Topsy Turvy Ch. 07

"Hi Daddy, come and meet my new friend,"

Mike was so relieved to see his daughter standing in front of him that he didn't even take the time to notice that she was holding someone's hand. He knelt down in front of his daughter and hugged her tightly and then thought back to all of those nannying books he had read – authoritative voice, no shouting, make the child understand what they had done wrong,

"What the f-!" He took a deep breath to try and cool down,

"Ava, you can't just run off like that – you have to tell Daddy if you want to go somewhere or see something. Imagine I had lost you – what would I have done?"

Ava looked her father square in the eye. He could see her evaluating just how much trouble she was actually in, and was looking at all of her options. She got that from her mother. Realising that her father was genuinely scared, Ava went with contrite and started to cry. Happy to have his daughter back, Mike cuddled her gently and gave her kiss to comfort her and then got up to check that Sebastian was still where he should be. Noting Seb's disappointment at his sister's return, and that all seemed to be normal in the world again, Mike looked up to thank his daughter's saviour. However, his smile died slowly as he focussed on her face,

"Hi."

Alanna's greeting was meek to say the least.

"I think she recognised me from the party – I didn't get the chance to speak to her but I think she wanted to come and say hi – she's so friendly. And is that Seb in the trolley – he's very cute. What's he watching? What's he watching Ava?"

Mike frowned and took a breath to answer but was interrupted by,

"What time is it, gosh is it that late – I really should be going. It was very nice to meet you Ava and very nice to see you again Mike. Hope you're all well. Take care."

And with that she turned on her heel and made her way out of the supermarket without Mike even managing to open his mouth. Watching her leave, he tilted his head to the side and pondered. Was he really that much of a glutton for punishment? Wasn't it enough that he had been deluged with water, beaten up, and rejected either by or because of this woman? Hadn't he learnt from the debacle that was his marriage? Surely the best and most sensible thing to do would be to consider it great that she had found his daughter, and he had thanked her, and maybe he should just thank his lucky stars that he had got away safely?

***** Mike could feel his feet moving before his brain engaged into what he was actually doing. He followed Alanna wondering just how it was that she could move so fast in those stupid boots that looked like slippers.

Not wanting to alarm her, he picked up his pace and touched her gently on the shoulder, smiling sheepishly at her gasp at his touch.

"Hey."

She frowned at him and then looked past him to laugh at the sight of Ava who was hanging on to her father's hand panting, and Sebastian who was laughing at his sister. Keeping her eyes on the children, she muttered a hello in response to Mike's greeting.

"Um, look I didn't manage to thank you for finding Ava –"

"Well I didn't really find her, she found me!" Alanna had been intent on not taking any credit for what had just happened, but she found that when she managed to have the courage to actually look at Mike, and found that he was staring back just as admirably, she puffed her chest out a little like a pigeon.

"Although, I can imagine that it would be scary to have lost her, I'm glad I could have helped in any way."

Mike nodded decisively, "Well look, I, we would like to thank you for crisis averted so would you like to join us for dinner tonight?"

Alanna bit her lip, wondering if this was a good idea – wasn't the saying third time is a charm? Well she was almost free of Simon now, and Mike looked to be flourishing because he couldn't have been more beautiful if he tried, so maybe this was fate's way of telling her that now was the time to try. And if he wanted to kiss her again, she wouldn't be averse to the idea.

Alanna smiled brightly back at him, happy to have made the decision and nodded, "I'd love to join you, where are we going?"

Mike smiled happily,

"Oh that's great, Helena will be delighted, she's cooking dinner back at my place."

Alanna's heart dropped.

