Pick Your Poison

"Amelia! Wake up!" Emily exclaims bouncing on the bed.

"Mmmm, five more minutes," I groan, pulling a blanket over my head.

"Fine, I'll just tell Mike that you don't want to hang out today," she says lifting my phone to her ear.

"No!" I exclaim, jumping up to grab the phone from her hand to say, "Hey Mike!"

"Hey sorry to wake you, but I was wondering if maybe you wanted to hang out today? The guys and I were going to hang out in Central Park," he explains.

"Yeah totally! I can pack a picnic for everybody and we can all hang out," I offer playing with my messy hair.

"That'll be cool! Ok, so I'll see you soon?" He asks.

"Yep, I'll call you when I get close to the park. Oh! Do you think you guys can bring drinks?"

"Yeah, um, like beer and stuff. Or do you want sodas?" He asks.

"Uh, Butcher and the other guys will probably want beer, but Emily and I don't really drink all that much, so get us 7up or something." I reply.

"Ok, I'll see you soon. Bye," he says.

"Bye Mike," I say hanging up the phone.

Emily Looks at me questioningly and asks, "Well? What's going on?"

"Well my dear, you and I are going to a picnic at Central Park. With the guys from The Academy Is...!" I exclaim excitedly.

She squeals in response, "Oh my gosh! That's awesome!"

"I know!" I say getting off the bed. I walk to my closet and pick out a black and white peace sign shirt and black skinnies. I grab the articles of clothing and walk into the bathroom to take a shower.

Stepping out, I dry myself off and slip on a bra and panties before dressing. I blow dry my hair and turn on my curling iron, set it down and decide to apply my makeup while it's heating up. I brush on a light silver eye shadow to my upper and lower eyelids and brush on a light pink blush to my cheeks. and line my eyes with eyeliner and brush on mascara.

"Hello! I want to use the bathroom, too, sometime this year!" I hear from the other side of the door.

Cracking open the door, I see Emily standing in the hallway glaring at me. "Patience is a virtue. Why don't you go to my closet and pick out something to wear?" I suggest turning back to the mirror.

"Ok then," she says walking into the bedroom huffing, impatiently.

Picking up the curling iron, I curl my hair into loose waves. Feeling satisfied with my hair, I clip in some earrings, slide on a bracelet and put on a necklace. I walk back into my room and see Emily in a teal shirt, teal and black skirt, black leggings and black flats. "You look nice," I say sitting down on the bed.

"Thanks!" she says twirling. She stops and grins. I get off the bed and grab her hand, pulling her into the bathroom. "What are you doing?" she asks sitting on the closed toilet.

"Well my dear, I'm going to make you all pretty for William," I say, picking out earrings, a necklace, and bracelet. I hand Emily the jewlery and turn on my hair flat iron. While it's heating up, I apply a light teal eyeshadow on her lids and line her lash line with metallic teal liquid eyeliner. I brush on some mascara, blush, and a nude colored lip glass.

I straighten her hair and spray it with BigSexyHair for some body. I let her look in the mirror and she grins obviously impressed with her appearance. "Thank you!"

"No problem, now how about we go make those boys lunch?" I say, holding out my hand.

"Okies!" Emily says, nodding her head. She gets up, takes my hand and we exit the bathroom.

"Ok, so what are me going to make?" I ask as we enter the kitchen.

"How about some sandwiches, a salad of some kind, and brownies or something?" Emily suggests.

"Mmkay, that sounds good. Wait, aren't some of the guys vegetarians?" I ask.

"I think so. Call Mike and find out." Emily says.

I nod and pull my phone out of my pocket. "Hey Beautiful," Mike answers.

"Hey Mike," I say smiling. "I have a question. Are any of the guys vegetarian?" I ask.

"Yeah, Michael is." He responds.

"Ok, thanks. See you soon," I say hanging up. I turn to Emily. "Just Chizzy," I say, pulling
sandwich ingredients out of the refrigerator.

"Ok, so what are we going to make then?" Emily asks.

"Hmm, how about we make BLTs? I think I have some Fak'n Bacon." I reply going back to the fridge. I dig through the meat drawer and find the "bacon" hidden behind a package of regular bacon. I grab both packages and place them on the counter.

"Alright, so how about you make the BLTs, and I can make the salad and brownies?" I
suggest.

"Okay," Emily responds. She grabs a skillet from the cabinet and starts frying the Fak'n Bacon.

I turn on a small radio in the kitchen and start making a ceaser salad. I cut up the Romaine lettuce, and tomatoes. Dropping them in a bowl, I add croutons, Parmesan cheese, and dressing. I toss the ingredients together and seal the bowl with a large plastic lid.

I look over to see Emily putting the finishing touch on the FBLT. Smiling to myself, I start mouthing the words to whichever song is on and look at the directions on the box of brownies. I walk over to the oven and preheat it.

