"The names Branson," The little boy extends his hand towards me, smiling and I see he's missing one front tooth.
Suddenly I have an urge to say awwww, but I push it down and shake my hand with him. "Hey Branson, my name is Ivory."
He wrinkles his nose. "Just like the jewelry my grandma wears?"
Before I can speak, Branson turns towards butt hurt jerk. "Hey." Butt hurt jerk says. "I'm Collins."
Branson wrinkles his nose again. "What kind of name is that?"
I laugh.
Collins- I mean- butt hurt jerk looks at the kid. "What's up with the name Branson?"
"Branson is an adorable name!" I protest.
Jerk face rolls his eyes. I smirk at him, annoying him further. Jerk face sticks out his tongue, I mirror his actions.
He playfully scowls at me, I mirror his actions again.
Branson looks between us. "Are you guys dating?"
Our heads snap his way, shocked. "Ew!" I say.
"Gross!" Jerk face, my new nickname for butt hurt jerk, says after a moment.
Branson gives jerk face a small smile. "Good you don't wnay cooties!"
"Yeah I really wouldn't." Jerk face whispers back, I smack his arm.
"Ow!" He rubs his arm.
"Are we gonna play a game or not?" I huff.
Jerk face seems amused at my reaction. But Branson smiles. "Yeah! Let's play hide and seek!"
"In here? Not many places to hide." Jerk face looks around.
"Yeah," Branson laughs. "Because you're soo big you can barely fit in anything!"
I like this kid.
"Now you count first, Ivy!" Jerk face says.
I look at him quickly. "Ivy?"
"Sorry, it just slipped." He says, turning away quickly with Branson in front of him.
Weird butt hurt jerk face, I think and start to count.
"1...2...3...4...5" I count. "Can I stop counting?" I yell.
No answer.
Smart kid. . . And jerk face.
I sigh, keeping my eyes closed shut."6...7...8...9...10...11...12...13..."
"14...15...16...17...18...19...20." I finish, opening my eyes.
I look down the slide that butt hurt jerk and I slid down earlier to see it empty.
"Ready or not, her I come!" I say loudly.
I look behind a trash can, no one. I look behind a chair, of course, no one.
"Man where are you guys. . ." I mutter.
I hear a shuffle not far away from me, I whip around to see Branson running away from me and towards where I was counting, the base.
I run after him, but he beats me. "Miss me, miss me, now you gotta kiss me!"
I chuckle. "Can't, little guy, I gotta go find him." I tip toe away and look for the jerk.
"Collins." I say, instead of saying what I wanted to call him with prying ears and all. "Come out, come out wherever you are!"
I go by the side of the play house to see nothing. Man, where is he?!?
I look around and spot the other slide. I smile and walk towards it. As soon as I look up, I hear scrambling- butt hurt jerk scrambling towards the front of the slide. I climb in and grasp his foot.
"Got ya!" I say and he looses his grip and falls.
I yelp as we both tumble out of the slide, and groaning when he falls halfway on me with one of his elbows digging into me.
I groan. "Get off me, jerk face."
He sighs, laughing. "I'm kinda comfy." He presses more weight on me. I groan his name, pleading like a baby.
"I'm not, Collins." I say, voice strained.
"Hmm?" He says, his voice vibrating through his body, vibrating my own.
"Can you get off me, please?" I ask.
"Is Iv-Cupcake, pleading with me?" He asks, almost slipping up the name he gave me earlier.
"Only because you are crushing me, jerk face!" I pout at him and he laughs.
"That isn't gonna work." He said.
"What's taking you guys so long?" Branson asks, giving us a pouty look, that's totally adorable.
"He won't get off me." I say almost breathless, pointing towards jerk face who is still crushing me to death.
Branson jumps on top of butt hurt jerk, making a loud groan come from me.
"Doggie pile!" The kid yells, jumping on butt hurt jerk harder.
I almost expect the grandma to coke running and jump on us.
"Branson." I whisper, groaning lowly.
"Yes, Ivory?" He asks, digging an elbow into butt hurt jerk who groans.
"Don't you wanna play hide and seek?" I offer and he eagerly nods. "Then get off, so we can play."
"Okay!" He yells, jumping off butt hurt jerk.
"Get off me, jerk." I say.
He rolls off me, grinning.
I punch him, glaring. "Wipe that grin off your face and go count."
He grumbles something about bossy women, walking off.
"1...2...3...4...5...6" He starts counting.
I sprit in between two tables, a chair blocking his view to find me, I hope.
He counts all the way up to twenty before he yells," Ready or not, here I come!"
I put a hand over my mouth, praying I won't laugh, which I always seem to do either in hide and seek or serious situations.
"Come out, come out." Butt hurt jerk says slowly.
I close my eyes, trying so hard not to laugh, but I can feel the laughter climbing towards my mouth to escape.
I look through the tables to see him looking up a slide across the room. He shakes his head, messing up his hair and he look around the room.
He walks around in a circle. "Branson. . ." He slowly says, then he grins. "Ivory. . ."
I almost lose it right there with that stupid grin on his face and how he's oblivious to me staring him down.
Butt hurt jerk looks around again, slower. And he looks my way, but he doesn't make eye contact with me.
He slowly walks closer towards the hiding spot I am, and I suddenly feel very open under his intense stare towards the place I am.
Then a shuffle further away, which stops him. He stalks towards the sound and I breathe out, and then make a weird sound of me holding back laughter.
But butt hurt jerk doesn't seem to hear because I don't see him coming my way.
The sound of a chair scraping against the floor makes goosebumps rise on my skin- a moment too soon I realize that butt hurt jerk is standing above me, smirking.
"Found you..."
He said and me being me, bursts into fits of laughter.
_______
Heyyy, thanks for all the votes and comments! I love them and still wish for more! They make my day, no joke. I'm glad you all are enjoying the story just as much as I love thinking about it and writing it. So I just wanted to say thanks and I love you guys.
Also did you like my reference "Found You..." I hope you got it when you read it, but if not you can read this. It's from my other book-which was my first book- please look aside all my wacky typos that I've typed without knowing. This is currently my third book and I hope everyone will enjoy my first and second, if not it's cool, everyone is entitled to their own opinions :)
So I mainly just came here to thank everyone for all you have done, I love you all, thanks!
Xoxo
Talia