Falling Dumb Into Desire

-|| FF One Month ||-
I waved goodbye to the nice, elderly couple that I had just helped and asked them to come back again if they ever needed something else. Assuring me that they would, they disappeared out the front doors, leaving me to sigh softly to myself. Gazing around the jewelry store that I had been working at part time for the past three weeks, I saw that the only other customers at the moment were already being helped by one of my coworkers.

I checked the time on my cell phone and saw that it was well past my usual lunch break. Waving slightly, I got the attention of my manager who was running a few pieces of jewelry through the cleaner, and then told her that I was taking my lunch break. She smiled and nodded her head in response before looking back to her work.

Quickly, I made my way out of the store and headed toward the other side of the mall. I arrived at my destination – the shoe store, Journeys – a minute later, and was greeted by the sounds of the latest radio hit that blared from the speakers placed in the corners of the store. Behind the counter, I eyed my boyfriend as he laughed with his coworker.

I opened my mouth to say something, but stopped myself short when I saw Kennedy moving around, and after staring at him in wonder for a few seconds, I realized that he was dancing. After finishing his moves, he nodded to his coworker, and together they erupted into another fit of laughter.

Shaking my head, I suppressed a smile as I made my way toward them.

"Nice moves, Kenny." I said.

Jumping in surprise, Kennedy turned around and then blushed deeply when he saw me. Quickly, he motioned to his coworker, who went into the back and a few seconds later the volume of the music decreased a considerable amount. I eyed the back door and then watched as Kennedy's coworker returned with a sheepish smile on his face before he headed out to straighten out some shoes that didn't really need to be straightened.

"Hey sweetheart." Kennedy said, leaning over the counter to kiss my lips gently.

"Hey babe." I replied. "Are you ready to go grab some lunch?"

Kennedy nodded his head and then walked around to the front of the counter.

"Boyd, I'm taking off for lunch." He told his coworker before slipping his hand into mine.

Boyd muttered his response without bothering to look up at us and Kennedy took that as a sign of our dismissal. Squeezing my hand, Kennedy leaned over and stole another quick kiss from me before tugging me out of the store. During our short walk to the food court, I eyed a wide variety of shoppers wandering through the building in an attempt to get done with their Christmas shopping. Although the holiday was still three weeks away, it looked as if everyone wanted to get their shopping out of the way early this year.

Rounding the corner of the grand hallway, Kennedy and I found ourselves in the food court. Looking around at the many types of fast food places offered, Kennedy nudged my side with his elbow and pointed to the small Italian food stand. I nodded my head in a silent agreement and together we slowly made our way toward it. Once there, I asked for a slice of lasagna while Kennedy ordered a large bowl of fettuccini.

As the man working behind the counter began to gather our order, Kennedy reached up and tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear. Tracing a line from my ear to my jaw bone, he watched me with loving eyes.

"Why don't you go and find us a table?" He suggested. "I'll be over in a minute."

"Alright." I agreed, releasing my hand from his.

I turned around and started toward the tables, only to have Kennedy reach over and slap my butt, not hard but just enough to startle me. I looked over my shoulder and narrowed my eyes at him in fake hatred.

"Asshole," I hissed, earning an attractive smirk from my boyfriend.

Shaking my head, I suppressed a smile and turned my attention back to the task at hand. Doing a quick sweep of the area, I spotted a small table nestled comfortably between a cute elderly couple and the windows so I hurried and claimed it before someone else did.

While I waited for Kennedy to arrive, I gazed at the elderly couple beside me and couldn't help but smile. Although I couldn't be sure, it looked as if they have been in love with one another their entire lives. Looking across the way, I eyed Kennedy as he made his way toward me. Seeing the soft smile on his face as he carefully balanced our food and drinks on a single tray, I couldn't help but wonder if one day we would end up like the couple at the table next to ours.

Kennedy carefully sat the tray on the table and handed me a fork and knife before he took a seat. Scooting his chair closer to the table, he reached underneath and grabbed a tender hold of my leg, lifting it up onto his lap. Squeezing my upper thigh gently, he smiled shyly and then placed my drink and plate in front of me.

"Eat," he insisted, "or else it will get cold and you won't want to eat it."

I laughed quietly to myself and did as I was told. While I cut up my lasagna, Kennedy ran one hand up and down my leg absentmindedly while he used his other hand to twirl some noodles around his plastic fork. He frowned softly as he continued to twirl his fork, hoping for the noodles to end, but before long his fork seemed to have collected all the noodles in his bowl. Kennedy huffed softly and dumped the noodles from his fork and back into the bowl.

