All so perfect. So ideal.
This is what normal families are like?
I take turns racing cars in the game with Oliver, Aaron, and Emily, and Emily’s the only person who beats me, one time.
“You’re a psycho on the track,” Aaron tells me after I lap him.
And for the final round, I purposely take a turn too hard, wanting to let the kid win.
“Damn. You’re gaining on me,” I tell him.
“Get smoked! Get smoked, Niko,” Aaron says as he races ahead of me and wins the round. I fist-bump him and he does a little victory dance, standing up from the couch. “I’m getting another piece of the apple tart. Anyone want anything?”
“Good for now,” I say.
“Mind if I walk over to Cheyenne’s house?” Emily asks her parents, standing up from the couch.
“Kind of cold for a walk, sweetheart,” Victor tells her.
“It’s, like, three doors down,” Emily says.
Cheryl clicks her tongue. “More like ten. Wear a thick coat, love. Be back before midnight, okay?”
“Will do,” Emily says, hugging both of her parents.
She gives us a wave, and Victor and Cheryl also get up, heading down the hall and getting caught up in a conversation elsewhere in the house.
For a moment, it’s just me and Ollie in the living room.
It’s the first time we’ve been alone together since we walked into the house, hours and hours ago.
And I turn to look at him, biting back a smile.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he says.
“Ollie.”
“Don’t sayanythingto me, Niko.”
“You told your family all about me,” I say in a teasing tone. “Youbraggedabout me.”
He looks like he wants to die for a moment, and then he leans over, closing the gap between us on the couch and pressing his lips to mine.
He kisses me hard. He smells like wine, and it only makes me want to taste more of him.
“This is the only way I know how to get you to quit talking,” he murmurs as he pulls back for a moment, and then his mouth lands on mine again.
I slide my tongue along his, giving it a suck, and I feel him gently exhale as he slowly pulls away.
“I like it, Ollie. You revert right back to your shy, adorable, absolutely fuckable self when you’re back here, and it turns me on.”
I press a kiss to the side of his neck and he leans into my touch.
“I hope you’re having an okay time.”
“It’s great. Really.”
My feelings are a lot more complex than that, in reality, but only because I’m envious that anyone could have a family like this.