This Is Forever (This Is Series 4)

by Natasha Madison

  “Yeah, let’s do that,” he says. We drive back to Justin’s, then park the car and walk to the restaurant.

  “Oh, can we take it home and watch another movie?” Dylan says, and I look at Justin.

  “I like that plan a lot,” he says. “What do you say, sweetheart? Want to take it to go?”

  “A movie and pizza,” I say to them both. “Yes, please.”

  We order the food, and they tell us it’s going to be about thirty to forty-five minutes, and they will bring it over. We walk back to the apartment and make our way back to his place.

  “Okay, it’s my turn to pick a movie,” Justin says when we walk into the apartment, and Dylan groans. “You chose two yesterday.”

  “But one was Mom’s pick,” he says, going to the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water as if he lived there.

  Justin goes to the fridge, grabbing his own water, and then hands me one. “Thank you,” I mumble and try to ignore whatever is going on inside me. “I’m going to go change,” I tell them both and escape to the room, grabbing the clothes I had on yesterday and go to the bathroom.

  I splash water on my face and look at myself in the mirror. “You have to stop this. Nothing good is going to come from this,” I tell myself. I slip out of the dress and look at myself in the basic white cotton bra that I’ve had for four years now, the cups are not even there anymore and the wires that went under the bra were tossed away somewhere a long time ago. The white cotton panties that I have. The same four pair that I wash and rewash. “Stupid,” I tell myself. “Stupid to believe this can go anywhere.”

  Tomorrow, tomorrow I’m going to get my ass in gear and look for another place.

  I slip on the shorts and shirt and walk out of the room and see Justin sitting on the bed. “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing,” I say, not making eye contact as I place my folded dress on the top of the dresser. “I’m just …”

  “Look at me,” he says, and I do. “What’s going on?”

  “It’s just …” I say. “Dylan is acting like he lives here. He is coming and going to the fridge.”

  “Good,” Justin says. “I want him to be comfortable here.”

  “But it’s temporary,” I say. “Eventually, we will have to get our new place.”

  He’s about to say something when the doorbell rings, and Dylan comes into the room. “Pizza is here,” he says, and I watch Justin get up and walk out with him.

  “Thank you so much.” I hear Justin say. “Just put everything over there.”

  I walk over and see two men bringing in bags and then more bags and then more bags. “What’s going on?”

  “It’s not pizza,” Dylan says from the fridge, eating another cheese stick.

  “There are about fifty bags,” one of them jokes with Justin.

  “Fifty in this trip. There are still a couple more downstairs,” the other one says.

  “Take your time,” Justin says to the two men, and I sit on the stool watching.

  “Justin, you bought so much stuff,” Dylan says, coming to sit on the stool next to me. “Is it your birthday?” he asks, and my head swings to Justin, and my heart sinks. What if today was his birthday, and I didn’t know?

  “Not my birthday.” He smiles, and the men come in again.

  “This is all of it,” he says and smiles at us and then walks out.

  “What is it?” Dylan asks, and then Justin looks down at the floor and then looks up again. I can tell he’s nervous, and I have no idea why.

  “So I know that you haven’t been able to get your stuff from your place. And I know how cool your old stuff was,” he says, and I have a sinking feeling I know where this is going. “And well, since I forgot to take you to pick up any things.” He looks at me, his eyes pleading with me. “I called my sister, who is a professional shopper.”

  “You bought us new things?” Dylan asks, getting up and checking in the bags.

  “Just a couple of things,” he says, looking at Dylan and putting his hand on Dylan’s shoulder. “It’s just to hold you over until I can take you back to your house to get your things.”

  “Cool,” he says, and then Justin looks at me.

  “I got you a couple of things also,” he says, and I look from him to the bags and then back to him again.

  “A couple?” I look at the bags.

  “I mean, I told her to get you a couple of things.” He smiles. “This”—he points at everything—“is the exaggeration that is my family.”

  “Oh, cool, look,” Dylan says and takes out a pair of new shoes.

  “You can return some of it,” I say. “Or most of it.”

