Kayla's Approval

The rain returned the following morning, so instead of walking as I had planned (to steal more time from the day to spend with my new girlfriend); I had an extra passenger on the way to school. Austin grumbled loudly about having to sit in the cramped space of the back seat in my car until I reminded him that I didn't need to drive him to school if I didn't feel like it. He continued to grumble (albeit much quieter) as Lauren fell into the front passenger seat with all the grace of a… well, a self-conscious person filled with nervous energy who was also dressed for much colder weather and a backpack filled to capacity. I could tell she was embarrassed, but seeing her so emotionally open and fragile like that only endeared her to me even more. I smiled brightly at her and she relaxed visibly as we drove off.

"Hello." I said as warmly as I could.

"Good morning." She smiled back.

"Aas Salamu alaay kum." Austin added.

"Ah! Nei ho!" Lauren said excitedly.

"Ni hao." I laughed.

Austin shoved his knee into the back of my seat, “Cheater! You can’t use bad pronunciation and try to pass it off as a different language.”

I threw the pencil I keep in my car at him, “Different dialect dingus. Lovely Lauren used Cantonese and I used Mandarin.”

“Challenge! Judges?” We both looked at Lauren expectantly.

“Sorry Austin, Brandon’s correct.”

"A simple ‘Ding!’ or ‘Bwaaa!’ will do thanks.” Austin muttered ‘fix’ under his breath and continued as if we hadn’t heard him, “Bonjour."

"Guten Tag."

"Yia Sou."

"Aloha."

"Hawaiian? Really? Does that even count?”

Austin leaned forward so that his head blocked my peripheral view of Lauren’s profile and said, “Judges?” Lauren nodded, “Yes, they’ll allow it.” He flopped back in the back, “On to you Brandon.”

 I shook my head at Austin and his smugness in the rear-view mirror and continued, “Shalom."

"Buon giorno"

"Konnichi wa."

"Pree-vyet."

Lauren was impressed, “Russian, nice! Did we do Spanish yet? Hola."

"Jambo."

"Okay, I'm spent." I admitted.

"Me too." Lauren laughed.

"Oh thank God!" Austin sighed in relief.

Lauren and I held hands for the short drive to school. Her hand was ice cold when she got in, but was warming up nicely. Since yesterday afternoon, it had physically pained me to be away from her and I couldn't bring myself to not touch her.  It seemed to me that Lauren felt the same way because she never shied away from my touch and it looked like she was enjoying the closeness as much as I was.

We congregated in the same classroom as the day before. Lauren was curious as to why Austin and I hung out there when our first class was in a completely different part of the school. I nodded at the front of the room. “They know me here.”

“Don’t let him BS you, he comes here because Dr. Laginiger lets him use the white board.”

My poem from yesterday was still on display. A couple of the admirers from yesterday started asking me questions like: ‘Why did you leave only to come back and change it?’ and ‘Did you write that about someone? Who? Does she go to this school?’ A few other people asked if I was going to write anything else. Chatting on IM last night, I had told Lauren that the poem had been written about her even though I didn’t know she existed until she walked into the room and that I changed it because she had suddenly popped into existence as soon as it was completed. Lauren begged me not to tell anyone as she would positively die of embarrassment. I obliged her and gave each person that asked a different answer. Lauren was having an increasingly difficult time keeping a straight face as the first bell approached and had to cover a laugh with a cough when I told someone that the poem had been about my neighbor’s dog and that I had changed it because I had finally decided to tell him after all these years.

Time passed too quickly when I was with her, and dragged on endlessly when we were apart. When the first bell rang, we gently caressed each other's cheek and went our separate ways until the end of school. That afternoon I learned that Austin wasn't kidding about Lauren's intelligence. If Lauren wasn't in a first-level course, it was because she was in advanced placement or college prep courses. I had a few first-level courses but I was, admittedly, too lazy to apply myself in school. It drove my teachers absolutely crazy. Happily for them, that was about to change because I didn't want to give Lauren any reason to ever be ashamed of me.

The following days passed in a montage, only the highlights showing for the general audience: Lauren and I walking to and from school together, holding hands and talking;  doing homework together, close-up of Lauren explaining things to me, followed by a close-up of me completely smitten and obviously not absorbing any of what she's saying...