The walk from the supermarket to the car park was long and interminable. Alanna thought of every excuse possible to try and get herself out of joining the love birds for dinner. She had found it strange that Helena hadn't been in touch since the event at Michael's house, and she had assumed that maybe she had gone to find new quarry. Alanna had to examine her feelings and realised that the cold and angry feeling that was working its way through her body wasn't the air of superiority at having done the right thing and therefore enabling two single people to find each other. Nope, this feeling was cold hard jealousy. And while she was more than well aware that she had reassured her friend that she didn't want any such thing from Michael, and that it was fine for her to go for it, actually the truth of the matter was that she wanted her beautiful friend miles away from him; when actually, it would seem that her beautiful friend had been all over him, so much so that he was comfortable leaving her in his house. Too late, she was too late. Again.

******

Unaware of Alanna's ruminations, Mike was just delighted to be seeing her again. Having decided to take the bull by the horns and try and date Helena, they had had a dinner which had seen them commiserate with each othernon the demise of their respective marriages over four bottles of wine and a tray of hash cakes which had prompted hallucinations and hilarity, Helena had become his divorce bonding partner. He had made it very clear to her that if he was going to have one of the La Las; the only one he wanted was Alanna. She had sobbed wondering if there was something wrong with her physically and he had put her in touch with his hound of a brother who had taken her out and made sure she was aware that she was fully functional and sexually attractive in every way. Once she had dusted off those cobwebs and her self-esteem was back where it belonged, Helena had made it her mission to see Mike happy, and with who better than her lovely Alanna.

Alanna prepared for all eventualities as Mike drove the car through the town and out into the picturesque suburbs where he and the children lived. Ok, she pondered, how bad could this be? They can't have been seeing each other for that long but having said that he's left her in his house. She cast a glance out of the corner of her eye at him and he smiled back winningly at her, she gave him a tight lipped smile and went back to her panicked thoughts from which she heard,

"Yippee! We're home!" Alanna felt her stomach drop as they pulled into the driveway and Mike cut the engine. He huffed a breath and smiled over at Alanna.

"You ready?"

"Not fucking likely" she muttered

"Huh?"

She smiled brightly at him, "Nothing – yep, ready!"

Unharnessing the kids and waiting for Mike to unload the shopping, Alanna gave herself a stern talking to

"Enough of this nonsense, you had your chance remember? You said you didn't want him and that Helena was welcome to him so whatever happens from here; remember all of those manners that Aunty Enid drummed into you every Sunday."

Alanna took a deep breath and followed Mike into the dragons den.

"Yay, you're back – did you remember the parmesan?"

God this was even worse that she had anticipated. Alanna watched as the children ran to Helena full of kisses and exclamations. She said nothing as she watched Mike dump the shopping bags on the counter and leaned in to kiss Helena on the cheek.

"Hey chicken, look who I found in the supermarket."

Helena looked up form kneading what looked to be dough and smiled delightedly as she saw Alanna. Alanna tried her hardest to smile, but seeing her friend so happy, with the man she wanted so desperately simply broke her heart.

She smiled tremulously at her friend and winced as she felt one tear escape down her cheek. Mike started to make his way across to Alanna but was stopped by Helena who gestured for him to take the children out of the room and to close the door. Once they were alone, Alanna started to talk through her tears, well she tried.

"I'm so sorry, this is ridiculous. I think my period is due – just ignore me."

Helena clucked at her and wrapped her up in her arms for a cuddle.

"I told you you wanted him"

"I know!" she wailed – "God, this is so embarrassing. How's it going anyway?"

Helena frowned, "How's what going?" She furrowed her brow trying to understand before realising why in particular her friend was upset.

"Oh lovely, No! You've got it all wrong, we're not – well don't get me wrong, I gave it a good old try but he was having none of it. Eyes only for you. I did alright though, I'm having a good old time with his brother."

Alanna sniffled, "What?"

"Yeah, I know. It's a long and embarrassing story, but suffice to say I'm over my shit of an ex-husband and am happily riding a new bronco! So tell me what's been going on with you?"

