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Two weeks later…
"Hello?" Damon called as he swung open the front door to his home. No answer came to him as he shrugged off his backpack in the living room. "Mom? Caleb? Ros?" He walked into the kitchen to check the message board.
It looks like you beat us home. I took Caleb, Ros, and Shia to the park down the street for a little bit. We'll be back before dark. –Sharon
'Huh, I guess mom isn't done running her errands yet,' he thought as he turned to walk back out the front door.
Regardless of the work out he had gotten in practice that afternoon, Damon found himself ignoring his car in the driveway and jogging down the block towards the park. Despite his best efforts to prevent it, a small smile formed on his face at the thought of seeing Sharon again, and he found himself moving faster towards the park. The smile grew into a broad grin though when he came to the field and found that a mini-football game had sprung up involving his siblings, a few other kids from the local elementary, his dog, and even Sharon while a few of the neighborhood parents watched from the sidelines. Damon himself hung back a moment to watch as the kids ran around, squealing in delight as they ran around with a soft football, more playing keep away from Shia than really playing football, but having fun nonetheless.
He watched as Sharon caught the ball after it had been thrown to her from one of Caleb's classmates. She jogged a few paces forward before allowing herself to be "tackled" by a couple of the kids and Shia. Laughing, she let Ros "steal" the football from her and run towards one end of the field with the prized football clutched tight in her arms. With the attention off of her for the moment, Sharon was able to pick herself up off the ground, gather her hair back into a messy ponytail, and jog slowly back to the action, never once taking her eyes off the kids. She cheered along with everyone else when Ros, by far one of the younger kids playing on the field that day, scored a touchdown and jumped up and down in victory. "Great job, Ros!" she yelled out before another play began.
The smile on Damon's face was a genuine one and after watching a few minutes, felt the urge to join in on the fun himself. He watched as the football sailed in the air a moment and ran forward to catch it.
"Damon!" more than half the kids there cried out when they noticed that he was there too. Immediately, they went to tackle the new "big kid" and were successful in bringing the guy down, much to the delight of the kids there. Still, he managed to keep the ball away from the kids. "Sharon! Here!"
The shock Sharon had gotten from seeing Damon appear almost magically from nowhere dissolved into laughter at the sight of Damon being lost under a pile of kids. His calling her name though, shook her out of her laughter and she easily caught the ball and began running around the field, doing her best to stay just out of reach of the kids who followed her. Shia, however, was not to be outrun and it was the dog's turn to tackle Sharon and bring her to the ground this time. The ball came to Caleb's hands now and he quickly passed it on to one of his friends, who ended up making the last touch down of the game. With cheers all around, parents slowly gathered up their kids and everyone started making their way home as the sun dipped lower to the horizon and the street lights slowly began to turn on.
Caleb and Ros were still full of energy as they made their way back to the Cardinet household. Caleb was relaying play by play the entire game to Damon while Ros threw a twig she'd found for Shia to retrieve. Only Sharon remained on the quiet side, enjoying the walk as she convinced her hear to slow down, both from the running around and at having Damon so close.
Once inside, Damon sent the two upstairs to wash up before turning back to Sharon. "You're a little quiet, Sharon. You okay?" Damon asked.
She smiled. "I'm fine. Just a little tired I guess from the running. I'm just not used to it anymore," she shrugged.
"Growing up does that sometimes," he smiled back. "Anyway, would you like something to drink before you head home?"
"That's okay," she replied, shaking her head. "I'll just get my stuff together and head on home now that you're here to watch over them. Thanks anyway though, Damon," she added as she went to go pick up her backpack off the living room floor.
"Wait! Do you have to go now?"
"Well, no, I don't technically have to go now, I guess, if you can't take care of your brother and sister on your own…" her eyes twinkled with laughter.
"Hey, I resent that!" he retorted, but laughed anyway. "I just wanted to make sure I gave you something before you left though." He turned to get his own backpack and, after reaching in, he pulled out an envelope.
"What's this?" she asked, taking the package he was offering to her.
"Those are your Homecoming pictures with Vin. He was going to give you your share in the morning but then we remembered that you were baby-sitting over here this afternoon so he just gave your share to me to give to you. He thought you'd want it."
She smiled as she opened the packet and saw the pictures inside. "Thanks, Damon. That was nice of you to do that."
"Oh! And here," he said, remembering that he had something else to give to her. He reached again into his backpack and pulled out a similar looking envelope. "Here are the group pictures that we got. I didn't have a chance to cut them up and give them out right after school today because of practice, but since you're here now, I may as well give you your share."
"Thank you," she replied, smiling as she looked down at this set of pictures. "Now I can show this to my parents and they can finally put faces to the names I keep giving them." Something though, caught her eye. "Oh no! Riley has his eyes closed in this one!"
Damon started laughing. "Yeah, I noticed that too, but all I can say is I'm glad it's him and not me this time. Somehow, one of us always manages to have our eyes closed in these pictures."
She smiled. "It's still a really good picture though, especially considering how you and the guys cleaned up so well for a dance."
"Look who's talking! You do realize you've just been playing in a field with a bunch of kids and a dog and that you're not exactly the definition of clean right now, right?"
"All the more reason for me to get home and get cleaned up," she laughed. "And besides, now that you're here now, I can go home a little earlier than expected and help out with dinner."
"What about getting paid? Mom should be back soon. I'd give you the money but–"
"Oh, don't worry about it Damon," she brushed it off. "Next time," she smiled and turned toward the door. "Thanks again for the pictures, Damon. I'll see you in school tomorrow."
Once again, she turned towards the door and this time, Damon couldn't come up with any reason quickly enough to delay her as she yelled out her good-byes to Caleb and Rosaline. With a quick smile and wave, she was out the door and moving towards her car. Damon waved back when she pulled out and headed on home, the smile on his face not fading one bit as he watched her pull away.