Stepping out of the shower, the small smile playing on my lips stared back at me from the slightly misted bathroom mirror. Connor hadn't left my mind and I was still on cloud nine that we were together officially. Our date had lasted until the early hours of the morning; while Connor and I dried off on the banks of the lake, I had held him tight and we had chatted until the sun began to rise. 

Rushing back here before either of our parents realised we were missing, or I burned from the sun, was chaotic but Connor had cloaked a towel over my head and we had ran, holding hands and giggling. Spending time with him was like that; it made me feel like a teenager, which I had never really experienced before. 

Despite only parting ways an hour or two ago, we were already going to be reunited for our swimming session that we promised our respective siblings. Obviously, I wouldn't be able to swim, but I had gotten my fill of that last night. It was so freeing to splash about like that with Connor, just having fun and being young. 

Dressing quickly in my protective clothing, I yanked a cap over my still-damp hair to cover it up. That hair cut was truly needed still. I was going to just bring my art stuff and chill by the pool side to keep an eye on the kids as they swam, preferably under a sun umbrella.

Downstairs, my mum was still eating her breakfast before she shot off to work. I hadn't told my mum or my siblings about Connor and I yet, mainly because it had only just happened, but we also hadn't actually discussed the whole telling people thing. Would he kiss me in front of people? Or did he want to keep us on the down low? I would have to ask him at the pool, since in the heat of the moment last night I had forgotten to.

As I loaded my siblings bags into my car, I hugged my mum goodbye and reassured her I wouldn't let them drown. If my mum was worried, then I'm sure Connor's mum was certain that Mary would end up drowning. Rummaging through the boot to check the twins had packed everything they needed for their swim, I felt somebody spring a hug on me from behind. 

With a smile on my face, I glanced over my shoulder to see Connor clinging to my back with a beaming smile plastered on his own. Finishing my double-checking, I turned around to wrap my own arms around Connor, greeting him back. Taking me by surprise, he leapt up and wraps his legs around my waist, sending me stumbling back against the boot of my car. We both fell into the open boot, making him erupt in giggles. 

"Well, this is new. Did you hear about this?" I heard my Mum say to somebody, her tone amused.

"I had a feeling something was going on." Connor's Mum was the one who replied, "Come on love birds, it's time to go."

I had managed to pull myself out of the boot, giving Connor a hand at climbing out. He stumbled into me, and I placed an arm around his waist to steady him. He grinned up at me, his goofy expression making me laugh. 

"Am I going to have to fight a seven year old for the front seat?" Connor teased me.

"They're all in the back." I assured him, climbing into the car myself.

Checking all three kids were plugged in, I switched on the engine and shifted it into gear. With a wave out of the window to our mothers, I pulled off from the curb. Connor started messing with the music with one hand, holding my hand as I drove with the other. The twins and Mary were very confused as to what was happening between us and I sighed as the questions inevitably began.

"Daxx, why is Connor's hand on you?" Angel frowned, peering at us holding hands.

"Yeah and why was he jumping on you before you got in the car?" Mary added, furrowing her eyebrows.

"I saw them kissing this morning, outside." Andy huffed moodily, "Didn't I tell you that kissing is disgusting, Daxx?"

"Kissing Daxx is anything but disgusting." Connor grinned, his tone boastful and proud, much to my embarrassment.

"Stop corrupting my little brother." I groaned, "We're here now, so no more questions. Go swim and have fun, instead."

They seemed reluctant to drop it, but climbed out of the car obediently, anyway. Letting out a sigh of relief that that conversation was at least temporarily over, I glanced over at Connor with a tired expression.

"How the hell do we explain this to them?" I asked.

"When a mummy loves a daddy very much, but make it gay." Connor beamed at me.

"This isn't the birds and the bees." I groaned, burying my head in my hands.

"I know you care, but Mary won't really be affectedly this." 

"I'm worried about how Andy will feel about it. He's going through a hostile period and if he finds anything even vaguely threatening to his norm, he just retreats in on himself more."

"You should be a child therapist or something, because wow."

Sending him a small smile, he squeezed my hand to reassure me before we both climbed out of the car. The three kids were stood by the boot, waiting for me to retrieve their bags, but Andy wasn't joining in with the excited blabbering.

Mary and Angel raced off to the entrance of the swim centre, despite my yells for them to walk, and I followed, hand in hand with Connor. I don't think I was particularly surprised by the fact Connor was a fan of PDA, judging by the fact he had no problem with flirting at the birthday party. He always seem to want to be holding hands or hugging at all moments of the day. Which, to be honest, I didn't mind at all. It was nice to hold hands and be like that with someone.

It was strange to know somebody my own age at first but I've grown accustomed to it and I love spending time with Connor.

