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“Oh,” I say.
“You don’t want time off?”
“Well…” I wipe my brow and look at Liam’s chubby wet cheeks. So cute! “I, uh…I guess some time off would be nice. What do you mean? Like a few days?” Honestly, I wouldn’t want that. I wouldn’t want to be away from these two that long. What’s wrong with me?
“I meant like an afternoon, a day, or even an evening. Don’t you have friends you want to go chill with?”
“Do you want me to go, Kase? Like, do you need time away from me?” The thought just occurs to me that maybe he’s the one in need of a break, though I do my best to give him space, and I rarely ask him for any information about his past. He made that very clear from the beginning, and I’ve always tried to respect that.
“No, I mean…” He rubs his neck in that way when he’s thinking about saying something that will push him out of his comfort zone, pull him farther way from his goal of recluse except for bouts of exercising his kinky sexual habits. He’s on the brink of taking us another level.
I can feel it.
“Alana…” He sighs and leans against the door frame in defeat. Sweet defeat. His words are more beautiful than any I’ve ever heard him utter before, even the sexy ones. “Do you want to go out…with me? Tomorrow night?”
Alarms sound in my head. What does this mean? Is he breaking down some more? Am I “making him love me?” Or does he just want a mental break from it all, like most good parents, and needs a buddy to join him?
Either way…YASSS.
But I have no clothes for this. I have no dress. I need my hair done, and my nails, and my God, I haven’t gone on a date in…shit…ever! I’ve had sex so many times now, but never gone on a date. I chuckle to myself. There in the bathroom, all sweaty and exhausted and nanny-like, I smile over my shoulder and say, “I’d love that.”