Chapter Twelve
"Oh, my God!" came the sound that woke up Brooklyn that morning. She sat up and looked towards the clock. It was only seven in the morning, and JC was already up and screaming loud enough to wake up the whole apartment block? What, the pop star was already of a damned spider, she thought to herself as she got out of bed and ran a hand through her hair. She looked horrible, and she knew it, but he had seen her like that too many times to count. One more time wouldn't hurt.
She opened the door and looked out. "Is there a reason why you're trying to piss off your neighbors, or was that just some insane urge to wake me up before Bessie is milked over in West Virginia?" she grumbled, walking over to the couch. She leaned her hips against the table behind it and propped her elbows on the back of the couch, yawning loudly. "You woke me up because of cartoons? You are one sick person. I'm going to get a few more hours. Try and keep the yelling down to mildly surprised rather than shocked out of your skin," she said with a smirk before turning to walk away.
His hand shot over the top of the couch and he grabbed her, making her stop. "I don't think so. You're going to pass on a classic Road Runner cartoon? You're lucky if you can find these on television today. I think kids today believe the Flintstones are movies and vitamins, not a classic cartoon."
"Let them believe that and let me sleep," she whined, stopping herself from stomping on the floor. The people living underneath him might not have woken up from the scream, but they sure as hell would have woken up if she had hit her bare foot against the floor as hard as she could. It was hard trying to remember that she wasn't living in a house for two weeks, that she was living in an apartment for once.
JC turned his head to look at her, and his cerulean eyes looked back into hers. "Please," he said, sticking out his lower lip a bit. Brooklyn groaned when she saw the pout; his pout always worked, but no one else's did. "There's an extra pillow here, and I can share the blanket with you. I've even got the cereal and milk here," he added, smiling innocently.
He had planned the whole thing, right down to the shout, she was sure. Then again, the thought of sharing a blanket with him was tempting. Very tempting indeed. "Fine," she said, yawning again as she came around the side of the couch to sit down beside him. He passed her the extra pillow, which she stuck behind her head, before she grasped the blanket and pulled it towards her, giggling when it slipped off of him completely.
"I had a feeling that you were going to do that," he said, grinning at her before he grabbed the side closest to him and pulling again. Now Brooklyn was completely uncovered.
"It is way too early for a blanket war, but what the hell. I'm game if you are," she murmured before trying to get the blanket back. Both of them had a good hold on it, and were holding on with all their strength. Brooklyn was practically laying in his lap since he was stronger than she was, but he let go a little to give her a chance. "I feel like I'm in elementary school, playing tug of war all over again. Oh, the memories," she sighed, chuckling to herself.
He yanked on the blanket again and watched as she tried to keep herself up and hold on at the same time. "That was the best thing to do at lunch time," he added.
Brooklyn narrowed her eyes and set her jaw before she pulled as hard as she could. She didn't expect him to do the same, and from the force of both of them doing the same, the blanket dropped from their hands, and they tried to stay on the couch the best they could before they would crash to the floor. When it was all over, Brooklyn was laying half off the couch, her hair brushing the ground as she laughed, while JC had been thrown across the arm of the couch, laying there like it was the most comfortable thing in the world. "Would you mind helping me? Watching Tweety and Sylvester upside down isn't the same as right side up," she said with another giggle as he moved back to where he had been before and bent down to look at her.
"Is New York having some problems getting back up?" he asked innocently, smiling at her.
Her face twisted into a smirk again. "Your face is definitely not the first thing I want to see in the morning. Wait, scratch that. I saw the clock first, so your face was about...seventh on the list. Yeah, that's about right. Come on, JC, all my blood is rushing to my head, and I'm incredibly close to passing out here."
His head turned a little as he continued looking at her. "Why don't you try flipping over?" he asked, knowing what the answer was going to be.
"Would you like to drive me to the hospital in your cute little convertible because I broke both legs against your coffee table? The tabloids would just eat it up, I'm sure," she said, smiling back as sweetly as he had before.
"New York, this is just a little bit of information that you might want for later in life. When you call someone down, and then ask for their help, you most likely aren't going to get it."
Her eyes rolled as her face turned a little more red from laying upside down. A loud rushing started to fill her ears. "JC, I don't think that having me die in your apartment is all that smart, you know? There's a lot of people that wouldn't appreciate it, starting with our managers and publicists. I know that Mia would have a cow if she had to cover this. Now that I think about it, she would be more upset with the publicity over my death than with my actual death. She's probably try and convince my brother to have sex in the back of the church during the service. Have you noticed that I'm just going on and on here? That's probably because all the blood rushing to my head is making me do that, and really, it isn't that smart of me to be thinking this much. Can't your head explode from thinking too much? Maybe it would implode, instead. That's interesting."
