Chapter 2: I hate kids

"Take out! Take out! Take out!" I yelled, patting his shoulders in a hurried manner and pointing towards the signboard that says 'Drive Thru' before Blake took the wrong lane.

"What? I thought you wanted to eat here," he questioned, confusion clear in his voice as he moved his motorbike into the 'Drive Thru' lane. The line was long but it would definitely be quicker than ordering at a table.

"Changed my mind," was all I had to say to shut him up.

He told the lady over the receiver the food that we wanted and moved forward to pay and pick up our food. "Where to, now?" he asked, passing me the food whilst balancing the motorbike to the side on one leg as he looked over his shoulder at me.

"To the park!" I announced, throwing my hands into the air, which looked even more awkward than it initially did in my head.

Regardless, Blake swallowed his comment and took off to the park as I held onto the bags with our food in it as tightly as possible to avoid it flying away from the speed. My hair, however, was a lost cause.

"I hate kids," Blake mumbled, glaring at the kids running around him. They were giggling and tugging at Blake's pants as they chased each other around him. It was an adorable sight apart from Blake's face that was silently begging me to help him.

"I can see that," I said simply.

The park was fairly empty apart from some kids playing by the playground - their parents nowhere to be seen. As soon as we entered the park, three kids had grabbed onto Blake's legs, making it impossible for him to move without hurting the kids. Letting him tolerate the kids, I walked to a secluded section of the park where we wouldn't be disturbed, under a big shady tree.

Taking out the food and setting it nicely in front of me, I looked back to where I had left Blake and sure enough, the kids were still by his legs. I called out to Blake after a slight laugh.

Blake had managed to remove this hands long enough from him to run away from them. They did not give up as they continued to giggle and chase after Blake, thinking that he was playing with them instead of trying to run free. Once Blake was a good distance away from them, they groaned, stopping in their tracks as they proceed to sit on the grass, exhausted.

I couldn't help but laugh at the sight as Blake approached the spot I had chosen under the tree. Looking at how traumatised he looked only made me laugh even more, a hand over my stomach.

"Yeah, keep laughing," Blake stated, annoyed as he sat on the spot next to me.

I managed to contain my laughter as I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down. "Okay, okay. You have to admit though. That was hilarious," I commented with a huge grin as I looked at him next to me.

Blake only rolled his eyes as he grabbed the burger from the arrangement in front of me. I shifted my attention from him to focus on my own food because my stomach was starting to get angry from the lack of intake.

For a moment, we sat in silence as we ate our burgers, sipping occasionally on our drinks. I found myself looking at Blake from the corner of my eyes. Blake was done with his burger much earlier than me and was now moving onto the fries. He was staring blankly ahead as he leaned back against the large and thick trunk of the tree. He looked calm, a total opposite to the way the looked whenever my father held an all-house meeting. His shoulders would be tense, jaw clenched and posture straight and tight. This seemed to be a mutual thing with everyone else in the gang when my father was around. Looking at Blake this way, I wonder how his life would've been like if he wasn't a part of the gang.

What would my life have been like if I wasn't the daughter of a gang leader.

More freedom to do anything I want would be the biggest difference. Maybe not having to worry about my life all the time, watching everyone suspiciously to see if they anyone wanted to kill me because of some sort of thing my father did. Being able to attend prom without having ten large men guarding the place. Being with Blake in a world that we weren't forced to remain professional. Growing up with my parents - meeting my mother...

"Blake," I begun, after being lost in my thoughts for a long time.

We were laying on our backs, watching the beautiful night sky with glittering stars. The moon only light one side of the sky, creating a breathtaking gradient of grey and black. Blake was silently moving his finger in an attempt to trace a pattern in the stars.

"Hm?"

"What would it be like to be normal? To have a normal life?" I asked.

I saw him face me from the corner of my eyes, so I did the same and faced him. "I would imagine it to be different than now but I think you have a badass life." Blake answered with a chuckle and I knew that he was only trying to lighten the mood.

I laughed lightly, facing the sky again, "Have you ever wished to be normal? No guns. No gang. No violence," I sighed, turning my head once again to study his face, "Have you?"

As usual his expression was blank but he wasn't tense. In the beginning, he was hard to read. One can never tell what he was truly feeling on the inside but being with him every hour of the day, I was slowly learning everything about him.

"Okay," he began softly as he perched his head up with one of his arms. "Look at it this way, if I was normal, would I have met you? Would I have this?" he gestured between me and him. "Ash, our... friendship is the only valuable thing I have left in my life," he said his voice full of certainty.

I tried to ignore the hesitance in his voice when he mentioned 'friendship.' I searched his eyes for any hint of uncertainty, "Don't you want to be free? To be happy?"

"I am happy," he added immediately as if he had been waiting to say that. "As cheesy as this might sound. Your happiness means a lot to me. So, if you're happy, I'm happy," he finished with a smile that was so contagious it made me smile as well.

I sighed, the smile still playing on my lip. Looking up at the sky once again, I'm only reminded by my mother. Good people go to heaven. Does that mean she is watching me from up there right now? "You've met my mother," it wasn't a question.

"Hm, I did."

"What was she like?" I asked, not daring to look at him, afraid that he would be able to see the tears brimmed in my eyes. I blinked a few times to keep the tears from flowing down my cheeks.

"She was the sweetest, most kindest person I've ever met," at this point, Blake had shifted his position to his initial one, laying on his back. "We talked for long hours but I still wanted to keep talking to her," he added, a hint of admiration and happiness in his voice.

My curiosity of wanting to know more about my mother grew as I questioned further, "What did you guys talk about?"

"Mostly about you," he stayed silent for a moment before taking a deep breath and standing up, dusting the dirt and grass off his pants. He held his hand out as he looked down at me, "We're really late. Your father is going to kill us if he finds out that we stayed out late."

He was right. My father had set a curfew of being home before six and we were a few hours past that. However, my father was the least of my concerns as he was always travelling, "My father is not the problem here. Harry is going to murder us before my father even finds out."

I was not looking forward to facing Harry.

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- S.R. Fizz