From across the hallway

Part 4

Wade's apartment was just how had Missy imagined it. Casual, cool, if a little rough around the edges...just like Wade himself.

The pair of them, Missy and Emily, hand-in-hand, entered cautiously through the door, Emily gazing around in awe.

Their neighbour, immediately began picking up a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, that were haphazardly strewn across the floor, flinging them into his laundry basket in the corner of the room.

"Feel free to sit down, make your gorgeous selves at home" he said gesturing to a couch and a couple of chairs that stood on the far side of the apartment, next to a large window that looked out onto the city. "You can borrow my laptop if you need it, but I wouldn't go through my browser history if I were you..."

Missy rolled her eyes, shaking her head, before leading Emily over to the couch, picking her up and sitting her down onto the squishy sofa cushions.

"Thanks..." she uttered, looking over at him and unbuttoning the little girls coat. It was much, much warmer in here.

But Wade merely smiled, looking happy.

She was sure he must have a lot of visitors. He wasn't exactly bad looking and definitely seemed like the kind of guy that would have plenty of friends...but Wade seemed almost enamoured with having them here.

He immediately busied himself with tidying things away and making the place look presentable, before grabbing his laptop, placing it down onto the end of the couch beside her.

Missy gave him a nod as she unbuttoned her own coat, removing it and placing it neatly down beside Emily's.

For the slightest of seconds she caught Wade's eye, as he looked her up and down. She was just in a navy pencil skirt, pale blue blouse and nude heels, nothing special, but the way he was looking at her...

But she instantly pushed this away from her thoughts, turning her attention back to her daughter.

She ran a hand over her soft brown hair.

"You ok, sweetie?" she asked gently.

Emily gave a nod back.

"Hot chwocolat?" she asked, her little green eyes searching Missy's face.

Missy smiled lovingly, before glancing up at Wade who was currently beaming.

"Hot chocolate for the little princess and her beautiful queen of a mama, coming right up," he said quickly, moving over to them and picking up the tv remote. "But first maybe some cartoons? Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles were always my favourite...huuuge fan of Leonardo."

Wade switched on the tv, flipping over to the kids channel, and began to turn up the volume...higher and higher...

People always tried to compensate for Emily's hearing loss...it was no fault of their own...they only thought they were doing what's best for the little girl.

But Missy lifted her hand, placing it on Wade's quickly.

"You can keep the volume low, she just likes to look at the pictures anyway," she said, giving Wade a small smile.

He paused for a moment, her hand still on his, before she pulled it away, staring back down at Emily.

Behind her, Wade turned down the volume and headed over to his kitchenette, looking apologetic.

Missy gave a sigh, glancing at Emily, her little eyes fixed on the brightly lit cartoons. She felt her daughter's hands, finally starting to warm up.

She really did regret not keeping on top of everything and paying that bill when she should have.

Missy pursed her lips together, before pulling Wade's laptop towards her.