Fighting First Love

What Do You Mean, Commando?

Dedicated to overdose_ for offering to watch my son so I could finish this chapter:)

Saturday morning I was up bright and early, I even beat my alarm clock. It just seemed like today was a day of possibilities, and with the week I just had, I needed to hold on to that feeling. I jumped in the shower, loving the smell of my Hawaiian Ginger body wash, and scrubbed every inch of my body making sure to shave since I would be wearing shorts to the game today.

Once I was fresh enough, I chose some cute denim cut offs to wear and a simple black tank. I rubbed lotion on my freshly shaved legs, Hawaiian Ginger of course, and slipped my feet into a pair of Nike’s. We would be heading to the game right after shopping and I didn’t want to risk getting dirt caught between my toes if I chose flip flops or sandals. I pulled my hair into a tight pony tail, added a light coat of mascara to my lashes, and moisturized my lips with some very berry lip gloss. Simple and comfortable, exactly what I’d need on a trip to the mall with two hurricanes named Keri and Leah.

I skipped down stairs to make breakfast for my brothers before dropping them at school. We were the home team today, so the Sharks would be coming to our field. They needed to be there early for prep, warm up, and whatever else they did. I may have brothers who play the sport, I may have dated the pitcher of said sport, and I may be able to tell when someone scores, but I did not understand the finer points of the game. I liked watching it, who wouldn’t? Tall athletic guys wearing tight pants with no padding other than a cup to hide all the glorious muscles under the uniforms. It was like a buffet for your eyes, and now that I wasn’t restricted to one item at this buffet, my eyes were ready to feast on them all.

I was watching the steps below my feet to make sure I didn’t miss one and end up tumbling down them, so I didn’t see the three striking men waiting for me at the bottom until I crashed into the one nearest me. 

“Dad!” I shouted in surprise as I looked into his brown eyes so like mine and my brothers. He’s been so busy the past two weeks trying to bring interest to some of his real estate properties that needed to be sold, that we were only able to catch glimpses of him during that time. With today’s economy, Real Estate was a tough business, but our dad still managed to do pretty well. That’s because he works so hard. He looked to be in need of a hair cut judging by the fringes of slightly graying brown hair in his eyes, but other than that he was our same old dad.

He immediately pulled me into a hug and I soaked up the safety of it. Growing up, he was always able to cure any hurt and wipe away any sadness with one of his hugs, it was magic. I wished I had it last week after my break up. I wonder if he knew about that.

“How’s my baby girl, heart all patched up now?” he asked answering my silent question. I leaned back from his embrace, peeking around his shoulder to see my brothers looking anywhere but at me.

Snitches!

I returned my eyes to my dad, “Almost, I’m working on it.”

“Good. Just so you know, if he ever steps foot on any part of my property while I’m home, my shot gun is loaded and I’ve got a rifle in case I miss but you know I’ve got a perfect shot,” he said completely serious.

You’ve heard the stories where a dad grills his daughter’s potential boyfriends before they become boyfriends. That’s my dad. Only difference is, he conducts this little talk with his trusty shot gun laying in his lap the whole time. Blayne was sweating bullets the night of our first date. His shirt was so soaked we had to make a pit stop at his house to grab a new one, which had me meeting his parents for the first time on the same night. Thinking about that brought a pang to my chest. Losing Blayne meant losing his parents as well. Blair and Craig were like a second mom and dad to me.