Not as they seem...

Family fun day

“Hey, Anna!” Zander spoke first, with that impossible grin splashed across his lips. He definitely looked like he belonged on the cover of a romance novel or even in a rom-com movie.

She took him in as everything around her seemed to go in slow motion. He had on a blue, grey long sleeve top that matched his eyes perfectly and was snug enough to just make out the shape of his well defined torso underneath. His naturally blonde highlighted hair, which was normally slicked back for school, was now hanging loosely just over his forhead and tucked behind his ears. He wore a dark denim jeans and a pair of crisp white Vans.

She could feel their fathers looking at them in surprise. “Oh, you know each other?” Zanders father Doug, asked. They both looked at Anna, but then back to Zander as she still couldn't form an answer.

“Yeah,” he replied cheerfully, “We catch the same bus in the morning.”

“Oh, what a small world!” her father chuckled.

As Zanders dad introduced him to her father, she noticed the young girl standing behind Zander, her arms wrapped around his leg as she took Anna and her father in with shyness in her bright blue eyes.

“And this is my sister Delia,” Zander said, unwrapping her little arms and gently moving her in front of him, whilst still holding onto her shoulders protectively.

“Delia is our little surprise baby,” Doug said, ruffling her hair. She saw Zander roll his eyes and she wondered how many time he had heard his father say that.

“How old are you, little lady?” her father asked, bending a bit to get on her level.

“4” she said, holding up 3 fingers, then adjusting it 4. “She just had a birthday,” Zander explained as she pulled his hands in front of her face in order to hide from their prying eyes.

“Well, this is Anna,” her father offered, “She was less of a surprise.”

“Hi,”Anna finally managed to say to them all.

She caught Delia peeking up at her from between her brothers fingers. Anna couldnt help but grin at the shy girl.

“She's pretty shy.”Zander explained, but Anna could see the girl smiling behind the broad hands of her brother. She took the opportunity to bend down in front of the girl.

“Hey, there.”she said softly, and the girl peeked out again. “You have a really beautiful dress on today!”

Delia, pulled one hand away from her face and looked down at her dress, holding out the skirt a little so Anna could see better.

"I love the sparkles," Anna continued, "And look at those sparkly shoes that match! Did you get those for your birthday?”

Delia stepped out from her brother, nodding enthusiastically. "I got a puppy too!”she exclaimed, suddenly animated.

"A puppy!”Anna exclaimed, “Wow, that is awesome. What did you call it?”

“Jeff,”Delia grinned, twirling the bottom of her dress around her finger. Änna looked up at Zander quizzically. That was certainly not what she was expecting.

“She's into the Wiggles,” Zander explained and Delia nodded so her blonde piggy tails bounced on her shoulders. “Wake up Jeff!” she sang, making both Anna and Zander laugh. “You have no idea how many time I have heard that!”he said with an eye roll.

At that point, the twins bounded over and wrapped their arms around Anna- almost toppling her over as she was still bending over in front of Delia. Zander lunged forward to steady her by grabbing her shoulder for a moment. She rebalanced herself and Zander took his hand back as she stood up.

“Whoa!"she laughed, as she hugged them back “How are you guys!” she greeted them, “I've missed you! You have gotten so big!” It had been a few months since she'd seen them and they had really gotten taller. Jade's hair was much longer and Jagger now had a small mohawk.

“Friends of yours?” Zander laughed and she noticed Delia step back to the safety of her brother's legs.

“Hey Delia,” Anna said gently, taking a hand each of the twins and pulling them forward, “This here is Jade and this is Jagger. They are 6!” There was nothing like breaking the ice with some other kids.

Delia's eyes lit up. “6!” she exclaimed, like that was sooo old. The twins smiled and waved at the new girl. “These guys love to play,”she said to Delia and they both nodded in agreement.

“You wanna go play?” they asked her immediately.

She'd looked up at her big brother, like she wanted to go but was too nervous.

“How about Anna and I come with you guys?” he suggested. The twins bounced excitedly and pointed to the play area, “Over there, over there!”

“OK,” Zander said, “Le'ts go play!” and with that, the twins grabbed Anna's hand, then Delia's and started pushing their way through the crowds.

On a total whim brought about by being around unreserved children, Anna grabbed Zanders hand as they went and pulled him along in the kid train heading to play town. What on earth was she doing! She could barely make word come out of her mouth and now she was man handling him. Oh, God- instead of her face breaking out in a full blush, she felt the wave wash over her whole body. His soft hand enveloped hers fully and, she may have been mistaken, but she thought she felt a definite squeeze. She had to focus on the kids to make sure she didn't blush again.

When they arrived at the kiddy play area, Delia let herself be lead away by Jade. Anna knew Jade would heading straight to cute country cottage cubby house.

“Wow,” Zander breathed, “She never warms up that quickly.”

“Well, those kids do have a special knack. I think it's a twin thing..."Anna mused.

"No- I mean, with you.”he said. He was watching where his sister and Jade were playing in the cubby house. She poked her head out the shuttered window and waved at them. They both waved back.

Thankfully a waitress came by then and asked if they wanted to put in a coffee order.

