Chapter 34: Picnicking

February 15,

4:00 am

Beep beep beep…

I almost jolt awake, Lexi is still asleep.

"Lexi…" I kiss her head. "Lexi, it's time for me to go." I look down at her. She looks so beautiful while sleeping, so serene. "Lexi…" I say and caress her cheek. She inhales softly and her eyes flutter open to me.

"Stay…" she whispers. Tightening her hold on me. I kiss her head.

"If I do, your mom and dad's gonna catch me in here with you and handcuff me in the basement. I don't think I need to tell you what else would happen." I said softly. She giggled.

"At least take a shower with me." she suggested sleepily as she nestle my neck.

"Ok, but then I leave…" she chuckles and leaves my arms. She swings her legs over the other side of the bed and she gets up stretching.

She leads me to her shower and we get in. The warm water takes whatever sleep I still had in me. I wet my hair and she has hers tied up to preserve her curls. She reached for her body wash but I grabbed it for her. I lathered us both up. We giggle and kiss as I lather her chest. She turned around placing my hand between her legs; I cleaned her as we kissed. She worked me up so much that we ended up having sex. The water was like a water fall as I took her from behind. I had to pull out because I didn't have a condom on.

She compensated me by stroking and washing me. Then getting on her knees and started another oral sex session. I put my hand under her chin penetrating her over and over again.

"Just like that…" I breathed coming close to another climax. After a few moments I moaned throwing my head back keeping her in place. Unlike last time, she didn't spit.

I had to sit on the edge of the tub. After a few minutes we cleaned up and got out of the shower. I dried her off than dried myself off. She slipped on a robe and I put my clothes back on.

"I'll call you later ok?" I say as we walk down the stairs.

"Ok, get home safe." She said opening the door to her house.

"I will…" we kissed and she watched me leave. It took 10 minutes to get home. No traffic was on the street at five in the morning. When I opened the door, I saw rose pedals, candles burning out, and clothes leading upstairs to Unc and Fi's room. I didn't bother to wake them, just went straight to my room and went to sleep for a few more hours. After I woke up, I got dressed.

"Do you wanna go out?" I hear going down the stairs. Fi and Unc were cleaning up.

"Had fun?" I smile going to the fridge.

"Yeah, what about you?" he gave me a knowing smile.

"I had a great time." I say leaning on the counter.

"I'm glad you did Rob, you didn't get anyone pregnant?" he chuckled. Fi and I laughed.

"We'll wait it out a couple days and see." I joked. Coming to sit at the table. "So, I'm gonna go out for breakfast, you guys want in?" I asked putting on my shirt.

"Yeah, where you going?" Fi asked taking out the trash, I took it for her.

"Maybe Angela's or B. F. Wang's…" I say coming back in the house.

"Angela's, they have a great breakfast menu." She's right. Angela's a 24 hour restaurant that serves southern food. I've grown accustomed to cheese grits, eggs and sausage.

"Sure, I'll be back." I say putting my wallet in my pocket and grabbing my keys. The traffic was ok I guess, it's after 10 so people are probably still sleeping off a night of passionate sex or a drunk lonely night.

I turn into Royer Ave. Yep, I was right. Not a lot of traffic. It's Sunday, most people are either in church or in bed.

Angela's comes into view on the right. I turn in and park on the left side in the parking lot. It's not busy, just a few people and a couple families in booths. I walk up to the counter looking at the breakfast menu. I saw what I wanted and tapped the silver bell getting the lady behind the counters' attention.

"Hello, what can I get you?" she asks looking up from the counter.

"Can I get two number 4's, one number 8 with extra everything." I ask as she writes my order down on a pad bringing it to a cook in the back. He takes it and nod once. I received my receipts after paying and look for a seat. I find one at the window and take out my phone. It's really outdated. I checked the pear company site, I've been thinking about buying the PearBook Pro, I already have the PearBook 3, but I can't save too much stuff anymore because it doesn't have enough storage. It came with 32 GB. I need 64, that way I can have it for a few years at least until 2015. There is a rumor that an updated version will come out in the fall of 2013. I'll just stick with this one.

I need a new PearPhone too. My 2G is 3rd generation and it has the same problem as my PearBook 3, not enough storage. I'm going to the Pear Store tomorrow after school to upgrade them and sign another 2 year contract. After training I'll go straight home and sync them with PearCloud.

"Two number 4's and a number 8 with all extras!" the cook calls from behind the counter placing my orders in a plastic bag.

"Thanks…" I said taking the bag and turning around. Traffic slowed down a little. It's 10:43 and I'm stuck on red at Ventura and Fallbrook.

