Chapter 16: 15- What Was That All About?

15

Honestly, I do not know what my sister and Blake talked about. I couldn’t hear them well because I was too preoccupied with the fear of the grip of the car to the wheel breaking and send us plummeting down to our deaths.

I heard laughter for sure but that was pretty much the only thing that I distinctly heard. I saw him smirk which meant that he had something evil up his sleeve but again, I was too scared to care. But internally, I was also definitely scared of what my sister had told him.

Reese knows a lot about me; probably everything. From my most embarrassing ones that even I would willingly let the earth open up and swallow me open if someone ever found out to the good ones that I am so smug about like how I learned how to walk at an earlier age than her.

I just silently prayed she only spilled the latter.

After a few more rides, we decided to eat. And I was getting pretty hungry so I wasn’t complaining. Liam had ordered a corn dog while stuck with calamari with a side of mashed potato. Weird combination, I know but I like calamari and I like mashed potatoes.

Blake and Allie met with us five minutes later and we sat down to eat. Allie had fish and chips while her father had nachos, and onion rings.

Just as I placed my cardboard box tray filled with calamari, I heard someone call my name followed by a loud grunt.

“Beth!” It was Marcus calling my name with a girl trailing behind him. She was scowling, trying to pull Marcus away from us to the opposite direction but unluckily for her (and me) he was stronger than her.

“Stop bothering them Marcus! Can’t you see they’re on a date?” I heard the girl exclaim as she continued to pull him away.

“I know.” Marcus grinned at her and made their way to the table. When they finally arrived, I was already contemplating on whether I should make a run for it or not, but I decided on the latter being the good person that I am.

“How’s your date going?” Marcus asked, the girl beside him grimacing.

I narrowed my eyes at him, shooting a glare. “What are you doing here?” I ignored his question.

“I’m on a date with my girl,” he stated proudly and pulled the girl beside him closer. “This is Dorothy, my girl. Dorothy, this is Bethany, my cousin, he’s Blake, her boyfriend, Liam- Reese’s son, and Allie- Blake’s daughter.”

I opened my mouth to correct him but closed it when Dorothy spoke up.

“Hello.” She smiled. “I don’t want to be rude or anything but I hope you don’t mind if Marcus and I leave. We’re bothering your date.”

She looked at me with pleading eyes, as if telling me to agree with her or she’ll blow up in any minute and kill everyone in the fair and we wouldn’t want that. It wasn’t a glare pleading type of look. It was like her life depended on it.

I was on the same boat with her. As much I love Marcus, he could get pretty annoying and I am much surprised how Dorothy could stand him, but I guess that’s love- tolerating the people you care so much for.

“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea Dorothy.” I smiled at Marcus mischievously. “I also don’t want to intrude your date.”

“What are you talking about? Your not-” Marcus started talking but his girlfriend cut him off.

“Thank you so much Bethany.” She smiled and looked at me thankfully like I was the god of rainbows and plants.

“Please call me Beth.”

“Thank you Beth.”

Dorothy didn’t allow Marcus to say something else as she quickly pulled him away but this time she grabbed the scarf that was draped over his neck for better access so that she could finally pull him away. Before they got too far, she turned around and mouthed a ‘thank you’ for me.

“What was that about?” Blake asked when Marcus and Dorothy were out of the scene and pooped a ring in his mouth.

I played with my mash, mixing it and slopping it back to the paper bowl. “It’s Marcus. He was going to annoy the hell out of me and Dorothy didn’t want that.”

Allie started crying and it had caught both of our attention. Liam who was beside crossed his arms over his chest, a frown displayed on his face.

“What happened?” Blake asked his daughter, pulling a pink princess handkerchief from his pocket and started wiping the tears that freely flowed down her cheeks. He used his other hand to keep the hair away from her face.

She didn’t say anything as she kept on crying. I turned my attention to Liam who was also refusing say anything. I sighed and ran my fingers through my messed up hair. I do not know how to handle these kind of situation but one thing I do know was that it had obviously something to do with Liam since he was the only one Allie could talk to, especially since Liam was negating to say a single word.

“Liam, what did you do?” I asked him, eyeing the little boy.

He didn’t move a muscle as he remained stuck to his seat. His lips were pursed to a thin line, his eyes set in front on the wooden table, staring at it intently like he was waiting for it transfer to a robot any second.

I kept repeating the same question over and over again, and so did Blake to Allie. Blake was finally able to stop her cries and calm her down. When she was, he asked her again and this time, we got an answer.

She pointed at Liam which Blake told her that it’s not nice to point at people, but she still refused to talk.

“Liam Andrew Bishop, what happened?” I asked, already exhausted from his lack of cooperation. We’ve been at this for at the least a quarter of an hour and I was getting antsy as every second progressed to a minute.

Finally, Liam had given up his silent front and decided to talk.

In a tiny voice, he said, “It was an accident.”

“It was an accident?” I repeated. “What exactly was this accident?”

“I kicked her.”

Furrowing my brows together, I told him, “Then say sorry.”

“No!”

I sighed again. “Liam, please just say sorry to Allie.”

“No.” He insisted and crossed his arms again. “It was an accident!”

“Liam.”

