Old Me

8 - The Date Part 3

"Did you want to grab some dessert? We can get something from my place?" He asked as we sat in his car outside the restaurant.

It took me a moment to realize he was referring to his coffee shop and not his house.

"Yeah, sure. Dessert sounds good."

"Cool," he said reversing out of his parking spot.

His arm was draped over the back of my seat as he turned to back out, and I got a closer look at his tattoos. I wonder what they all mean.

"Thanks for lunch by the way."

"Of course, I'm having a really great time getting to know you more...speaking of, is Ale your brother?"

I laughed at the idea, and how many times I've been asked that question.

"Hey, it's not a ridiculous question," Mikey said trying to defend himself, "you guys look practically like twins."

"Gee thanks," I said sarcastically.

"Shit, not like that. I mean you definitely don't look like a guy, I mean...I'm just gonna shut up now."

"Well. You're not wrong. We do look similar, and you're definitely not the first person to ask me that. We got it all the time in school since we are the same age. But, no, he's my cousin. So is Siena."

"And Cat? Is she your cousin too?"

"No, actually she's my little sister. I know," I continued when I saw his eyebrows shoot up, "it's an 18 year age gap. But, I'm happy my mom has someone else to worry about besides me. She can be a little overprotective."

"That's kinda cool though, you get to be a part of raising her. It's like practice. If you want kids one day that is," he added awkwardly at the end.

"Yeah," I chuckled, "and I do. Want kids, that is."

I snuck a glance to see his reaction and he smiled.

"So do I."

"Well, what about you, do you have any siblings? A big family? I know you said your dad moved you here, do you have any other family here?"

"Nope, I'm an only child and it's just my mum, dad, and I."

I smirked at his reference to his mother as 'mum'.

"Wow, I can't imagine not being part of a big family. What was that like? Did you have close friends that kinda took the role of siblings?"

"I wouldn't say I had many close friends until I was around 18. But now I would definitely consider them family more so than my own family."

"That's good. I mean, not that you're not close with your family. Just that you've found people that are your family."

"Yeah, I think so, too."

"Okay, next question, when did you get your first tattoo?" I asked.

"Um," he thought about it as we sat at a red light before finally answering, "fifteen...I think."

"Shit, that's young. Sorry, I'm not being judgmental," I said catching his gaze, "I just mean like, how did you even get the tattoo? That's underage in California."

He laughed to himself and shook his head.

"Yeah, that's another story for another time. What about you? Do you have any tattoos?"

"I have one, but I've got several in mind that I want to get, I've just not done it."

"That's kind of surprising since, ya know, since your family owns at a tattoo shop."