My dad is a very predictable man, and so are his dinners. I could tell by just walking down the steps with Lily that it was going to be Spaghetti again. He has a very well thought out plan in his head that makes it seem like you're eating different things every time you come, but it's just a ruse. It's all basically the same. So we were eating Spaghetti again.
"Hey Lil," I said pulling her back a bit, "Do I look like I've been kissing you?"

"You look like you've been enjoying yourself." She answered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, folding my arms.

"It means, you look nothing like the Dylan I first knew. The Dylan who drew decapitated monsters in a journal. You look happy." I was a bit shocked by that answer, to be frank.

"So is that a no?" I said raising an eyebrow.

"That is a most definite no. You'll be fine." She told me grabbing my hand and pulling me down the hallway into the dining room slash kitchen thing we had.

"Hey Dyl can you grab the cheese?" My dad asked looking up a bit. I could tell he was a bit stressed over the Zoo. Yeah, it opened and a ton of people come and go, but it's still stressful.

"Uh yeah," I said walking over to the fridge, and grabbing the green container. Lily took a seat next to Kelly and across from me.

"So you look a bit flushed," Kelly commented when I sat down. I cough really loud.

"Uh, what? Why would you- I mean I," I stuttered, "Um, it's really cold out tonight."

"Ah. That's all?" She smirked. She looked just like Lily when she did it. Again, for the third time that night, I could feel the blush creeping on my cheeks.

"He hit his head on the way down. I guess he was a bit embarrassed he fell in front of me. I told him it was all right." Lily said dishing herself some noodles.

"You hit your head again? I told you if you weren't careful—"

"It's my fault really. I started down too quickly and knocked him down." She said. She was a graceful liar. I had learned that over the past few months.

"Yeah, Ben. Don't jump to conclusions." Kelly chimed in, her mouth full of bread.

"Today I was outside and I saw three frogs." Rosie said twirling her spaghetti around a plate. "Do you think we could catch some frogs and have a frog exhibit?"

"Sweetheart, those frogs you see are wild frogs. They wouldn't do good in captivity." Kelly told her.

"But all the animals in the zoo are wild. That's what daddy told me." She said pouting a bit.

"No, daddy meant they're exotic, but every large animal we have were bred in captivity. We're all they've ever known."
"We should still have frogs." She said getting over her point real fast.

"What did you do today Dylan?" Kelly asked.

"Well, I tried to work on homework a bit. You know, for that art class I'm taking? I couldn't do it though. I couldn't find any inspiration to draw. And then of course, there was the English homework. I swear that old bat's got it out for me." I started ranting about school. Since it started this past month, I've been working part time at the zoo, but mostly staying in to try and complete all my work. I guess slacking off wasn't the best idea in the world at this point.

"Oh, well. You'll find your will to draw soon enough. You've still got the weekend." She said.

Lilly shot me a look from across the table. She had long past finished eating, and she had her feet resting on mine. I knew what she wanted, but I knew there was no way I'd be able to get out of kitchen duty.

I mouthed 'I can't' and she shrugged.

Everyone was done, and began putting their dishes in the sink for me to wash. When Kelly announced she was going home with Lily, lily grabbed a few left over dishes and walked into the kitchen side.

She dropped a cup, and we both bent down to get it.

"Thanks for tonight." She said, pecking me on the lips. It was so quick I had to rethink if it actually happened.

She got up and put the dishes in the sink.

Authors note—

Hey I know I'm sorry I didn't update. I was actually a match for a friend of mine's mother (She was diagnosed with cancer), so with all of the donating and my testing I just never really had time to update. Again—sooo sorry :/ Hope you guys enjoy