Hold my hand.

~9~

[Saturday.]

'Where are we going?'
'I told you, it's a surprise.'
'But I want to watch Pokémon.'
'I think I've been letting you watch too much tv lately.'
'Where are we going, mummy?'
'Why are you so stubborn, child?!' Perrie chuckled as she said that: she knew he was just as stubborn as she was.
'Is it far away?' Blake put his shoes on.
'I don't know, actually.' Perrie just realised she didn't know the address for this house she was about to see.
'How do we know which way to go then?'
'We're not walking there, baby.'
'Are we getting the bus?'
'No, we're going in a car.'
'Auntie Leigh's coming with us?'
'Stop asking questions, please! I told you, it's a surprise.' As they both put their coat on, Perrie heard a horn beeping outside. 'Here we are, c'mon. It's time to go.'
The pair walked down the stair to find Alex parked in front of their place.
'Alex!' Blake got excited to see him again.
'Hey buddy, how are you?'
'Are we getting in your car?' The little boy said touching the glossy black door handle.
'You sure are!'
Perrie smiled excitedly as she opened the car door and put Blake in the car seat. She then went to sit at the front.
'Wow, your car is so cool!'
'Do you like it? It's nice, isn't it?!'
'It's very clean.' Blake looked around himself.
'I try my best.'
'Do you clean your car or does your mummy clean it for you? Or your girlfriend? Because my mummy always cleans up after me.'
Alex laughed, amused by the little boy's ideas.
'I have to do all the cleaning, unfortunately. My mummy is too busy and I don't have a girlfriend.'
'Your car looks like the Bat-mobile.'
'It does, you're right.'
'If you were Batman, you would definitely have a girlfriend.'
'I'll tell you a secret, I am Batman, but the ladies can't know. Shh.' Alex smiled looking at Blake through the rear-view mirror. He then looked at Perrie, who was trying not to laugh. 'What?'
'You're a nerd! And what scares me the most is that I think my child will be a nerd too!' The girl said letting out a little laugh.
'Yeah, well... I'll take that. So, are you excited?'
'Really.'
'Where are we going? Can you tell me now, mummy?' Blake shouted from the back.
'Fine, I can tell you now. We're going to see our potential new house. How would you feel about moving into a bigger house and have your own room?'
'And a garden?'
'Ehm... yes, maybe.'
'Yeah! Are we going into this new house now?'
Perrie was glad he took it so well. 'We're going to see the house now, but it would still be a while before we go and live there.'
'That's a good surprise, mummy.'
They were almost there when Blake suddenly thought of another question to ask her mum.
'If it's our new house, why are you coming with us, Alex? Because you're mummy's friend?'
'Well...' Perrie looked at Alex, hoping he'd know what to say.
'See, Blake...' luckily, he did. '...my job is to help people like you and your mummy sort out little problems so that they can always be happy. You and your mummy needed a mew house, you deserve it. So your teachers sent me to help you both.'
'We were happy already, even in the other house.'
'And that's great, buddy. Now you can be happy and have a garden.' Alex smiled.
'But I don't know if I want to sleep in my own room. I want to sleep with you, mummy.'
Perrie laughed. 'I'm sure you do. We'll see about that.'
'Right, we're here.' Alex stopped the car in front of a little house, where the estate agent was already waiting for them.
Blake immediately run in, whilst Perrie walked slowly to the front door, taking in every little detail.
The agent showed Perrie the two bedrooms and the little bathroom, before talking numbers and details in the living room.
'So, Miss Edwards, I'll get the contract ready for Thursday morning then. It's been a pleasure meeting you.'
As the agent left, Perrie, Alex and Blake went back to the car. 'So, what do you think?'
'Alex, I will never be able to thank you enough. This place is... is a dream.'
'I know it's not huge but at least you'll have your own space. And I checked the bus for you to take Blake to school and to go to work and you'll just have to leave the house a bit earlier but you should be fine.'
Perrie received a text message whilst taking to Alex. She discretely looked at it.
'Alex, really, you're an angel. You thought of everything. Just... thank you.'
'Is everything alright? You don't seem as thrilled as you were a few minutes ago.'
Perrie tried to shake what she had just read out of her head. 'I am, I really am. Sorry... it's just... it's a lot to take in.'
'I get it. C'mon then, I'll take you home.'
The three got in the car and Alex began to drive back to Perrie's flat. Alex could sense something was wrong with Perrie, so tried to cheer her up again.
'The other day, on the phone, you said you had something exciting to tell me. What was it?'
'Oh, that. Yeah, I've been given my permanent contract quite a bit in advance. So no more weekend jobs for me.'
'Oh my, that's great! Well done you! You must be really proud of yourself.'
'Yes, kind of...'
'I'm sure Blake is. And I am.'
'Thanks.' Perrie blushed slightly. 'I just can't wait for my meeting with the school on Tuesday, to tell them that I've got the job and a new house so they can stop harassing me and all this will be over.'
Perrie looked at Alex, who was concentrating on driving. 'Don't worry, it'll all be over pretty soon.'
'I didn't mean... you helped us, a lot. And Blake really likes you. I'm sure he's gonna miss seeing you around once it's all over. We're very grateful for all you've done for us. I just want things to back to normal, for Blake's sake.'
'I'll miss you both, too. You're a great little family.'
Alex parked the car and got Blake out, whilst Perrie opened the door to their flat.
'Can we play football again, Alex?'
'Alex is probably busy...'
'If it's alright with your mum...'
Perrie and Alex replied at the same time.
'So, mummy?'
'I guess...'
Blake smiled and grabbed Alex's hand to take him into the garden.
Perrie walked inside and took advantage of those five minutes by herself to call Leigh-Anne.

-Hello?
-Leigh... he just messaged me again. I don't know what to do.

[Good morning everyone :) how are you al doing? xx I've been feeling rotten this week, I've done my COVID vaccine and it coincided with that time of the month 🙄 so I've been really poorly all week 🥱 but I'm finally starting to feel better, so here's a new chapter ;)
I haven't written any new chapters lately and I'm running out of material so I'm hoping to feel well enough to write something this week lol let me know what you think of this one ;)
Thank you all for your support 🙏 peace and love and keep safe 💞]