Holding You 'Til Our Time Is Done

"Dude, you're here early. What's up?" Whitney asked as I stepped into the building.

"Well, Alex wanted to take Carolina out for ice cream, plus I could use some time out, too, besides going to work." I explained, picking up my giggling daughter. She was playing with one of the other little girls here, which consisted of them ripping off the old Barbie's she had brought.

"Oh. Mr. Gaskarth, I see. Well," she covered Carolina's ears. "use protection, don't scream too loud, and make sure that Carolina is completely asleep." I scoffed and smacked her shoulder. "Ow!"

"Dude, we aren't going to sleep together." I whispered, now that Carolina's ears were covered. "Now, I've got to head home and change because I'm a mess. Alex is already at my house, so I need to hurry. I'll call you later and fill you in on everything?" She nodded her head vigorously. There was a shrill, girl scream then maniacal sounding laughing.

"No! Andrew! Don't put glue in Susan's hair!" She groaned, running towards the scene. I laughed out, leaving with my child.

Once I had changed, we headed towards the ice cream shop. We went to a nice, quiet parlor downtown. Carolina nearly skipped the entire way there. I nearly tripped on a crack in the sidewalk before I caught myself. Alex laughed at me, so I slapped his arm.

We got our ice cream, and then left to go walk to the park. Carolina wanted to play in the sandbox, the reason why was beyond me. While she played and managed to eat her ice cream at the same time, Alex and me sat on a bench.

"Did you hear what happened to Zach after we left?" Alex asked. I shook my head no. "He ended up flipping your couch trying to escape the hold of the tape. Greg and the other guys heard it, and came in. They helped him out, then flipped the couch back over." I laughed out, mentally picturing Zach flipping my couch over.

"That's seriously really funny. Zach's definitely a character. Oh, does he ever talk about Whitney?" I asked curiously.

"Oh yeah. Sometimes he doesn't stop." He laughed. I shook my head.

"I think she's got a little crush on him. When I sent her the picture on him taped down, she told me that I should be nice." I recited her scolding.

"Yeah, he definitely likes her. We should try to hook them up." I nodded my head, and lazily laid back on the bench. Alex followed, and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. He laughed at me when my face turned red and a shy smile spread across my face. A few minutes later, Carolina ran up with her almost gone cone.

"Mommy! I'm finished! I want to go home!" She complained. Once I had successfully stood up from the bench, I scooped her up and spun around high up in the air. She giggled like crazy, swatting at me.

"Is Awex coming home with us?" She asked curiously, looking over at him. He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"That's up to your mom." He said, turning to look at me.

"I think Alex could come over. As long as it's okay with you." I joked with Carolina. She nodded her head fast, almost to the point where I thought it was going to snap off.