The Fall Ball

23.Lucy

Chase wasted no time; in a few strides from the living room, he made it to the kitchen. I hurried after him and came to a stand beside him. His eyes widened, the muscles in his jaw ticking on his paled face. I felt my blood drain at the sight.

His little sisters were on the floor, one crying frantically with a bleeding foot.

Shards of glass, with what appeared to be sprinkles, lay scattered in the space between the two.

Chase acted swiftly without saying a word.

"Evie, just stay where you are. Don't move; I'm going to get you up," he assured her as he went to scoop her up.

"THERE'S GLASS IN MY FOOT!" Evie shrieked.

Chase lifted Evie, who was crying, her hands gripping her wounded leg that appeared to have a small shard of glass in it. He laid her on the counter by the faucet, looking at her foot. "Eves, it's only a little piece of glass. Calm down, okay?"

I went to Katie, stepping around the glassy mess, pulling her up to her knees and checking for injuries. "Are you okay, sweetie?"

"My knee hurts," she said, rubbing her eyes. "NO, DON'T TOUCH IT!"

"I'm sorry," I said as I pulled her up; she threw her hands around my neck and let me carry her.

"Can one of you tell me what happened? I was gone for five minutes! FIVE MINUTES!" he yelled in a tone I had never heard before.

Katie started crying in my arms, rubbing her eyes.

"I was trying to get the sprinkles, then I slipped from up there," Katie pointed at the counter, her face twisted with her mouth upturned as she cried. "The jar fell too, and Evie stepped on the glass."

She was shaking from cries in my arms. I give her back a small pat. "Hey, it's okay. Where's your mom?"

"She went out to get groceries." He was practically fuming as he strode across the kitchen to pull open a drawer to rummage for supplies.

I walked to the other side of the kitchen island to let Katie sit down. "I'll get some ice for Kacie!" I tell Chase and hurry to grab something cold from the fridge. Luckily, there was a packet of frozen peas. I knelt down and dabbed Katie's knee. "Does it hurt here as well?" I asked, tapping on other places on her leg to which she'd nod or shake her head, letting me know where to dab the ice.

"Couldn't you ask me to get you the jar of sprinkles? Look at what you have done," Chase fumed as he held Evie close, trying to pull out the shard on her foot. Evie was making a whole lot of noise that even made Katie stop crying and wince. "NO, NO, DON'T PULL IT OUT! NO, NO, WATER."

"But I have to wash it off," Chase said, holding Evie close, without letting her crawl away from the running faucet.

"Eves, it's only going to sting a little," Chase tried to comfort her, his tone soft and warm this time. "Just trust me, okay? We can put on the Barbie band-aids afterward."

Evie's cries then muffled a bit. Katie stopped crying as well, to everyone's relief; her knee stopped hurting, and she had no difficulty walking.

"Let's ask your brother if he can get you something to eat," I told her before walking over to where Chase was tending to Evie.

"There. All better?" Chase asked Evie, gently placing the band-aid over the wound. She nodded with a sniff.

"Katie? You okay?" He peered over to look at Katie sitting where I left her, dangling her feet. She nodded as well. Quietly sitting on the chair without moving. Probably afraid she'd upset her older brother somehow.

Chase sighed, visibly exhausted as his eyes fell onto the mess on the floor.

"Don't worry; we can clean that up," I offered. "Put something on TV for them? Maybe with some snacks?"

Chase grimaced, "You're asking me to reward this kind of behavior?"

I shrugged. "A little distraction can help everyone calm down."

Chase rubbed his eyes and nodded, scooping up Evie in his arms. "There's lava cake in the oven. When it's ready, I'll bring it over. You two will sit and wait until Mom comes now. Come, Kates." He gestured to her sister.

"Please don't tell Mom," Katie pleaded. "Oh, Mom's gonna know," Chase asserted sternly. But his mild threats were followed by soft-spoken words of assurance. "Next time if you want something that's out of your reach, just ask me, okay?"

He took his sisters to the couch to put something on TV for them.

Listening to him speak so lovingly to his sisters just made me fall in love with him a little bit more. It reminded me of why I love him. I shake my head and walk around the kitchen island to find a broom and a dustpan to clean the mess. I started with the bloodied cotton pads by the faucet, throwing them into the bin.

After a while, Chase walked in. I was sweeping up the floor, piling the shards of glass and sprinkles. "Lu, you don't have to do it."

"Almost done!" I said, steadying the dustpan to sweep the pile of rubble. Chase and I shared a glance, and we let out a soft chuckle. "I shouldn't have left them unsupervised for five minutes."

"Aren't they unsupervised now?"

Chase looked behind him, "Usually, they can stay still when they're watching Phineas and Ferb. It's always like this. This isn't the first time they broke something and got hurt. It's like they're trying to test how much trouble they can get into when they are not being watched.

"Well, accidents happen. They're kids. We just need to make sure they're okay and clean up this mess."

We silently cleaned the kitchen. Chase retrieved a mop and some tape to deal with the smaller glass fragments scattered on the floor. I crouched down to pick up the larger pieces that couldn't be swept into the dustpan.

"Thanks Lu, I really appreciate you helping with all of this. I know it's not what you signed up for when you came over,"." He said, breaking the silence.

"That's what friends do-OUCH!" One of the glass shards slipped, cutting the tip of my finger, making a bubble of blood seep to the surface.

Chase was immediately at my side, throwing the mop on the floor with a thud. And without uttering a word, he gently grabbed my injured hand, squinting at the cut, and he put my finger in his mouth.

It happened fast, and I knew it was purely instinctive, but the small searing pain was the last thing on my mind as I stared at him, mouth agape, feeling the warmth of his lips and tongue along with the coldness of his teeth against my finger.

I couldn't help but feel a flutter of something more than the throbbing pain in my fingertip. It took a while for Chase to realize what he had just done. When he did, he let go of my finger, blushing profusely.

"Oh, um, sorry. I was just... trying to stop the bleeding," he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

I stared at him in utter disbelief.

"Did you just... suck on my blood?"

"Ugh..."

"I was picking up shards from the floor! My finger was unsanitary!"

"Oh well, it's clean now." He stuck his tongue out and pointed at it. "Natural disinfectant."

A snort escaped me, a feeble attempt to stop the rapid thumping of my heart with a little bit of humor. "I knew it. You're a vampire," I managed to chuckle, though my voice wavered slightly.

He shook his head, clicking his tongue in a pretense of disappointment.

"Well since the secret is out I might as well—Argh!" He feigned an attack on my neck, swiftly leaning forward, angling his face.

Startled, I stumbled sideways letting out a yelp, "Hey!"

His nose brushed my collarbone, making me dangerously aware of his closeness. I looked up at him, my breaths almost coming in pants. He only made it worse when he lowered his eyes to my lips, leaning forward.

The loud ringing of an alarm startled us both. Chase stepped back and pulled out his phone. "Ugh, we should-uh, it's time to get the lava cakes out of the oven."