𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞//𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐮𝐩𝐬 - Fancy Ice Cream

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After Talia and Alex’s small argument, the brunette had decided to go on a run claiming he needed to clear his head, from what Talia didn’t know, and she told herself she didn’t care, but the blonde couldn’t help but feel guilty.

Talia sat on the bench outside on the porch as she watched Lenny lay a piece of bacon on the bug zapper that he had spent thirty minutes cleaning.

The bacon sizzles on top of the electric machine, Talia had to admit she was impressed.

“Yeah,” Lenny grins as he pulls another piece out of the pack laying it down next to the first piece. “Now this is how you cook bacon,” Lenny speaks up pointing a finger at Talia.

“Yeah,” Talia nods “And how to catch malaria,” she tells him causing the older man to laugh.

“You can’t catch malaria unless a mosquito bites you,” he counters.

“Touché,” the blonde replies as her eyes catch Keithie picking a rock up “Lenny get a camera, Keithie grabbed his first rock,” Talia says gesturing to the curly-haired boy.

“That’s it, buddy,” Lenny mumbles to himself as he watches his son “Okay, throw the rock. Skim it, throw it at a tree.”

“Throw it at the lake,” Talia joins in.

“Throw it at one of your brothers,” Lenny suggests. Talia had an idea of which son of Lenny’s she’d hit with the rock.

“Hit your head with it,” Lenny continues “Just do something,” the man sighs in disappointment as Keithie drops the rock again.

“He’s getting there,” Talia tells him with a gentle smile.

As if on command, the second oldest Feder boy comes walking by, Talia raises an eyebrow at the boy’s choice of clothing.

“Gregie, what are you doing dressed like that? Y-You hanging out with Jiminy Cricket?” Lenny questions the boy.

“We were supposed to be going to Milan, remember? That’s what I packed for.” The boy answers, slightly annoyed.

“Come on, just cut those into shorts. We’ll play some hoop later” Lenny suggests.

“Pass, dude,” Greg answers.

“You don’t want revenge for the last time I whupped you?” Lenny questions as Eric and Owen come over, Eric standing behind Lenny and Owen plopping next to Talia.

“That was for years ago, homey. All I want is to fly to Milan and have some fresh-made gelato,” Greg tells his father before storming off.

Talia snickers and Owen shakes his head “What the hell even is gelato?” Owen questions looking at Talia.

“Just fancy ice cream, but from Italy,” Talia answers as Eric and Lenny talk the two quietly listening to them.

“Wow. What would your father have done at that one?” Lenny questions Eric.

Eric takes a sip of his coffee before answering “That one would’ve been a backhand to the side of the head and possible bleeding from the ear.”

“My father would’ve thrown me down the stairs just for using the word “gelato”,” Lenny adds causing Eric to laugh.

“They’re just trying to adjust, give it some time,” Talia shrugs as she gets up, she wanted to go sit by the dock, and maybe see some ducks if she was lucky.

Talia makes her way to the dock and sits down, the back of her thighs getting hot as she sits on the edge of the dock, she takes her flip-flops off and sets them beside her, letting the tips of her toes touch the cool water.

She lets her head fall back as the sun hugs her exposed skin, wrapping the blonde in something that feels like a protective hug. She wishes she could stay in a peaceful state forever.

——

Alex Feder had just returned from his run, his body dripping with sweat and his legs burning. He had run an extra mile and he couldn’t figure out why. He was annoyed because he had gone on that run to get Talia out of his head, but it didn’t work.

No matter what he did he couldn’t get her deep blue eyes and sun-kissed completion out of his head. He strips his shirt off when he gets to the bedroom and uses it to wipe the sweat from his face. “Good run?” A voice he hadn’t been expecting questions.

Alex turns to Owen who had shut the bedroom door and now leaned against it. “Yeah, fine,” Alex replies.

Owen nods “So…Talia,”

“She say something to you?” Alex interrupts him, he doesn’t know if Talia telling Owen about them is a good or bad thing.

