Fated Mate

The Date

Waking up I remember where I am much quicker than the past couple of days that I have spent here. It seems ironic that as soon as I get comfortable here I will have to leave to go to Twistriver. Comfortable might be a strong word after how last night shook out. Laying next to Lee watching him sleep peacefully I find it hard to remember him on top of Liam beating him senseless. Then again how much sense did Liam have to begin with?

I decide to get up now so that I can sneak to the bathroom before Lee can wake up to brush my teeth. I also take a clean pair of overalls into the bathroom along with my pink Kirby shirt that is made to look vintage. When I leave the bathroom fully dressed in everything but shoes, I see that Lee is just beginning to wake up. He sees me and smiles.

“There she is” he says as he stretches in bed. I walk over and sit on the edge of the bed.

“Missing me already?” I ask playfully.

“It’s hard not to Love” He responds reaching up to rub my back. “You’re like the perfect size for a body pillow.”

“You know I thought the same thing about you.” He stops rubbing my back and gets up out of bed and stretches once more while he is standing. He kisses me on the forehead before walking to the bathroom himself. I lay back down in the bed waiting for him to get ready. I know at least for regular golf you gotta to get there very early for tee time. I figure that a mini version of it must start later in the day. I really feel so clueless. My biggest focus has always been my art. I worked for years painting with every form of medium that I could get my hands on. I studied art history for years and spent my time reading biographies of the greats. One time when I was 13 I tried to count every point in Starry Night. I lost count around 500 dots. It’s hard to make money being an artist ad honestly my parents would have considered my career a failure if I wasn’t making enough to support myself. Which in some ways is a fair barometer of success but, at the same time whatever happened to living and not surviving. My most egregious mistake to date is the fact that I didn’t bring any art supplies with me to paint the beautiful landscapes that Clover clan has to offer.

Lee exits the bathroom slipping a T-shirt on over his head that has Kermit the frog on it.

“What time is it?” He asks as he combs his hair.

“Oh wow, it’s eleven” I say impressed that I was able to sleep in this late when my normal wake up time is around seven.

“I wonder if everyone else slept in today?” He wonders out loud. “I would like breakfast before we go but, also avoiding my family so we can keep our alone time doesn’t sound half bad either.”

“So is today all about us?” I ask.

“100%” He says and places the comb down. “In fact I hope you end up sick of me by the end of the day” he says making his way over to me grinning.

“We will see if that’s even possible” I respond.

“You flatter me Celeste” with that he pecks my forehead and heads to the corner of his room to look for something. “I know I have a coupon here somewhere for a free designer ball”

“Designer ball?”

“Yeah, it’s like a regular golf ball but, they put a cool design on it and I really wanted to get the one that has a bear on it today”

“How often do you play mini-golf?”

“Like once a month?” when he answers he is unsure as if the number may actually be higher. “Normally I go with Sean” Great I think another reason for that guy to dislike me. A realization hits me that maybe Sean has a crush on Lee. That would explain his dislike for me and why Liam called him that name last night.

“Found it!” Lee exclaims proudly waving a bright colored piece of paper around like a trophy. “Let’s go!” He grabs his wallet off the nightstand and I grab my backpack off the floor and we make our way down the stairs. He stops me when we get to the bottom and looks around for his siblings. After signaling to me that it is clear we make our way outside to his Jeep and get in. He opens my door for me which I find super sweet. He drives us out of the pack and onto the paved road that will take us into town. He takes one of his hands off the wheel and sneaks it over to rest on my thigh and I turn scarlet once more.

“Are you excited for the most fun 18 holes of your life?” He asks with a gentle squeeze.

“I actually kind of am” I answer. “My dad used to golf so I am excited to see what all the hype is about.”

“Regular golf is boring as hell, Mini-Golf is the superior pass time, like regular golf doesn’t even come close you know.”

“I guess I will know after today”

Nothing could have ever prepared me for how serious this man takes Mini-Golf. The first issue happened right when we got to Petey’s Putt Putt when the aforementioned Bear Ball was not in stock and he had to compromise for a Fox Ball. The second issue was when I got a hole in one on one of the toughest holes in the course.

“I’m not upset that you managed to make that hole just tell me how you did that” He insisted while I tried to explain that all I did was hit the ball. I had fun when we were waiting on the people in front of us to finish the next hole up and we actually got to talk but, I noticed something around Hole 16. He wasn’t asking me any questions. he was listening when I offered up information about myself but, he certainly wasn’t searching it out. I spent most of the time learning about him and more about his family. I know of his aunt Siobhan and his cousins Lucky and Jericho who live in Ireland with his parents but, there was no question about if I had an aunt or uncle. Which to be fair I don’t but, he doesn’t know that. He ended up winning the game despite my cheeky hole in one. He received another coupon as a prize and he took care in folding up his score sheet before getting in the Jeep.

“I can’t wait to show Sean this is like one of my best scores yet.” He beams buckling himself in. “You must be my good luck charm.” He turns to beam at me.

“Maybe so” I sat back quietly. He drives us to La Hacienda which is right up the road. As we get there and start digging into our chips and dip he starts really looking at me in a way that I can only describe as studying. “What’s up” I ask nervously.

“Nothing just looking at how beautiful you are.” He respond as if this is something obvious and something that I should know that he would be doing.

“Thank you, and you talk about me flattering you.”

“You do flatter me, I just describe you” There’s no way that I am the first girl that he has ever dated because he is way to smooth. I decide to call him on this playfully.

“Who did you practice on before I got here.”

“Honestly I am just a big movie buff” he responds “I just copy what they do and hope for the best. I had a lot of lines memorized in case I met my mate.”

“I honestly thought that I would meet mine much later in life so I’m sorry that I am not more prepared.”

“I have nothing else to base this off of so I think that you’re doing awesome to me.” The waiter comes and takes our order and while we wait he spends more time telling me stories of him and Sean growing up. Finding and catching frogs and regular boy stuff it seems. He talks about how Maeve would dress the frogs up in barbie clothes and how she didn’t realize until it was too late that sometimes the barbie clothes are not the best attire for species that breathe through the skin. Josie growing up and her first and only boyfriend Tyler. They became each other’s beard for a while before they both came out. I listen to more and more of his lore and try to add on my own bits when I can. Still not a single question has been lobbed my way at this point. I resign myself to just accepting the fact that maybe the movies he’s watching never touched on the getting to know a woman part. We eat, pay and leave the restauraunt and on our way back to the packhouse I wonder what fresh hell is waiting for us there.