His mouth dropped open and he stared at her blankly for a moment. Before, he was thinking about what a perfect opportunity he had to kiss her, if he had the guts to go about it. Now, he was just amazed that she had talked that long, that fast, and that much in such a short amount of time. "Uh huh. I think I better help you up after all," he said slowly, wrapping his hands around her wrists.
JC pulled her back up onto the couch, and settled her beside him. An evil smile appeared on his face when he started to let go of her hands. Instead, he let his fingers trail over the warm and soft skin of her wrists before they went across her palms to the end of her fingers. There they fell away, and he turned back to the television like nothing had ever happened. Brooklyn sat there frozen for a moment before she cleared her throat and turned to the television as well, watching blankly as the commercial break ended, and a classic Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny cartoon began to flicker across the screen.
Almost mindlessly, she reached for the blanket and took up half of it, curling her legs to the side as she did so, readjusting her pillow. Her toes brushed against his thigh lights, and she quickly curled her toes. She knew that she was going to be uncomfortable, but it was better than touching him and let a longing sigh escape her lips.
Their "blind date" on the rooftop had changed a lot of things.
It took a little while, but she was finally acting normal, like he was. She started to laugh along with him as she watched the old stars of their childhood parade across the screen, trying to blow each other up with Acme rockets and try to make it to one destination faster with an Acme slingshot, but always failing. "The scary thing is, I didn't remember three quarters of these from when I was a kid," she said, one hand resting against the soft blanket.
Did he dare touch her hand? Even rest his near hers, and slowly move it closer until their fingers touched? Just as he had made up his mind, she leaned forward, taking her hand away to take hold of the extra bowl and spoon, pouring the Frosted Flakes into it, and adding some milk before she sat back. "I think you just had the best idea ever by making me get up and watching cartoons."
He looked at her for a moment before looking back at the television. "What makes you think that I made you get up."
"Please, Jace. I know that your little scream was staged. It was risky, but cute, nonetheless." Did that really slip out of her mouth? She had been comfortable saying things like that around him before she felt the way she did now, but with the change, she was aware of every single details of every single thing she did.
His mouth had opened to comment, but he turned to her with a surprised look. "That's the second time," he told her.
Brooklyn licked a drop of milk from her bottom lip and turned her eyes towards him curiously. Her movement had practically made his heart stop. "The second time what?" she asked, confused before looking back at the screen. He loved the way that the bright colors from it rested against her face. Her eyes were brightened by it, and seemed to turn a shade of blue at certain times. It made him swallow hard before turning away from her.
"Uh...what was I saying? Oh, right. That's the second time that you've actually used my nickname. Or is it the third. No, I think it's the second."
Her shoulders moved in a shrug. "It's bound to happen on of these days. I can't call you by your full name anymore, because it has too much of a...ahem...positive effect on you, so I need something to replace it. Besides, a girl needs a change every now and then," she added with a small smile as she lifted another spoonful of cereal and milk to her mouth. He watched her lips close around the spoon and then drag along it as she pulled it away and rested it in the bowl again. "I'm starting to think that I should stay away from milk for a little while. For some reason, I keep thinking that this is going to end up over my head."
"Oh, boy," he said softly, eyes wide. "I don't think I'll have the urge to dump that over your head, but you never know." It was hard to get the usually light talk to come out. There was so much that he wanted to say, and he was waiting for the right opportunity, but she changed the subject too quickly. It was like every time he was going to say something, she could sense it and mention something else before he could even begin to think of the right way to say what he wanted.
As she leaned forward to put the bowl on the table, the back of her shirt rose up a little, and he could see her tanned back. His eyes closed so that he wouldn't have the desire to touch it, because the desire was there as long as her shirt was that high. "Whatever you do, don't say 'oh, boy' around me, because I'll start to sing a Wilkinsons song, and I'm staying away from singing for the next few weeks." She smiled brightly towards him.
Why did he have the strange urge to bite down on his fist, like in the comedic movies that usually had incredibly bad acting? She was having too much of an effect on him. As soon as his eyes had opened, she licked the extra sugar off her lips, and he closed them instantly. This wasn't good. Every single movement was drawing his eyes towards her, and if it was anyone else, he would have been more than happy to stare. No, if she had known how he felt, he would have been more than happy to stare. That sounded better to him. And it was true. If she did know how he felt, he would have stared at her as long as he could, with the same soft smile he was wearing at the moment.
