Capture the Moment (Moments #1)

47. Blake

forty-seven

Blake

“So… What are your intentions with my daughter?” Coach asks, completely out of nowhere. He’d been sitting on the back porch, watching Cleo and Ryan run around the backyard, tackling one another until now. Though the question was out of nowhere, it wasn’t unexpected so, without hesitation, I turn to face him.

“I intend to treat your daughter like the princess that she is, and love her unconditionally. I want to be the safety net that Cleo looks to when her anxiety gets the better of her and the person that makes her laugh whenever she’s gone on one of her spells of boredom. I intend on being the guy who wakes up at 5 a.m. to buy her Pink Truffle donuts from The Sugar Hole because she likes them fresh and the guy who’s there whenever she wants to go shopping because let’s face it, the girl's a shopaholic,” I say, stunned with my honesty and how fluid everything I said came out. I had never admitted these feelings out loud or to myself before, but I’m glad that I did because the more that I think of my words, the more I agree with them.

I want to be all those things and more for Cleo and I intend on doing it all sooner rather than later.

“Do you know who posted that tape of her?” He asks, still focused on his kids in front of us as he speaks in a lower tone.

“Jace, Sienna, and I are still looking into it but we’re getting down to the bottom of it,” I assure him with a light pat on his shoulder.

“Oh, Thank God. How has she been doing? ”

“She had a bad panic attack when she first found out about it being leaked but I think her being home has been good for her so far, this is the most I’ve seen her smile in weeks.” I sigh, following Coaches line of sight to the “twins”.

“I talked to her about it yesterday when you boys were watching that princess movie on the couch and she wasn’t as open about it with me. I’m happy she has someone like you, Blake. I know that I get on you at times and like to play the role of the macho man, but you’re a good kid.”

“Aw! Thanks, Coach. Look at you, going all soft on me.” I cheese at him, harder than ever, wrapping an arm around his shoulder as he groans.

“I take it all back, you’re the most annoying kid I’ve ever met.” He chuckles, and I shake my head laughing with him. “But seriously kid, you break my daughter’s heart, I won’t hesitate to kill you and spread the remains all over the Potomac.”

I gulp, taking a step back from the shorter guy because as much as I love my Coach, I know that he doesn’t make light threats.

Later that evening, Thanksgiving at the Jones’ is in full swing. A-list celebrities and athletes walk around the house carelessly for the simple fact that they’re all a part of the Jones family.

I’m at a loss for words as some of my favorite singers and athletes sit around the living room and dining room, all eating the delicious food that Gloria, Coach, and Ryan made this morning and last night.

Cleo emphasizes that she’s not allowed in the kitchen after The Great Popcorn Fire of ‘17 where she left popcorn in the microwave for too long and in turn almost burnt down the house.

Sienna and Cleo sit around on the living room floor; Cleo eats while the two of them talk and laugh until the door rings.

“Blake, can you get that?” Cleo asks, completely zoned in on her conversation with the pink haired ballerina in front of her.

Nodding, my stomach fills with butterflies at the thought of me opening the door at her parent’s place. Cleo trusts me to the point that she has me opening the door . I’m smiling from ear to ear as I open the door, only for my smile to drop and the butterflies to wither away at the sight of the person in front of me .

“Ew. She actually invited you.” Denver rolls her eyes as I open the door. I immediately walked her back down the stairs. What the fuck is she doing here? My cousin isn’t dressed in her usual choice of clothing this time; instead of her signature leather jacket, she wore a cardigan and replaced her normal red lip with a pink gloss.

What the hell?

“Why are you here?” I ask, stepping out into the cold November air with her, I instantly tug off my jacket passing it to her. Denver’s a cold person both literally and figuratively and my aunt would kill me if her anemic daughter died from being frozen to death.

“Why wouldn’t I be? Now move out of my way, this apple pie is going to get cold from being out here.” She sighs trying to walk around me but I'm in front of her almost immediately.

“Who invited you? This was supposed to be my weekend to impress the in-laws. I can’t have your snarky ass messing up my first impression,” I groan as my cousin stomps on my foot.

“And this is also my chance to impress Ry—Cleo’s parents. So do me a favor and get the fuck out—”

“You said Ryan!” I beam, mouth dropped as Denver throws me a searing glare.