“No. It was an accident Aunt Beth! I didn’t purpose do it!”

“Bethany, I’ll just bring Allie to the bathroom to wash her face.” Blake stood up with Allie carried in his arms. Her face was red, like a tomato and she was sweating a bit; her hair was stuck to her skin like she just ran around.

I nodded and gave a forced out smile. When they had left, I groaned at the stubborn kid beside me. This was not how I wanted to spend a Saturday night. I like kids yes, but this was one factor I absolutely did not like, at all. Maybe I won’t have kids of my own. I always wanted one of my own but this was one of the reasons why I didn’t.

“Liam.” I said his name sternly, wanting him to already apologize. “Go apologize to Allie.”

“It was an accident! It was not on purpose.”

“Hey, even though it was an accident, you still kicked her. You didn’t mean to do it but still Allie got hurt because you kicked her. Go apologize when they come back, okay?”

“No! Aunt Beth it was an accident, I did not want to kick her.” He pursed his lips at me, still standing strong to his ground. “I won’t say sowry.”

“Liam.” I groaned and held his little arms. “Saying sorry doesn’t only mean you’re apologizing because you intentionally hurt someone. You still need to say sorry even if it was an accident. You did something wrong and you need to ask for forgiveness from the person you hurt. Okay?”

Liam sighed but gave up his stance. “Okay.”

“That’s great.” I smiled and let out a huge sigh of relief.  “But don’t hurt someone intentionally. That’s just bad.”

“But it was still an accident.” Liam muttered under his breath hoping I wouldn’t hear but I did. “I don’t want to sowry.”

“Tell me, what happened?”

“I was kicking my feet, a-and Al-ee gave me a fish and I was happy and kicked her.”

Suppressing the urge to laugh, I let out a cracked smile. That was what had happened? Well I expected something like they were calling each other names and he got mad and wanted to get down but instead kicked her.

The boy was so happy she offered him her food he kicked her.

“Beth?”

“Yes Liam?”

He looked down on his lap, playing with the dull stick where the corndog was. “When are mommy and daddy coming back?”

“In about a week.” I answered and ran my fingers through my hair to avoid any of it getting in my eye. “Do you miss them already?”

He nodded.

“Well don’t worry bud. You can see them tomorrow when we Skype with them.”

“Sky?” he repeated as he looked at me with a puzzled look. “We can see them at the sky?”

“Skype.” I said emphasizing the p. “Where you can talk to them on the laptop. Like what we did last-”

I was interrupted when Blake and Allie came back.

“What did we miss?” Blake sat beside as and placed Allie beside him. “It seems like you two got this whole crying kicking thing figured out.”

I gave a light nudge to Liam and motioned my head to the father and daughter beside me.He frowned a little but did stand up anyways.

“I’m sowry Al-ee.” He was looking down at his knotted fingers, twisting his body from side to side like the adorable little kid that he was. “I didn’t purpose do it.”

She looked at Liam at first, then at me, then finally at her father who motioned with his head. After a few more seconds, a toothy grin crept up her face as she kicked herself off the bench and held Liam’s hand.

“Is okay Liam.”

And with that they became the best of friends again.

“Well that was…something.” I uttered as I stared at the two children in front of me. “Is it always like that?”

“What is?” Blake answered my question with a question, his gaze also stuck on the two.

“Raising a kid.” I answered simply, and then shifted my body position. “You know, having a child. Is it always like that?”

“Yeah pretty much.” Blake nodded and mimicked my position. “Unless you did it the wrong way.”

“Wrong way?”

“Yes. Like threaten them and all that bull some parents do to their kids.” Then he turned to me. “Did you do that?”

“What? Of course not.”

“Good.” He nodded and smiled at me. “I knew you wouldn’t do that.”

I bit my cheeks. “How?”

“Well, you’re too nice.” He said, his eyes locking into mine, the smile never leaving his face.

I furrowed my brows together and frowned. “Hey! I can be mean.”

“Yeah right.” Blake snorted. “I’d love to see you try.”

“I’m mean to Dani and Marcus.” I stated, a frown forming on my face.

Wasn’t I? I’m mean, right? I wasn’t a pushover. I know how and when to say no. I know how to be mean. I believe I am one to Dani and Marcus.

Blake laughed. “You do realize you aren’t, right?”

“I am!”

“No, you’re not.” He rolled his eyes and flicked my forehead.

“Ow!” I rubbed the spot where he just flicked. “What was that all about?”

“See? You can’t be mean.”

“How was that able to prove anything?” I pursed my lips at him. What the heck was that about?

He grabbed my free hand in his hands and this immediately caused me to blush. I was thankful for the colorful lights at the fair that made my blush less recognizable.

With his other hand, he pulled my index finger up.

“One, you’re just complaining.”

“And?” I arched a brow.

He pulled my middle finger next.

“Two, you’re not even fighting back.”

And next that came up was my ring finger.

His fingers grazed the base of my ring finger, normally where a ring would go, rubbing it softly in small circles.

“And three,” he said softly and looked up at me.

His eyes still as gray as ever, his face more handsome than the first time I saw him. But instead of an angelic smile that I was expecting, it was a smirk I saw.

“You’re too nice for that, especially for someone who puked during her eighth grade play.”