But she didn't know and he couldn't tell her. So he couldn't stare at her. No matter how much he wanted, he wouldn't stare at her, and it was beginning to hurt. It should have been something that he could do so easily, but because it was Brooklyn, he had to censor himself in a way. Censor himself. He was a free person, and he could do whatever he wanted.
That didn't mean that he couldn't bring himself to look at her. Looking at her would turn into touching her. Touching her would turn into...but he learned what that was the night of their date. If he wanted to keep it in those terms, he had been in school for forty five minutes, he believed. Yeah, that was about right, he thought.
If he had been surprised by her actions last night, he was elated with her actions that morning. Brooklyn yawned one more time, covering her mouth, before her head dropped down on his shoulder as she continued to watch the cartoons. "You know, most people would say 'you can use my shoulder to cry on'. Your idea of the phrase is 'you can use my shoulder as a pillow'. Nice to know that you think of me that way."
Chuckling, she raised her hand and covered his mouth. "Shut up, the theme song was always the best part. What's on after Bugs and Tweety?" she asked, moving her hand.
"You ask me a question, then you tell me to shut up. That was SO intelligent, New York."
"Shut up," she said again, poking him in his side. Sighing, he moved his arm so that it was around her shoulders before his hand ran slowly through her hair. The movement only made her move closer to him as she blinked a few times at the screen. Hey, he thought, if that's how she's going to respond, I'm going to do this a little more often. It was a cheap thought at best for him, but he wouldn't mind being Brooklyn' pillow for the rest of his life. He also wouldn't mind being an electric blanket, like the night that they had spent under the stars. Should he shoot for boyfriend, or was that a little much.
JC picked up the remote control and pressed the down button a few times before another familiar theme song filled the small living room. "It's not Bugs and Tweety, but it's classic," he said, nodding towards it.
She rose and fell with her laughter as she continued to watch. "Without a doubt, the Jetsons have always been classic. Even when the show first started." When she began to talk, she had raised her head to look at him. JC had gently put it back where it had been before, still running his fingers through her soft, slightly tangled hair. He methodically worked out the tangles at the very back of her head before moving to the side a little, trying not to tug on them too hard.
It was almost putting her to sleep. She struggled to keep her eyes open as she watched George Jetson fight with her boss one more time, like every other episode. It was like watching Gilligan's Island, how every show was either about headhunters, trying to leave the island, or, if you were lucky, bother. "New York, what time is it?" JC asked her during the commercial break.
Raising her wrist, she brought her watch in front of her face before staring at it blankly. "Oh, God, I tell the time for the life of me. That's what I get, buying a watch that has rectangles and triangles instead of numbers, when I live in the age of digital and computers. Here," she said, bringing her wrist towards his face.
Where she was holding it was a little low for him to see, so he slowly put his hand around her wrist and raised it a little higher so that he could see it. Unconsciously, his thumb moved from the silver band of the watch to the skin above it, rubbing the area slowly in a circle. He heard her breath in suddenly and sharply, but besides that, didn't move. Her eyes stayed glued to the screen, almost afraid to move. The thoughts that were running through her head ranged from innocent, to downright Mia Coltrain. She was enjoying the Mia Coltrain thoughts more than the innocent ones.
Of course, no one ever said that she was completely innocent, she remembered. Even Mia had to admit that she wasn't innocent, except in some rare cases. Tim had been a rare case for her. JC was definitely not a rare case. She knew what the drive from the motion was derived from, and that was why she wasn't going to move her wrist away. Lord did she know, and there was nothing that could make her pull her wrist away to put it back under the blanket.
"Thank you," he said softly, bringing her wrist down. He didn't completely let go of her hand; he unwrapped his fingers from her wrist and rested then against the top of her wrist, just below her watch. Carefully, JC looked out the corner of his eye to see if she was uncomfortable, but when he saw the smile that she was trying to hide, he relaxed himself and continued to watch the television screen.
When the show was over, somehow their fingers had entwined and both of their hands were resting on her blanket covered leg. Brooklyn let go and stretched, yawning one final time that morning. "I think I'm going to go take a shower. You look like you already had yours."
JC turned to look at her and grinned. "You can't take a shower this morning."
"You used up all the hot water? If you did, I'll kill you."
"Nope."
"The water was shut off."
"Uh uh."
"You forgot to pay your water bill."
He looked at her strangely for a moment. "How many times are you going to forget that we're in an apartment, and not a house. You have a water bill, I don't."