"Having troubles over there?" I teased.

"These noodles are miles long." He whined.

I rolled my eyes slightly before stabbing a piece of my lasagna and shoving it into my mouth. Kennedy watched me as I did so, making me feel self conscious about how I looked with my mouth stuffed with food. I set my fork aside and grabbed a napkin, holding it up to hide my mouth as I finished chewing my food. When I was done, I set the napkin aside and started to cut another piece - a much smaller piece.

Still feeling Kennedy's eyes upon me, I stopped what I was doing and looked up at him with a questioning look.

"What was all that about?" He asked quizzically.

"I didn't want you watching me while I had my mouth stuffed with lasagna." I mumbled. "It was making me feel weird."

Kennedy quirked one of his eyebrows up. "So you hide behind a napkin to eat?"

"I said I didn't want you watching me." I huffed. "So sue me."

Kennedy giggled softly in amusement before he shoved a fork full of fettuccini into his mouth. Slurping the noodles up childishly, he smiled cutely he finished chewing. I returned an amused smile and got back to my own food.

A few minutes of silence passed us by as we ate before Kennedy set his fork aside and began to massage my calf.

"Babe, I have a surprise for you." He said.

"Yeah?" I asked before taking a drink of my soda. "What kind of surprise?"

"A surprise that involves you, me, two tickets, and a band called Kings of Leon." He said cutely.

"Kings of Leon?" I gasped, given that they were my favorite band. "Seriously?"

Kennedy nodded his head as he suppressed a smile. "Mhmm."

"Holy shit, Kennedy." I grinned. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." He laughed. "This Saturday you and I will be spending the day waiting in line, spending the night in the front row smashed against a barricade, and then enjoying the late night slash wee hours of the morning performing a few," he paused, glancing at the couple beside us, "pleasurable acts."

I smiled at his agenda for the day, but then frowned shortly afterwards.

"This Saturday?" I asked.

"Yeah." Kennedy replied.

Hearing his response, my frown only deepened. Seeing the expression on my face, Kennedy's smile slowly faded away until he too was frowning.

"Why? What's going on this Saturday?" He questioned quietly.

"I have to open and close up this Saturday." I mumbled. "I can't go." I whispered sadly.

"Maddi, I'm sure that you can talk someone else into opening and closing up for you." Kennedy said. "I mean, it's your favorite band. You can miss a day of work in order to see them."

"I don't know, Kennedy." I said slowly. "I mean ... I need all the money I can get if I want to get custody of my brother."

"Madison," my boyfriend sighed. "It's just one day of work. Surely you can take a day off and spend it with me at a show. Since you started working part time here, we haven't gotten the chance to go out and do anything together."

"Kenny, the sooner I get enough money saved up, the sooner I can get my brother out of that house." I insisted.

"But Madison - "

"He's my family, Kennedy." I snapped suddenly, though I certainly didn't mean to take that sort of tone with him.

Kennedy's eyes widen slightly before a hurt look crossed his face. "Yeah, well I'm your family too now, Madison." He muttered sadly. "Maybe not by blood or by marriage, but I love you and I care about you, and all I want for us is to spend some time together apart from cheap take out dinners and early morning sex. All I ask is for one day, Madison, that's it."

When I didn't say anything in response, Kennedy sighed quietly and then shoved around what was left of his food. He soon lost interest, though, and abandoned his fork.

"I'm gonna get back to work." He mumbled as he stood to his feet, causing my leg to fall from his lap. Pointing to my plate, he didn't quite meet my gaze. "Are you done with that?"

Although I still had about a third of my lasagna left, I nodded my head; I found that I had suddenly lost my appetite. Without another word, Kennedy grabbed my plate and stacked it onto the tray before he turned around and went to dispose of it. I watched him walk away with sad eyes, given that it kills me to see him walk away from me on such a bad note.

Beside me, the elderly couple gave me soft, reassuring smiles that I found comfort in.

Kennedy was right, I could spare a day just to wait outside all day in the cold weather; in fact I could spend more than just one day with him. He was right; we haven't spent as much time together as we should. Yeah, I wanted to make and save all the money I could so that my brother could come and live with me, but at the same time I wanted me and Kennedy's relationship to last.