Desperado

part 71

joeys pov

a week later

"just fake a smile for today" lexi pinches my arm

"i can't even fake that anymore" i sit up from the couch and turn my head towards the kitchen

pink balloons surrounded the living room, the kitchen counter was covered in food with a pink cake in the middle

"it's your daughters birthday, please be happy for her. she was very excited for this day and she's locked in her room right now because she thinks you hate her"

"what?" i shoot my head at her, "soph is upset?"

"yes, check up on her joey. it's her special day"

i am quick to get up on my feet and run up to sophs room. i had no idea she was upset

i stop and look in jays room, he was sitting on his bed with his headset on staring at the tv playing video games, he's addicted to that thing

"get dressed" i tell him, he looks at me and takes the headset off

"you're finally up" he says back

"don't worry about me, did you take a shower?" i ask, his hair was wet

"did you?" he puts the headset back on

i deserved that

i sigh and walk to sophias room, playing with the knob, "soph open the door"

i don't get a response back, i try twisting the knob harder hoping it'll break but i made sure these knobs were strong

i pull my ring off and adjust it to the lock on the door, and with the sound of a click the door opens

"sophia?" i walk into her room and she's sitting on the floor with a pink dress on

she looks up at me and crosses her arms, "get out"

i close the door behind me and sit down next to her, "what's wrong beautiful?"

she puts her head down

"talk to me princess, it's your birthday" i put my hand on her back

she's all dressed up, she is even wearing pink heels. except she isn't wearing the tiara that i bought her

"you're only here because lexi told you i was upset or you wouldn't have noticed" she says

i frown because she is right. it was my girls birthday and i didn't check up on her. i'm a horrible father, what have i become

"i'm sorry soph" i sigh

"it's okay dad" she comes closer to me and sits on my lap, her head lays on my chest and i play with her hair

"it's not okay, i've been so distracted that i didn't notice that my girl was sad. i'll try better soph"

"i know you're still upset over mom" she gulps, "but you still have me"

i didn't want to talk about elena even though i had a feeling her name would come up. she was the love of my life and i killed her. my heart hurts more and more everyday, i can't even take care of my own fucking kids

jay and soph had no problem getting over elena. it's like she didn't even die to them. not even a single tear fell down their cheeks

"i know princess" i hug her, "but today is your special day. i'm going to take a shower and then we're going to eat cake and you're going to have so many gifts to open"