"I'm OK, really. It's not that big of a deal, and I know I shouldn't let it get to me."
Nico's jaw was clenched, and a nerve ticked on the side of his neck. His eyes were narrowed on me, and I had trouble meeting his gaze again.
"It's rude and fucking not true, Allie. Not one single bit of it. He's just some asshole living in his mother's basement, trying to make him feel better about himself by tearing other people down."
He kissed me again, gently, then pulled me close again. With his arms wrapped around me, he swayed back and forth, rocking me like I do to Gracie when I'm trying to comfort her. I squeezed him around the waist again and patted his ass.
"Come on, I could use a bottle of water and then we need to get back to my folks' house for Gracie. They'll be back from the Pier soon, I'm sure, and Mom and Dad will be ready for a nap if I had to guess."
He gave me a kiss on the temple and let me go. I grabbed a water and my purse before we headed out to the garage to attempt our clandestine getaway. I leaned over to rest my head on Nico's thigh again as he drove out through gate, easily bypassing the four paparazzi waiting outside for something exciting to happen. They made no attempt to follow us, but Nico took a meandering route to be safe.
I called my mom from the car to let her know we were on our way back. They had just gotten home, and Nico suggested that we pick up dinner for all of us on the way. Mom agreed and passed on their order for the Chinese place near their house.
Gracie was excited to see us and couldn't wait to tell us about the "fairy wheel" they'd ridden several times.
"It's Ferris wheel, sweet pea," I gently corrected, over-enunciating the word.
She scrunched up her nose in confusion, as she held a forkful of fried rice up to her mouth. "What's a ferris?" she asked.
"Uh, well, that's a good question. Let me look it up." I put down my fork and pulled my phone out of my back pocket. A quick Google search gave me my answer. "Ferris was the lastname of the man who invented the first one. He designed it and it was named after him."
"Oh," she said, looking disappointed at such a mundane answer. "I think a fairy wheel would be more funner."
Nico grinned at her and reached for the carton of orange chicken. "I think so, too, princess," he told her. She was happy to have someone agree with her and held up her hand so he could give her a high-five.
After dinner, she regaled us with tales of their adventures that day, and then decided to show Nico her new dance moves.
"Do you know how to do the chicken dance, Uncle Nico?"
He looked a little startled at the abrupt change in subject. "Uh, I don't think so, why?"
"Cuz I'm good at doing it. Wanna see?" He nodded, and she asked me to pull up the music on my phone for her. It started playing, and Nico looked at me questioningly.
"She means the Funky Chicken," I said with a grin. "She taught it to Hannah and Dean the other day."
Gracie entertained us with her best chicken impersonations, until she was almost asleep on her feet. After she made her rounds telling everyone goodnight, I got her ready for bed, deciding her bath could wait until the morning.
I came back into the living room to find Nico in discussion with my parents about the upcoming album release. As I walked over to sit down, Nico pulled me close to him on the sofa and draped his arm around my shoulders. He kissed my temple and whispered "We should tell them that you're moving in."
I glanced at him and nodded, then turned to my parents. "Uh, so, Nico and I talked, and uh..." Shit! I felt like a teenager telling my parents about my first boyfriend.
Nico squeezed my shoulder and said, "I want Allie and Gracie to move in with me as soon as possible."
My mom smiled and patted my father's leg. "We figured that would happen sooner or later, sweetie."
Dad nodded and said "Well, your house is certainly more secure and safer for them than Allie's place. We drove by earlier, and there were several people with cameras loitering in front of her driveway."
I rolled my eyes. "Great, I'd hoped they had gone away since I obviously wasn't home."
"We really need to release that statement in the morning, Sunshine. Get the ball rolling so they'll leave us alone."
"Statement?" Dad asked.
"Yes, our publicist believes that if we release a statement and a photo or two, they will lose interest sooner rather than later. Allie and I are going to do a video statement."
Turning to me, he said, "What time can I pick you up in the morning? Is Gracie going to preschool?"
Mom piped up, "Why don't we keep her for the rest of the week, to give things a bit more time to settle down?"
