Dirty Little Secrets

--Danny--

I woke up the next morning on the couch and my arm was draped over John’s shirtless torso. He had so many tattoos I wasn’t familiar with and I lightly ran my fingers over them as he stirred out of his sleep.

“Man, this feels like high school all over again.”

“Yeah, you better get going or our parents are going to catch us.”

He stared at me for a long time with a sleepy smile on his face. “What are you doing?” He asked as I continued to touch his tattoos.

“Getting familiar with the place.” I came across a rather large scar on his wrist. “What’s this from?”

“I, uh,” he chuckled. “I broke my wrist. That was forever ago; I can’t believe we were already broken up.”

“I missed a lot.” We locked eyes and I could tell his eyes were tired. “Are you still sleepy?”

“Oh. No. I just look like I am all the time. I was messed up and...just miserable for a long time.”

“I’m sorry I did this to you.”

“I did it to myself. I just can’t believe I’m finally back here with you. And to tell you the truth, I kinda liked pretending to be married to you yesterday.” I smiled and he kissed my nose then ended up kissing me until Daisy called out for me.

“Daddy!” She ran over to him once she saw we were on the couch together.

“Good morning, Dais. You ready for school?”

“Daddy what are you doing here?” She hugged him tightly several times before she jumped up in his lap.

“He’s here because...” I started.

“Because I’m moving in with you guys,” he quickly finished.

“You are?”

“I am.”

Daisy jumped and squealed in excitement until John and I dropped her off at school. We drove back to my house in silence.

“So you’re moving in with us?” I asked after several minutes.

“Is it too weird?” He asked, his face worried and nervous. “Because if it is, I can just gradually start staying over until-”

“John, shut up.” I smiled as I turned on my blinker and turned the corner. “It’s not weird, I just... This house reminds me of things and... I guess what I’m trying to say is I’d rather us move in with you. At your place.”

I pulled into the driveway and he sat there staring away at me until I finally looked over at him. He had the cutest little smile spread across his face.

“Stop looking at me like that. You’re starting to freak me out.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just that... I love you.” We got in the house and we went back to my room and turned the TV on. “What do we tell people?” He asked.

“Tell people what?”

“That we’re... What are we?”

I smiled at him and laid against him. That same smell of cologne and cigarettes comforted me. “I don’t see why we should tell anyone. Except for maybe Eric and Jared.”

He rested his head on top of mine and had his arm comfortingly around me. “So, do you want to be my girlfriend?”

“Of course, Cornelius,” I said and kissed him softly.

“No one has called me that in years.”

“Tell me a story,” I said and shut my eyes.

“About what?”

I shrugged. “Anything.”

“Okay, um... Oh. Once upon a time there was a little boy all alone on his first day of school. He was so scared and actually cried a little bit when his mom abandoned him there,” he paused because I was giggling. “Anyways, before recess he spotted the prettiest princess he’d ever seen. She had blonde hair and bright green eyes and she was wearing a Super Mario t-shirt. He liked Super Mario. So at recess, this boy, let’s call him ‘Juan’, was on the swing set by himself when he noticed that the princess had conquered the grueling Mt. Jungle Gym. She celebrated with her friends when, oh no!, she fell off and her knee began bleeding! Her friends cleared the area and Juan was to the rescue. But he didn’t have a bandaid. There was a bush next to the fence where she was and he pulled one off and put it over her skinned knee. As it turns out, Juan and the princess ended up getting a rash because the leaf was poison ivy and they spent the rest of the day in the nurse’s office. From that day on, they were best friends forever.”

“I loved that t-shirt,” I said as he played with my fingers.

“Um, this was a total fiction story. Nothing real in it whatsoever.”

“Oh,” I laughed. “Well, it was fantastic.” I looked up at him and he kissed me and we ended up making out for a while.

“Would you maybe want to go on a date with me tonight?”

“I don’t know about that... I’d have to check my schedule.”

“So I’ll pick you up at 8.”

I shook my head playfully as I bit my lip and he rolled over on top of me and kissed me again.

“Alright, we’re telling people,” I said as I took my phone out of my pocket and snapped a picture of us making weird faces.

****

“Jared is freaking out,” I said as we sat in front of Daisy’s school. “He’s so excited.”

John smiled. “What about Eric?”

“Nothing. I don’t think he’s been on instagram yet.”

By the time of John and I’s date, I’d taken three excited phone calls from Megan, Eric and Jared and one concerned call from my mother, of course. Megan had spilled the beans to her that Daisy and I would be moving into John’s apartment sometime in the near future.

“I didn’t even know you guys were back together, and you’re moving in with each other?”

“Mom, I know what I’m doing. It’s what I want, it’s what John wants, and it’s what’s best for Daisy.”

“Well, of course it’s what’s best for her. And you’ve told me you knew what you were doing before, and look how that ended up.”

“What’s the problem? I thought you liked John.”

“I do, Danny. I just... I just don’t want to see you end up divorced again.”

“Mom, I know I’ve done a lot in the past and I don’t have the best track record, but I’m asking you to please trust us and our decisions.”

“Okay, Danny. I trust you guys.”

I thanked her and hung up when I heard someone knocking on the door. I opened it expecting to see John returning from his shower and clothes change, but it was Jared and Eric, and they barged their way inside.

“We are your baby sitters,” Eric said and turned on the TV as he propped up his feet on the coffee table.

I looked at the clock and it read 7:58. He should be here any minute. Jared and Eric wouldn’t stop staring at me.

“What?”

“I just can’t believe, after all this time, you guys finally pulled your heads out of your asses and got back together,” Jared said, coming back from the kitchen with a bag of Cheetos.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Really? You didn’t think this ‘I like you, I like you too’ thing was sudden, did you? John never got over you and no matter who you tried to fool, you never got over him either.”

I turned red and rubbed my arm. “So?”

“Soooo, when’s the wedding?” Eric smiled and stole a handful of Cheetos out of the bag.

“You’ll be the first to know.”

Daisy joined the three of us once she heard their voices and we sat and watched cartoons waiting for John to show up, but an hour passed and he wasn’t there and wasn’t answering any phone calls. Was he standing me up? This was so unlike him.

“Trouble in paradise?” Eric said and finished the last of the Cheetos, an hour after John was supposed to be here.

“No. And you’re buying me some more.”

A minute later, a knock came at the door and I answered it. “I am so sorry I’m late,” he said and came inside. “My mom came over while I was getting ready and she talked for...ever.”

I was cold at first but I eased up and gave him a smile. “Well I wish you would have told me. I was starting to think you stood me up.”

He pulled me closer to him and hugged me then planted a kiss on my lips.

“Jared, look at them. Oh my God, they are so adorable.” We looked over in their direction and they were staring at us with big eyes and wide smiles.

“Have they been this weird the whole time they’ve been here?” John asked with a chuckle.

“They’ve been this weird since I’ve known them.”

They threw mocking glances our way and we bid adieu to them and Daisy. “Goodbye, Mr. and Mrs. O’Callaghan.”

“Later,” John said without a second thought and escorted me to his truck.

Since it was already past nine and it was Phoenix, restaurants were closed or near closing so we decided to go bowling and eat overpriced food there. I ended up winning the third and last game because he was getting worn out and I was just warming up and we spent the rest of the night in the arcade.

As stoked as I was to be back in the arms of John, I was even more stoked to know that the clan was back together.