Dean's Life

Line Jumping

   Dean's pov

I picked up Drew from daycare then swung over to the gradeschool to get Katie. After getting them buckled in, I told them about the surprise outing Dad had planned for us at Chuck E Cheese this afternoon. Dad was meeting us at the arcade since he'd be leaving straight afterward from there as he headed off on his next quest for adventure, God only knows what or where.

The kids were really excited about playing all the games and getting tokens to trade in for cheap little prizes and having pizza for dinner. They also have a little indoor playground there with tunnels and slides and stuff to climb on so the kids should be pretty worn out by the time we're done. Early to bed for the kiddos means early access to get in my woman's pants.

When we entered the restaurant and got our hands stamped, I told the kids to stay with me so I could get their tokens first and then they could either play some of the arcade games before the pizza was ready, or they could take turns going down the giant slide in the indoor playplace. Katie nodded and followed along but when I went to grab Drew's hand, he was already running in the other direction.

"Drew, get back here!" I yelled.

"No, I wanna play this bowling game," he replied, as he continued on his way, completely ignoring my directions.

I told Katie to stay with Dad and then I trotted after him.

When I finally got through the sea of noisy, sticky children, I grabbed Drew's arm and said, "Buddy, we have to get the tokens first, or you won't even be able to play the games."

Ripping his arm from my grasp, he loudly protested, "No! I wanna play this game now!"

"Come on," I said, trying to grab his hand.

"NO!" he screamed, throwing himself on the floor as he started his tantrum.

I took a deep breath and shook my head. I hadn't penciled tantrums into tonight's itinerary until over an hour from now. We're way ahead of schedule. Running my hand down my face, I thought if Katie pulled this crap, I'd beat her butt all the way to the bathroom and then I'd take her over my knee and give her a proper spanking once we got there. Somehow I don't think Amy would be on board with me taking that approach with Drew. Oh if only life were ever easy.

Sighing, I knelt down next to Drew.

"I know you want to play the game, little buddy, so let's go get your tokens so you can do that. Ok?" I explained through gritted teeth, as I tried desperately to harness every bit of restraint in my body.

After repeating myself a dozen times, trying futilely to use logic on a hyperactive four-year-old, God finally smiled down on me as Drew stood up and agreed to come with me. Dad gave me a very judgmental look, shaking his head in disbelief as soon as we approached him. Katie stood next to the token machine, fidgeting impatiently.

"What took you so long?" she whined.

One fierce look from me and she shut her mouth right quick. Even though she's only been on this earth for seven short years, she's wise enough to know better than to test me in this situation. I got the tokens out of the machine and rationed some out to the kids, saving the rest for after we eat. I sent them on their way with another warning to behave before I went over to the counter to order the pizza.

John's pov

While Dean stood in the incredibly long, slow moving line to order our food, I sat down in one of the booths that had a good vantage point so I could keep an eye on Katie and the boy. First they went to the skee ball machines, then they went to the electronic bowling lanes with the plastic pins. Katie seemed to get bored with that pretty quickly so she went over to the giant wheel you can spin to try and win large amounts of tickets. After blowing through the handful of tokens Dean gave them, they both ran over to the indoor playground.