Cut to the first weekend we had together: We made plans to go to the park and have a picnic as it was supposed to be really nice all day for the first time all week. When I arrived at Lauren's house, I was greeted by my beautiful girlfriend. It never failed, every time I saw her, I felt 'Bubbly' like Colbie Caillat. Today, she was dressed in a dark blue long-sleeved t-shirt with a picture of a knight’s helmet from her old school in Texas, faded blue jeans and sneakers.  Her flowing locks pulled into a loose pony tail that hung halfway down her back. She reached out and traced her fingers along my jaw-line, now our standard way of saying hello and goodbye, leaving a trail of fire on my skin which I still haven’t gotten used to and hoped I never did.

Her smiled faded, “Bad news, my mom was supposed to watch my cousin today, but she was suddenly and unexpectedly called into work today.” Even if I didn’t hang on every word she said, I wouldn’t have missed the heavy sarcasm. “So we get to watch Kayla today. I’m sorry.”

I grazed her cheek and lightly pinched her ear lobe to relax her. “It’s okay.” I assured her.

Just then, Kayla came running in from the other room and wrapped her tiny arms around one of Lauren’s long legs. She was completely adorable, like a little pixie, and couldn’t have been more than four years old. She was wearing a light-grey sweat suit and Princess sneakers. Her blonde hair was pulled back in pigtails tied with baby blue ribbons.

“Lauren! Come! It’s starting!” Then she turned her chocolate-brown eyes to me, quickly hid behind Lauren and peeked out smiling at me as only a child can.

“Hello Kayla.” I waved.

Lauren put a hand gently on top of Kayla’s head, “Kayla this is Brandon. He’s my boyfriend. Do you think he can come in and watch your show with us?”

“You’re BOYFRIEND?” I didn’t think four year-olds could be incredulous. Actually, the thought never occurred to me as I have never really spent much time around smaller children. “But Lauren, boys gots COOTIES!”

I crouched down to be on the same level with her, “Not me! Your cousin gave me Cootie soap. Whenever I take a bath, I use the soap and all the cooties are all gone! See?” I smiled and presented my arms for inspection.

Kayla skeptically looked at my arms and then became brave enough to examine the rest of my exposed skin, even checking behind my ears before giving me the stamp of approval. “I guess you can come in.” Kayla then skipped into the family room and plopped on her Elmo chair in front of the television.

“Aunt Christina, Brandon is here! I said it was okay for him to come in ‘cause even though he’s a boy and boys gots cooties, he doesn’t gots any. I checked.”

Lauren’s mom came out from the kitchen with a juice box for her niece, “Are you sure? Did you check behind his ears?”

Kayla nodded while sipping her juice.

 “She was very thorough.” Lauren added.

I coughed. Lauren stifled a laugh and playfully slapped me on the shoulder. I knew she would get my joke. Lauren’s mom looked at us, knowing that she was missing something, but gave up. “Lauren, I really am sorry to do this to you, but your Aunt Tara will be home after lunch and you guys could bring Kayla back then. I’ll be home in time to make dinner. Brandon, you’re welcome to join us if you’d like. It’s pasta and gravy.”

Lauren and I looked at each other, smiling. Apparently Kayla’s approval carried a lot of weight. “That would be great Ms. Miller, thank you.”

"You can call me Chris, if you'd like." she smiled.

Lauren, Kayla and I watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It was weird for me to see the two-dimensional characters I grew up with now in three dimensions, but the show was pretty neat and kept Kayla enthralled for the half-hour. The really clever thing about the show, I thought, was the whole Mouse-ke-tool thing. Whenever Mickey needed something for a specific task, they’d call this sentient suit case thing, Toodles, and it would bring them a tool that would help. There were three tools and a ‘Mystery Mouse-ke-tool’ which apparently is a surprise tool that they could use later. I was going to hold on to that idea…

After the show was over, Lauren and I talked Kayla into coming on our picnic with us. It didn’t take much convincing and we were soon on our way to the park. I was going to take Lauren to the park that I used to go to when I was younger; there was a really cool spot off of one of the trails that overlooks most of the park and the creek that rolls through it, but since I didn’t have a car seat for Kayla, we settled for the park down the street. We found a bench and ate our lunch and then Lauren and I chased Kayla around the three different playgrounds for the next few hours until it was time to take Kayla back home.

