Sky's house had a nice little backyard garden that was lush and green even in the abhorrent Californian summer heat. The grass was neatly cut, a variety of different colored roses adorned the yard and there was even a small fountain with a statue of a naked woman standing on a seashell in the center of it.

"I know, it's so kitsch," Sky had said with an eye roll the first time Hawk had seen the fountain. "But my Dad loves it. That's Botticelli's Venus - you know, the most beautiful woman in the world?"

"You're way more beautiful," he had replied with a smirk, and even if Sky had waved that compliment off, the blushing of her cheeks had told Hawk she had been pleased.

Now, as Hawk was sitting in that garden having a celebratory dinner with his Mom (his dad couldn't have made it, what a surprise) Sky, and her dad - half listening about the adults prattling about things he didn't find interesting at all such as the weather, his eyes wandered back to the sculpture. Water was softly dripping down Venus' curves right in front of his eyes, and yeah, he had to admit it was a nice sight. Venus had a great pair of tits, pretty much the same shape and size as Sky's—

He dragged his eyes off the naked marble curves.

Was it weird to be turned on by a sculpture?

Yes. Fucking Hell. He had to stop checking out Venus. Why the fuck were all the ladies in the art naked anyway? Probably because the renaissance masters didn't have internet and free porn, Hawk thought, rolling his eyes to his own thoughts and clearing his throat that suddenly felt a bit thick.

Though, the truth was he wasn't really horny because of that damn sculpture but because of Sky, who was sitting right next to him in her pretty, turquoise summer dress, her hair falling free on her shoulders. She looked so fucking pretty that it made his chest ache, and her familiar scent of vanilla was mixed with the scent of the rose garden making Hawk all high-headed and restless as if he was drunk.

He glanced at her and their eyes met. She gave him one of those knowing looks as if she knew exactly what he'd been thinking about, and Hawk felt how his cheeks flushed. It was only a couple of days since their heated encounter in the empty locker room but it felt like fucking ages. He just couldn't stop thinking about it - the way she had moaned when he had entered her, and the feeling of her slick insides clenching his dick—

Without a condom.

Shit! Just thinking about that made his blood boil, and he shifted on his chair.

It had been too close. He almost hadn't been able to pull out in time, and fucking Hell that was like playing with fire. No matter how fucking good it had felt, he didn't wanna take that kind of risk again - so he had condoms in the pockets of his sweats even now, even on this family dinner, because hey - you never knew. Better to be prepared.

His wandering thoughts were interrupted by Sky's dad, who placed a huge plate filled with different kinds of grilled things onto the table, making Hawk realize he really needed to stop thinking about sex before things got awkward.

"There you go," Sky's dad said cheerily. "Grilled chicken and vegetables. I hope you like it."

Hawk cleared his throat. "That looks amazing, Mr. O'Br—- I mean, Nicholas."

His cheeks heated - again. It would take some time before that name came naturally to him. He still found Sky's dad intimidating as Hell.

Hawk's Mom - who had happily accepted the invitation to celebrate Sky and Hawk's success in the tournament, took a look at all the food on the table and gave Sky's dad a bright smile. "I'm so glad you invited us. Everything looks great. And what a lovely garden you have, Nicholas!"

Nicholas took a seat at the table and glanced at the roses and the fountain. "Oh, thank you. I enjoy gardening, I find it very relaxing after a hard day's work."

"I can imagine," Hawk's mom said, as she started taking salad onto her plate. "Eli tells me you work a lot."

"That so?" Nicholas glanced at Hawk, who swallowed nervously. He had no memory of even telling mom what Sky's dad did for a living but probably had done so at some point. "Well, I have been blessed with great opportunities and a chance to do what I love for a living. It is easy to bury oneself in work in those circumstances."

"Are you gonna take any time off during the summer, dad?" Sky asked, reaching for the grilled vegetables. Hawk helped her by holding the giant plate for her while she picked some slices of zucchini and eggplant and placed them on her plate.

"Well, now that you ask, I do have some news for you," Nicholas said, taking a sip of his wine.

"Oh," Sky turned her eyes to her dad. "Is it about that TV show?"

"What TV show?" Hawk asked. He passed the eggplants - he always had fricking hated eggplants, not that he was going to say that - and instead went for the chicken which smelled heavenly.

"The wonders of the world," Sky replied with a smirk. "It's a National Geographic production about, well, the wonders of the world. So, what happened dad? They still want you?"

"Oh yes, they want me," Nicholas replied rather smugly. "And now we have agreed on the terms. I'll be in two episodes, which is nice. Anything more could have been burdensome. Anyhow, we're filming this summer in Rome and Naples."

Sky let out an excited squeal and clapped her hands. Her red curls bounced around her pretty face. "Yay! I'm so happy! My dad is gonna be a celebrity!"

That made Nicholas arch a brow. "Your dad is already a celebrity, darling."

"Dad, winning the Herbert Baxter Adams Prize doesn't make you a celebrity," Sky replied with an eye roll. "Nor do the stupid podcasts that no one listens to anyway."

"Now, you're hurting my feelings. The latest one was pretty popular."

