Only One Kiss (Only One 1)

“You are so beautiful,” I say, and she wraps her hand around my finger. “You got my finger,” I say, and she kicks her foot now. Looking up, I see Ralph standing there.

“Do you want me to take her?” he asks, and I shrug.

“I’m good, but do you think you can get me some water?” Nodding, he walks over to the fridge, takes out a bottle of water, and then opens it for me. I take a sip and Ariella lets go of her bottle to squeal. “Is that so?” I ask, and she smiles and kicks her feet while finishing her bottle. Ralph comes over and sits in front of us, waiting for her to finish, and when she does, I put the bottle on the table and then stand her up on my legs as she grabs my hair as she smiles and yells. “Well, you are a happy baby once your stomach is full,” I say, and she bounces on my legs.

“You sure you don’t want me to take her?” he asks, and for the first time, I look over at him, and he is smiling at me genuinely.

“I’m good,” I say. “Why don’t you go out and hang with the boys, and I can hang with the girl.”

“I couldn’t do that,” he says, and I get up now, putting her on my hip.

“Fine, then I’ll come outside with her and just keep taking her from you,” I say and then look over at Ariella. “Do you want to go and play on the grass with me?”

“Play on the grass?” he asks. I see him taking his phone out of his pocket. “Is that safe? I’m going to google.”

I throw my head back and laugh. “Okay, let me know what it says,” I say and turn to walk out of the door with her. “I’m going to get a huge towel, and we are going to go sit on the grass and sing about the wheels going round and round on the bus,” I say as I walk out of the house seeing Miller standing there with a beer in his hand. The minute he sees me, he walks over to me hurriedly.

“There you are,” he says once he gets close enough. Ralph stands at my back, then comes to stand at my side. “I have a situation.”

“Oh, good God, Miller.” I roll my eyes and shake my head. “What now?”

“Well, what if by accident I sent out a picture of a certain area of myself?” He looks at Ralph with a smirk. “And by accident or maybe even a glitch, it got sent to all my contacts?” He stands there, moving his head back and forth.

“You didn’t.” I laugh at him. “Did you tell Nico?” I ask.

“I was going to do that next,” he says. “I just want to know what I should do. Like what is your professional opinion on how to handle this?”

“Did you delete it?” I ask, and he rolls his eyes at me like I’m an idiot.

“Obviously,” he says. “As soon as I got a message from my sister asking me what was wrong with me. And that I’m gross.”

“You sent a picture of your dick to another woman and you’re telling your girlfriend that?” Ralph says from beside me and I just look at him. “And you’re okay with this?” He turns to asks me.

“My girlfriend?” Miller says the same time I say, “He wishes.”

“Dude, she is my social media advisor,” Miller says, and I laugh now and then look at Ariella.

“He’s so funny because if I was his advisor, he would have deleted the app when I told him to since he doesn’t know how social media works.” I look at Miller. “Delete the app.”

“Can we say that someone hacked my phone?” he asks, taking his phone out, and I shake my head.

“How many contacts do you have?” Ralph asks and then takes out his own phone. “And I wonder if I got the picture.”

“Oh, yeah, can you check?” Miller asks, and I shake my head, walking around them to the chair where I find a folded towel.

“Are we going to go and play in the grass?” I ask, and Ari slaps my boob with her hand. “Are we going to sing?” I ask as I find a spot on the grass underneath one of the big trees. I open the towel on the grass and then sit with her between my legs, making sure I don’t flash everyone. “Look at all those people, Ariella.”

I look over and spot Miller putting his head back and then shouting over at me. “I just deleted it again.” Shaking my head, I roll Ariella over onto her back. Her hands and feet move as she laughs at me. I grab her feet and start to sing “The Wheels on the Bus,” and when I’m almost finished, I look up at Ralph who just stands there watching us.