"I wanna watch a movie," Cindy announced. "Can we watch Nemo?"
Jon glanced at me. "Are you up for it?"
I shrugged. "I can either fall asleep watching something here or at home. Doesn't really matter to me."
He laughed. "Such honesty. Alright, we can watch Nemo." The girls scrambled to put the movie in the DVD player as Jon cleared the table.
They both wanted to sit by me so poor Jon was left on the end of the couch as they both snuggled up against my arms. As predicted, I fell asleep ten minutes in. When I woke up my neck was stiff and both kids were asleep against me.
"Do you want me to get them off you?" Jon asked, amused. "They've been like that for at least twenty minutes."
"Please."
He carried them up to bed and free from my baggage I stretched trying to get the kink out of my neck. Ugh. I might have to spend all of Sunday sleeping this day off. How annoying.
Great, I barely remembered Faye wanted me to invite them to dinner. I was too tired for this. I would have to pretend I forgot; I could deal with her later. I really needed some time to relax.
"Sorry for wearing you out today. It was fun seeing the girls with you though. They really like you," Jon said as he came back and joined me on the couch.
"I really like them too. They're great kids. You've done a good job with them."
He seemed surprised by the compliment. "Thanks. Sometimes I have no idea what I'm doing but my mom helped a lot in the beginning. A lot of people look at me weird when I bring them out in public alone without a wedding ring. That took some getting used to."
"You could always wear a fake one," I suggested. "That would get people off your back."
"True," he chuckled, leaning back with his hands behind his head. "But then people would think you're my side chick."
The idea of being anyone's side chick was ludicrous. Once I started cracking up I doubled over, wheezing both from the force of the laughter and the pain from bending.
Jon looked at me like I was nuts. "Come on, it wasn't that funny!"
"Side…chick…" I cackled. "I'm sorry, it's just a ridiculous thought." I finally managed to calm myself. "Okay, I'm done now."
"I've seen a completely different side of you today," he noted. "The weird cackling, narcoleptic side."
"I'm not usually like this, I swear," I protested. I had no idea what had gotten into me. This was not normal Lori behavior.
"I know, it's great," he said with a satisfied smile. "It means you're getting more comfortable around me. You're starting to show your real self."
He had no idea what my real self was like. Being slightly funnier and sleepier than usual was nothing like my real self. My real self was a monster. He could never know that side of me. Ever.
I didn't know how to reply to that so I stayed silent. It had been a surprisingly good day, even though I went way outside my comfort zone.
It was weird though. Almost like I was a part of his family. People at the zoo probably thought that Kaylee and Cindy were our kids. Bizarre. I'd never have a family again, not like that.
"It's only eight," Jon spoke up. "I could take you home or you could stay here and fall asleep on me again. Since you said it doesn't matter where you fall asleep watching TV."
He was teasing me. When had we become comfortable enough to tease each other? I hadn't paid attention to that but now it was as natural as the way Nick and I teased. I decided to tease him back.
"It's really a choice of whether I want the embarrassment of using you as a pillow versus having one of my cats sprawl across my neck so I can hardly breathe. I think the first option sounds better right now."
His face turned pink—did I just make him blush?—and he cleared his throat. "Well, I guess it's back to baseball then." He turned on the TV before turning back to me. "Um…is it okay if I put my arm around you? Last time you fell asleep on it my shoulder went numb."
"Sorry," I muttered. Why did I have to keep embarrassing myself? I should have just gone home. My teasing backfired big time. "That's fine."
I tucked my feet up as he put his arm around me and was lulled to sleep by the droning voice of the sportscasters.
I woke up to the unfamiliar sensation of having arms around me. I panicked a moment, feeling trapped, before remembering that I had fallen asleep on Jon. I craned my neck and saw that he was out cold. Apparently he was using me as a teddy bear.
What time was it? I needed to make my escape. How could I wriggle free without waking him? I didn't think I could face him right now, the mortification was too much.
I tried prying his arms off as gently as I could to no avail. I would have to use serious physical force to get out of this vise and he'd wake up for sure.
My final defense was trying to slide out from under the confine of his arms. I got hit in the nose, but it worked! I left a note on the coffee table explaining that I'd gone home and crept out the door without being noticed, making sure to turn the doorknob lock on my way out.
Faye was going to bombard me with questions if I came in through the front door. I figured that I had already pushed myself too far so I may as well do it a little further and painfully climbed up the fire escape to sneak in the window.
I peered in to make sure she wasn't in the living room and leapt over Angel in my frantic dash to my bedroom. Chest heaving, I locked my bedroom door behind me. Safe. I was safe. I was not going to do something that stupid again.