daycare // hemmings

five- flirting with boys

As Memorial Day grew closer, the boys, Tracy and Tobie hung out a lot. They dropped Jamie off early and picked her up late, so they had time to chill with the girls. Luke became very quiet around Tobie and very shy, which she didn't really get because he was flirting with her on the first day. But she became very gibberish around him and beet red eighty percent of the time, and there was no doubt that the boys noticed. But that was okay, because Tracy kept them distracted, which meant that Tobie could get over herself and chill out, and Luke could finally speak up and laugh a little.

Tobie liked it when he laughed.

On the Thursday before Memorial Day, Luke came solo to drop Jamie off and pick her up. In the morning he didn't really say anything to Tobie, but she didn't have her soda yet so she didn't really notice. She didn't drink coffee in the morning- she was one of the rare people that didn't like it.

Tracy, however, was addicted to the stuff.

She was buying so much of it that Tobie made her do the grocery shopping every week. Other than the insane amounts of coffee and the constant rushing in the kitchen, Tracy was fun to live with. She brought Tobie Chinese food, which Tobie never had the courage to get herself, and the two had Friday movie nights. Tobie finally saw simple movies like 'The Adams Family' and 'Groundhog Day'.

When Luke came back on Thursday to pick Jamie up, he was tripping and stumbling over his words. He had on a mini bow tie and clean black Vans.

Tobie had baby spit-up on her shirt from holding Kody earlier and she was wearing yellow Crocs.

"Well. Someone came dressed to impress," she said, but she was blushing. He looked cute.

"Ha, yeah," he said, and Tobie smiled.

"What's up, Luke?" She asked, tying Jamie's shoes.

"I, uh- shit," he said, and Tobie felt cards fall by her feet. She turned around to pick them up and saw that they had Sharpie writing on them, stuff like "now say this", with an arrow saying "next card".

There was a card that said- "last step- get laid, dude!"

Tobie raised an eyebrow. "You, uh, need these?"

Luke sighed and loosened the bow tie so it hung around the collar of his red and black flannel. He kicked his shoes together and told Jamie to go outside. He sat down by Tobie on the ground and looked over at her.

"You wanna come to my party this weekend?"

Tobie blinked. "Party?"

Luke chuckled. "Not familiar with the term?"

Tobie rolled her eyes and smacked his arm. "What kind of party, smartass?"

"It's a pool party." He said, but now he was blushing, too. "We'll swim, and there'll be some food, and the boys are all inviting people and they told me to invite you, too."

"Aha," Tobie said. She thought for a moment, then smiled and nudged his shoulder. "Alright, Hemmings. I'm down."

"Wait really?" He said, blue eyes wide.

"Sure, why not? Tracy'll come too, and we can bring Jamie down to Soapbox Derby to watch Jackson." She said, getting more into the idea. "It'll be fun."

"I didn't think you'd actually say yes." He admitted, smiling sideways at her.

"Well, I thought about denying it when I saw the 'get laid' card, but then I thought about what you might look like in swim trunks and I figured I'd give it a shot."

Luke's eyes got huge and he blushed down to the bone. Tobie couldn't believe it. She flirted?

Holy shit.

"Poor Jamie's outside." He finally managed. He stood up and offered Tobie a hand, and she took it, standing up and grabbing his bow tie.

"I don't know why you messed this up. You looked absolutely adorable." She started to tie it back up, lacing the ends through the collar. Once it was straight, she gave him a small hug and stepped back, feeling like she overstepped the flirting boundaries. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Probably," he said. Tobie nodded.

"Fine by me."

Luke smiled shyly and turned to leave, but before he could, Tobie called out, "And Luke?"

"Tobie?"

"Wear that flannel again. It looks good on you."

He laughed. "Okay."

;

"Holy. Shit." Tracy said.

"What? Did I hit someone?"

Tobie was driving home Thursday afternoon and Tracy hadn't said a word until now. She'd just been staring at Tobie and giggling, which lead Tobie to think Tracy was taking a picture of her or something.

Apparently not.

"You succeeded in flirting!" She squealed. "And I'm going to a party!"

"Oh yeah, that..." Tobie said. "I need a swimsuit."

"You don't have one?" Tracy asked.

"No," Tobie said. Wasn't it obvious?

"Why the hell not?" Tracy practically yelled. Tobie held her ear for a minute.

"Because I live in New York, where it's only warm for half a year, and I don't go out?"

Tracy groaned. "There's a Target up here. Let's go."

;

Tobie swore to herself to go shopping on her own. Never again with Tracy.

It took them three hours to find Tobie a swimsuit, which if Tobie had gone alone, would have taken two minutes, tops. No, Tracy had her try all of them on, and Tobie hadn't shaved, so Tracy was in the changing room with her, bringing her all these bikinis and one pieces, where Tobie only wanted trunks and a decent swim shirt.

She ended up getting just what she wanted, too.

Tracy wasn't happy so Tobie took her out to dinner, where she perked up, getting a total of seven margaritas and one of the drinks on the special. Tobie had two Cokes and drove a giggling Tracy home. She sighed, still in her Crocs and baby spit-up shirt, where her cousin was in a nice dress with a flower in her hair. She had flirted with at least five guys at the bar, and it took all Tobie had not to call her out- but she guessed that this was what she'd be like over the weekend with the boys, so she'd get used to it.

Tobie just wasn't the life of the party.