Sugar - 𝘈 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺

36 - Lightning Bugs

After they had all eaten cake and the sun began to go down, little Charlotte had begun to fuss, so Sebastian and Rylee headed home. The rest of the group slowly began to move out to the side yard where they built a fire, ate s'mores, and watched the kids run for lightning bugs.

Alexa almost couldn't stand how full her heart was today. She leaned into Chris' side as they sat near the fireside listening to their family talk.

Chris tilted her way, tossing his arm over her shoulder to pull her close, his newly dawned baseball cap bumping her forehead slightly, and whispered, "Today was everything I could've ever wanted it to be."

"It was perfect," Alexa said quietly in return, flicking the brim of his hat. She rested her head in the joint of his shoulder and sighed. She watched as Stella ran from Miles laughter and squeals echoing through the trees. Ethan wandered the yard with a jar, gently picking up lightning bugs and placing them inside alongside the tufts of grass he had stuffed inside.

His jar slowly started to glimmer brighter with each lightning bug he put inside.

"Uncle Chris!"

"Yeah, Miles?" Chris shouted across the yard, though he couldn't see where he was.

"Bet you can't find meeee!" Miles yelled back, teasing.

Chris gave Alexa's shoulder a squeeze and planted a kiss to her cheek before he stood up and scoped the yard, "Oh, you better hope I don't find you!"

Alexa laughed as she watched Chris trek into the yard, looking like a man on a mission. He turned his cap around backwards and stalked through the yard. She heard Miles giggling from somewhere off to the left and before she knew it, she watched Chris dart across the lawn. He stretched out his arms and roared like a monster behind one of the large oak trees and a small voice squealed with delight.

A moment later Alexa laughed seeing Chris carry Miles out from behind his tree over his shoulder. Miles was laughing so hard she could've swore he was crying.

"Put him down, Uncle Chris!" Stella barked from across the lawn, stomping her feet.

"Oh I'm comin' for you next, little girl." Chris said menacingly, Miles still laughing over his shoulder.

Alexa watched as Stella's eyes widened and she squeaked out a laugh and ran away from Chris. Even with his nephew over his shoulder, Chris still outran Stella and soon caught up to her, scooping her up under his arm, drawing out a giggle filled yelp from the little girl.

As Alexa took in the sight of Chris roughhousing with the kids, she was surprised to feel the bench next to her shift. She turned towards the movement and saw Ethan sitting next to her, lightning bug jar in hand.

"Hey, Ethan," Alexa said simply with a soft smile.

"Hi," Ethan said quietly, sounding shy. He looked down at the jar in his hands, examining the bugs carefully as they danced and glittered inside.

"You've been working hard collecting all those lightning bugs," Alexa said, admiring the surprisingly bright, shimmering jar.

"I learned at camp last summer..." Ethan started, "That lightning bugs have a lot of special meanings."

"Oh?"

"Mhm," Ethan said quietly, "Mainly that they are for hope and unity. I dunno, it's cool that they mean something." He carefully looked at the jar full of lightning bugs, and then quickly up to Alexa. "I haven't seen them at all yet this summer, but there's a bunch out today."

Ethan continued, "It's nice. Having them all show up when you and Uncle Chris got married. I think it's neat."

Alexa sensed where he was going with his thoughts and her heart somehow grew even more full than she thought possible. Ethan implying that the lightning bugs appeared because of their love and union.