"Finally." I breathed when the light turned green. 15 minutes later I am walking through my front door.

"I'm home!" I call after the door slammed shut.

"Bout time…" Unc says from the living room. Fi came down stairs with a load of laundry.

"Got my extra syrup?" she asks going to the laundry room. I completely forgot…

"Wait, we have syrup." I say placing the food on the table.

"They have better syrup and it goes great with the waffles." She says in mock anger.

"I'm sorry; maybe you could mix the regular syrup with the restaurant syrup." She gave me her 'WTF?!' stare.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think to ask." I totally forgot.

"It's ok, you can just give me some of your grits." She arched her brows smiling.

"Haha…that's fair." I open the bag and she gets some of my grits. She loves them too.

"What do you guys wanna do today?" I ask. Sitting down mixing my grits and egg together.

"We're staying in. What about you?" She asks sitting down.

"I don't know... I was thinking about asking Lexi to Rose Pedal Park for a picnic." I wanted to ask last night but things got heavy.

"That's great, you two a couple now?" Fi asks. That hasn't even crossed my mind.

"She just wants to be friends, but if she wants a relationship I'll be more than happy to be in one with her." I say taking a big bite of my grits.

"Wait…the girl you slept with twice and isn't dating wants to be just your friend?" she asks perplexed.

"Yeah, I…think I have feelings for her. But I don't want to push my luck." I've been amazingly lucky for the past few weeks.

"If you have feelings for her than she must have feeling for you." Fi says arching her brows. That does make sense. Fi and I talked more about Lexi, and then I went upstairs and slept until 1. Grits puts me to sleep.

Once I got out of bed I called Lexi.

"Hi!" she sounds happy.

"Hey, I waited until one to call, didn't want to disturb you in church." I said.

"Thanks for being patient and no, I'm not doing anything else today." She breathes.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Laying across my bed in my Sunday dress." I chuckle resting back in my bed.

"I'm laying in my bed to. What kind on dress you have on?"

"It's a nice dark purple and black, I'm wearing stocking too and black shoes." I can hear her smile over the phone.

"Can you come out today?" I really hope she does.

"Sure, what kind of plans you have for us?"

"I was thinking about taking you to the park." She gasps and giggled.

"Really, aww that so sweet…"

"Thanks, want me to come pick you up?" I asked getting out of bed.

"Whatever time you like, I just want to spend today with you." She says sweetly. That warmed me up inside. Even though Lexi is 17, she's innocent. I think that attracts me to her the most.

"I'll be over by your way around 2:30?" I asked going to my closet.

"That sound great." I say, and then add "I can't wait to see your gray eyes again." I breathed.

"I can't wait to run my hands through your hair…" she says softly. We said goodbye and I picked out a black, silver and white designer t shirt, nice black cargo pants and black timberlands. I freshened up, putting on a little cologne and left for the Northridge Mall. There is an outdoors store that has great picnic sets. There were big varieties. I chose a nice white and pale brown fabric picnic basket with pale brown handles. A beige blanket and a nice 8 piece dish set comes with it. After buying it I was out of the mall by 2:10. I text Lexi that I was gonna be 20 minutes late. She texted back 'Ok', and I headed to the grocery store.

I parked and went straight to the produce section; I pass the carry carts, I don't have time. I jog over to the grapes, where a bunch of ladies are. "Hi, excuse me." a woman smiles and nods as I get by her. There are a lot of grapes stacked up on top of each other. I tasted a few bags and finally found a sweet one. The strawberries are under the grapes and I pick the reddest bunch.

Cheese is next on my list. They are in the islands on the floor. There are so many, I had to walk around it before I found the two I'm looking for. I pick out a small wheel of cheddar jack. I picked out gold apples, navel oranges, four peaches, readymade sandwiches, black and green olives, bananas, sliced pineapples, and two pomegranates. I didn't forget the small cheese cake. It took me another ten minutes to buy a cutting knife, cutting board, peeler, two forks and napkins.

I was in check out by 2:30, I'm glad I already text Lexi. I was out of the story in ten minutes; carefully I placed all the food in the basket and placed everything nicely in the back seat. Then I nearly sped to Lexi's. I pulled up at 3:00 on the dot.

Lexi opened the door as I climb the steps.

"Hi…" she breathes hugging me. She smells nice.

"Hey, sorry I'm late, traffic was slower than I expected.

"It's ok, I knew you were on your way." She says and kisses my cheek.

I lead her to my car and opened the passenger side for her.