Owen chuckles at the Feder’s slightly worried yet confused face. “No, she hasn’t told me anything, is there something I should know about?”

Alex’s face reddens in embarrassment before his mind drifts to Talia and his argument this morning, this is just a summer fling, right?

It was but god Alex didn’t want it to be. This girl made him feel every emotion he had and he hated it. “I don’t know, ask your sister,” a bitterness settled in Alex’s tone as he answered Owen, grabbing his suitcase from under the bed to grab fresh clothes.

Owen watches as the man goes through his suitcase, he shakes his head, it’s like two high schoolers’ after a damn hookup, he thought to himself. “Listen, Talia isn’t the best at…communication, she never has been, you have to be the one to start the conversation but you can’t get angry or be an asshole, she’ll just shut down if you do.” Owen explains “Have you tried talking to her?”

Alex pauses from grabbing his clothes, no he hadn’t, not really anyway. He had gotten angry and stormed off like a toddler when it didn’t get its way. “No,” Alex tells him as he picks his clothes up.

“Go catch a shower, because you smell disgusting, then go talk to her, okay?” Owen instructs.

Alex nods, Owen was actually a really cool guy, he could see why Talia liked him so much.

——

Talia still sat on the dock when she felt a presence behind her, she expected Owen and was more than surprised when Alex sat beside her. She stays quiet as she moves her foot in circles making ripples in the water. She had no idea what to say.

“I’m sorry,” Alex tells her “I was wrong for just storming off and I know that now— I was confused and angry,” Alex speaks up.

Talia plays with the end of her shorts as she nods “And I’m sorry for pulling away this morning,” she replies.

“No, you weren’t comfortable I should’ve —”

“I wanted to kiss you, I just… I don’t know…couldn’t,” Talia sighs, frustrated with herself. She’d never really done the whole PDA thing, then again she’d never had Alex Feder in her life before.

Alex looked at the woman’s face, her eyebrows twisted in a confused knot and an expression he couldn’t place on her face. This was the first time Talia Higgins had genuinely felt stress in a really long time before she had let go of all of her worries and realized that stressing over a life she would only live once wasn’t worth it.

Alex somehow understood what she was worried about and looked down at her hand, slowly sliding his hand over hers. The blonde was surprised by his action but didn’t pull away, instead scooting closer and hesitating before laying her head on his shoulder. He lays his head on top of hers and lets out a quiet sigh.

“We don’t need to do the whole PDA thing if you’re not ready,” he tells her.

This causes her to chuckle lightly, kissing a guy in public was more scary than fucking him, she found that somewhat amusing. “Baby steps sound good,” she speaks up.

Alex smiles and laces his fingers into hers “Baby steps it is,” he hums.

“Is this better than you’re fancy ice cream in Italy?” Talia questions.

Alex lets out a laugh “Yeah, defiantly,”

From the lakehouse, the two were unaware of all the mothers, and Owen watching them from the porch.

“They’re so cute together,” Sally smiles, Deanne nods in agreement as the two look at Roxanne and Owen who were memorized by the sight of Alex and Talia huddled together at the dock.

Roxanne only had known of one girl her son had ever dated, she hadn’t liked her one bit and the relationship had ended within a few months. But this was different, her son was the definition of a workaholic, and not once had she seen him pick his phone up or ask her about Fashion Week since they’d been here. She liked this side of her son, the one that actually acted like a twenty-one-year-old instead of a thirty-year-old.

Owen had never met any of Talia’s flings and she’d never had a boyfriend, she’d always told him it was because she was fine without one but he knew it was because she was afraid that she would get attached just for the guy to leave. Talia had only let herself get attached to two people, Marcus and Owen, now she was getting attached to Alex and it was happening fast. Owen knew if Alex were to break her heart, he would hunt the brunette down himself.

𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞

𝐈’𝐦 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭💀

𝐀𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲💜💜💜

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