She nodded quickly. "Right. I always forget that I'm like the only person of the face of the Earth that pays for water. So...why can't I take a shower. You want me to smell all funky today or something? It's not something that I like, but hey, if it turns you on..." She trailed off and grinned brightly. Not the million dollar grin. The New York grin.
"You can't take a shower because I'm not letting you." A mischievous sparkle entered his eyes. "You don't think that the cartoons were the only thing to look forward to this morning. I'm going to watch Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood and Reading Rainbow while you go do your...how can I put this without using the word shower? The...washing yourself thing."
Her eyebrows rose behind her bags before she laughed. "That was original. You really have me thinking now. I guess I should go get my clothes and everything and see if that stupid shower of yours works, or else I'm going to head over to your neighbors and tell them that a psycho pop singer kicked me out of his apartment, and I feel all icky." Brooklyn flashed him a smile and got off the couch, throwing the blanket ontop of him. "Enjoy Mr. Rogers and...damn, I'm going to miss Reading Rainbow? I haven't seen that show in years."
JC changed the channel again and looked up at her slowly. "Well, if you hurry, you can make it, but I don't think you'll want to hurry." He grinned back at her as she grumbled and headed into her room. She quickly gathered up some clothes to wear for the day and carried them with her to the bathroom, sticking her tongue out at him. When she closed the door and looked towards the bath tub, she squealed and ran over to it, before opening up the door again.
With lightening fast speed, she ran over to him and jumped on the couch, kissing his cheek five times. "You rock so hard. You got me rubber ducks and bubble bath? Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she squealed again, and kissed him one last time. "Why do I have the feeling that a theme is happening here. You've been taking lessons from Chris and the three Stooges, haven't you" she said dryly before getting back off the couch.
It had been awhile since Brooklyn had a relaxing bath, and she loved the smell of the banana scented bubble bath. She didn't think she was ever going to get out of there, and she kept laughing every time she looked over at the bright yellow rubber duck that was floating at her feet. Every now and then, she would lift her foot and kick it a little, watching as it was pushed to the opposite side of the tub or closer to her hands. For some reason, she had the urge to splash water out of the tub to land on the floor, like she did when she was a kid. The only difference was that she was twenty years older and her dad wasn't going to knock on the door and ask if she had drowned herself yet. Every time that he had asked her that, she had put her lips down to the water and blew her own bubbles so it sounded like she had drowned. Or at least, what she thought would be the sound of drowning. He would always run in, pretending that he was scared, before wiping his brow with an exaggerated motion, and help her out of the tub, wrapping her in the biggest towel they could find before putting a little bit of the remaining bubbles on the tip of her nose.
She was laughing to herself when she thought of that, but her laughter intensified when JC knocked on the closed door. "Hey, New York? I wanted you to take a bath, not shrivel up like a prune. It must be ice cold in there by now."
He didn't ask if she had drowned, but it was close enough. "I'm fine. I added more hot water just a little while ago. Why, do you have something planned or something?" she asked, raising her voice so that he could hear.
"Well...not really, but Reading Rainbow ended and Teletubbies came on. That is definitely not an old show. I'm bored all by myself. Come and entertain me," he begged. She could hear him sit down in front of the door and tap one finger against it. "I am seriously bored. All the good shows come on in the morning."
Her eyes rolled. "JC, I'm not giving you a lap dance, so I don't know what other kind of entertainment you can get from me." Although, she knew what kind of entertainment she wouldn't have minded. It was something that she was trying not to think about. For some reason, Chris always found a way to make her think, and that was something that she didn't take too kindly to. Everything that they had talked about was permanently in her mind, and she came to Orlando for a vacation before the tour started, to relax, not think about why the sky was blue.
She was sure that a devilish smile had appeared on her face when she had finished talking. "New York, you can entertain me any way that you want. I'm game for almost anything."
Water dripped from her arm as she raised it to press her finger against her chin. "Let's see. I'll need a length of rope, probably about three feet. That's more than enough. You must have some peroxide around here, so we don't have to worry about that. Oh, you'll want a tea towel or something like that, and a bag of ice for after the operation. Did I forget to mention the butcher's knife? You won't be riding any horses for awhile, space cowboy. Yeehaw!" she said, giggling through the whole speech.
There was silence before an uncomfortable cough sounded from the door. "That's okay, I think I'll pass. I think I'm going to regret the day that I ever wrote that song, too. Most definitely." He was quiet again before his voice came back to her, soft and low. "New York, I'm absolutely bored and I'm hungry. You know how much I hate to eat alone."
