Chapter 376: 2-5

“Kieran is my mate,” she sounded happy… my eyes widened and my head snapped to her Uncle, “I won’t hurt her I promise,” I said with as much promise as I could. Grant blinked, “Of course you wouldn’t,” Oakley said in a ‘duh’ type tone, and I’m sure if I could look away from Grant I would see her rolling her eyes too. “I know you won’t hurt Oakley, Kieran.” He said and I sighed in relief that he wasn’t mad, he wouldn’t tell her to stay away from me. I rested back, “How are you feeling Kieran? You gave us all quite the scare last night,” Grant said, while I just gaped at him. He seemed… concerned? That couldn’t be right though. “I – I’m better,” I stuttered trying to figure it all out. First Tera visiting me and now Oakley’s uncle was asking how I was doing? “That’s good to hear,” Grant said warmly. Oakley begins speaking about a surprise Ben had for his friend, her hand still in mine, I closed my eyes just listening to her, a soft tone that lulled me to sleep without even realizing it. My mate wanted me, was the last thought I could remember having. . . . Ben POV There weren’t many things that Kayla did. I mean she went outside but unlike the other kids here I never saw her go to the beach, and the furthest I had seen her go out was to the little meadow just outside her backyard. From the porch, you could see her through the trees. It was hard to think of things we could do together, especially when she was jumpy and I didn’t think video games would be something she liked. I did notice however that Kayla really liked flowers; she could make them grow, any kind, bright and colorful. After speaking and getting help from Chelsea, I carried everything to Kayla’s house, going to the front instead of right to the backyard. Knocking, I stood back, picking up the large box I was carrying, waiting for someone to open the door. When it opened, Kayla’s dad, Chris stared at me with wide eyes. “Ben you’re here?” I nodded, “Yeah, I told Kayla I would come today, I had a surprise for her,” I jingled the box in my hand. “Can I come in?” Stepping aside he pointed down the hall to the back, “She’s uhm – she’s on the porch… she – I told her you might not be coming,” I stopped in my spot a bit angry that he would tell her that. “Why? I promised,” he nodded. “I know, but you were up all night with Oakley, I thought you’d be sleeping and waiting with Oakley. I didn’t want her to wait on you, when you might not be coming.” It would have hurt more if we didn’t show up and her dad didn’t tell her, Saxon told me so I nodded. “So what’s in that box?” he asked me and my face heated, “It’s – well – I know she doesn’t like to be touched and she’s always looking tired so I tried to find something that wouldn’t make her more tired, that we can do together,” I stammered. He nodded, “what did you come up with?” he asked with a smile. “Well… I thought that maybe the two of us and someone else could work on these,” I jingled the box. “First we’re going to use the kitchen…” “Come on,” he said walking to the kitchen ahead of me. When I put the box down, I went to the back door sliding it open, and walking to the pod, “Hi,” I said standing a good distance away from Kayla. Her head snapped up and she gave me a small smile, “you came.” Was all she said, “I said I would. I promised.” “Come on we need to go to the kitchen first,” I said taking a step back and going into the kitchen, Kayla following me. Her dad was resting against the counter; I went to the box and pushed it towards her. “So this is your surprise,” I took a step back and smiled brightly when she looked between the box, and me then over at her dad. “It’s okay if you don’t like it, I just thought that it would be fun for us to do… you’re dad will help too,” I rambled, my stomach all tickly. “Go ahead honey,” her dad added when she seemed hesitant, but slowly she opened the box and I couldn’t stay still. She pulled the first item on top, a large cooking pan, looking at it confused she put it over on the counter and her dad even looked a bit unsure. Next came the ice cream that Chelsea made for me, “it needs to go in the freezer,” I said and Kayla walked the tub over to Chris, coming back to the box. Next were the ingredients to make brownies, “I don’t remember but Oakley told me that my mom loved to bake, they would make desserts on Sundays and Mondays. So I thought you and I could make brownies, and we can even make for your brothers and sisters too.” Now she was getting to the bottom things, “I know it gets really hot and you might get tired and sweat if we play soccer or well even just walking, so we can do these instead.” I said when she pulled the first small all white box, she placed it on the ground, lifting up the top revealing the near two hundred pieces, “It’s a puzzle, but the picture on the top is what it will look like when we finish,” I explained when she looked up at me and her dad came around to look as well. “It’s of you, one of them is I mean, and that is the butterfly that you held,” I swallowed, “Chelsea drew it by hand and we made all of them special,” I pointed to the other boxes. “You made her puzzles?” “Yeah, well no, Chelsea and I made them together… Eight of them – there is one of you, and then there are more of the flowers that I saw you making in your hand… I thought we could do them together after we make brownies?” I stood waiting. My stomach still flipping, “We don’t have to do them if you don't want – we can do something else…” I added weakly, looking to her dad unsure.