We head to Rose Pedal Park and find a nice spot near a tree that has a lot of shade. I place the blanket on the ground at the trunk of the tree and spread out the food.

She sits down near the trunk and I join her. "Surprise…" is smile to her.

"This is beautiful Rob." She smiles looking over the food.

"I just thought I'll take you on a nice picnic, and it's a really nice day outside." It is a nice day.

"You're so sweet." She leans in and kisses me.

"I love to spend time you." I say as I slice the cheese. I spread them out with the olives and garlic crackers.

"I love spending time with you too." Her eyes are almost transparent from the sun light. I crawl over to the tree trunk and rest my back against it.

We feed each other sliced fruit and cheese.

"I've never been picnicked before…" she says coming to sit between my legs resting against me.

"Seriously?" I ask scuffing quietly.

"…well, not by guys." She giggles.

"What kind of guys have you dated?" I breathe a laugh.

"Plenty, but I've only been with three sexually." She lays her head against my shoulder.

"They never wined and dined you?" bastards…

"No, we went to restaurants but not as nice as the Milan Giardino, movies, clubs and other places." They should have taken her to nicer places.

"You deserve so much better than typical guys." I breathe kissing the top of her head.

"You're the first guy who hasn't pressured me for sex or…other things. I'm actually happy I'm with you." I hold her tighter smelling her hair.

"Other things?" I ask. She was quiet for a few moments as she tensed.

"I…you know. Things I do with you." She breathes.

"They didn't force you did they?" I ask, tensing myself.

"No, they just talked me into it after I said no."

"Give me their names." That came out more hotly than I wanted it to.

"No…they're a bunch of sleazebags and I don't want to start anything." She say turning to me leaning in my chest.

"I hate the thought of someone hurting you…" that made my heart ache.

"That's in the past, I don't think about it anymore. I'm happy that I'm here with you, I'm really happy."

"You don't know what you do to me." I whispered kissing her. We kissed and pressed our foreheads together.

"Tell me about Robbie…" she asks kissing my chin.

"Why?" I asked, not sure if I wanted to go there.

"I'm beginning to put pieces together. You said 'Robbie' would have loved me. Things in your life start picking up after January, and how a girl has something to do with it. Tell me; get it off your chest." She really wants to help me but I don't know…maybe.

I took a deep breath. "Growing up I was an outcast, never played sports, never made a lot of friends and the two girlfriends I did have…well they were not exactly attractive. I was bullied, a lot. In Jr. High, I joined the school's theater program. There was this puppet in one of the closets; the teacher said it was ok if I wanted it. I named him Rex. Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm starting to see what people mean when they say he's just a puppet." I didn't really understand when they said that. "Rex and I kinda got offended when someone called him a puppet." I chuckled. She laughed too.

"Offended?" she asks smiling.

"Yeah, I was a huge nerd. Weird too. Rex and I became so close that eventually he had his own personality. It was like it wasn't even me talking through him, my lips barely moved. I recalled once when Rex was talking to me in front of a mirror, I saw my lips moving and had almost forgotten that I was talking to myself. I used him basically as a mouth piece, to say things I've never had the courage to say." Now I have courage and if Rex was a real person, we'd probably be friends.

"I saw your profile on SplashFace, a picture of you and…Rex? The puppet on your lap." She asks and I nodded. "Was it…he a good person?" I breathed a laugh at her question.

"Yeah, at times. He insulted people I used to know. He'd tell me what to do, and when he talked back, I'd put him in time out." she couldn't hold her laughter in anymore.

"Are you serious?!" she laughed putting her head in my chest. "Tell me more…"

"Once in the summer when I was fourteen, I auditioned at Hollywood Arts. I got in. That August when I was at orientation, I met this girl. Her name is Caterina. She was short and dyed her hair magenta, like velvet. She was bouncy, always happy, cheerful, full of life and eccentric…in a good way." I haven't thought of her in a while.

"Does she have a part in your recent changes?" she asks.

To be continued…

A/N: Rob is truly romantic in his nature, picnics are great. I love them and I know Rob and Lexi is enjoying theirs to

Thank you for your reviews, Tiara and other guests. And yes, Wayne is a psyco/psycho. He's a pedophile who preys on his innocent step daughter.

Trina is sleeping with her boss for money. I'm no condemning her but considering her situation she's in she feels she has no choice. Trina is also too proud to go back home. If I were in her position, a handsome clean boss of mine took interest in me. Our choices have a possibility of being very similar.

Yes, Jade is clueless, but Cat is forgetting her lies. All will come to a head in time.

Please Review.