Chapter 3
Work was fun, and school wasn't as stressful anymore. Things were getting better. Shanelle and Blake were always together acting like the adorable couple they are. It's Saturday, at five, Belle told me that she had bought tickets for the firework show for tonight for the family to go, but it ended up that they were short of nurses. She asked me to go, considering she doesn't trust Shane with his siblings.
Shane helped me cook lots this week, we got to know each other more and more. He was actually interested in my homework one night when I had more than usual. Time seemed to go by to fast with him. I'm not sure why.
I knock at the door and Chelsea answers it.
"ALEX!" She yells hugging my legs.
"Chelsea!" I say in the same tone of voice just quieter.
"I love fireworks! Don't you? They are so pretty!" She exclaims, obviously really excited. I was too, I also hoped that Shane would come too. I'm not sure why, but I'll go with the fact that I don't want to be in a large crowd alone with two children.
"I do! They are very pretty! Just like you!" I said poking her nose, she wrinkles it and giggles. She turns around and runs away.
I stand up right and take off my shoes. I look up and look straight at Shane. The sight makes my heart race. He's leant against the door frame, laughing.
"Hey Sweet Cheeks, see something you like?" He asks, winking. My cheeks heat up, as I walk past him I punch his arm playfully.
"Oh she did not just punch me!" He says joking, turning around behind me, I look behind me and see him approaching me fast, I try and start to run but its too late because his arms wrapped around my waist and lifted me off the floor.
Butterflies erupt in my stomach. I playfully scream, and laugh as he tickles me. "Oh looks she's ticklish" he says tickling me more. Chelsea and Marcus are laughing at me.
"Help!" I call out. He finally sets me down when his mom walks in the room.
"Did I hear screaming?" Belle asks laughing knowing it was me.
"Yes! Shane was tickling Alex!" Chelsea states making my cheeks grow even more red in response.
"I see, well, tonight Alex is going to be taking you to the fireworks, I think Shane should go too. Don't you?" Belle asks who ever was going to respond, but it was mostly directed at the kids.
"Yeah!" Marcus and Chelsea both beg.
"Fine, what time do they start?" Shane says giving in quickly.
"I'm not sure, the tickets are on the table with some cash for treats. I have to go, love you all. Oh and Shane no driving, Alex will. Bye!" She was serious about the last part. I wonder why she didn't want him to drive.
"Fine" he says annoyed. I go look at the tickets when she walks out the door. They start letting people in at six, it's almost 5:30 now. There's activities for kids around there. The fireworks start at 8:00. It's across the city, so we could leave now.
"Grab a sweater and let's go," Shane calls from the door as I wait. We were both ready. Shane has a football hat on, Chicago Bulls I'm pretty sure, it makes him look incredible. Both kids come running down the stairs and jeans and sweater on. Shane locks the door when we all are out. I put Marcus in his booster seat that he has to sit in, and Chelsea sat there patiently. Shane got in the passenger seat. I started my Range Rover up, and I turned up the music a bit.
"Are you excited Shane?" Marcus asks curious. Shane looked over at me, I was hoping he would say he was, it would ruin Marcus' mood.
"Very! I haven't seen fireworks in a long time," he says looking back at him.
"Did you buy this truck by yourself?" He asks me making conversation with me.
"My parents did, they moved overseas when I finished High School. They bought me this for leaving me here alone;" I say simply. I didn't mind living her alone without them.
"Oh, you ok with that?" He asks almost like he was caring.
"Aw! Someone is caring about me!" I say joking, he raises one of his eye brows as I speed away from the light. "Yeah I'm ok with living here alone, I live with my friend in an apartment. Lots of freedom," I state the positives.
"True," he said chuckling.
We got a parking spot about a block away from the park. We walk to the gates of the park and gave our tickets and went inside. Shane carried the blanket we were going to sit on while watching the fireworks. I held both the kids hands, we walked in.
"OUH! Can we go in the bouncy house?" Marcus almost begged.
"Sure," Shane said, both kids ran to get in line for the bouncy house. Shane and I stood back, away from the line, I watched them to make sure they were ok when they get in the bouncy house.
"Why did you bother coming?" I ask as we both sat on the bench, with a couple. They took up lots of space, he was close to me, he had no other choice but to put his arm around behind my head, our close bodies are making my stomach do flips.
"Why not? I didn't want to leave you with two kids and crowds like these, and like I said to Marcus, I haven't seen fireworks in a long time. And plus its with you," he explains and winks. His face inching closer and closer to mine, my heart was fluttering, why did I care? Why can't I pull away from his intense gaze? Next thing I know Marcus is climbing up on to my lap.
"How was that?" I ask both the kids. A deep blush rises on my cheeks.
"So much fun!" Chelsea was really excited.
"Want to go to that park around the pond?" Shane asked them. Their faces lit up more. I didn't think it was possible, but it happened.
"Yeah yeah yeah!! Let's go go go!" They both yell, Marcus pulling on my arm to get up and Chelsea pulling on Shane's.
"Ok! Ok, we're coming," we both said getting up, laughing. The park was on the other side of the pond, and it looked like no one was there. We were half way to the park and I looked at my phone it was 7:00, another hour until the fireworks are set off. We approach the park, and the kids ran off.
Then there was two. Shane and I sat on the bench at the back of the park, with trees surround the back. His choice, not mine.