  “What?” Dylan shrieks. “Why? Look at all these new clothes.”

  He starts taking stuff out of the bags—shorts, shirts, bathing suit. “Can we go to the pool?”

  “Yeah, after we eat, we can hit it up,” Justin says and walks over to me. “Please don’t be mad,” he says softly, and I look up at him. “I swear I told her to only get you a couple of things.”

  “I’m even afraid to look in the bags,” I say the truth. “I don’t need all that.”

  “I know,” he says and pushing my hair away from my face, his hands coming up to cup my face, and his thumb moves up and down. “You can keep whatever you want, and then if you want, you can donate the rest.”

  “Donate?” I ask, shocked. “How about you return it?”

  He scrunches his nose. “No,” he says. “Final sale.” He winks at me.

  “Mom, open this one. It’s for you. It’s bras,” Dylan says, coming over with the light pink bag. “And underwear.”

  He hands me the bag, and it’s a tad heavy for a bra, and I look in and see the pink tissue paper on the top, and inside, I spot maybe ten bras. “This whole bag is full.”

  “I can help you decide which one to wear.” He winks at me. “Here, let me put this in my room.” He grabs the bag and walks away.

  “You got a bathing suit, too,” Dylan says, coming to me and putting the thing in my hand.

  “Dylan, don’t open all the bags,” I say, but he’s already elbow deep into another one when the doorbell rings. Getting up, I walk to it and open it, spotting a woman standing there. She is dressed in jeans and a top and stilettos. Her blond hair is fixed perfectly, and her makeup is a tad too dark for morning. Let’s not even discuss the heavy lip gloss. I can probably see myself in the reflection.

  “Oh, hi,” she says, “you must be the maid.” She smiles. “Is Justin home?”

  “Um …” I start to talk, but Justin is behind me.

  “Not the maid, Gloria,” he says, almost hissing. “What can I do for you?”

  “We are just letting you know that we are going away, and that our daughter might be coming by.” She now ignores me. “She was hoping you could show her around.”

  “Yeah,” Justin says, “not likely.” He puts his hand on my shoulder. “You should let security know that you’re leaving,” he says. The elevator pings, and the same security guy from before is coming up with the food. “Just in time. Gloria is leaving, and she needs someone to show her daughter around.” He reaches out and grabs the food. “Have a great night,” he says and closes the door in Gloria’s shocked face.

  “Do I want to ask if you know her daughter?” I ask him, and then I want to kick myself for even asking.

  “Never met her,” he says, “but if she is anything like her mother …” He shudders. “I’m not interested in the least.” He turns to walk into the house and calls Dylan.

  “Well then,” I say and walk into the house with him, and I stop in my tracks. Not only does it look like a bomb exploded, but all the bags are empty. “What is all this?” I ask Dylan, and he points at the clothes.

  “That’s all yours,” he says, pointing at mountain one. “Those are mine.” He points at mountain two. “Can I go eat?”

  “Um …” I start to say.

  “We are going to eat, and then you’re going to clean up that mess,” J
ustin says, getting plates out. “And you are going to fold all the clothes and put them away.”

  “Put them away where?” Dylan asks, going to the stool.

  “In your room,” he says, and my head snaps to him. I wait for Dylan to say something, but he just asks for pizza.

  “After that, can we go to the pool?” Dylan asks, and Justin nods his head.

  “Sweetheart, come and eat,” he says, and I look over at him. His eyes fly from the pizza to mine, and he smiles at me. At first, it starts off as a smirk and then his whole face lights up. I take it into my memory, and I know that I’ll remember this moment for years to come.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Justin

  “I’m not folding Mom’s clothes,” Dylan says, taking his last bite of his spaghetti. “She has to do her own chores.”

  “It wouldn’t be a chore if you hadn’t emptied the bags,” I say, and he just shrugs. When the bags arrived, I knew that Zara overdid it. I can’t say I was surprised or that I even cared. But I was worried about what Caroline would say, and although she looked like she was going to murder me, having Dylan there protected me.