Alanna proceeded to tell Helena about finishing with Simon and realising that she wanted to give it a try with Mike. What it was she wanted she wasn't sure as yet but one thing she knew what that she absolutely wanted to lick him from head to toe for starters and then anything after that would just be a treat. Helena knowing her friend pretty well, interrupted her increasingly lewd thoughts,

"Ha ha! Maybe you should just talk to Mike – I can take the kids with me to their uncle's and then that will give you both the space to talk."

Before Alanna could voice a response, Helena had already called,

"Mike" and was turning off the hob where the dinner had been cooking. Mike entered with Sebastian on his shoulders and Ava upside down and gripped by her ankle.

"Yeah?"

I'm taking the kids to Damon's. In his surprise he almost dropped Ava and turned stricken to Alanna,

"Are you leaving already?" He turned to Helena, "What did you say to her, she's only been here for five minutes?"

Helena smiled sweetly at him and knocked him over the head.

"No, idiot – I'm leaving with the kids, and Alanna is going to stay here while you give her some dinner."

Mike turned rapidly to Alanna hopefully and Alanna nodded shyly. Not taking his eyes from her, he said to the kids,

"Right go get your bags kiddywinks – you've got five minutes – Uncle Damon will take you to Gianni's for ice cream"

Mike had barely finished his sentence before he was drowned by excited screaming and the pitter patter of feet as they ran to pick up their stuff, Mike grinned sheepishly at Alanna who was now biting her lip in nervousness.

"You ok to wait here for a sec? You won't go?"

She nodded, still panicking inside and wondering if it was a good idea to even be contemplating this. Mike nodded encouragingly and ran after the kids to ensure they were prepared for their unexpected adventure.

Alanna ran her hands through her short hair mussing it. Her stomach was at war with her emotions. She wanted to be here; she wanted to spend her time with him but was this the right thing to do? The path was kind of clear now that she and Simon were on a break, and she knew not only was nothing going on with Helena, but that also he wanted her (whatever that meant) still. Alanna's heart pounded while her stomach churned. She heard the pitter patter of little elephantine feet as they flew down the stairs and what she assumed was out of the front door. Then she heard Helena's voice call, "See ya La La, have a good night!" prompting further churning and butterflies. She heard the door slam and then silence. Alanna bit her lip again.

**************

As Michael closed the front door, his heart lifted at the sight of his kids delighted. He pushed the door closed and lay his head against it feeling the cool of the glass against his brow which did little to soothe his nerves or the way his body was heating up at the thought of Alanna waiting for him in the kitchen, He swallowed heavily and opened his eyes promising himself that this would be the last time he let her do this to him. That, if for whatever reason they managed to cock up this gift of an evening, then he would let the idea of Alanna go because frankly his self-esteem probably couldn't take much more. He huffed another deep breath and tried to calm his racing heart as he thought about running his hands through her short hair and pulling her lip from between her teeth by licking it gently with his tongue and then he realised he was moving towards the kitchen, his fingers itching to touch her.

He pushed through the door into the kitchen, a smile on his face which dropped as he could no longer see her in the room,

"For fuck's sake!" He stormed over to the sink which overlooked the garden only to find Alanna out there in the dark deep in thought. Heaving a great sigh of relief he put a coat on and quietly made his way into the garden.

Alanna decided she liked it out here; the garden was big and in the dark was lit only by a row of citronella lanterns which circled the little pond. She was sat on a bench facing away from the house, her head turned up to the sky calling on the stars to help her nerves and to reassure her that this was ok. It seemed she received her answer when she felt a fingertip trace the whorl of her ear. It tickled and made her giggle. She turned her head over her shoulder to look at him and was once again entranced. They gazed at one another, each drinking the other in,

"I thought you'd left."

She bit her lip and shook her head wordlessly. He took that as encouragement,

"So you're going to spend the evening here with me? No pressure!"

Five minutes before, Alanna would have said she didn't know the answer to that question, but now, being with him, his fingers now stroking down her neck and up across her jawline, she decided to be brave.

"Yes please."

The reward of his delighted smile was more than enough for her and as he took her in his arms under the stars, everything else was just a bonus.