to Charlie who had on a hat and coat.
He shrugs his shoulders, closing Charlie's door and hopping in the passenger seat.
The minute he closes his door, his music connects and Fantasy by Mariah Carey starts playing. He quickly scrambles to turn it off as I look over at him.
"What?" He tries to act cool.
"Didn't peg you for a Mariah fan."
"There's a lot you don't know about me Sweetheart." He says in a teasing way. Little does he know I actually liked the nickname.
"I'm aware." I say.
"Turn it back on!" Charlie yells from the backseat.
Christian presses play and Charlie cheers before she starts singing. Almost, word for word. Or, at least what she thought was the words.
"Hey, what can I say? I'm raising my kid right." He says, backing out of the driveway.
"I'm in heavennn." Charlie songs and I laugh. "With my boyfriend."
Christian shakes his head, grinning. "Welcome to the behind the scenes life of Charlie and Christian Brooks." He says, turning out of the neighborhood.
I laugh, "Glad I could see it."
"See it?" Christian asks as if that was the most terrible thing he'd ever heard. "Baby, you're in it now." He says, placing his hand on my thigh. "I may have said you were my girlfriend just to make the explanation easier on the toddler but, I wasn't kidding or anything."
My heart thuds against my chest as I place my hand over his. "So, I'm your girlfriend?"
"Only if you want to be." He says, tapping my thigh to the beat of the song.
"I'll have to think about it. Someone will get back to you in 5-10 business days." I say, a cheeky grin on my face.
He squeezes my thigh, making me jerk my leg slightly. "What was that?"
"You heard me. 5-10 business days. Although, keep it up and it could change to up to 14 business days." I quip.
"You better watch the sass Sweetheart." He says, tapping my thigh.
I lower my voice, "Or what?"
"You'll find out later." He says, looking over at me.
The song ends before a *NSYNC song comes on. I reach forward, turning it up a little more.
"Didn't peg you as 90s boy band fan."
"I wouldn't be a true millennial if I wasn't." I say, smiling over at him. He nods his head to the side. "Are you forgetting that I was a teenage girl in 2008?"
His continues to tap his hand on my thigh to the beat of each song that plays, until we reach a cute little ice cream shop.
"What flavor are you gonna get Brinley?" Charlie asks, looking over at me.
"I don't know yet. What about you?"
"Chocolate."
"You better not get some cotton candy shit again." Christian says, opening the door as I walk inside, him following right behind me.
"If they have some, I definitely am." I say, sending him a grin.
We walk up to the counter, scanning all of the flavors in the case. Christian groans at the same time my eyes land on cotton candy ice cream. "Ha!"
The teenager working comes over to us and asks us what we want. "Can I get two scoops of cotton candy in a dish, please?" I ask, looking over at Christian whose rolling his eyes.
"Better drop the attitude sass-a-frass." I say, and his brows knit together.
"Sass-a-frass?"
"You've never heard that?" I ask, my own brows furrowing.
He chuckles, "No."
"You weird Minnesotans." I say, shaking my head.
"Yeah sure, we're weird." Christian says, looking at the ice cream flavors.
He orders ice cream for him and Charlie and I quickly pull my card out and pay before he can. "Brinley!" He yells as we walks up to the counter.
"You did not just pay." He says, a stern look on his face.
Boy, was I getting in trouble tonight.
I smile up at him. "What's wrong?" I play dumb, slipping my card back into my wallet.
"You little shit." He says, shaking his head.
"It's okay. You can pay me back later tonight." I wink, walking away towards a table.
I sit down, Christian sits next to me, Charlie on his lap. "You better be real glad Charlie's here right now." He whispers.
"Why Daddy?" Charlie asks.
Christians eyes slightly widen. "Because I just missed you so much!" I answer quickly.
Taking my bottom lip in between my teeth to stop myself from smiling. Christian nudges my knee with his own.
"Brinley, are you spending the night?" Charlie asks.
"Yes." Christian answers without hesitation.
I already kinda figured I was.
"Yay! We get to have a sleepover! Will you sleep in my room?" She asks, licking her ice cream.
I look right at Christian, a playful grin on my face. "Of course."
By the time were down, got Charlie cleaned up and got home. It was Charlie's bedtime. Which also meant I would be "going to bed".
"Goodnight." Christian says, closing Charlie's bedroom door.
I waited about fifteen minutes before getting up and walking back to Charlie's room.
I slowly open the door, "Brin?" I whisper.
No answer.
"Brinley?" I whisper louder.
Sighing, I walk into the room, walking over to Charlie's bunk beds. Squatting down by the bottom one, my heart strings pull a little at the sight in front of me.
Charlie was knocked out in Brinley's arms, who was also asleep. Her leg thrown over Brinley's side, their faces inches away from each other.
Fuck, had I fallen. Hard.
Word Count: 1,471