  “Go wash your hands,” Caroline says when Dylan slips off the stool, bringing his plate to the sink and rinsing it, then putting it in the dishwasher. Crooked but at least he did it. He hops and skips over to the couch that holds his pile of clothes. When he starts to fold them, I want to get up and go help him. “Sit down,” she says. I look over, and she tries to hide her smile behind her glass of water, but her eyes are lit up.

  “I wasn’t going to do anything,” I say and lean in to kiss her lips. “Okay, fine, I was going to do yours at the same time.”

  “Sit,” she says. “He made the mess, so he gets to clean it.”

  “Fine.” I get off the stool and take my plate and hers to the dishwasher. “Go fold your clothes.”

  “I can make piles of things you can donate,” she says, and I stop and look up to glare at her, and she laughs. Sitting on the edge of the couch, she starts to fold her mountain.

  I clean up the kitchen when my phone rings, and I look and see it’s Zara on FaceTime. “What did you not understand with my instructions?” I say and look over to see Caroline look at me while Zara just laughs her head off.

  “I may have gone a tad overboard,” she says when she finally stops laughing. “Hey, it’s like when you walk into a sports shop, and you come out with seven sticks.”

  “Yeah,” I say, shaking my head. “I want to say I was surprised, but …”

  “Do they fit?” Zara asks, and I look over at Caroline.

  “She got me twelve pairs of jeans,” she whispers and then motions with her fingers the one and the two.

  “She hasn’t tried anything on,” I tell Zara.

  “I chose all the guy things,” Evan says, and he comes into view. “Tell Dylan I did that.”

  “Thank you!” Dylan yells and then smiles. “You’re still better than him,” he whispers to me, and I laugh.

  “We arrive on Friday,” Zara says. “I think Mom and Dad are coming in on Thursday.”

  “Cool,” I tell them and look over to see that Caroline is looking down and folding clothes, and I can see her leg moving. “When is everyone else coming down?”

  “I think Friday,” Zara says.

  “Mark is actually going to arrive on Saturday,” Evan says. “In the morning.”

  “We should have a big family dinner on Saturday,” Zara says.

  “Can’t,” I say. “I’m taking Caroline out.” Looking over at her, I see her head come up. “I already made plans.”

  “Oh, look at you, being all romantic,” Zara teases me. “We can watch Dylan.”

  “Yeah, that sounds good. He can teach Evan some new tricks on the Xbox,” I joke with her, and Dylan just smirks.

  “Actually, I’m going to come down on Thursday. I want to get on the ice Friday,” Evan says, then looks at Zara. “Beautiful, can we go down on Thursday?”

  “I guess,” she says. “Okay, I have to go now as I have to up my planning.”

  “Take care,” I tell them. “See you Thursday.”

  “Family dinner Friday night!” Evan yells, and I nod my head right before they disconnect.

  “Okay, are you two almost done with the mess?” I look over at them, and Dylan points at his pile of clothes.

  “Can you help me carry them to my room?” he asks, and I nod my head, but I stop in front of Caroline first and give her a small kiss, then surprise her with another kiss.

  “Why don’t you get changed to go to the pool, and we can head down?” I ask, and she just nods her head.

  “I’m going to finish folding the clothes first,” she says and then looks at me. “I don’t know what to do with all these clothes.”

  “Wear them,” Dylan says as if it’s a no-brainer.

  “She bought me two cocktail dresses,” she says, picking one up that is white. “And high heels.” She picks up the white strappy heels that go with the dress. “I’ve never worn high heels.”

  “Well, you can wear it Saturday,” I say, and she looks at me with her mouth open. “Let’s get these clothes put away so we can hit the pool.”

  “Smooth,” she says, putting the dress and the heels aside. “How did she know my size?”

  “She’s a magician when it comes to this stuff.” I wink at her and take a pile of clothes to the spare bedroom. “Let’s put this in the drawers,” I say, opening the first two and then Caroline walks in the room with her clothes.

  “What are you doing?” she asks me and Dylan, confused.

