Heroes...And The Rest Of Us.

I'm sitting in my bedroom on my bed with my laptop on my lap on the Fourth of July. My parents are going to come over later and watch the fireworks with Jack and I tonight, and in a couple minutes I have to go pick up my neice, Kya, so she can watch them with us while her parents go to a party.

I twist the large cocktail ring that I'm wearing on my finger and adjust the black crochet, slouchy beanie thats on my head while I wait for a page to load. I was reading concert reviews, but then I read a couple that were bad, so I clicked out of that. Jack comes in the bedroom with his phone and a white envelope in his hand, and bounces onto Adam's side of the bed next to me.

"Are you busy? I need to talk to you," He says. I shut the laptop and look over at him with a smile.

"I'm never too busy for you. What's up?"

"Well first I want to say that I would never say this shit in front of Adam, that would be weird. But, I wanted to tell you that I love you, and Adam. I appreciate everything that you guys have done for me, and I know I've put you through a lot of shit and I don't even know how or if I'll ever be able to repay you guys for that," He says, sitting on his knees.

"We love you, too, honey. You don't have to repay us for anything," I say gently.

"Well I'm going to try. So, anyways, on to the real reason I came in here. I just got confirmation on some news that I think is going to make you very happy,"

"OK?"

"This is your plane ticket to California," he says holding up the envelope, "you're going to take off on Tuesday morning and come back on Wednsday night,"

"Wait, what? What are you talking about?" I interrupt.

"I'm having you flown out to California to see Adam,"

"What?!" I squeal excitedly.

"I made some calls and made some arrangements and, yeah. You're going, even if its only one night and a full day. I figured it was better than nothing," I jump up from my side of the bed and hug him tightly around his neck.

"I love you, I love you, I love you!" I give him about ten kisses on his cheek before he ducks his head into Adam's pillow, covering his head with another.

"Stop!" He yells. I put my head down next to where his is under the pillow.

"You aren't fucking with me, are you?" I say.

"What?"

"You aren't telling me this just to make me happy? This is really happening?"

"Yes, it's really happening," I rip the pillow from over his head and hug him again.

"Thank you, so much, Jack! I love you, so much!"

"No problem," He mumbles. I let him up and we go out to the kitchen.

"Oh my God, I can't believe this is happening," I say.

"This is a surprise for Adam too, so if you talk to him, don't tell him that you're coming out,"

"OK. Oh my God, Tuesday, that's only like a couple days away!"

"Three days, to be specific,"

"I can't believe I'm going to see Adam in three days,"

"I thought you'd be happy,"

"I am more than happy," A light bulb flashes in my head and I remember that I have to go pick up Kya.

"Oh shit, we have to go pick up Kya for the fireworks," I say, quickly grabbing my purse and heading towards the garage door. Jack follows and we get in my car, and pull out of the driveway towards Liv and Royston's house.

We pull into their driveway a couple minutes later and I go up to the door to get Kya. Royston answers and gives me Kya's little backpack of stuff, which isn't very full since she isn't planning on spending the night. I pick her up and balance her on my hip, and walk her back to the car.

"Are you ready to see the fireworks, babe?" I ask her as I buckle her in the backseat of the car.

"Yup!" She says excitedly. I hear Jack give a snort of laughter, and I knock him on the back of his head with the heel of my hand, causing him to laugh more.

We go back to our house and I make dinner for the three of us before my parents arrive to watch the fireworks.

We all head out to the back deck to watch them, since thats where the best view of the lake is. I sit in one of the plastic lounge chairs with Kya in my lap, and Billie sits next to me in the other chair. Jack and my Dad sit at the table in the regular chairs, smoking cigarettes and talking quietly to each other. It really doesn't surprise me that they get along, there are lots of things about Jack that remind me of my Dad.

"What's this?" Kya asks me, pointing out the tattoo I have of Liv's lip print on my wrist. I hold my arm out so she can get a better look.

"It's a kiss from your mama. I have it on my wrist forever," I tell her.

"Why?"

"So that whenever I'm sad or thinking about your mama when she's not here, I can just look down and go like this," I put my wrist up to her cheek and make a kissy sound.

"See, mama kisses," I tell her.

"Can I have it?" she asks.

"Have what?" she points out the tattoo and I laugh.

"Maybe when you're older, sweet thing," she stands up in between my legs and faces me, taking my hands in hers. She looks at the tattoo I have of Adam's initials on the underside of my left wrist.

"What does this one mean?" she asks.

"Those are Uncle Adam's initials,"

"His what?"

"Initials. The first letter in your first, middle and last names. Yours would be, K.E.L. These are Uncle Adam's," She looks confused then climbs back into my lap, laying her head on my chest.