"Yes, maybe in some circles," Sky noted while piling salad on her already overflowing plate, and her tone told exactly what she thought about the said circles. "This TV show sounds actually cool though, it might even interest someone who isn't, you know, a mummy."

Hawk's brows arched and he sucked in a laugh. He could never have talked to his mom like that. Not in a million years, no matter how badass he was outside his house -at home he still had a healthy respect for his mom.

But Nicholas only laughed and his eyes were soft and full of love when he looked at Sky. Suddenly that look made Hawk bitter - not once had his own dad looked at him like that. Yeah, he knew that mom loved him and would have done anything for him, but sometimes... sometimes he felt like Dad didn't even remember he existed. Hell, dad hadn't probably even noticed that Hawk had changed his hair or started doing Karate. And when Sky had called and asked if Hawk's family wanted to come for dinner, he hadn't even asked dad because what was the point?

Hawk glanced at Mom - he was happy she had made it. She had been cheering for him in the All Valley too, and it had felt pretty damn good to hear that Mom was proud of his second place in the tournament - and she hadn't even grounded him despite seeing the Hawk tattoo on his back, which was a fucking miracle.

"I'm glad that you are excited." Nicholas was saying to Sky. "This production is a pretty big deal and the filming is going to take several weeks--"

"Wait, what?" Sky suddenly turned serious. "Does this mean... that we'll spend the summer in Italy?"

"Yes," her father replied. "At least three weeks, maybe four."

"But—! But, Dad—!" Sky went pale, she glanced at Hawk and now he too realized what this meant. His appetite was suddenly gone, it felt like someone had kicked him in the gut.

He swallowed hard, to repel the growing fear.

"But dad I can't leave for a month!" Sky cried out, her voice almost breaking. "I have karate, and... and Eli." She looked at Hawk again, and took his hand under the table, gluing her palm against his.

A month? A month without Sky?

Just as he'd started to think that this would be the best summer of his life, and now... without Sky it would be the fucking worst.

It would kill him. Even a day without seeing her was torture - a month would no doubt be enough to rip the heart out of his chest, not to mention the amount of sexual frustration that separation would cause, free internet porn or not - shit! - he didn't even wanna think about that!

He would fucking die if they were forced apart - and meeting Sky's gaze told him that she felt the same way.

"Sky—" Nicholas started to say something, but Sky interrupted him.

"Dad please, can't Eli come with us?" She asked with a pleading tone, and Hawk felt how her fingers gripped his. "Kat was with us so many times! We could make it work, Dad, please, I'll do anything—!"

Her dad let out a soft laugh. "Well, I had a feeling you'd ask something like that. And because I am the best father in the world—"

Sky let out a gasp, her whole body went tense like a string.

"— I took the liberty of asking Eli's Mom how she felt about it." Nicholas finished his sentence.

In suspense, both Hawk and Sky turned their eyes to his mom. Hawk's throat bobbed, he was so nervous he could barely speak.

"Mom?"

"Well," mom said with a hesitant smile in her gentle dark blue eyes. "At first I said no, but Nicholas made some good points. So I thought it over, and yes - it is okay."

Hawk's jaw dropped.

"For real?" he asked. "You're not kidding me?"

"Yes, for real." Mom replied with a small laugh. "But not for the whole time, only for a week and a half. And I am coming too, to keep an eye on you."

Hawk turned to look at Sky, a wide grin on his lips. He was still unable to find words - shit, this couldn't be real! It had been ages since he'd been anywhere. Yes, they had traveled when he'd been smaller - when Dad had been different and he had wanted to spend time with his family instead just working all the time - but even then they had only been to Disneyland and stuff. The only time they had been abroad, had been a vacation in a beach resort in Cancun when Hawk had been nine. The only thing he remembered about that holiday was the day trip to Chichen Itza - where he'd been horribly eaten by mosquitos and had ended up in ER because of an allergic reaction.

Spending a night in a hospital where no one spoke English but everyone stared at his stupid deformed lip and swollen face wasn't his best childhood memory. They hadn't traveled abroad since, and Hawk had never asked if they could.

But maybe it was time now. Traveling to Europe with Sky, Hell yeah, that would be awesome!

Even the fact that Mom was coming too didn't drag him down. He knew she never would have let him go by himself anyway.

Sky couldn't hold back her joy. She jumped up and hugged her dad, then circled the table hopping with excitement, and hugged Hawk's mom too. Then she rushed back to Hawk and kissed him, clearly not giving a shit about the fact that her dad and his mom were watching - but luckily she kept the kiss short - but even that was enough to make Hawk blush fiercely.

"Oh my God, we're gonna have so much fun!" she squealed when breaking the kiss and returning to her own seat. "This is the best day of my life!"

Her dad laughed, but his eyes were suddenly serious as he answered: "You deserve some fun. After the past year..." he stopped mid-sentence and swallowed. "Well, what can I say? I want you to be happy. And I can see you are only happy when Eli is around, so."

"Aww, dad," Sky grinned. "Are you turning soft?"

"Maybe I've always been a softie," he replied, and then as if this subject was in fact embarrassing him, he glanced around the table and said: "Now, why isn't anybody eating? The food is getting cold."

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