"Be careful and don't run by the pool, it's slippery!" I yelled after the kids, concern in my voice.

"Mama Daxx, calm down. They'll be fine. Let's go find some shade." Connor laughed.

Taking my hand and dragging me to the lounge beds under the sun umbrellas, right beside the kids pool, he turned to me with a sly smile. 

"Or should I call you Daddy Daxx?"

"Ew, stop." I groaned, pushing him down onto the sun lounger and heading to the one next to him.

Taking out my art supplies, I reached for my sketchbook and began to flip through to an empty page. Connor picked up one of my old sketch books and began to look through in curiosity. Inside the sketchbook was just a lot of drawings of the stars, the lake, the skate park, etc. Everything was set at night, with the moon hovering in the background. 

It was clear that I rarely ever drew people, but the stray sketch of Connor by the lake last night was an outlier. He gazed at it with a soft smile and I did the same. I had drawn the twins, or my mother, before, but only ever as a birthday present, not because I felt an urge to.

"These are so good." Connor mumbled with awe, letting his fingers trace over one of the sketches, "You're really talented."

"Here. You can keep this one of you, if you want. I made a copy." I handed him the sketch from the lake from last night.

He grinned and admired it before leaning over and pressing a soft kiss to my lips in appreciation. I grinned but pulled away, wanting to work on my art. I decided to draw Connor again as he lay with his back against the sun lounger, with his shirt off and beginning to read a book with his shades on. He looked beyond attractive. I started to sketch his outline when he glanced up at me over his shades and gave me a wink, realising I was drawing him again.

"I guess this makes me your muse, huh?" He looked so smug, "Can't keep your creative juices at bay when I'm around."

"Please don't call them juices." I groaned, "You're so grotesque."

"You love it." 

Shaking my head, I returned to my work peacefully. Connor was humming along to some song stuck in his head and had abandoned his book in favour of watching me draw instead. Pulling us both out of our thoughts, however, was a scream from the pool. The kids had been squealing with laughter for pretty much the entire time we had been here, but this was different. 

I leapt to my feet and darted towards the pool, almost skidding into the water after running on such a slippery surface. Some kids were circling around Andy. Angel and Mary weren't anywhere to be seen. My heart racing in my throat, I tried to think of what to do.

"Connor, you go find the girls. I'll deal with this." I rushed the words out, Connor nodding and running off in search of the girls.

As I approached the children, I saw that they were surrounding Andy because he had that kid, Jimmy, in a headlock. Jimmy was screaming for him to let go, but Andy was bright red in the face and had a death grip around his neck. I could have fainted at the sight; I never expected Andy to act this way.

"What the fuck." Connor appeared back at my side, "The girls were just using the bathroom."

"Andy, get here now!" I had never raised my voice at him before, but I was bewildered by this.

Andy, finally noticing that I was there, dropped Jimmy immediately. He looked up at me with guilt plastered across his face, but he was still panting with anger. The kids scattered, now that an adult was present, but Jimmy stayed on the floor, clutching his neck.

"What happened?" I regained my composure, crouching down so that we were eye level.

"He attacked me out of nowhere!" Jimmy cried out, with a strangled voice, before Andy would respond.

"Andy, is this true?" I frowned, still crouching down to his level but he wasn't making eye contact.

"I said it's true!" Jimmy interrupted, once again.

"Kid, shut up." Connor instructed, which was met by a glare from me.

"Andy, I won't ask again." I prompted him.

"It's his own fault. He shouldn't have done what he did because now everyone hates me!" Andy exploded, his emotions flooding out and tears threatening to spill over.

"What did he do?" Connor asked, obviously not hiding his own curiosity.

"Nothing, never mind." Andy quickly backtracked on his statement and I could see him closing in on himself.

"Jimmy?" Connor prompted a response from the other boy, but one quick glare from Andy stunned him into silence.

It was clear that we weren't going to get any kind of information out of either of them. I would try and see if the girls saw anything later, but I knew that it was unlikely. We were honestly lucky that Jimmy's mum wasn't around because otherwise we would have received a real ear full. 

"Whatever he did, we don't respond with that kind of violence, you hear me? We keep our hands to ourselves and deal with things without violence, okay, Andy?" I lectured, since this wasn't the first time he had laid hands on another kid.

Andy nodded, his eyes still watering and fists clenched. My heart went out for him because I knew deep down that this was probably happening because of me and my condition, but I needed to be firm so that he knew violence wasn't going to solve his issues. If he kept this kind of behaviour up, his life would be a hard one.

"Apologise." I instructed, "You don't need to hug it out, or whatever, but I'd like the both of you to apologise and agree to keep your distance from each other from now on." 

The two of them looked at each other and mumbled an apology; it was half hearted but it was good enough for me.

"We're going, now." I told Connor, to which he nodded in agreement.