After they'd had their drinks, all 3 kids found them and implored them to go on the jumping castle with them. Anna was dying inside. While she normally loved the jumping castle, but she did not want to make a fool of herself. Delia jumped up and down, “Can we, can we please. Come with us.!”

It seemed neither of them had much choice, with the kids tugging them up from their seat and pulling them to castle. They had free run of it and the kids quickly pulled off their shoes and jumped on. Anna and Zander took a little bit longer to slip their shoes off, drop their phones and step on. Anna took a moment longer as she threw her jacket off onto her shoes and walked awkwardly over to where the kids and Zander had already started jumping. The kids had started running circles around Zander and he was making monster sounds as he tried to grab them. He caught his sister first, catching her around the waist and spinning her around. She squealed in delight as he then tossed her back . Her body bouncing back down toppled the other 2 kids over and they all burst into laughter before scrambling back up again . Zander growled again as they started running, well bounce running, around him. “Catch me! Catch me!”they all called to him. All Anna could think was, 'Good lord, please catch me!'.

He caught Jagger next and spun him around a few times before tossing him back down to a chorus of squeals as they were again bounced off their feet again. The monster game continued for a while, until Zander finally flopped down himself- “No more!” he cried and they all jumped on him, “The monster needs a break.”

“Hey Anna,”Jade called, “Do your spinny thing.”

“What spinny thing?”Anna asked, going to Zander's rescue by pulling the twins off him and offering him a hand up.

He grinned up at her and took her hand, his eyes dancng with amusement.

“You know, that spinny thing you did last time. Like this...”she said doing a somersault, “But in the air”

Uh oh, she thought to herself. Last time she'd played with the twins there was a jumping pillow and she'd shown them a forward somersault and front aerial that Hannah and taught her on their trampoline. She was mortified at the thought of doing that in front of Zander.

Taking advantage of her momentary lack of concentration, Zander pulled on her offered hand and next thing she knew she had toppled over and landed almost smack bang on top of him.

She felt her full body blush happen again as his hands slid onto her waist to stop her from jumping off immediately. She felt the firmness of his ab's and his thigh flexing underneath her. Everything slowed down again and she could feel his chest rising and falling underneath her. She looked down at him, still trying to figure out if this was an accident or not. She was greeted with his lop sided grin and dimple and knew immediately that this had not been an accident. He reached up and picked up her braid that had fallen over her should and was now brushing across his face. He held it for a moment, before gently placing it back over her shoulder. And in that moment, the kids piled on top of them and the spell was broken. She rolled off him and the kids fell in between them both.

“Do the spinny thing!”Jade implored.

“Yeah, Anna,” Zander grinned over the pile of kids bodies wriggling between them, “Do the spinny thing! I wanna see the spinny thing too.” Then he sat up and said, “Who wants to see Anna do the spinny thing?” and all the kids chorused “We do!”

Anna sat up too and realised she was not going to win this. She hadn't been on the trampoline all winter, so wasn't sure that she she could even pull it off any more, but they were all now chanting her name- being egged on by Zander.

She stood up slowly and straightened her jeans and top.

"Ok, ok!” she waved down their chants, "I will do the spinny thing. But if I fall on my head- you are all in trouble!” They all cheered and fell about themselves again.

Anna stepped over the the other side of the castle and made sure the area was free from any other kids. She said a silent prayer to the gods of teenage humiliation that they would spare her today, then started to bounce. She worked up a good steady bounce, then when she'd peaked on height. The next bounce, she took off - tucked herself into a ball and somersaulted forward and miraculously timed her landing perfectly, sticking her landing and throwing her arms triumphantly as her audience cheered loud enough for most of the people in the play area to turn around and watch.

She took a small bow and went to sit down. “Wait,”Jade stopped her, “Do the other one!”

She groaned, but Jade face was lit up excitedly.

“Yeah- do the other one!” Zander cheered and she could see Delia's excited face.

She walked back to the other end and worked her bounce up again, When she was ready, she started off like she was doing a round off, but then tucked her arms up to her chest, joined her legs together when she was essential upside down, and flicked them down the second part of the arc together without her hands touching the mat. She over corrected a bit a toppled backwards onto her butt, but the kids all cheered excitedly and rushed over to jump on her again.

“Wow, that looked awesome. Are you a gymnast?”Zander asked, bounce walking over to her and offering a hand. The kids rolled off her and ran off to try and emulate what she had just done. Anna took his warm hand and laughed as he pulled her up.

“Hell no.”she laughed, “But one of my friends is. She likes teaching me a few things.”

She was straightening up her clothes when she noticed her father standíng at the edge of the castle with Doug, Zanders dad.

She panicked for a moment, wondering how long they had actually been watching them for.

“You're quiet the acrobat,”Doug called, as Delia came running to her father.

"I wanna do 'nastics daddy!” she announced.

“We thought it might be time to hit the track if you guys want to give it a go.”her dad grinned, not giving anything away that he had seen anything.

Zander looked at her expectedly, wondering if she would be one of these girls that are too precious to do seomthing like go-carting. She looked at his beautiful face and knew she was not too precious.

What the heck, she thought, she could not embarrass herself any more than she already had.

“Let's hit the track!” she exclaimed, as Zander beamed back at her.