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“Not justanybox of suckers,” she replied. “These are the best suckers known to mankind.”
“What kind are they anyway?” JJ asked, pulling Aria’s arm down to her eye-level to get a better look. “And why are they two colors?”
“Because, young grasshopper, they are sweetandsour suckers,” Aria replied, pulling another sucker out of the pocket of her sweats and handing it to JJ. “This one is my favorite. Sweet pineapple and sour grapefruit. Super yummy. Try it. You’ll love ‘em, I promise.”
“Really, Ar? Do you have one of those in every pair of pants you own? Should I start checking under your pillows, too?” Cassie said with an eye roll. She looked at Jamal. “She just pulled one out from under my pillow.”
Aria ignored Cassie’s remark, choosing to look JJ directly in the eye. “Just one lick, kid. I promise – it will change your world.”
JJ took the sucker from Aria’s hand and looked up at him. “Can I have it, daddy-o?”
He bent down in a catcher’s stance so he was also eye-level with his kid. “Sure, kiddo. Be nice to me and I might even buy you a box of them when I get Aria’s.”
JJ grinned and leaned in for a hug. “That’ll work. That is, if they are as good as Aria says.”
He stood up and looked around the apartment that Cassie called home. The small kitchen on the left was separated from the living room by a small bar. A comfy looking couch and worn recliner filled with cream lace and chocolate brown and cream polka-dotted pillows sat facing a TV stand that housed a flat screen television and DVD player. The coffee table in front of the couch looked like it was made out of an old six pane window, now windowless, but with a solid piece of glass on top. Old, distressed shutters were hung on the wall, mixed with pictures of Cassie, Callie and Aria that were hung in old, antique looking frames on the wall behind the couch. Cassie in the middle of Callie and Aria, both dressed in their Thunder cheer uniforms. Cassie smiling at the camera in a selfie obviously taken with a selfie stick, her class of students in the background. Callie and Cassie in bathing suits, standing on a rock in front of a waterfall. A picture again of the trio, this time their faces stuck in a perpetual scared pose from a roller coaster camera.
“I like your place, Bambi. It feels like you,” he said.
Cassie smiled softly. “Callie liked the brighter colors, but I like the softer ones. So when she left I redecorated more to my personality.”
“It looks just like something that Jo and Chip would do on Fixer Upper!” JJ said enthusiastically.
Jamal looked at his daughter, a blank look on his face. “What?”
“That’s just what I was going for, JJ.”
“I still don’t know what you guys are talking about,” he said, inserting himself in their conversation.
JJ shrugged her shoulders. “It’s a show on HGTV. Irma watches it all the time. That Jo Jo can decorate!”
Cassie laughed and pulled his daughter in for a hug. “You’re right, JJ. Not to mention they are super funny.”
“Chip isweird!” JJ said with a giggle. “But their kids look like fun. I bet I would like hanging out with them.” She turned to her daddy. “And they live on areal farm!With chickens and cows andeverything!”
Jamal laughed. “I might have to watch it with you ladies sometime if you’ll let me.”
“Sounds like a date,” Aria said from her perch on the arm of the couch. “You ever going to ask my friend out on one of those or are you just going to keep using your daughter as a buffer?”
“Aria!” Cassie yelled.
“What’s a buffer?” JJ asked at the same time.
“Nothing you need to worry about, kid,” Jamal said. “But whaddya say, Cassie? Up for a date tonight after the Science Museum visit? I bet Callie and Kyle would let JJ hang out with them. They keep asking when she is going to spend the night at their new house.”
Aria laughed, which quickly turned into a cough when Cassie glared her way. There was something they weren’t telling him. He looked at Cassie expectantly. “Well, Bambi? A date? Tonight? We can do whatever you want.”
Aria laugh/choke/coughed again as Cassie’s red face glared her friend’s way. Yep. He was definitely missing out on some vital information.
“Sure,” Cassie said hesitantly. “A date sounds –nice.”
“That’s one way of putting it,” Aria said with an evil smile.
“Are you guys ready to go?” Cassie asked, ignoring her friend’s comment.
His daughter grabbed Cassie’s hand and started swinging their arms back and forth. “Yep. You’re gonnalovethe museum, Cassie. It’sawesome!Are you gonna ride a Segway?”
Cassie smiled a sweet smile his daughter’s way. “We’ll see. I’m not that great at athletic stuff.”