"I miss Uncle Adam," she says. I feel my mom take my hand and squeeze it gently. I smile at her then rest my chin on Kya's little shoulder.

"I miss him too, sweet girl," I say to her as the first firework goes off over the lake.

"Oooh!" Kya says excitedly.

After the fireworks, my parents leave and I put Kya down to sleep on the couch until Liv comes to pick her up later. I sit in the kitchen and Jack goes into his bedroom to hang out so that he doesn't wake Kya up.

A couple hours later, I hear my front door open.

"Hello?" I hear Liv whisper into the house.

"In here," I whisper back to her. She comes around the corner and puts her purse on the kitchen counter, and gives me a hug.

"How was she?" she asks.

"An angel, just like always. How was the party?"

"It was fine." We both pull ourselves up onto the counter and talk for awhile, while Kya sleeps.

"Oh! I have to show you something!" She says out of nowhere a moment later. She jumps down from the counter and goes over to her purse, which is sitting next to where I'm sitting.

She rummages around a little inside the purse and finally comes back with a little bottle of lotion.

"What is this?" I ask her.

"Read it," she says, handing me the bottle.

"KY Warming Gel?" I say, reading the bottle. I raise my eyebrows at her and she giggles out loud, while I keep reading.

"Chocolate flavored to increase desire?" How do they figure that some artifically flavored lube is going to increase desire?"

"Chocolate is proven to increase a womans desire. Everyone knows that," she tells me.

"Why do you have this in your purse?"

"I wanted to show it to you," I go back to reading the back of the bottle.

"So, if this increases the womans desire, what is the guy supposed to do?"

"The woman is supposed to be desirable enough. The guy just has to deal with the cards he's dealt,"

"That seems like a lot of pressure," she laughs.

"Rub it, it gets warm. Lick it, it gets warmer?" I say, my eyes wide. Liv laughs again.

"Want to try it?" she asks.

"Sorry, my husband isn't home to try it with," she takes the bottle from me.

"Hold your hand out," Liv instructs.

"Liv! Your daughter is right over there sleeping!"

"So what?" she holds my hand out in front of me and dabs a little of the gel on it. She rubs it in with her fingers then looks up at me.

"How does it feel?" she asks expectantly. I try to squelch back a giggle, but it escapes me.

"It's warm!"

"Do you think I should lick it?"

"No!"

"I'm going to lick it," she leans over and licks the spot on my hand that she put the lube on.

"Well, what does it taste like?" I ask.

"Chocolate." I can't control myself anymore. I giggle more which makes her giggle.

"Is it increasing your desire?" I say with mock seduction in my voice.

"Oh yeah, I'm really getting turned on my licking my sisters hand," I giggle again.

"Does it feel really hot?" she asks.

"I don't know. I didn't really notice. Do it again and I'll tell you for sure," she leans her head down to lick the spot of gel thats still on my hand.

"Are you getting all turned on?" She asks me, causing me to burst out laughing.

Jack walks out of his bedroom and into the kitchen when she's about mid-lick. He stops and observes whats going on before he says anything.

"What the hell is going on out here?"

"We're trying out this chocolate flavored lube that Liv bought," I tell him.

"Did it get hot?" Liv asks me, totally ignoring Jack.

"There wasn't a lot of difference to be completely honest," Jack looks at the bottle of lube and reads the bottle.

"You guys do the strangest shit when you're together," he says.

"Maybe you should take this with you when you go see Adam," Liv suggests. Jack opens the cap on the bottle and smells it.

"It doesn't say on the bottle what smell or taste increase mens desire," I say to him.

"Yeah, maybe you can tell us from a mans point of view what smell or taste increases a mans desire," Liv says to him.

"I don't think there is a specific smell or taste... Well, maybe theres one," he says with a devilish smirk on his face. Liv and I both roll our eyes at him.

"Well obviously that! We know that, but like, is there an actual smell?" Liv asks.

"I don't know,"

"Great. I feel bad for your girlfriend. The only smell or taste that turns you on is your own cum," she says, sarcastically.

"I didn't say it was my own cum, Liv. And, I don't have a girlfriend,"

"Gee, I wonder why?"

"Maybe you should rub this stuff all over yourself, and get yourself a girlfriend," I say to him, tossing the bottle of lube at him.

"Does that really work? I mean, does the chocolate thing really turn women on?"

"I don't know. It's kind of hard to tell when you're trying it with your sister,"

"I can imagine,"

"You need to take it with you when you go see Adam," Liv says.

"I don't really think we're chocolate people," I say.

"I don't really need to know what kind of people you are." Jack says. Liv and I both laugh.

"I'm just sayin'"