Chapter 12
It was so humid that Elizabeth could feel the moisture of her skin on her back. It seems like the humidity just hung in the upstairs seating of the gym. She watched Aamira intently down below practicing her first backflip on the beam. A wobble here, a wobble there, another jump down off the beam.
Elizabeth winced as Henry gripped her hand, "She'll get it. It just takes time and practice."
"Oh I know. But, she wants to move up a level and she only has a few more days to nail this." Elizabeth complained back. "And I really wanted it to be today while I can be here."
"How much longer do we have to be HERE?" Asim groaned. "I want to get to Sam's birthday party." He continued to complain.
"Birthday party is at 4, buddy. You won't miss it," Henry said to him without taking his eyes off his sister.
"Hey, I got an idea. Why don't we go and then maybe she will get this done?" he asked as both his parents turned and stared at him. Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at him.
"It's the whole buggies in the tummy thing. She knows you are watching and it gives her the buggies. Maybe if we go to the bathroom or get a soda, visit the candy thingy, then it will happen." He sounded convincing.
Elizabeth looked back at her daughter, "It's called 'butterflies.' Do you get nervous at soccer games when I am there?"
"Everyone is nervous when you are at our games and competitions!" he answered, nodding his head at her.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" she asked a bit offended while Henry laughed.
"Mom, you are the Secretary of State." He wiggled his hands up, "Fourth in Line for the Presidency. It makes people nervous that you are watching. Your security is watching. It gives off a vibe, you know?!" he looked at her waiting for her to agree.
"No, I don't know." She turned back to watching Aamira as Henry laughed and whispered, "You so know!" She glanced over at him and shrugged her shoulders.
Elizabeth's phone buzzed in her pocket. She threw her head back and took it out of her pocket. Henry turned back to watching Aamira.
"White House after practice," came a text from Blake.
She wrote back, "How bad?"
He texted back, "Tell Henry not to wait up. I held them off so you could get through practice." She threw her head back and groaned again.
"Okay. Done here in 10 minutes." She put the phone back in her pocket just in time to catch Aamira's next try.
Her breath caught as she went up in the air and landed with both feet on the beam, no wobble, no jump.
She grabbed Henry's arm, "She did it. She did it!"
He said a brief, "Yes!" as Aamira beamed up at them.
As practice finished, she explained to Asim that Henry was taking him to the party which brought a million complaints.
"But, you said you were going to take me and everyone else's Mom is going to be there. Not their Dad," he was pouting at her while he made his case.
"I bet there will be all kinds of parents there. Not just the Moms," Elizabeth said back to him. "You will be fine."
Aamira bounded out of the gym and jumped into Elizabeth's arms. All the nerves and anxiety over that one move were gone.
They all walked out together and then went their separate ways.
The party was in full effect. Some soccer games had been played, inflatables were currently getting trampled and slid down. Henry stood talking to another Dad while he struggled to follow where Asim was going. The kids were called together by the activity center's staff. Next up was laser tag.
The parents all stayed outside as the boys excitedly ran in. Henry took a sip of water and was still standing with the other Dad, when he was approached by one of the nosy mothers from Westmore.
She placed her hand on Henry's upper arm, "At another event by yourself, I see?"
Henry glanced at her hand signaling that she should move it as he moved it away from her, "Yes, Elizabeth got called to work."
"Too bad," she flashed her eyes at him.
"So anyways," he turned to the other Dad, "I think Asim would love to do soccer camp this summer. We do have a trip to Disney scheduled. We haven't taken them there yet or even told them yet."
"Ohhh we went last year," Jennifer the other Mom tried to get back into the conversation.
Mike, the other Dad now said, "That's nice. We have taken our kids too."
"Well, we took the older three years ago. So it will be fun for all of us…." Henry was cutoff by Asim being escorted out of the laser gun portion of the building by a staff member. He was crying and covering his ears.
"Hey Buddy! What's wrong?" Henry asked as Asim ran to him.
He hid his head in Henry's chest as he knelt down to him, "I want to go home."
The staff member, a teenage boy with clean cut blonde hair and kind eyes said, "I think he was afraid of the guns. Maybe because of the incident you were all in."