"You didn't have any problem with it this morning. You had eaten before I got up." She was playing along just for the sake of it. He knew it, she knew it, but she wasn't about to stop.
Brooklyn laughed again when he hit his head against the door and instantly cursed the movement. "That doesn't count. You were closer in the guest room than you were in the bathroom. Besides, I want to eat outside, and who else is going to enjoy this beautiful day with me. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and there isn't a cloud in the sky. It's a gorgeous shade of blue right now. You don't want to miss that, do you?"
She sighed, putting her hand back into the water. "Didn't you mean to say that the whole in the ozone layer is getting bigger, the birds are choking from the smog count in the city, and that if I look over your balcony, I'm sure to a mugging, a drive by shooting, a hold up, or an old lady being hit by a car? Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside."
"Are you going to be in this mood all day? I'm about ready to go in there and choke you. Be nice. You'll love me after today. In case you're wondering, yes, I do have plans for us for the day, and I have been taking lessons from Chris, but I can't exactly take out the plumbing to take the tub all around with us. That would be just a little heavy for me."
"Yeah, we know that your bony shoulders couldn't hold up something like that for very long." She snickered loud enough for him to hear. "Besides, to come in here, you would have to see me naked, and while it may be enjoyable at first, I can guarantee that when I die, my ghost will haunt you, and when you die, my ghost will haunt your ghost for all eternity. Are we happy now?" She stopped for a moment. "Give me ten minutes and I'll be out of here."
JC sighed and she listened as he stood up, still tapping one finger against the door. "Okay, but if I become warped by Tinky Winky, Po, Dipsy, and La La, I'm holding you responsible, sweetheart. You will be paying for my psychiatrist bills."
Once more, her eyes rolled. "Why don't you try to find some Winnie the Pooh, then. Eeyore is so much easier to take than Tinky Winky. That purple thing scares me beyond belief. I have nightmares about that sucker."
"I would watch Winnie the Pooh, but Eeyore is very depressing. I don't know why kids love him so much. He's such a downer. There has to be something better than Teletubbies on," he said with a groan as he walked away. Brooklyn laughed and finally stood up, reaching for the towel that had been out for her. She started to laugh when she looked down and saw Barbie on it. "He is going all out for this, isn't he?" she asked herself, as she bent over to unplug the tub.
As the water drained, she dried off and pulled on her fresh clothes, a pair of jean cut offs and a tank top, before she ran her hands through her short, wet hair. Nodding at her reflection, she opened the bathroom door and tossed the clothes she had worn during the night onto her bed before looking at him. JC was staring at the four Teletubbies dancing around the screen and talking nonsense with glazed over eyes. "Uh oh, I think I'm in trouble," she said before snapping her fingers in front of her eyes. "JC, honey, whatever you do, DO NOT get sucked into their little world. There is no such thing as the face of a baby in the sun. It would burn up like there's no tomorrow," she added under her breath as she turned off the television.
He looked over at her before reaching for her and pulling her down in a hug. She laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck. "You saved me. You saved me from hell. How could I ever thank you?" he asked in a relieved voice, finally giving up and laughing when she did the same. "Do you know how absolutely incredible you smell right now?" he asked when she pulled away.
She sniffed her wrist and laughed. "I smell like a giant candy banana, but that's for the compliment. What are we doing next?"
"The breakfast that you always wanted to have when you were a kid, but your parents always stopped you from eating is waiting for us out on the balcony. Come on," he said, standing up and taking her hand, pulling her outside. She started to laugh when she saw two tall glasses of chocolate milk and a plate of Oreo cookies between them. "After this, if you want, there's ice cream to go along with it. I always wanted to have this for breakfast."
Sitting down across from him, she sipped the chocolate milk and sighed. "The closest I ever got was sneaking two chocolate chip cookies after they came out of the oven. I almost had a popsicle one morning, but Dad caught me. Of course, Austin got away with it. I couldn't." She frowned and reached for one of the Oreo cookies, twisting it so that it came apart in two pieces, one with all the icing, the other just cookie. "So, I take it that Tinky Winky did you in, huh?" she asked, dipping the cookie part into the milk.
JC reached across the table and took her half with the icing, giving her his half that was plain cookie. He knew that she didn't care for the icing they used. It was too sweet for her. "No, I think it was La La. How can you keep those damned things straight, anyway? It was so much easier with Bugs and Tweety. You knew the characters. By the way, you missed Marvin the Martian this morning."