“What’s taking you two so long?” Cleo’s amused tone filters into our conversation as she stands at the top of the stairs with her hands on her hips with both Ryan and Sienna on either side of her.

“Oh, this is too good.” Sienna chuckles, clapping her hands slowly as Ryan tries and fails to pick his jaw up from the floor.

Ryan doesn’t waste any time talking to anyone and simply walks down the stairs, grabs the pan of apple pie from Denver’s arms, and walks her back into the house. I chuckle as he shuts the door behind the both of them, locking it.

Cleo doubles over in a fit of laughter as the lock firmly clicks. The house had one of those fancy doors where all you had to do was enter a pin to get into the house, so she wastes zero time unlocking it again.

“Why’d you invite Denver?” I ask as Cleo sobers up, following her back into the house with Sienna.

“Because that’ll teach my dear old brother a thing or two about laughing at me.”

Cleo’s family dinner goes off without a hitch, her family welcomes Denver and me as if we were their own, with her older cousins teasing us about dating and her grandma fawning over my impeccable bone structure.

I have to tell my mom that freaking Marie Jones just pinched my cheek and called me her ‘handsome boy’.

I fucking love it here.

“Having fun?” Cleo’s teasing tone is like music to my ears as she saunters over to where I’m seated on the couch. She leans her body over the top of the couch, wrapping her arms around my neck, forcing me to look up at her but I’m not complaining.

I love looking up at her, especially when my tongue is deep inside of her as she grinds on it. That’s my favorite view of all.

Wait, no… second favorite.

Her little annoyed nose scrunch takes the cake.

“I’m having a blast. I’m pretty sure your grandma loves me!” I try my hardest to tamper down my excitement but it’s hard especially when her grandmother is a musical icon.

“I can tell…” She chuckles. “Would you like to go out tomorrow, just us? I know we haven’t had time to go out with one another since we’ve been on this side of town and—”

“I’d love to.” I cut her off, kissing her cheek.

I’d love nothing more than to kiss her pouty lips but I settle for the cheek especially since I can still feel her dads glare on me.

“Great, we can leave at two!” She smiles brightly before yawning quietly.

I grin up at her, watching as she stretches before agreeing.

“It’s a date.”

“Wait, no! Mine is way better than yours!” Cleo groans as I switch over our gourmet hot chocolate.

I chuckle at her failed attempt at grabbing the hot cocoa from my hands yet again before finally swapping it with her again . When we’d first ordered at the hot cocoa stand in the middle of the park, she’d ordered a signature hot cocoa which is basic hot chocolate with nothing in it while I went with the hot chocolate deluxe, the added bells and whistles being just what was needed for today’s brisk walk in the park.

“We’ve traded twice already,” I chuckle as she trips a little in her step trying to keep up with my long strides. I slow down seeing as she’s having trouble and shorten my steps.

“Yes, well, I think we must trade again. You know that they say…third times a charm,” She chimes back in the worst English accent imaginable, and to anyone else in the world, it might be corny and fucking awful but to me, it’s fucking hilarious.

I feel like that one girl from that one movie franchise that’s always overly laughing at her male co-star’s horrible jokes.

That’s how Cleo makes me feel and it’s exactly how I want to feel forever so without thinking, I open my big ass mouth and ask her a bizarre question.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” I ask and in my head, I think I sound normal but in reality it comes out more like: “Uh…W-Will you b-be my girlf-friend?”

An idiot, I tell ya’.

There’s no response to my question and my hands grow clammy because of it. What if I fucked up our little arrangement? I remember she said she didn’t date but then she also said that she wasn’t mine until I made it official...

Fuck.

Why are women so complicated? Why can’t she just wear a shirt with her thoughts on it so I can know exactly what she has going on in her head?

And fuck why didn’t I think this through ?

I was supposed to take her to a fancy dinner, set the tone and mood for the night. Ask the waiter to write the words on a plate with a donut on it and propose my question to her that way.

Instead, I blurted it out in the middle of a random park in Maryland while the two of us are going back and forth over which of us has the better hot chocolate flavor.

Cleo’s like a statue behind me as she stares with wide eyes, and I stare back at her, gaining a bit more confidence the more that I look at her. I walk back to where she is and stand in front of her. I plaster on my most confident smile as I pluck her hot cocoa from her hands and replace it with my own.

“Cleo Jones, will you be my girlfriend?”