Phone call about the day

Laying in bed with her forearm covering her eyes Amanda tried to get to sleep. All the activity at the wedding and the time with Derrick when they got back to the hotel had left her more than tired, yet sleep eluded her. Moving her arm she looked over to the man sleeping soundly beside her, he had his back to her as he slept on his side. She reached over placing her on his back, feeling his warm body, he was sound asleep enough that her touch didn’t register. Amanda smiled to herself thinking about how he protested dancing, yet when she sat down to rest her feet he stayed. He acted like a fool as he pulled off his tie and twirled it around. Gone was his calm and smooth self, he was just a man dancing around for no other reason than to amuse her and it was at that second she knew what he meant to her. She wasn’t sure when it happened, but it was clear as day for her to pinpoint when her brain let her know.

Sliding out of bed Amanda slunk into the living room section of the suite they had rented, after grabbing the soft bathrobe with the hotel's name on it. She fingered the embroidered name Ahuva Bahyeet in the blocky letters with the cursive script below reading Beloved Home before she tied it around her waist. Pulling her phone out of her purse she moved to the balcony, not wanting to wake Derrick up with her phone call. The phone rang three times before the tired voice of Bailey answered.

“Mommy, are you like okay?” Knowing what she did now hearing Bailey call her Mommy made her smile. It had felt good to be called that before, but now it seemed extra special.

“I am doing fine pumpkin, I just wanted to hear your voice.”

Bailey had stepped out of the shared bedroom and away from his snoring friend. She didn’t snore loud, it could even be considered cute, but less so when it was directly in his ear. “It's like really late.” He said looking over at the clock on the hotel’s microwave that read one thirty in the morning. It was super sweet his girlfriend would want to reach out to him like this after spending the day with Derrick at a wedding and only showed him more that he was overreacting when he asked them not to go. “I love you, but like…”

“But you want to go back to bed. I get it, I am sorry to wake you pumpkin. I just wanted to hear your voice and maybe hear about your day.” Bailey leaned his head against the glass window looking out to the dark world outside. A single light still illuminated the empty pool area below. He closed his eyes wishing he could go back to sleep, but if Mommy missed him, then he wasn’t going to ignore her. Things like that can send a girl looking for another man and he was already getting plenty of that. “I can like totally tell you about my day.”

Stepping back from the window Bailey stretched his arms and his back and then moved up and down a few times to the balls of his feet. He used to stay up till two to close a bar all the time, he didn’t exactly have a bedtime now, but he felt like he always needed the extra sleep. “Okay, okay where do I start? OH yeah I know. So Nana made us scrambled eggs and bacon… the hotel will totally send that up to the room, but she asked for it all raw so she could make it for us. She added a little milk to the eggs, making them super fluffy and then we went down to the pool and, and…” Bailey sat down at the couch thinking about the twin boys that started flirting with him and Candi and how he did not want to mention much of that. “A pair of twins started to flirt with Candi, but their older sister came up behind them and flicked their ears telling them we didn’t want to be bothered.”

“Were they flirting with you too, or just Candi?” Bailey pursed his lips. He had just said how they flirted with her and then mentioned how their sister told them to leave both of them alone. “Yeah, I mean like maybe a little.” Bailey said thinking about how the blonde, brown eyed young man had offered to rub some suntan oil into his back.

“Did you flirt back?” Bailey frowned at the question, he was not trying to pick up anyone looking like this let alone another dude. “No way, I like ignored him.”

“Hmm, did you tell him you were nott interested or did you just smile and look away?” He thought about how the events played out and yes he was smiling, but that was because he almost always was. He looked away because he didn’t the way he was being eyed up and down and with how nervous that made him he was playing with his braid. He wasn’t flirting, but he had hit on plenty of girls that had acted like that when he went to pick them up. “I umm smiled and played with my hair and umm then looked away, but Candi told them no thank you so they wouldn’t think we wanted them to apply suntan lotion.”

“Sounds like between their sister and yours it was handled, but pumpkin you have to understand to some boys it looks like you are interested, but are just playing hard to get. You have to make it clear when you do not like a boy. That is how you got into trouble at the DMV. Now if you want them to continue to pursue you, you can do exactly what you just did, but hold their gaze for a second before you look away. It is how many women signal a man they are interested in when they are out somewhere.”

Bailey truly didn’t want to encourage anyone, no way was he going to do that, but he figured Derrick might be near that is why she was talking like that. She had to play her part just like he did, even if he hated it. “I will totally do that, but like he and his twin brother were not someone I like was interested in. Who can have like a relationship with someone here on vacation.”

“That would present several problems.” He heard her say after several seconds of silence, that Bailey was happy to have rather than her give him more tips on how to pick up boys.

“Well like after that we talked to the boys sister for a while and swam, her name was Britley and was like super nice. Their family is from Alaska and like they weren’t really here for vacation, but their Mom was in town for a meeting and they came too before flying out so they could go to Disney while they were in the lower forty eight. Britley said right now the sun doesn’t go down where she lives. I heard about the staying dark thing, but can you imagine the sun always being up?”

