Ollie sucked the vile blueberry mix through his straw.
He didn't want it. He didn't want any of this. David had no right—
"Listen," Marco said after a sip of coffee. "How about you and Ollie come with me to my place? I don't live far, and I'd love to make you dinner."
Ollie spit the straw from his mouth.
"That sounds nice," David agreed readily.
"No!" Ollie shouted and accidentally knocked off the glass with the blueberry smoothie. It wasn't deliberate, just clumsy of him, but paired with his outraged shout, it had the appearance of a tantrum.
The glass crashed to the floor, customers around them looked uncomfortable and embarrassed, and before Ollie realized what was happening, an angry David rose from his chair and lifted Ollie from his booster seat. "We'll be back," he told Marco and headed with Ollie to the back of the store and the restroom.
The room was empty, and David placed Ollie on the sink counter.
"Ollie, you're being a spoiled brat," he said in a restrained tone.
"You're with me, not him."
"Ollie, I told you... I don't think we're going to work out," David said. "And I really like Marco. There's something about him..."
"But you said... you pwomised.."
"I know, but the way you've acted this entire time just confirms how immature you are," David said.
"I'll do better! David, I pwomise...dammit... I mean pwomise.." he halted, defeated by his inability to pronounce the word "promise" clearly.
"Ollie, that was a bad word!"
David lifted Ollie off the sink and gave him a whack on the seat of his pull-ups. "Behave!"
Ollie was stunned. The padding from the pull-ups meant it hadn't hurt, but the notion that David could... and would... spank him unhinged his precarious grasp on stability.
Ollie got returned to a seat on the sink counter so David could better look him in the eye. "We are going back out there, and you are going to behave. Is that clear, Ollie?"
Ollie sniffled and nodded. "Don't cry, Ollie," David said in a bad mood. "Little babies cry."
Ollie tried to obey. He was determined. Just get back home and get the ring and get back to normal.
He'd forgotten Marco's invitation...