  “I’m putting away my clothes so I can go in the pool,” Dylan answers her. I want to laugh, but I try not to.

  “But why here?” She looks at me.

  “You can put your stuff with mine.” I motion with my head. “There are some empty drawers.”

  “But that’s …” she starts to say.

  “Mom, can we go to the pool?” Dylan asks, and I have to say I owe him one.

  “Yeah, go get changed so we can go to the pool,” I say, and she puts the clothes on the bed and turns to walk out of the room. I finish with Dylan and hand him his blue swimming trunks, and he runs to change. I grab her clothes from the bed, trying to scoop them all up in my arms but dropping a couple of pieces on the way to my bedroom. I walk in and dump them all on the bed, knowing they all have to be fixed now. I’m picking up one when the door opens, and she walks out and I have to sit down.

  “I think she got this one right,” Caroline says. I look at her, and there are no words coming out of my mouth.

  She stands there in a bikini. “That’s going back,” I say, and she laughs. It’s a green color, and the top molds her breasts, and I see the string holding up the two triangles that look a bit too small for her tits. “Or maybe it’s perfect for later, but it’s not okay to go to the pool.”

  “What?” she asks, looking down at herself. “It’s perfect.” She adjusts one of the triangles, but there isn’t that much more material.

  “I’m ready.” Dylan comes running into the room showing off his blue shorts. “Do we have to bring towels?”

  “Um, no,” I say, putting my hand on my knee. “Why don’t we watch a movie?” Caroline laughs.

  “Go get changed,” she says, and I look at the bikini bottom, and I swear it’s too small. If she goes into the water, it might ride up. Her long legs look even longer. She turns around, and I jump off the bed, taking off my shirt and wrapping it around her. “What are you doing?” she asks, confused.

  “You’re naked,” I say, turning to see if Dylan saw her.

  “I’m not naked. It’s cheeky.” She laughs. “At least that is what was written on the tag.”

  “It’s called not in this fucking lifetime,” I say. “Put on shorts.”

  “I’m not putting on shorts, Justin,” she says, trying to push me away laughing. “Go get changed. Dylan is waiting, and I think he looks like he is going to cry.” I drop my hands i
n fear that he’s crying and turn to look at him as he stands there unamused by whatever is going on with us.

  “Can we go?” he says. “Please.”

  “Go change,” she says and then she spots the clothes on the bed. “What are those doing here?”

  “I’m helping you put away your stuff,” I say. “I have to go change,” I say, walking into the closet and grabbing my blue shorts. I walk to the bathroom to change, and when I come out, the clothes are gone. “Caroline,” I call her name, and I see them both on the couch waiting for me, but she at least put on a cover-up. Her hair is almost now braided on the side.

  “Finally,” Dylan says, getting up, and I see he’s wearing a new pair of flip-flops.

  “Let’s go,” I say to him and then grab Caroline’s hand while we walk out. “Where are your clothes?”

  “Away,” she says, teasing me. “I put them away.”

  “I’m just going to move them,” I say, and I swear I sound like a child throwing a tantrum.

  We walk all the way to the end of the hall, and I press the button leading us outside to the pool. I guess no one is here; it’s a community pool, but no one actually uses it.

  “Look at how big the pool is, Mom,” Dylan says, going to one of the five cabanas and taking off his flip-flops.

  “You need sunscreen,” I say. Walking into the cabana, I open one of the cupboards and take out a basket of sunscreen. I walk back to him and spray some on him and then rub it in. “Now you can go,” I say, and he runs all the way to the pool, I’m about to tell him not to run when he yells.

  “Cannonball!” Holding his legs up, he jumps in.

  “You think he’s excited?” Caroline says from beside me as she slips off her cover-up. “I don’t think we’ve ever just sat near the pool. We used to go to the public pool every day when he was five.”

  “You need sunscreen,” I say as I look at her pale skin, and my hands itch to rub it on her.

  “Do I?” she says, and I pull her into my arms and turn her around so Dylan doesn’t see my hands going straight to her ass. “I definitely need sunscreen on my ass.”