“Sounds like you made a new friend, how old is she?”

“Oh she is like a little older in her twenties and like yeah I guess so, but that is more Candi. She made Britley promise to send her a picture of a moose to her on social media. When she had to go we went inside and played cards with Nana for a bit and she offered to take us some place fun.” Bailey twisted some of his hair around on his long nailed finger. When he pulled his hand away he looked down at his red nails that he had painted before they went to bed. Tomorrow they were going to church and Candi let him borrow some clothes so he painted them to match what they picked out for his skirt and heels. It wasn’t until after that Candi reminded him about their bet. He hadn’t lost yet and he did get her today.

“That sounds nice of her, where did she take the two of you?”

On the sofa next to him was a forearm sized stuffed shark from the aquarium. Picking up the plush blue shark that was Candi’s and put it next to his that was pink with blue strikes, looking nothing like a real tiger shark. “She took us to the aquarium.”

“You used to have a pass to go there whenever you wanted right?” Bailey nodded his head and smiled widely. It was an amazing place to take a date, part of it is outside so you are in the heat and then he could take who he was with into one of the theaters playing educational videos on the different sea life. “Yeah, and like I totally made a bet with Candi on how many sharks they have there! I ended up being wrong because one of the older nurse sharks died, but they also like got two new ones in. They were like so tiny, they were called pygmy sharks. Well like I ended up still winning the bet because I was way closer. You will never guess what I won!”

He could hear a little chuckle on the other end of the phone. “What did you win?”

“I got Candi to admit waffles are waaaaaaay better than pancakes. And, and.. Like that isn’t all. I got her to post a video saying as much. She does say she lost a bet with me and had to say it, because I didn’t think to tell her she couldn’t do that, but I won and like she almost always wins our bets.”

“Sounds like the two of you have a lot of fun with each other.” Bailey nodded to himself in agreement, Candi was always just so full of energy and she got excited over the littlest things. She was like a ball of sunshine and he just couldn’t help being lifted up by her attitude. “Yeah we like have so much fun, but like you have to watch her because she totally cheats at cards! Leaning closer to see what you have, but tomorrow she will be eating her defeat. We are going to church tomorrow and after Nana is taking us out for waffles.”

“Really!? You are going to church?”

“Candi and Nana are going and like they invited Aunt Megan so I can go home with her after breakfast.” Bailey was not looking forward to church, everyone their was always so judgy. His parents took him to services when he was younger, but after he got baptized they left it up to him to go or not and he always chose not to. Tomorrow morning they would be going to the same Catholic church Amanda and Megan were part of and at this point he didn’t expect a single person to see through his disguise, it still added just another reason why he didn’t want to go.

“I do not think Megan has been there in over a year, but she has been trying to push herself more. Say, does Mrs. Connors know Candi prefers pancakes?”

Bailey’s smile grew in volume. “She totally knows Candi only admitted to waffles being better because of the bet, but she like said Candi isn’t really admitting anything till she eats them. Its not l ike Candi hates them or anything, she is going to get it with nuts, bananas and carmel.”

Leaning over Bailey poked one of the sharks on the nose, it was fun going to one of his old stomping grounds. Though he wished he wasn’t wearing his super skin tight jeans, heels and a shirt that exposed his stomach there. He let out a large yawn, a little more happened today, but he was starting to fade. He wanted to tell her about how they had opened the stingray petting area, and even allowed people to wade in the water with them, but it looked like he may have gotten too animated and loud while talking as Candi came out of the bedroom sleeping annoyed and sleepy.

“You can talk to Auggy tomorrow, lets like go back to bed.” Bailey wanted to point out she could go back to bed on her own, but that argument wasn’t going to hold water.

“I’m talking to Mommy, not Auggy. I was telling her about our day.” Candi nodded slightly and walked closer, holding out her hand and making grasping motions. “I think Candi wants to talk to you.” Bailey said handing the phone over to her.

“I hope you had a like wonderful time at the wedding and we both love you, but like…. Sleeeeeep.” Candi handed the phone back to Bailey, then moved to glaring at him sleepily while putting her hands on her hips. Taking the phone Bailey could hear her trying to talk to Candi who apparently handed the phone back before any reply could come. “She like already handed the phone back to me. What were you saying to her?”

“Bailey, pumpkin. Thank you for talking to me and telling me about your day. I hope we can keep talking like this. Just know I love you for who you are, not who you think you had to pretend to be. Sweet dreams honey.” Bailey smiled, he enjoyed hearing her voice too and the reassurance she loved him for who he was, not the act he had to keep up.

“I love you too Mommy, sweet dreams.” No sooner had Bailey hit end on the phone call when Candi wrapped her fingers around his wrist and pulled him to his feet and back into the bedroom. “You know you could totally have gone back to bed on your own.”

Candi started to wiggle herself into the covers and have a small shake of her head. “No more talking, shhh.” Getting into bed Candi handed him his stuffed bear that she insisted they bring here. Saying how she had her night light and he had his bear and it was okay. Holding that bear now Bailey gave it a squeeze thinking of Mommy as Candi shifted in the bed so that he was the little spoon.