[ neunzenh ]

It had been after quite some insistence from the Bayern footballer that Lolita finally agreed to go to dinner with him. She was hungry after all and didn't want to bother the staff back home to make dinner for only one person. 

The place was on the way to the plaza that was a ways away from her family's ranch, and Thomas parked in a dirt lot, behind a grand house by the edge of town. When Lolita looked at the building with curiosity, he explained to her, "This was the house of very important people in the area." He said to Lolita with a smile. Both of them got out of the car and he led her towards the house building. "When they died, they had no heirs, so they decided to donate it to the local Catholic church. But there was one condition." He gestured to the row of trees nearby that seemed to go on for miles. "They wrote in their will that the church had to take care of the squirrels that lived in the trees back there. The church later turned this place into a restaurant, but the squirrels remain as the main residents of this place."

Lolita smiled at the story. "That's lovely, Thomas."

"If you like it, we could come and celebrate on your birthday." He said, smiling nervously. Her smile made his heart race when it was directed to him. "You're not a little girl anymore." He commented on that fact, since she would be turning eighteen the next time her birthday came around.

The seventeen year old followed her twenty four year old step-father into the restaurant. At the entrance was a young woman who smiled bright at them. "Table for you and your girlfriend, sir?" She asked Thomas. With the same knowing smile, she added a suggestion. "I can get you two a very romantic place to share the evening by candle light. Its private and really quite lovely."

Lolita felt her cheeks burning with embarrassment. Of course she thought it was normal that people would get confused and think they were an item, since she wasn't very much younger than him. What made the situation awkward was the fact that Thomas was her mother's husband.

The footballer shook his head and laughed it off nervously. "She's not my girlfriend. She's my wife's daughter."

Now the hostess was the one going red in the face with embarrassment. Her eyes darted to Thomas' hand where she spotted a ring around his finger. "Oh, I'm so sorry about that. I thought--" She stopped herself before she could say anything to get herself even more knee deep in trouble. "Nevermind. If you'll just follow me, I'll lead you to your table." She immediately grabbed two menu's off the hostess podium and gestured for them to follow her further into the restaurant. 

Lolita and Thomas stole glances at each other on the way to their table, both of them stifling laughs.

-

Their dinner together was brief, but it was a time they both enjoyed together. Thomas found himself overjoyed that all the arguing and fighting was in the past, and that Lolita didn't hate him anymore. She was back to actually enjoying his company like she did when she was a little girl and he would comfort her like an older brother. Though this was a new cycle in their lives in which he was her step-father and he had to act the part for her, now that her father had been dead for some time. 

They returned to the ranch as the run as setting behind the horizon and Lolita disappeared to her bedroom to shower. As soon as she left him, Thomas found himself crazing her attention. Like he wanted to spend every moment around her. 

He waited in the living room, watching the television to keep himself distracted when she emerged from her bedroom freshly showered almost an hour later. She was now dressed in black pajama bottoms with colorful confetti polka dots on them and an old Spanish national team jersey that had belonged to her father.

When he saw her, a small thought popped into his mind and he thought she would look even more beautiful in one of his national team jerseys with his name on the back. 

"What are you watching?" She asked him, her green eyes glancing at the screen.

He gave a shrug of his shoulders. "Nothing really. Just channel surfing."

She cut the distance between them in a few barefoot steps and plopped down on the couch beside him--no longer bothering to sit far away from him since they were getting along. She took the remote from his hand with a grin and flipped to the netflix option on the screen. 

"Lets watch a movie." She suggested.

And he didn't protest. He would watch anything--do anything--if he could do it with her.

-

Lolita had chosen a scary movie for them to watch together, and Thomas asked one of the maids to bring them popcorn, icecream and soft drinks. Digging a spoon into the tub of pistachio nut icecream--that Thomas knew was Lolita's favorite--she brought it to her lips hungrily and took a bite. Thomas did the same, having a bit of ice cream for himself. She only paused in her savoring of the treat as a thought came to her mind. "Aren't you supposed to be on some special footballer diet?" She raised an eyebrow at him curiously and a smile broke out onto her lips.

"I could say the same about you." He countered with a grin. "Aren't equestrians also supposed to be on strict diets?"

She shook her head. "Not all the time. Just about a month before competition because they don't want us being too heavy for our horses." She explained expertly. Thomas chuckled at her words and she soon joined in.

He heaved a sigh and shrugged his shoulders in a sigh of oh well. "This information of me cheating on my football diet doesn't leave the house." 

"I promise." She raised a hand as she assured him.

Though Lolita tried to be brave, she slowly found herself scooting closer to Thomas, and at one point she buried her head in his chest and her small hands gripped at the fabric of his shirt. Thomas wrapped an arm around her shoulders and rested his chin atop her head. There was a moment in time when Lolita stopped watching the movie because she was too comfortable leaning on him, breathing in his scent. It was soothing and it gently lulled her to sleep. 

She was tired, since she had slept in the hospital with her mother, on a couch that wasn't very comfortable. Her body ached, and leaning against Thomas was just the amount of comfort her body needed.

The movie ended about a half hour after her breathing slowed and she let the thought of sleep embrace her. 

Rather than shaking her awake, he carefully pulled away from her to get back on his feet. With upmost care so as not to wake her, he slid his arms beneath her small frame and lifted her off the couch easily. Lolita stirred slightly in his arms, but he rocked her back to sleep before moving down the hall to her bed room.

Thomas pushed her bedroom door open and walked over to her bed. The room was exactly as it had been when she left it--when she left him and Gabriella and she was only twelve years old--on her bed was an old stuffed horse with soft golden fur. It had been a gift from Thomas, that he had gotten for her when she started taking horseback riding lessons. He smiled to himself proudly upon learning that she still had it. It was worn and old, but it still held its place by her side on her bed.

He walked the small distance to Lolita's bed and laid her down on top of it. He then brought the sheets over the seventeen year old and pressed his lips to her forehead.

"Good night, meine sonnenschein." He whispered to her, his lips trailing to kiss her temple, then her cheek. He gulped back nervously when he saw that his lips were just centimeters from hers. But he willed the strange thoughts he was beginning to have away from his mind.

Before the thoughts could plague him, consume him, and take over him, he rushed out of the room and shut the door behind him, not looking back. He couldn't look back out of fear that he might do something he would later regret. He had already done things--several terrible things--he couldn't even say he regretted doing. They were things he would do all over again for Gabriella--and now for Lolita as well.

But he shook his head and ran a hand through his dark blonde hair in frustration. He couldn't think about that. Not when Gabriella adored him. When they were happy together. When Lolita was finally accepting him as her mother's husband.

Gabriella was his wife.

Lolita was like a daughter to him.

Like a daughter to him.

A daughter.

He had to repeat it many times in his mind. Repeat it to believe it.

And not even then.

-

suddenly thomas is having all these thoughts and mixed feelings about a girl he's supposed to love AS HIS STEP-DAUGHTER. these hoes ain't loyal tho bc gabriella loves him so much. hold onto your hats people because its only going to start to get stranger in the mind of this bavarian lad from here on out.

more likely he's going to start to think with his pants. lol.

thank you for reading and supporting, and i hope you like the update. have a wonderful week!

-clary xx