Chapter Nine
Ashton
This garden was absolutely gorgeous. I loved how Kai’s face lit up as they told us all about the different types of plants or stated silly facts.
The idea that we picked something so perfect for them made me happy.
The bad thing was, I hadn’t taken any allergy medicine. Being around all of this made my eyes water.
“Ashton, are you okay?” Kai asked as I wiped my eyes. “If I'm boring you to tears with my plant talk, just let me know.”
“I forgot my allergy medicine,” I confessed. “This place is amazing but a little hard on my sinuses.”
“Oh. I have allergy medicine.” Kai stopped and put a foot on a bench, then balanced their little backpack on their knee, and rummaged through it. They held out their hand. “I have three different kinds of allergy medicine, brought to you by allergies of all sorts.”
“Thank you so much.” I picked the one that I usually took, then I grabbed Steven’s bottle of water, and washed it down. “You have allergies? Seasonal allergies, food allergies, allergies to people who talk too much?” I grinned at Steven.
He’d made up most of the conversation, though I didn’t feel left out in the slightest. I just felt like giving him a hard time, because for someone who was originally reluctant, he seemed to be enjoying himself a lot.
Though I was enjoying myself, too. A lot. Perhaps too much.
“I’m also allergic to grass, trees, and walnuts. I’m lactose intolerant, but I eat the ice cream anyway,” Kai added.
“Why is it that pretty much every lactose intolerant person I’ve ever met just eats the ice cream?” I didn’t miss the fact that Steven kept holding Kai’s hand. Kai’s nails were ocean blue and some of them had little seashell decorations.
“Because ice cream is delicious?” Steven asked. “Also, cheese.”
“Cheese is definitely delicious. So is pizza,” Kai replied.
“I like cheese too, especially grilled cheese sandwiches,” I added.
“Now I’m hungry. Let’s get a snack and a coffee,” Steven suggested, ever the bottomless pit.
“Oooh, an iced coffee would be amazing, thanks,” Kai replied.
I eyed Kai’s hand. Did I dare? I know this wasn’t a date, but we could still hold hands, right?
They were on spring break and single. Perhaps they decided to just let everything go and see what happened. I think I’d be okay with that.
I offered my arm like a gentleman. “Shall we?”
Kai linked their arm through mine. “Let's.”
We went off to the café and ordered iced coffees. Steven got a burger, I got a chicken sandwich, and Kai opted for fries.
“Do you want more?” Steven asked. “You don’t have to be a polite omega around us, we won’t tell the aunties.”
Kai laughed. “They’re always telling me to eat more. I was going to start with this, because we passed an ice cream place and that sounded really good considering it’s such a nice day.”
“We could absolutely get ice cream after this? Oh, do you need to be back at a certain time?” I asked.
“Not unless I want to go line dancing again.” Kai laughed. “Though I should let them know if I’m not going to dinner, so they don’t worry.”
“Good thought. There’s a great pizza place that we could go to. It’s kind of like a dive bar with food. We can play foosball and air hockey,” Steven suggested.
I nodded. That was a place I liked a lot, and I could see Kai enjoying the vibes.
“I do love me some air hockey.” Kai grabbed their bag. “I’ll be right back.”
Kai left and Steven squeezed my hand.
“Is that okay?” he asked me.
“Yes.” I’d gotten in some studying this morning and was feeling good about it.
“You know, after the meeting tomorrow, we could go to the zoo. Maybe visit the plant bar afterward?” he suggested, finishing his burger, getting mustard on his face.
Leaning over, I wiped it off. “I like that idea. But if Kai doesn’t want to, don’t push.”
Steven could be pushy sometimes.
“Push?” He blinked like he was genuinely surprised.
I rolled my eyes. “Kai’s here with their aunties, so if they already have plans tomorrow, it’s fine.”
“And we’ll ask Kai about the game–if she’s still even here Saturday?” Steven added.
“Yes.” We’d gotten the game and practice schedule this morning. We'd won the coin toss, so we had a home game first, followed by one in Portland. If we needed a third, we’d return to Nashville. It was a tighter schedule than we’d had for the semis, but not completely out-of-the-ordinary.
Something about Kai coming to the game made me very happy and I hoped they could attend.
Kai rejoined us and took a sip of their iced coffee. “Talking about me?”
“Are you here Saturday? My offer last night was serious. Want to be iconic and come to our game?” Steven offered.
Kai beamed. “You know what? That does sound fun. I don’t think I've ever been to a hockey game. We’re leaving really early Sunday morning.”
“We could probably get enough tickets for the aunties, too, if they want to come,” I added.