As I sat down, I couldn't help but yawn.
"Do you play any sports?" I ask looking at him, and he was really close to me.
"Yeah I like to play football, and I box all the time," he explains. That explains why he's so perfect. His arms weren't massive, but they looked strong enough to hurt very, very, very bad. His t-shirt was tight against his arms and body. He always looks so mouth watering.
"Oh, so do you fight often?" I ask.
"Yeah, I train right after work everyday. I fight every second weekend. You?" He questions lifting an eye brow.
"Yeah I play soccer, captain of the team," I say some what bragging.
"Really? Have to say pretty proud!" He says chuckling. "How long have you played?" He sounds interested.
"Since I was 6, all the girls hated me cause the rest of the sucked," I say looking down. I didn't have many friends when I was smaller. They were mostly guys, until I moved and found my best friend to be.
"People made fun of you?" I look up, he looks almost hurt, I had to look away. Why is he caring? He seems like the average player type guy that gets loads of girls all the time. But I know for a fact, that they could careless about someone's past. It's probably just because I have to see him almost everyday.
"Yeah lots, because I always played with the guys, they would say stupid things about me" I say looking back into his eyes not breaking eye contact. It looks like he wanted to say something but was holding back. I want to touch his lips with my finger softly, just to see if they're soft.
Just as he opened his mouth to say something, "Alex! Marcus is stuck upside down!" Chelsea yells making my attention going to the park. I run to see Marcus flipped upside down hanging by his feet.
"Shane help me," I call him but he's already behind me. He holds Marcus while I untangle his feet. The second I get his feet free Shane pretends to drop him which makes my heart drops and causes Marcus to laugh. He sets him back up on his feet, we decide to head back to where everyone is.
We found an open spot on the grass, and set out the blanket, while Shane goes and grabs popcorn and cotton candy and some other snacks.
He gets back with treats, and the kids sit in front of us, laying back on either side on us. I check my phone for the time. It was 7:50.
"Ten minutes," I announce. They both turn around and start giggling. "What?" I ask confused. They just giggling harder. I turned to look at Shane, and he was laughing too. Im not sure why but I start too.
"They're on a sugar rush," Shane said leaning into my ear. His hot breath gave me chills. I just nod because I couldn't speak.
The lady over the intercom announces that the firework show is going to start in five minutes. We were all eating popcorn and cotton candy.
"Aw! Look at the cute couple!" An old lady says like she's excited. I turn around to the old lady with her husband beside her laughing. They were so cute, I turned back to face in front of me. Then I realized how close we were forced together. Our sides, shoulders, legs, feet were touching. Our hands crossed behind us to hold us up. My heart fluttered, I can barely breath. I let out another yawn.
"Tired?" Shane asked looking at me with an unexplainable expression.
"A little," I said leaning my head on his shoulder. I felt sparks run through me multiple times. I noticed he put his hand around my waist and pulled me closer.
"Whoa," they both say amazed at the different colours that popped up each time. Shane and I are completely pushed together, no space between us at all. I can barely contain myself from squirming at the feeling.
"That. Was. Amazing." Chelsea said as everyone cheered and clapped at the performance.
"I loved it," Shane said, and I just love how perfect his hair is with his hat.
"Me too" I said laughing as Marcus climbed up on my lap.
"I'll be back I need to go to the washroom," Shane said getting up fixing himself and walking away. Chelsea quickly took his spot he just left open. She snuggled up to me and Marcus left his head on my shoulder as he sat on my lap.
"Did you have fun?" I ask knowing they did.
"Yeah! So much fun" Chelsea says happy. I look to my right and I see a older guy in about his forties, tall, dark haired that was very greasy. He bent down on the side where Marcus was. I pushed him to my other side. The strange man bent down so we made eye contact. He was creepy and looked gross. Marcus put his face in the nape of my neck, obviously frightened.
"What's a pretty lady like you doing all alone with two children?" He said looking at them both. Chelsea tried to hide behind me, I held her hand tight, and I held Marcus' in my other.
"Waiting for someone, please, leave us alone," I said not letting go of the kids, or show how frightened I actually am.
"C'mon baby, let's go have some fun, drop your kids off and we can go have a good time," he slurred.
"No, I'm waiting for someone so please leave," I said with much more force now.
"No! You're coming with me!" He said grabbing and shaking my arm, trying to force me to stand.
"Let go of me!" I screamed.
"Excuse me? Are you touching my girl?" A very strong protective voice came. I knew who's it was, it gave me butterflies. I still held on to the kids tight. Wait did he call me his girl?! Wait why am I worrying about that? I kept repeating to Marcus that it's going to be okay.
"Oh c'mon man, we were just having some fun!" He reassured.
"I don't think so! So how about you leave before I have a problem with you," Shane said stepping in front of me now. Then I remembered our conversation from earlier, that he was a boxer. He could take him any day.
"OK OK, see you later, pretty lady" he winking taunting Shane at his words. His jaw was clenched.
"Let's get going," I said as Chelsea went over and hugged Shane. Marcus still clung to me. I set him down, so Shane could folded the blanket. Marcus was begging to be carried for being so tired. I don't blame him, for a four year old he did a lot of running. I picked him up. I held him with one arm. And Chelsea grabbed my other hand and she held Shane's in her other.
We got to the truck a block away and we buckled everyone in. Marcus was asleep and soon after so was Chelsea. Then there was two.