chapter thirty

lydia happily made her way over towards tatum as she quietly hummed to herself. she was grateful, which caused her to briefly stop humming. she took notice to the way her happy expression was held tightly on her face, and she almost felt as though she could feel the exciting emotion pumping through her bloodstream. she realized that she was almost as happy and excited as she had always been at the fair when she had gone, and this made her mind wander even further.

she understood that she was becoming used to being around the boy that she happily made her way toward, but she was surprised to feel such happiness around him. with all of the times he had made her afraid came the moments like present, where there was nothing separating her from the feeling of normalcy. he was becoming apart of her routine. not that she had much of one anyways, but whatever it was that lydia had pleased to do, he was going to be there doing it with her.

"what're you thinking about, baby?" tatum questioned as she made her way towards him.

lydia said nothing, but instead sent a sweet smile his way. he watched as her hair moved from behind her with her movements, followed by her glowing face in which the sun rays hit perfectly. he started to think that he would never look at her and not be held up in amazement by her features. she made him proud. even if she wasn't doing anything in particular, he was proud of her. he wanted nothing more than to show her off to those who he knew, but he understood that it would come with time.

"hm?" he questioned further, gently cupping her face into his hands as he awaited a response.

"i think you make me happy," she began, causing the boys heart to flush.

and with that, tatum began to zone out again once more. his heart sent quick thuds throughout his chest as he stared at the beautiful girl below him speaking. she was.. happy. and not only that, but she was happy with him. no one had ever said this to him before, and he was absolutely astonished to hear it coming from his lydia. he thought she would hate him forever, maybe even plot on getting away from him due to his previous actions towards her. the finishing piece to the puzzle was earning her approval, which is what he desperately needed. and now that he had it, he would do anything to keep it.

"...which is really cool! so i think that once i return home we should stay in contact! i like hanging out with you, tate." the girl finished as tatum zoned back into the conversation.

"we will, baby. believe me, we will." he stated, releasing her face from his grip as he softly swung his hand down to be in contact with hers.

now, obviously, the mention of her going home was almost painful for him to hear. and normally he would be upset about this matter, but he was too content to make a scene. he would mention it at a later date. she would eventually learn that with mentions of home comes punishment, but not at this moment. however, a loud gasp from his lydia quickly brought him out of his thought process.

"a swinging bench!" she excitedly shouted, immediately releasing tatums hand as she ran towards it.

tatum chuckled at this, watching her proudly as she ran towards it. however, taking him by surprise, she stopped herself and turned around to face him. he sent her a questioning look as she began to walk back towards him.

"together," she stated happily, reaching for his hand and gently pulling him into her direction towards the swing. tatums heart fluttered at this as well, as it reminded him of when she had said this a few days prior to now when they had first met.

after a few moments of walking, they had arrived at the swinging bench that was placed near the edge of the cliff. tatum had always loved to sit on this swing when he was younger and in high school, usually to smoke cigarettes. luckily he broke this nasty habit as soon as he started it, but the memories still held a pleasant place in his mind.

as tatum watched his little look at the sun that was soon to set on the horizon, he took the chance to sit before her. and before she knew it, lydia was grabbed from behind and placed on the boys lap, by no other than the boy himself. he smiled at her quick surprised gasp before wrapping his arms around her and bringing her small body closer towards his own.

"it's so pretty here, tate." lydia whispered in awe as she studied her surroundings from tatums lap.

"isn't it? it's truly my only happy place." he responded, wrapping his arms around her a bit more firmly. a few moments of comfortable silence went by before lydia had decided she would speak up again.

"tate?" she asked, placing her hand on his own as they were around her waist.

"little?" he replied, smiling to himself at the sound of her sweet voice.

"how old are you?" she asked quietly. tatum thought to himself before answering.

"twenty two" he stated, gulping after he did so. he knew lydias age, but she didn't know his. and due to her sheltered lifestyle and raya in her ear constantly, this worried him. and he was right, as she immediately whipped her head towards his.

"twenty two?" she asked as he sent her a nod of his head in confirmation.

he was trying desperately to read her thinking process as she took in this information, but it was difficult. this was a problem in tatums mind, because it was never difficult to read her. that's why he felt as though she was made for him, because he had a difficult time reading anyone other than his little.

however in lydias mind, she is also desperately deciding on how she would react to this.

she wasn't freaked out by his age, no, but she knew that raya would be. but lucky for tatum, raya had never discussed the proper age range to date with lydia before. since she had always put the thought into her daughters head that boys were bad overall, she never brought up the proper dating rules that most parents set with their kids. this was simply due to the fact that she thought that she would never have a problem of lydia speaking to men, so she decided it wasn't necessary to bring up.

"i'm younger than you, tate" she stated quietly, sharing a glance towards him as he held her. tatum laughed at this before responding.

"eighteen isn't much younger, little." he slyly said. this made lydias face turn red, and she decided to change the subject. she wasn't much worried about how he knew her age, though. besides, even if she did decide to ask, she knew he wouldn't answer her.

"do you have a job, tate?" she questioned with curiosity.

"no."

"then how do you have such nice things?" she continued.

"my grandma, little." he answered shortly.

"but, why?" she pressed. tatum sighed before answering.

"you know how you love raya because she's your mom?" he asked and received a nod from the small girl.

"my grandma is like my mom, little. my mother wasn't very good at taking care of my brother and i so my grandma did the job instead, and she did a really good fucking job. she fixed my brother, and she's actively fixing me-" he started to explain before lydia cut him off.

"fix you? what is there to fix, tate?" she asked.

"i don't think you're ready to know that much, little one."