ingratiate

verb

1. bring oneself into favour with someone by flattering or trying to please them

I spent the weekend working and playing RPG games with Grant in the entertainment room. He kicked my arse, no surprise there, but I really enjoyed hanging out with him. He's the kind of thoughtful, funny guy who cares a lot about his friends, and I call myself lucky to be a friend of his in this timeline. I really hate myself for what I'd done to him 'before', and I am so glad I made an effort to get to know him and stand with him. And now that he's working for me with Pyrus Projects, I get to spend even more time with him.

I have always wanted a big brother, and Grant seems to have stepped into that role for me. I will continue to ingratiate myself into his favour, giving him little cute gifts, send him stupid jokes, buying him new clothes, and hopefully find him a boyfriend. Yeah, I'd love to set him up with someone just like him, or at least, someone as cute, caring and funny like he is. Wait until we get to university. It will be one of my favourite goals for going and studying there locally.

Grant, he is probably the only person in this life that I want to suck up to, just to keep him as a friend, and he's probably the only one I can get away with it as well. I can't imagine me sucking up to Wallace.... ah nope. That would go so horribly wrong.

After our last game where I fell through a hole into a lava of death, I gave up, throwing my controller onto the carpet of the before the huge TV unit. I slumped down in the leather couch and groaned.

"I don't wanna play any more," I grouched.

"It is because I keep kicking your arse," Grant crowed.

"Yes, you keep kicking my arse," I complained. "But only because I fairly new to all of these types of games. I'm usually out on a field or track somewhere on the other side of the city." I waved to the windowless wall of the theatre room we were playing in.

"That makes sense, with how many sports awards you won last year, the amount of time you trained would require hours away from a game console."

"Damn straight, I was training. Worked my butt off to make it where I was, now I have to work harder to keep that butt from growing wider..." I remember how easy it was to gain weight once I began at university last timeline. I wasn't a huge girl, but I was never as skinny and toned as I am now.

"Yeah, I noticed you gaining a little pudgy pooku around the middle." I shot a look at Grant, shock on my face, then threw him a punch to his shoulder.

"Oww, OK, OK. I didn't mean it." I kept slapping him until he scrambled off the couch and away from my reach. Being half crippled as I was at the moment, I couldn't chase after him.

"That is so horrible, Grant!" I yelled as he ran from the room. "I'm going to tell your mother on you!" I huffed, but tried to keep the smile off my face. I knew I wasn't fat, but I didn't need to eat the extra calories the doctor had me eat any more. I'd successfully gained the five kilograms I needed to and would now need to stay at this healthy weight. I grabbed my crutches and followed Grant into the kitchen where lunch was being made.

Lunch was tortilla wraps stuffed full with coz lettuce leaves and a fried halloumi cheese. Cherry tomatoes, fresh basil leaves topped with charred corn sprinkles, it was so delicious. I dipped mine in a sweet mayo chilli sauce with a shake of paprika, so good.

"You should make your churro ice cream biscuits, Grant. They would go really well with our Mexican themed wraps." I scooped some more dipping sauce and took another bite of my sandwich wrap.

"How do you know I make churro biscuits, Lily?" I looked up at him and Mrs H, both of them looking at me strangely. Then I remembered that I'd only been in this house for a little more than a month and haven't been fed any churro desserts yet. I shrugged, acting nonchalant, as my heart raced at nearly exposing my biggest secret.

"Mum told me about them. She likes them with chocolate coated at one end but the round shaped flat ones with ice cream in between two sounded much yummier." I smiled and finished eating my wrap.

"I can make them, but you sure you should be eating more sweets, Lily?"

"Grant!" Mrs H beat me to the punch, smacking him over the back of his head. He probably forgot she was behind him as we sat and ate at the kitchen island. "What a very inappropriate thing to say to a young and impressionable young lady." I nodded my agreement, laughing at Grant getting hit by his mum.

"Yes, and this impressionable young lady needs churros, Grant. As penance, you should make enough for Jac-Jac and I for when he gets home for afternoon tea." My little Jack was out with Mum at a friend's place having a play date.

"Oh, do you think Mrs Overmeyer will mind Jac-Jac eating sweets before dinner?" Mrs H asked. Grant smirked at me for my unhealthy meal planning. I smacked him over the head, mimicking his mum and replied to the elder lady.

"Yes, sure. I'll take him out to the swimming pool for a play so he can burn the sugar off before we eat tonight."

"Oh, yes, you have your swimming instructor coming this afternoon, isn't that right?" Mrs H took my used plate and glass and started cleaning up the lunch meal in the kitchen.

"Yes, Mrs Shawl is arriving at 5pm, but Jack will be done by then." I got off the island stool and hopped to the drinks fridge for a cool bottle of water. Grant and I helped his mum clean up then went our separate ways for the afternoon. As promised, he made churro ice cream biscuits for Jac-Jac and I for afternoon tea, then we all splashed around in the pool area, me with my braced knee and Jac-jac in arm flotation devices. It was fun.

Five rolled around and the new swim instructor arrived with waterproof dressings for my surgery wound. The scar was healing really well, with only a little of the skin needing to fully heal. It looked really terrible, all puckered and bright pink against my long toned leg.

My swimming session was a combination of swimming physio work on my knee, stretching and flexing, and moving around the pool using my sore leg very carefully. Then Mrs Shawl, Barbara as she asked me to call her, got out of the pool and asked me to demonstrate the various different swimming strokes that I used. I spent another hour moving slowly, but surely, back and forward across the long indoor pool.

"I think that's it for today. Your form is excellent for the stokes you are confident with, but the butterfly and free stroke need a bit more work. We'll look at those the next couple of months, but for now, just get your fitness back up to par, and get that knee healed."

"Thank you Barbara," I replied, as I got up and on the side of the pool.

"Let me help you up to standing, don't put any more weight on your knee. You've given it a good workout today, probably more than you should have, but with the low impact exercise, this will help with the blood circulation and promote healing. Don't do anything more in the pool until I'm with you next week, OK?" She helped me up to standing while an estate maid held put a toweling robe for me to wear. Another maid held my crutches and I carefully hobbled across the tiles to the dressing room, hoping that my black crutches didn't slip on the wet floor.

"See you next week, Miss Lily." My swim coach left me to get changed, calling out goodbye as she went.