Chapter 18: Panic Attack!
"Richard," Kori said getting his attention. Richard looked at her. Kori stepped closer and pressed her lips to his. Richard was Frozen. He didn't know what to do. The other three watched in shock. A smile was plastered on Marie's face.
'Finally' she thought. Kori pulled away blushing, before Richard had time to react. Starfire whimpered and ran causing Marie to fall. Richard saw her fall out of the corner of his eye.
"Mar you ok?" he asked moving to her side Kori right beside him.
"Starfire got away," Marie said.
"Are you ok we can go find her don't worry," Kori said.
"Yeah," Marie said. She stood. Richard and Kori dusted her off.
"So is Kori gonna be my new mom?" she asked the two adults blushed and stood up fully.
"Let's go find Star," Richard said, trying to get his daughter off the topic.
"We'll help," Rachel offered.
"Ok she's black with a white belly," Marie said. The two nodded and they split up and began searching.
"Kori," Richard said stopping her.
"Yes," she said turning to look at him. Richard grabbed her waist and pulled her close, then kissed her. Kori's eye's went wide in shock. He pulled away.
"We're even," he said walking away.
"Hey, that's not fair," Kori said, she hurried to catch up with him.
"I hardly call what you did fair," Richard said grinning, as he kept a foot between him and Kori.
"Hey I'm talking to you," Kori said.
"Kori can I ask you something?" Richard asked.
"I believe you just did," she pointed out with a sly smirk.
"Why did you kiss me?" he asked ignoring her comment, but maintained the foot between them.
"Because I love you," Kori said, "I have since we met," she said blushing trying to get closer every time she would speed up he would go faster as well.
"So that dress for the Christmas party?" Richard said, his eye brow cocked.
"You can be so dense at times I had to get your attention somehow," Kori said blushing even more. Richard stopped causing Kori to run into him.
"Well if it helps I got the message," he said turning to face her. He kissed her again. This time Kori was ready, so she deepened the kiss, leaning into him. She felt his hand on the back of her neck holding her in place. Not that she minded she liked where she was.
"STAR!" Marie yelled. "Where are you?" she made her way through the crow watching the fireworks. 'this isn't working,' she thought distressed. "Excuse me," she said pushing her way through the crowd. After a half hour the fireworks ended and the crowd left.
"Star!" Kori, Richard, Gar and Rachel could all be heard by the 8 year old girl. Marie continued searching, trying to hold back the tears which were stinging her eyes.
"Star! Come on girl!" Marie said, a lump forming in her throat. "Please come back," she felt a hand on her shoulder, she turned to see Kori smiling sympathetically at her.
"Don't worry Mar, we'll find her," Kori said her voice soft. "Just don't give up."
"Ok," Marie said, wiping away a stray tear that fell down her cheek. "STAR!" She noticed Kori had left once more, and she also realized that she was hidden from the adults by some trees, and she was lost she couldn't see anyone now.
"Hey I found the dog," Gar yelled, and the other three came over, and said dog jumped up at Kori, who gave a giggle.
"It's good to see you too," Kori said.
"Hey Kori, where's Marie?" Richard asked, his voice had a tint of panic in it.
"She was right over there…..a minute ago," Kori said, looking by the large rock outside the forest, while keeping a firm hold on Star's leash. "Do you think she wandered into the forest?"
"I don't think she did……oh my god….what if she wandered into the middle of the road and got hit by a car?!" Richard asked, his voice rising in his panic.
"Richard, relax, I don't think she's that spacey," Gar said, trying to calm the panicked man.
"We have to find her," Richard said running toward the parking lot, Kori close behind.
"We should split up," Rachel said to Gar, he nodded and she headed toward the play equipment, and he headed toward the forest just incase she had wandered in.
"MARIE!" Richard's voice could be heard loud and clear. Gar shook his head, thinking Richard just may be overreacting a bit.
"Hey, what's up with my dad?" A voice behind Gar asked.
"Marie quiet, I'm trying to find……hey wait, when did you get here?" Gar asked, turning around.
"Oh, just now," Marie said with a shrug. "So what's up with my dad?"
"He's having a panic attack over losing you, he thinks you might have been hit by a car," Gar explained.
"Does he think I'm that dumb?" Marie asked, with an amused look on her face. "I only went into the woods to find Star, but I heard you say you'd found her."
"Well should we go calm your dad?" Gar asked, Marie nodded, and the two walked over to the parking lot, where they easily spotted Richard, who was still freaking, and Kori who was trying to calm him. "Yo, Richard!" Gar yelled, the panicked man turned to see Gar, and a relieved look appeared instantly on his face as he ran over to them.
Richard picked Marie up, crushing her in a hug. "Marie, don't you ever scare me like that again," he said.
"Ok…..but dad…..I ne….ed air," Marie gasped, and Richard loosened his grip, but didn't completely let go. Soon they were joined by Kori and Rachel, both had a smile on their face. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Richard nodded with a smile, and put her on the ground.
"Here, I think someone misses you," Kori said, handing Star to Marie who smiled at the dog.
"Thanks for helping me find her," she said smiling at the adults.
"Anytime sweetheart," Rachel said, ruffling Marie's hair, causing Marie to scrunch up her nose. 'Soon I'll have one,' she thought with a smile.
"What'cha thinkin," Gar asked, she looked over at him.
"Just thinking about when we have our baby," she replied.
(The next day)
Marie sat on the floor in her living room, pulling a rope dog toy across the floor while Star chased it, causing Marie to laugh. Suddenly the phone rang, but Marie didn't pay attention, because usually her dad answered it.
"Marie, it's for you," confused Marie stood up and walked to phone in the living room, and picked it up.
"Ok dad," she called, and waited for the click that meant her dad had hung up. "Hello, Marie here,"
"Hey Marie, it's Jesse," she smiled as she heard her best friend's voice.
"Hey Jesse, what's up?" She asked, plopping down on the couch.
"Hey do you think I can come over?" He asked, even though he was trying to hide it, she heard the desperation in his voice.
"Hold on let me ask my dad," she replied..
"Okay," she placed her hand over the mouth piece and walked into her dad's office, after knocking. "Hey dad, is it okay if my friend Jesse comes over?"
"Is it okay with his parents?" Richard asked, turning in his chair to look at her.
"Hey Jesse is it okay with your mom?" She asked.
"Yup," he said.
"He said it's okay," she replied to her dad.
"Then it's fine with me," Richard said turning back to his work.
Marie walked back out of the room. "My dad said okay," she told Jesse.
"I'll be over in a bit," he replied.
"Ok see you then," she said, and the two hung up.
Richard watched Marie and Jesse play with Star, the black lab puppy chasing the two as they ran around.
"Guess who," a pair of delicate hands covered his eyes. "She's pretty, smart, and will hurt you if you get it wrong,"
"Let me guess……my extremely hot new girlfriend?" He turned, after the hands dropped from his eyes. "And look I was right," he gave her a short kiss.
"Oh, Jesse's over," Kori said, looking over Richard's shoulder at the two eight years olds.
"Yeah, they're like best friends now……I remember, when I was called to the school cause Marie had beat the poor boy up," Richard said.
"They look so cute together," Kori said with a suggestive smile.
"What do you mean?" Richard asked confused.
"You mean you didn't notice?" Kori asked, with an amused smile, when he shook his head. "Don't you know when a boy picks on a girl at this age it means they have a crush on her. And I think she has one on him as well,"
"They're eight," Richard pointed out, to which Kori only shrugged.
"Today eight years olds grow up so fast," she said, her arms folded over her chest.