Exotica

Times Like These

♡ Amini Howard ♡

"We did it." I mumble in disbelief. He interlocks our fingers and nods, a smile pulling at his lips. "We did." He confirms bending down to kiss my forehead.

I was still shocked to be honest. Those last few weeks were hell to me but, it's said that you have to walk through hell in order to get to the brighter side of things. That's exactly what happened with Quinten and I. We had horrible communication skills and jumped to conclusions on everything, well I did but, we completed our six week counseling program and I must admit that I feel better about myself as well as our relationship.

"Can I take you out for lunch as a celebration?" I ask as he opens the door for me, letting me step out first. "I'm not hungry but how about me have a movie night at my house. My children have been talking about you lately." The fact that his children even asked about me causes butterflies to dance around the walls of my stomach.

"That sounds fun actually." I admit, "We can go get them right now if you want to and we can start early," I look down at my watch for the time. It was peaking on five p.m but the dark sky above made it feel much later than that.

"No need for that, Imani is dropping them off tonight, they should actually be home by the time we get there." He replies, draping his long arm over my shoulder, pulling me closer to him. I lay my head on his chest as we walk down to the under ground parking garage since today the street sweeper was downtown and the parking meters were currently out of order. "Do you have snacks back at your place because if not we can stop and get some. What kind of food do your kids like?" He looks down at me and laughs.

"My cabinets are filled with enough junk food for them." He replies pulling his car keys out of of his pocket.

---

"I need to put my pjs on first, wait!" Quinten's oldest daughter shouts from the top of the stairs.

"Don't lean over the railing, sunflower." Quinten tells her while helping me set up the pallet in the middle of his living room that the five of us would be laying on for our movie night.

"Pa, can I make us the popcorn and the soda?" Osvaldo asks, walking out of the kitchen with a two liter of Pepsi in his hands. "Don't make a mess. Moonlight, can you prepare the rest of this while I go help Paz change into her pajamas?"

"Of course, go ahead I got the rest of this." Nodding his drops the pillow in his hand and proceeds to the staircase. I continue preparing the pallet, taking all the pillows off the couches as well as the pillows the kids brought from upstairs. I wanted it to look and feel as comfortable as possible since we'd all be laying on the floor. I know that I don't want an aching back and I'm sure that Quinten and his kids wouldn't either. After fixing the pallet to best of my ability I walk over to the glass ceiling to floor cabinet on the far side of the living room filled with movies. "Make sure to get The Player's Club and The Other Guys." I hear Osvaldo say.

"No, daddy said we can watch Moana and Princess and The Frog!" Paz yells from the top of the staircase. "Tell him daddy!" She hits her father's shoulder then looks at him as he walks down stairs with her on his hip. Putting her down, she runs over to the glass cabinet containing the movies and begins looking through them.

"I'm not watching that movie Pa, we watch it too much. I get, it she has to get the freaking heart of Te Fiti back."

"So she can save her island!" Paz chimes in. "Daddy I found it, put it in!" She tells her father, running over to hand him the movie.