Henry gave him a polite glance, "Ahh. I see. Let me have a chat with him."
The boy walked away and said, "Sure thing."
Henry took Asim over to a bench and sat with him, "Buddy, listen to me. Those guns are fake and they only shoot light that can't hurt you. They are not real guns. It is just a game they are playing."
"A game I don't want to play anymore! I want to go home," he was adamant.
"Listen, Sam hasn't done his cake and presents yet. That comes next. Let's just wait for the other kids to come out. You don't have to play and you can finish the party by still having a good time."
"Okay, but stay here with me," he requested.
"Of course, I will," Henry reassured him and tucked his arm around him.
The kids bounded out of the laser room with more than a few checking on Asim asking if he was okay.
As they made their way for cake, Sam patted the seat next to him and said "Asim, right here!"
Henry smiled as it was so good to see Asim have a best friend. As he stood there, the worker boy reapproached him. "Mr. McCord, it is nice to meet you. I am Zack Bates. I go to school with Allison."
Henry shook his hand and said, "Nice to meet you too. Thanks for helping my son out. I appreciate it."
"Oh no problem. I love Asim. He's a great kid," with that he stepped over to Asim who was shoving cake in his mouth like it was the last piece on earth.
Henry overheard them. "Hey Buddy! Are you feeling better?"
"Yeah, thanks Zack," he said with a mouth full of cake.
Zack tapped his shoulder and walked away without Henry missing a beat on that.
During the car ride home, Henry glanced up in the rearview mirror, "Asim, did you know the boy that helped you today?"
"Oh he walks with us to Allie's car everyday!" Asim said innocently as they made their way home.
"He does. Does he park near Allie?" he asked turning his gaze back to the road.
"Always!" Asim didn't look away from looking out the window.
"Are they just friends?" Henry asked again.
"No, they hold hands and do icky stuff too," again with the not making any eye contact.
"They do. Like what kinds of icky stuff?" Henry asked.
"Just like you and Mom. You know the kissing and touching each other stuff," he shook as he said it.
With that they pulled in the back driveway, Asim hopped out and ran ahead of Henry into the house.
It was 11:30pm before Elizabeth stepped in the front door, threw her shoes at the coat rack and dropped everything else on the floor.
Henry was at his desk with a bowl of granola, yogurt and fruit waiting for her. Blake had let him know when she was on her way home and that she hadn't eaten.
"Oh Babe, you didn't have to wait up. But, I love this and I'm starved," she leaned over to kiss him and grabbed the bowl.
"What's wrong? Why do you have that look on your face?" she quizzed him.
"Do you ever wonder why Stevie and Jason are so brutally honest about their relationships with us and Allie keeps hers like a mystery for us to find out?" he asked back.
She plopped in the side chair. "Henry! We agreed no spying on her."
He sighed, "I wasn't spying. Listen. Good looking kid brings Asim out of the laser gun portion of the party today because he was freaked out by the guns."
She almost chokes on her food and says, "WHAT? Henry I talked to you three times you never mentioned that!"
"You talked to me three times while walking through the hallways at the White House to tell me you would be later than you thought," he tipped his head to her knowing he was right.
"Point taken. Is he okay?"
"Yeah, he's fine. We talked about it. But we need to get back to Allison. So, later he comes back and introduces himself to me. Zack Bates is the name." Henry leans back in his chair.
"Sounds normal," she says taking another bite as he sighs at her. She always sizes people up by their names first.
Henry shook his head at her, "Anyways! Asim was a little too comfortable with him so I asked some questions on the way home."
"HENRY!" she put the bowl down on the window seat and was ready to stand up.
Henry laughs, "So Asim tells me that he parks next to them every day and walks Allie to her car. And that they also do 'icky stuff.'"
"Icky stuff?! What does that mean?" she asked.
"Holding hands, kissing and he said touching each other like we do," Henry laughed.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "It's late. I am exhausted and I will speak to Allie in the morning. But, Henry you have got to stop spying on her. It is exactly why she doesn't open up with her relationships!" Elizabeth grabbed the bowl and walked to the kitchen before heading upstairs with Henry following behind her doing "icky stuff."