Her mouth dropped open as she was taking the cookie out of the chocolate milk. "No way. They rarely show him and I missed it. That bites." Sighing, she bit into the soft cookie and almost groaned with pleasure. "I honestly don't know which Teletubbie is which. I THINK that Tinky Winky is the purple one, but I could be wrong. Isn't Po the red one? Now I'm getting all confused. Can we not talk about Teletubbies, please. I'm going to have nightmares tonight."
"Kids shows today are definitely different from what we had. Nothing is the same, I guess."
Her head shook. "Things change." A smile overcame her face and she laughed. "It's a Dwight Yoakum song. Don't ask. I can relate any song at anytime to anything. That's what's scary about me." After she finished the cookie, she sipped the chocolate milk again before leaning back. "You know what I used to do in the mornings? I used to watch Mom and Dad drink coffee. I would lay my arms on the table and prop my chin on them and just watch, thinking about what coffee tasted like. After four months of begging, Dad poured me a mug of milk and added something like a tablespoon of coffee. I went to school that morning, bragging to all my friends that I was the first one out of them to taste coffee. Austin thought I was crazy."
Laughing, he pressed his finger against a crumb before knocking it to the ground. "I can just see you as a little girl, running around in your little dress, telling everyone that you were special because you had coffee that morning. Did you tell your teacher?"
Nodding, she started to laugh even harder. "She thought that it was the reason why I was so hyper that morning. She called my dad at work and gave him hell for giving me coffee. He finally got to explain what he actually did and she apologized and told me to settle down. I was just excited at the time. Then again, at that time, two sips of cola would make me bounce off the walls. Mom used to shove a spoonful of peanut butter in my mouth whenever I got too hyper for her. Austin would get the same thing. He thought that it was punishment, I thought it was fun. I still love peanut butter."
"My mom always did the same thing, and I could never figure out why. Two years ago, she told me that it would make a kid calm down. If I had known that, I probably wouldn't have asked for peanut butter sandwiches for lunch every day then. No wonder all my teachers said I was such a quiet, studious kid."
Under the table, her foot hit his and she grinned. "Don't tell me that you were the perfect kid in class. You got into your share of trouble, I'm sure."
He watched as she took another Oreo and split it in half, putting the other piece in front of him as she ate her half. "I was suspended in grade three for fighting. Some kid was picking on my first 'serious' girlfriend, and she told me that she would give me half of her bag of chips if I would defend her. Like I was going to pass on that." He laughed at the memory. "We were really going at it, too. He knocked out one of my teeth, and I think I ended up swallowing it. We couldn't find it anywhere. Back then, we got those cool little tooth shaped boxes to keep our teeth in at school, and it hung around your neck on a red string. I wanted one so bad that I pretended to cry so that I could get one, even if they didn't have my tooth. The tears work for the guys, too."
"Sure, only because guys never cry, so it automatically makes us feel bad. Give me a guy that'll bawl his eyes out during Armageddon, and I'll probably end up marrying him one day," she said with a sigh. "I still haven't watched that movie from the first time. I was crying so hard at the end that I didn't dare rent it again. Now I'm glad that we didn't have enough time on the tour to stop and see it at a theater." She paused and played with her cookie for a moment. "Actually, I think I was invited to the premiere, because Ben Affleck was a fan of mine, but I couldn't make it. I had a concert that night, and I felt so bad that I couldn't make it. If I did go to the premiere, I would have been crying so hard they would have thrown me out of the showing."
Even as she was thinking of it, tears filled her eyes slowly. "You've been searching for a guy that’ll cry at sappy movies with you?" he asked. "Isn't that what every woman looks for. That's all I ever hear. 'I want a guy that can show his real emotions to me.' People like that should be careful what they wish for."
Brooklyn played with her glass for a moment, wiping off the condensation that was rolling down the side. "There's two sides to that, though. I mean, yeah, there are some things that a woman doesn't want to know, but at the same time, we want whoever we're with to be completely honest with us, you know? Complete honesty is hard to find now. If I ever find that guy that cried at Armageddon like me, I'll...I'll go out on a date with him even if I didn't know him. You can pick some random guy off the street and ask him if he cried at the movie and I will seriously go out with him for dinner and...what's cliché about dating...a walk on the beach. There you go. Dinner and a walk on the beach afterwards."
"Did you bring a dress with you to wear on that date? I'm taking you up on this."
Her head moved in a nod. "I brought a dress that's nice enough to wear out for dinner at a semi fancy place. You pull me to so many different places that I never know what to expect anymore."
JC leaned forward, putting his hand over hers. "Well, I can't wait to find out what you look in that dress, but you better wear sandals that are easy to get out of so that the sand doesn't get stuck in them. New York, you're looking straight at the guy who cried like he was three years old and he had just lost his blankie when he watched Armageddon. When should I pick you up?"