On the way back to Lauren’s house, hand-in-hand with Lauren and Kayla riding on my shoulders, Lauren said, “I’m really sorry that we couldn’t go to your park today.”

I smiled at her, “Really, it’s okay. Besides, it’s much prettier in the spring.”

“It’s a date, then.” Lauren stepped closer to me, pulled Kayla off of my shoulders and kissed me much to mine and Kayla’s delight.

Lauren and Kayla’s mothers were waiting for us on the porch when we returned. Kayla took off like a rocket and gleefully jumped into her mother’s arms, nearly knocking her over and began telling her about everything we had done that day, talking almost as fast as she was running moments before. I had stopped next to my car, Lauren looked at me, puzzled.

“I just thought of something and I need to write it down.”

“Can I watch?”

“Please do! I’m writing it for you. Sorry about the handwriting.”

Lauren watched as I quickly wrote down my latest lightning strike of inspiration and sighed, “I wish I was half as creative as you are.”

“Me? I’m not creative at all,” I said without looking up, “I’m just the lightning rod, my hand is the one doing all the work. My mind is usually blank when I write. I merely look to make sure it stays on the line.”

Lauren scoffed as she read over my shoulder. Inspiration ended, I scrawled ’Lazy Days’ at the top of the page and tore the page from my notebook and handed it to her, “For you, my lady.”

Lazy Days

Lying in bed with you as the iPod on the dresser plays our favorite songs in random order, another lazy day passes us by outside. Sweet pillow-talk is the order of the day as you lay your head on my chest and I run my fingers through your soft, fragrant hair while you trace lazy circles on my stomach. Genuine smiles and laughter come easily in times like these as we whisper sweet nothings, talk about the world at large or even nothing at all.

Today would certainly be a perfect day for a romantic picnic for two in the park, a casual walk in the woods, go see a show, or make some new friends out of people we don't know; but why would we waste a perfect day like today on anything but laying together here in this bed listening to our favorite songs?

The best thing about days like these is that the moments that come will last a lifetime. Remember those lazy days? I do. Today seems like it'll be another perfect lazy day!

I love lying in bed with you, listening to our favorite songs as the lazy days pass us by in the great, big world outside.

How I love lazy days.

“I love it. Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome.”

“Just making sure it stays on the line, huh?”

I held up my right hand, still holding my pencil, “This here is the hero, not me. I just catch the idea and pass it along to him.”

Lauren smiled, “It’s so cute how you anthropomorphize everything.”

Kayla crashed into the passenger-side door of my car as Lauren and I were leaning towards each other, interrupting what would have been our first kiss, waving excitedly. “Bye Lauren! Bye Brandon!”

We got out of my car and Lauren hugged her cousin. After the hug, Kayla ran over to give me one as well. I was completely surprised and honored. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Kayla.”

Kayla turned back to Lauren and whispered, “He’s a good hugger, but he talks funny.” Kayla flashed me a mega-watt smile and quickly turned back to Lauren, “Kinda like you. Mommy and Aunt Chris say you should keep him round.”

Lauren was beaming, “I don’t know Kayla, what do you think? Do you think I should keep him around?”

“I can hear you, you know!” I laughed. Kayla was quickly becoming my second-favorite person ever.

Kayla looked at me again with another infectious smile. “Yeah! I really like him!”

Lauren looked over at me, “Good. I really like him too.”

Kayla giggled, “Yeah, me too.”

Author's Note

When Lauren gets in the car, the three of them say either 'Hello' or 'Good Morning' in 14 different languages, including English. They appear in the following order:
English
Bengali
Chinese - Cantonese
Chinese - Mandarin
French
German
Greek
Hawaiian
Hebrew
Italian
Japanese
Russian
Spanish
Swahili
Hopefully I spelled them correctly. Hopefully you learned a new way to say hello!

Reviews

[Nicole (Carpe Diem)]

perfect... you stopped the chapter at a good place...
cant wait to read more