“Again.”

“I love myself.”

“Louder.”

“Kai…”

“Louder, Olivia.”

“I love myself!”

“One more time.”

“I love myself!” I catch the look her coach gives us when Olivia shouts that, but I can’t be too focused on her. Not when Olivia’s bright smile demands my attention.

“How’d that feel?” I ask.

She giggles. “Actually? Really good. I’m kind of a boss.”

I step into her and brush another kiss against her forehead. “Nothing kind of about it, Olivia.”

She steps out of my hold and looks up at me, wiggling her eyebrows. “And that right there? Is why you get to kiss me in all my sweaty glory.”

I make the most out of that prize before I wrap my arm around her shoulders and walk her home.

“You know I don’t need a babysitter, right?”

As much as I love my Friday night tradition of making dumplings with Po Po, I want my parents to know they aren’t slick. It’s no coincidence that Po Po started this tradition on my parents’ weekly date night.

Mom looks at my reflection from the mirror in her and Dad’s room while she applies another coat of lipstick.

“Babysitter? Po Po isn’t coming over to babysit. Why would you say that?”

“Because she’s not coming over until you leave and she’s staying until you get back. That’s babysitting.”

“Are you too cool for your grandmom now?” she asks.

“No, but I’m fourteen and I don’t need a babysitter.”

Her brows rise and her eyes lower as she inspects me. “Mm-hmm.”

“What she’s trying to say,”—my dad’s loud voice echoes through the hallway as he comes around the corner—”is that we know you don’t need a babysitter, but number one, Kylie does, and number two, you can’t have both. Either your grandmom comes over or Livvy doesn’t. Because we’re too young to be grandparents.”

It takes everything in me not to suck my teeth at that. You get caught making out with your girlfriend in your room one time and suddenly your dad acts like you’re an after-school special.

Olivia and I have been exploring our bodies together but we haven’t had sex nor have we talked about it yet, so they don’t need to worry about that.

But I won’t lie, I’ve thought about it. More than a few times.

“Kai, are you listening?” my mom asks, grabbing her sweater off her and Dad’s bed.

“Yep, got it. No Po Po means no Olivia.”

She cups her hand against my cheek and smiles. “You’ll understand when you’re a parent one day.”

They hug and kiss Kylie and me goodbye before walking out to greet Po Po as she pulls into the driveway, then get in their car to leave.

“Po Po!” Kylie screams as she runs and jumps into her arms. She catches her with ease, hugs her tight, and whispers something in her ear before lowering her to the ground and holding her hand the whole way back up to the house. Her salt-and-pepper hair is braided down her back and swings as she walks. Her kind eyes light up when they see me, and her hand is already rising to touch my cheek before she even reaches me.