"Oh, no way," she groaned with a laugh mixed in. "I should have expected it. You keep throwing me curve balls every time that we talk. First I find out that you have a bartender's license, and now you're telling me that you cried during the movie. Let me guess, you like vanilla mint lip gloss too, huh?" she asked, a smile curving her lips delicately.
He leaned forward even more, his hand still over hers. "Only under the right circumstances, New York. Only under the right circumstances."
She laughed, wiping her hands with a napkin, getting all the ice cream off of them. "Okay, so we've watched cartoons, I've taken a classic bubble bath with a rubber duck...that was perfect, by the way, then we have the breakfast that all kids around the world dream of. Followed, of course, by a trip to the zoo, a balloon, and ice cream. You cannot tell me that you have something else up your sleeve, because you've done enough as it is," she said, smiling at him.
Both of them were wearing baseball caps with the bill pulled down and dark sunglasses so that no one would recognize them. They looked like tourists as they walked around, but the most amazing part to Brooklyn was that JC was walking around without security, and didn't seem to mind. In fact, it had made him seem less careful about the day. There wasn't a time that the two of them hadn't been in some contact with each other. It had started out with his arm around her shoulder, but quickly switched to where to circled her waist. For the time being, they were content holding hands as he brought her towards a nearby park.
"Nothing expensive. This last thing cost me a total of three dollars. I still think that you should have gotten your face painted." He pushed her lightly with his hip, making her laugh.
Her eyes followed the path that they were taking, watching as people skated and jogged past them. It was a busy place, and she loved it. "The last thing I want is to become more tanned while I have paint on my face. As soon as I would wash it off, there would be a pale spot shaped like a flower or something. When I was in grade nine, our school separated into three teams and we played these wacky sports games all day. Someone convinced me to write 'red rules' all over my face, because I was on the red team. Unfortunately, we were outside most of the day, and when I washed my face at the end, it stood out pretty good."
He laughed when he heard that. "Do you have a picture of that somewhere?"
"Yeah, it's in one of the albums. I'll find it for you. It's funny now, but back then it wasn't so funny. I wasn't going to leave home until it faded. I was forced to go to school the next day."
"I would have loved to see that one," he said, before pointing ahead of them. "Welcome to where we're supposed to be going." In front of them was a park much like the one that they had visited out in Tennessee quite a few months ago. The only difference was that there was quite a few small kids running around.
Brooklyn turned to look at him and she grinned. "You have to be one of the most amazing men alive," she said, squeezing his hand a little. "You brought me to a park. You know how much I love little parks. I guess we're hanging out here for a little while?" she asked, still smiling.
His head shook and he let go of her hand to bring the backpack he was wearing down. From the inside, he pulled out a white bag and swung it from his hand when his backpack was back on. "No, we have something else to do first. Come on," he said, bringing her over to the small wooden platform where a few kids were playing around. Brooklyn sat down curiously and watched as he opened the bag, handing her a small bottle. She looked at him for a moment before reading the label.
Instantly, her eyes widened behind her glasses and she smiled as she spun the cap off. "How did you know how to make this day perfect? I haven't done this in years," she exclaimed, taking off the white covering and put it in the bag between them. He watched as her thin fingers dug into the bottle before she pulled out the plastic wand covered with bubble solution. Brooklyn blew a bubble and shook her head, laughing when a kid ran after it to pop it. "I feel like such a little kid again."
"I think that was my whole point," he said, opening his own bottle. "You have to live a little, sweetie. It's about time that someone did this for you. I know that you like the little things in life. These are the little things that everyone should do once in awhile." He blew his own stream of bubbles, watching two other kids run after them. "Besides, it's great to see you smiling like that. You know that I love to see your smile."
Her face flushed a little, and she busied herself with dipping her wand back into the solution before bringing it back out. "If you say so," she said quietly before blowing another set of bubbles for the kids. "So, you like my smile so much? I don't think I'll smile anymore. If I can stop using your full name, this should be easy."
He looked almost devastated when she said that. "New York, I know that you were serious when you said that about you not using my full name again, but really, you can't be serious this time. You...you just can't be serious. Do you know...I can’t even begin to explain what that would do to me," he said seriously, turning her towards him.
She blinked twice before speaking. "You think that I would really do that, JC? You're the reason why I smile so much. I can't believe that you went so melodramatic on me."
