As I got to the middle of the stairs, I realized that there was something strange going on. No one was talking in the living room. If nothing else, I was sure Kayde and my grandparents would at least be in the middle of some kind of unnecessary chit chat. As I rounded the corner into the living room, I could see what the problem was. It seemed my father had gotten back home from shopping around the same time as Kayde had gotten back. Instead of my father getting back a bit after Kayde and walking in on a conversation that was already taking place, they got there at the same time and neither of them knew what to start talking about.
Chuckling to myself about how shy they both are, I decided to break the silence.
“Well look at that, my two favorite guys made it back home” I said smiling as I walked over to the love seat to sit next to Kayde.
“That’s a lovely dress Phee,” Said my father “When did you get that? I’ve never seen you in it before.”
“Grandma and Grandpa gave it to me” I told him.
“It was Raven’s favorite dress when she was younger.” Said Flora to my father, “Anytime we went out, she’d wear it, if it was appropriate.”
“Well dear ones” Said my grandfather, as he began to stand up “I can’t be the only one in the house who is hungry, can I?”
“No sir.” Said Kayde, standing and offering me his hand for support.
“Ever the gentleman.” Said Flora laughing “He reminds me of you when we were at that age.” She said, looking at my grandfather.
“Does anyone mind Italian? I know that you and Kayde had French last night, right?” Syle asked looking at the rest of us.
“Italian sounds delicious.” My father said to my grandfather.
“Mr. Woodland?” Said Kayde as we were standing on the porch waiting for my father to find his keys and lock the door.
“Kayde, there’s no need to be formal, you can call me Al.” My father said with a tone so friendly that it almost made me question his motives.
“Ok then, Al. I was wondering if you had any plans to spend time with Phee tonight.” Kayde half asked. “I was hoping to take her to go see a movie, if you didn’t have any plans.”
“No sir” Answered my father “After dinner, she’s all yours. Just behave yourselves.” He said, as we all headed down the walkway to the cars, laughing at his joke that I didn’t find very funny at all.
“Thanks Al, and don’t worry, I’ll treat her with the utmost respect.” Kayde assured my father as I glance at him with a raised eyebrow.
“So in that case, Kayde, you and Phoenix can ride in your car.” Said my grandfather “Albert, I know that you’re not exactly comfortable with Flora and I, so I guess that means we’ll all drive our own car and meet up at Nico’s?”
“Sounds like a plan” Answered my father.
Once again, Kayde held his car door open for me and waited for me to get in the car and closed the door after me.
As we pulled away from the curb, a question popped into my mind that I was surprised that I hadn’t asked about before.
“Kayde?” I started off slowly, trying to decide exactly how to word the question without hurting him. “I was wondering, what were you doing out so late on a Thursday night?”
“It’s the weirdest thing.” He told me “I went to bed at eight o’clock that night; I was exhausted from working early that morning.
“I fell asleep much quicker than I had expected and I dreamt of you the whole time. You looked the way I told you, red skin, and bright orange hair. For some reason, I woke up at eleven o’clock. Wide awake, not even a bit drowsy. For some reason, I felt an urge to go for a walk.
“That was out of the ordinary, but not too much. What really threw me off was that when I started walking, I ended up turning corners that I never really walked along when I took my walks. I had never been to the block that your father’s office is on. I just kind of ended up there.” He finished up as we pulled into the parking lot of Nico’s.
“Kayde, dear, do you mind if we talk about this more after we leave?” I asked him. “It’s just, it’s pretty amazing from my end, and I’m curious about your end.”
“Of course babe.” He answered as we began to get out of the car.
Kayde leaned up against his car and pulled me in front of him and wrapped his arms around me as we waited for my father and grandparents to pull into the parking lot.
“You know, what your grandmother, what Flora said last night, about having to have strong feelings for the Half Blood you sleep with?” He said softly in my ear. “It’s true. I mean, I’m sure it was obvious to you, I just wanted to say it out loud, you know?
“I mean, I’m not in love with you or anything yet. But I’m pretty sure that that is all it is, a yet, because I can definitely see myself with you for a long time, maybe forever.” He finished as he leaned forward and kissed my cheek.
He had completely taken me by surprise. I had been thinking about the way we felt about each other and wondering if I should bring it up for hours now. I never expected him to be the first one to say something about it. It’s always rare for a guy to come out with something like that. It was obvious even before he brought up his feelings for me that Kayde wasn’t the average guy, so I’m not sure why it threw me off so much, but I was absolutely speechless for a few seconds.
As I took a couple of deep breaths, Kayde turned me around so that I was facing him. “I didn’t mean to freak you out. I just figured that since you and I knew the same information, it wouldn’t be a big deal.” He said, looking at me with worried eyes.
“Oh Kayde, it’s not that you freaked me out. I was just surprised. Most guys wouldn’t have been the one to bring something up like that, you know?” I explained to him “I mean, you’re nothing like any guy I’ve ever dated, it’s wonderful, and refreshing and, you know, I don’t think forever with you would be such a bad thing either.”
Kayde leaned forward and kissed me softly on the lips just as my father was pulling into the parking lot. “I sure hope you mean that.” He said, winking at me and pulling away as my grandparent pulled into the lot as well.
