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“Ready to go, Jakey?” Charles asked. He was taking Jake to the toy store for his birthday.
“Yeah!” Jake jumped up and ran to his friend.
“Charles, you can buy him one toy,” Amy said, sternly.
“Aw, only one?” Charles asked. “But it’s his birthday!” He had a tough time telling Jake ‘no,’ especially when he was little.
“ One, Boyle . Jake, pick the toy you like the best.”
“Okay, Mama. Love you.”
“I love you too, baby. Have fun.”
Charles made sure Jake’s seatbelt was buckled, then drove him to the toy store.
“How has your birthday been so far, buddy?” Charles asked.
“Good! Me and Mama watched Aladdin and we had chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast!”
“Oh, that sounds awesome!”
“Mhmm! They weren’t as good as when you make them, but they were okay.”
Charles smiled. He couldn’t wait for later that night to show Jake the birthday cake he’d made!
“Stay by me, okay, Jakey?” Charles said. “Let’s go look at some toys!”
“Yay!”
“Do you know what you want yet?”
“No. Gotta look.”
“Right, of course.” Charles deliberately ignored the shopping carts they passed so he wouldn’t be tempted to fill one with toys. He didn’t doubt that Amy would hurt him if he bought more than one toy. “Lead the way, Jakey.”
Jake grinned and started making his way up and down the aisles. There were tons of good toys, but nothing that screamed “Take me home, Jake!”
“Ooh, look at all these Legos, Jake! Do any of these look good? Let’s see there’s the Avengers, Pokémon....” Charles kept listing the various Lego sets, not noticing that Jake kept walking.
“What do you think, any of these? We can build it together!” Charles looked to his right for Jake. He wasn’t there. He turned to the left. Still no Jake. Crap. “Jake? Jakey?! Where are you?!”
A million scenarios ran through his head. What if Jake got hurt or-or kidnapped?!
“Amy’s going to murder me.”
Charles began running through the entire store, looking for his missing best friend. He wasn’t in the dress-up aisle, or by the action figures, or the board games. Where was he?!
Something caught his eye as Charles ran past the stuffed toys.
A giant brown teddy bear on the floor. Sleeping against the bear’s stomach was Jake.
“Oh, thank god!” Charles sighed. He walked into the aisle and gently shook Jake’s shoulder. “Jakey, wakey wakey!”
Jake opened his eyes and yawned. He smiled up at Charles.
“You were supposed to stay right next to me, Jake!”
“Oh. Sorry. But, look, I found the toy I want!” Jake grinned and lifted one of the teddy bear’s massive arms.
Charles’s eyes widened slightly. “I think Amy might murder me if we brought that home.”
Jake pouted. “But she said to pick the toy I like the best! I like this one!”
“Well...alright. Do you need help carrying it?”
“I got it!” Jake stood and dragged the teddy onto his back, dragging it through the store to the cash register. He giggled as he dropped it. “I think this might be bigger than Terry!”
“Yeah, maybe. We can compare their heights later when he comes over.”
“Okay!”
“What is that ?” Amy demanded as Jake and Charles brought the giant teddy bear inside.
“Teddy, Mama!”
Amy glared at Charles. He held his hands up, defensively.
“You said one! And Jake said this is the one he liked best!”
Amy sighed and looked over at Jake who was giggling as he hugged the teddy bear.
“Fine. But only because it’s his birthday. If this happens again, you’re dead, Boyle.”
“Understood.” Charles smiled down at Jake. “Happy birthday, buddy.”