***

"Finally!" I say, hearing the oven beep. Emily and I have been done with cooking for almost half an hour. We were just waiting for the brownies to finish so we could leave. I walk to the oven, pull out the chocolaty dessert and set the hot pan on a cooling rack. Letting those cool, I walk into the living room and see Lillie sleeping on the couch. I sit down next to her, pick up her collar from the coffee table in front of me, and gently strap it around her neck.

"Hey Em, can you put her in her carrier for me? Oh, and grab her leash and put in the carrier as well, please. Thank you," I say walking into the kitchen. I cut up the warm brownies and place them on a plate. After wrapping the brownies in plastic wrap I place them in the basket filled with the other foods and a blanket.

I pick up the basket and grab my purse. Emily picks up Lillie's carrier and her own purse. "This is going to be fun," she says.

"I know. I'm so excited," I say unlocking my car. I set the basket of food in the back seat with Lillie and get into the driver's side. I start the car and make my way to Central Park.

***

"Hey Emily, can you grab my phone and call Mike? I don't know where to meet them," I say.

"Yeah, sure," she says getting my phone. "Hey Mike, where are you guys at? We don't really know where to meet you. Uh huh. Oh ok, yeah i know where that is. Alright, see you soon. Bye."

"Ok, he said they're at the big field," she says looking at me smiling.

"Ok," I say parking my car. We get out and collect our things. I let Lillie out of her carrier and hook her leash to her collar. She runs out and tests the length before running back excitedly. I grab my purse and walk to the pay booth to pay for our parking spot.

After I pay, I walk back to the car and meet up with Emily who has the basket of food hooked on her arm. I grin at her and begin walking on the bike path, with Daisy leading the way.

After walking for a little while, I see a field where five guys are throwing a football. Emily and I start walking faster towards the guys and I drop Lillie's leash. She takes off running toward the football, jumps up and knocks it out of the air.

Mike turns around and smiles. "Hey! About time you two showed up!" he hollers.

I smile and yell back, "Yeah, well we had to wait on some freshly baked goods to finish cooking."

"Oh! Freshly baked goods huh? What are they?" I hear Sisky say.

I turn to him and say, "Brownies, but you can't have any yet." I walk over and help Emily set up the blanket and lay food on it. Once it's finished, the guys gather around it finding places to sit.

I feel myself being pulled backwards and I land on someone's lap. I tilt my head back and see Butcher. "Well, hello there, Mr. Mrotek. May I help you?"

He grins and nods, "Yeah, you can be my lap warmer," he says suggestively.

I scoff and get off his lap, placing Lillie there in my place. "There, she can be your lap warmer," I say, walking over to Mike. I sit down next to him and he wraps an arm around me.

"So what's for lunch?" Sisky asks.

"We just made sandwiches. Michael we made a special one for you," I explain.

"Oh, thank you. That's very nice," he says.

"It was no problem. I had some fakin' bacon left over from my last attempt to become a vegetarian. So we used it and made BLTs." I say, handing out the sandwiches.

Emily gets out paper plates and serves everyone a portion of the Ceaser salad. "You look really pretty today, Emily," William says as she hands him a plate.

She blushes and says, "Thank you, you look pretty nice today, too."

I take a bite from my salad and watch as Lillie tries to steal a bite of Butcher's sandwich. As I take another bite, I see Sisky trying to steal a brownie. "Hey! Finish your sandwich. Then you can eat a brownie," I say to the younger boy.

He pouts and says, "Yes, Mother."

Mike chuckles and kisses the top of my head. I look up at him and kiss his lips quickly.

He smiles and kisses me again.

"Get a room!" I hear Emily say.

I look over and see her sitting with William's arms wrapped around her. I smirk and say,
"Well, looks like you should really be talking, Em." She blushes and buries her face into
Will's neck.

"Let's go take a walk," Mike says, standing up.

"Ok," I say taking his outstretched hand and standing up. He leads me to the walking path and we walk side by side.

"So, I want to know more about you," he says, breaking the ice.

"Alright. Well, my full name is Amelia Lauren Marino. I grew up in Northern California and went to beauty school. Got tired of the West Coast so I moved out here and started working at Angels and Kings," I say in response.

"If you went to beauty school, how come you work at a bar?" he asks.

I shrug and say, "I don't know. I looked around at some of the beauty shops around here, but none of them had the right vibe, you know? I would walk into one of them and turn right around because something didn't feel right."

"Yeah, I get how that is. Sometimes you just have to go with your instincts," he says.

"Exactly," I say smiling at him. He stops walking and leans down to me. I close my eyes as I feel his soft lips press against mine. The feeling is amazing. My heart speeds up and I eagerly kiss him back. His arms wrap around me. Eventually he pulls away.

"Has anyone told you how amazing you are," he whispers, slightly breathless.

"Well, I know of one person who did." I smile at him.

He grins back and kisses me again eagerly. My fingers bury themselves in his hair. His hand runs up my back to cup my neck.

Eventually, we manage reluctantly to break for air.

"This is never going to get old," Mike chuckles.