“You’d want all of us to come to your game? That’s so sweet. The aunties have a lot planned, but I can ask them. I’d like to come at least. That wouldn’t be too much trouble for you, right? I don’t want to take any tickets away from your families,” Kai stated.
I shook my head. “We’re playing the Puck Panthers. My family will come to the game in Portland.”
“My family doesn’t go to my games. They’re not even in the country right now. It’s fine. It’s complicated, but…fine,” Steven said.
“Thank you so much then. Put me down, I’ll let you know about the aunties later.” Kai sent a text.
“Do you like animals? We could go to the zoo tomorrow. But if you have plans with your aunties, that’s fine too,” Steven added.
“Aren’t you supposed to be resting?” Kai asked.
“It's fine. We have a team meeting in the morning anyway,” I replied, wanting to spend more time with them and not liking the anxiousness in their voice, because it seemed like they wanted to spend more time with us too.
“Tomorrow sounds fantastic. I do like animals. When’s your next practice? What do you do at practice?” Kai finished their fries.
“Thursday. We’ll go over a strategy, and watch videos of our competitors so we can get an idea of how they play.
We’ll have on and off the ice practices too, but I don’t think we’ll do anything too strenuous.
You don’t want anyone injured, but at the same time it is the final so we can’t slack off,” Steven explained.
“A lot of it’s mental. It’s studying our opponents, knowing the strategy, and not psyching ourselves out,” I added.
Kai nodded. “Makes sense to me. I was on the swim team in high school.”
We cleaned off our table and went back through the gardens.
“Tag.” Kai tapped Steven and took off running.
“I’m gonna get you,” Steven shouted, running after them.
I chuckled as did a few people. Steven caught Kai, picked them up, and spun around.
The two of them were cute together. A little bit of jealousy shot through me. I wanted to swing Kai around, too.
What was stopping me?
Kai laughed and pulled him down onto the ground. In a quick movement I swept Kai up off the grass and spun them around.
“My turn.” I grinned.
Kai laughed. Not sure if I was crossing a boundary by wanting a moment to get closer, to touch them and make them smile. The scent of lemons, sweet like lemon candy, tickled my nose.
Shit, Kai smelled nice.
“I want you to spin me around,” Steven demanded, pouting as I put Kai down.
I rolled my eyes. He tried to jump on my back but wasn’t very successful and we almost fell over.
“I’ve got this.” Kai jumped on my back, like it was an Olympic event, still laughing. “Giddy up.”
I ran through the gardens like a horse, completely ridiculous. But I didn’t care because it made Kai laugh.
Making Kai laugh made me happy. I told myself it was because after everything they’d been through that they deserved a bit of fun.
There could be more to it. But I wasn’t sure that I wanted to delve into those feelings, because Kai was temporary. Spring break didn’t last very long and we had the finals.
I stopped galloping, but Kai continued to cling to my back and I allowed it. It could be my work out for the day.
“Ice cream?” I asked.
“Yes.” Kai stayed on my back as we went to the ice cream shop.
“What flavor?” I asked as we looked at the menu.
“Chocolate chip mint, in a sugar cone, please,” Kai ordered.
“Small vanilla scoop in a cup, please,” I added.
“Cookies and cream in a waffle cone for me, please,” Steven said.
“I’ve got it,” I told Kai as I got my wallet.
Kai shook their head. “You don’t have to pay for everything for me. I’m not completely broke.”
“It’s not a problem, I remember college,” I confessed. “I was on a scholarship. I had a campus job. My parents did their best, but I didn’t want them to worry about me, especially in the years when the business was struggling. I ate a lot of noodles.”
Sometimes I missed the simplicity. But I also liked having enough money to be able to do what I wanted, like helping my parents so they didn’t have to choose what home bills to pay, because everything went to the business to pay salaries.
“Did you get anything back?” Steven asked.
They shook their head. “Not yet. I’ve been working with the bank and giving them info though.”
Kai was back on the ground, ice cream in hand. We ate our treat and walked around.
“Look at that tree,” they exclaimed, ice cream finished.
It was old, large, and perfect for climbing.
“Do you think I can climb that tree?” Kai put down their backpack, jumped up, and grabbed a branch.
“If you’re talking about permission, probably not,” Steven said as Kai scrambled up the branches. “But obviously I’m not doubting your ability.”
Kai was agile and it looked like tree climbing was a frequent pastime. But then I’d spent a lot of time up in trees, too.
Shoving my phone in my pocket, and throwing away the empty paper bowl, I grabbed the bottom branch and pulled myself up into the tree.
Kai grinned at me. “Come on up, the weather’s great.”
Steven waved and took a picture. He was used to me doing this.