Page 14 of The Plan

As I take a sip of my piña colada, I look down at it in disgust. “Yuck.” Sire turns to see what's wrong. “I told them I didn’t want cherries.” I can’t stop the disappointment my voice is laced in as I lift my drink up to him.

“You don’t like cherries?” I hate them. I make a face at the thought of them, and he laughs. “Gimme.” He picks the cherry out from the stem and then pops it in his mouth. “Problem solved.” I give him a small smile, but when he sends me a wink, I roll my eyes and walk ahead, hiding my smile.

We keep walking before he speaks up again. “Do you really not want kids?” I think about his question for a second. I know some people who couldn’t see themselvesnotbeing a parent. I’m in the middle; I don’t really care for them.

“I wouldn’t mind having kids. They're cute, and I think my pregnant belly would be cute. Childbirth is scary, though, so maybe adoption is the path I’ll take.” I look over at him, and he’s staring at me, smiling like I just said the right answer. “What?”

He hesitates and shakes his head like he doesn’t want to say whatever it is. Hmm. Walking into the tunnel section of the aquarium, I look up at the school of fish swimming above us. They are so pretty; I can see why Hazel works here.

When I turn to look at Sire, he never followed me into the tunnel. “Come on, this is the best part.” He shakes his head and kicks his feet. What is he doing?

I pull his hand and drag him in, but he abruptly stops, and when I look over at him, he looks nervous. “Sire—”

“I don’t want to be trapped under the water.”

I lightly laugh but grow a little concerned when I see his chest falling and rising faster by the second. “Sire, you are not going to be trapped. Are you claustrophobic?” It’s not even small in here; if anything, it's the opposite. He starts panicking more and keepshis eyes up at the water like he’s actually trapped. He suddenly looks like he can’t breathe.

“Sire, breathe. You’re fine.” He struggles to pull in a breath, and I realize this is not going to get better unless I get him out of the tunnel. I pull his hand, and he struggles to walk at first but then follows me back out.

Once we aren’t under the water, the fear in his eyes disappears. He bends over to rest his hands on his knees, catching his breath. “Are you okay? What was that abo—”

“I’m fine. It was nothing.” It did not look likenothing.

"I think you were having a panic attack…" His eyes meet mine but when he glances over my shoulder, it's as if his biggest fear is standing behind me. He looks frozen in place again and I grab a hold of his hand, putting more distance between ourselves and the tunnel.

"You're fine."

He looks down at me and I give him a small smile but his eyes cut down to the ground like he's… ashamed. I tug his hand again and this time my smile is more teasing. "The hot shot Sire Griffin, our star captain, isafraidof something?" I fake my shock and he shakes with a soft laugh, clearly grateful for the lighter mood.

"Asshole," He mumbles and shoves me softly. Before I can recover he's pulling me in with his arm around my shoulder as he smiles down at me. "Thanks." I nod in response and decide not to ask any questions since he clearly doesn't want to talk about it.

When we turn the corner, my eyes land on Jackson. He graduated the year before us. I think Sire and him are close, but I only had one class with him and he's pretty cool.

Sire daps him up and a pretty girl with short black hair comes up to us, pushing a stroller, and kisses Jackson. He introduces her as Sire takes a peek into the stroller.

“Hold the fuck up. Did you two have ababy?” Jackson and his girlfriend laugh at how surprised Sire sounds and nods.

“Yeah, I didn’t tell many people, but this is Isabelle.” He pulls out his daughter. She looks about a few months old and has little blonde curls and gray eyes, matching her dad.

“Congrats, dude. What the fuck?!” They laugh, and Sire hugs him.

I give their baby a little wave, and she smiles, showing one tiny tooth. “She's beautiful, que Dios la bendiga.”

Jackson smiles as he kisses his daughter's head. “Thank you, V.” He looks between Sire and me now. “Are you two…” He gestures between the two of us.

“Not yet.”Yet?I look over at Sire, and he winks at me. I fight a smile and roll my eyes at him again as I turn back to Jackson, who's watching us with a small smile.

Sire and I walk intothe stingray section. They’re my favorite, and the water isn’t above us like earlier, so hopefully, Sire will be okay here. I want to ask him about his panic attack, but I decide against it.

“What was it you said earlier?” I turn to him, confused. “You said Jackson's baby was beautiful, then you said something in, I don’t know, was that Spanish?”

“Oh yeah, I just said God bless her,” I say casually, and he nods as he leans against the glass of the tank.

“Your Spanish is really good, though.”

I smile proudly because that’s hands down my favorite compliment, besides people telling me I smell good. “Yeah, it was my first language.”

He looks down at me like I just threw him off guard. “Wait, really? Where is your family from?”

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