His head shook. "That's a big deal to me. Maybe not to you, but it is to me." They both fell silent, and blew a few more bubbles, laughing as the kids ran after them. From a platform slightly higher than theirs, a little girl with bright blonde curls stared at the two of them for a moment before inching a little closer.
"Hello," she said, smiling. Brooklyn noticed that she was missing a tooth on the bottom. "My name is Amanda, and I'm this old," she added, holding up four fingers.
JC widened his eyes when he saw that. "Really? That's old. You're almost as old as me," he said in a wondering tone. He motioned for the girl to come down a little farther, and she did, wiggling her way in between JC and Brooklyn. She grinned at him over Amanda's head. "Are you here with your mom?" he asked her.
Amanda nodded and pointed to a bench across from them. "That's my mommy, and that's my daddy. They told me not to move from the floor," as she said that, she pointed to the platform that she had been on, "and I'm only going to stay if I don't move. I'm 'llowed to be down here." She smiled at the two of them again. "My sister has you on her door. She has your picture," she said slowly, pronouncing it 'pic-tee-yur'. She turned to look at Brooklyn then. "You look pretty. Mommy has you on a CD. Sometimes, she lets me listen and I pretend I'm you. Mommy gives me the remote control and puts me up on the couch and let's me sing with you."
He bent his head down beside Amanda's and smiled. "Isn't she pretty?" he asked the little girl. Brooklyn blushed and fought to keep her breath.
She nodded quickly after looking at her. "You're very pretty. What's your name?" she asked, eyes wide.
"My name's Brooklyn, but you can call me Brooke. It's nice to meet you, Amanda," she said, taking the small girl's hand and shaking it. Amanda giggled. "And that's...Josh," she added, shrugging when the girl wasn't looking. JC nodded to her. She let out a deep breath, knowing that she had made the right choice. It was all right for the girl to know her name; country stars weren't usually mobbed, but JC didn't want his name publicized all over the place. "What were you doing?"
"I was watching everyone. I was watching you. You people look happy. Are you happy?"
Brooklyn dipped her head so that her blush wouldn't be seen, so JC answered for the two of them. "You know what, Amanda, I'm very happy. Only because...Brooke got some time to come down and visit me. She lives far away from here, and I don't get to see her very often. I was just teaching Brooke to blow bubbles. Do you know how?" Amanda giggled and nodded. "Can you show me? I bet you're better at it than I am."
She couldn't believe her eyes. A few years ago, when she was about twenty one, she had told her brother that she always wanted a man that loved children. Now, she was watching JC with the little girl, and her heart warmed as the two started to laugh together. They made such a perfect picture that she wished she had a camera with her, so that she could have pictures to show Mia. Her memories were going to have to do.
Amanda had taken the wand from JC and dipped it into the container carefully, bringing it carefully towards her mouth. The first time, she blew too hard, and the soap and water splashed back on her face. She just laughed and wiped it off with the sleeve of her sweatshirt. "That wasn't right," she said. "I can do better," she told JC with solemn eyes before he brought down the container for her again. She tried again and this time, a big bubble came from her wand and floated into the air. "See, I told you I could do better."
"You did way better than me. How long have you been blowing bubbles for?" he asked him, putting one hand on his hip as he looked down into her small face.
"Um...a long time. Since I was borned," she said with the bright smile again, the missing tooth right in the front. "Uh oh. Mommy wants me to go over there. I have to go, I think." JC reached over and helped her down, holding her until her feet were flat on the sawdust.
Brooklyn reached over and put the lid on her bubble container, handing it to Amanda. "Here, you take this with you, okay? I'm not as good as you, and I can always borrow from Josh."
"Thank you. Bye, Brooke. Bye, Josh," she called as she ran towards her mom. The instant she was there, she was talking a mile a minute as they started to walk away.
She turned to look at JC, and moved closer to him, putting her head on his shoulder like that morning. "Do you ever remember being that young and innocent? When you didn't have a care in the world, besides whether Mom was going to cut off the crusts on your sandwich or not?" she asked in a small tone, closing her eyes.
He turned his head and kissed her temple before sighing. "No, I don't, and that's what so sad about it." They sat there for a moment before he tugged on the bill of her hat. "We have to go and get you ready for your date tonight. I just remembered that we're going out," he said with a laugh. "We might as well head back, anyway."
As she slipped down, she took his hand and laced her fingers through him. The gesture was so comfortable now that she didn't even think twice about it. "Sure. I have some unexpected primping to do. I thought that you wouldn't be able to find a guy that cried at Armageddon. There he was, right in front of my face."
"There's a lot in front of your face. You just don't realize it yet."
Chapter Thirteen
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