Unpredictable

Chapter 5: Daddy's Girl

In my humble opinion, Aurora Jane Waters was seriously the best baby ever, but Dylan stared at me in awe every time I held her, like it was some kind of amazing feat. As it turned out, the evening was spent with myself taking care of Aurora, or Rory, as Dylan affectionately calls her, while Dylan either watched us or did his homework, or explained Aurora's life story to me even though I told him he didn't need to.

Apparently Aurora's mom was named Jane, and even though there was no love between the two of them, Dylan thought she should have something of her mother's, even though looking at the two of them it was plain to see that Aurora was a total daddy's girl. She and Dylan had sex, the condom broke, Dylan realized it the day after and tracked her down.

Jane, the mysterious blank figure, didn't want Aurora. It took bribery and begging for her to have the baby. Edward and Doug helped Dylan transform the never-used office in Dylan's home into a nursery, and once she'd had the baby, Jane left. She'd never called, never contacted Dylan in any way.

"Done!" declared Dylan, finishing his own Physics homework, and grinned up at me with a sense of accomplishment. "Now give me my daughter!" he proclaimed, grinning at me.

I pretended to think about it. "Mm...maybe." Aurora was sleeping soundly in my arms, and she seemed like a heavy sleeper, even at this age. Dylan said otherwise, but I thought that was just him.

Dylan seemed surprised by my answer. "Maybe?" he asked, staring at me.

I nodded. "If you buy me pizza, I might give you your daughter back," I compromised, smirking at Dylan. It had gotten late - well, not too late, but late by Aurora's standards, anyway. It was seven o'clock, and my stomach was grumbling, reminding me that once again, I'd been too afraid to buy lunch at school.

Why? Well, first I'd been bullied for being fat. Then I'd been bullied for being a skinny bitch. Then, for a brief period, some people had thought it would be fun to make fun of somebody with an eating disorder (which I no longer had). Either way, I preferred to bring my own lunch to school, and not buy it like Ethan and Evie both did. But Edward and Doug were some of the best fosters I'd had, so I didn't want to bother them.

"Sorry," apologized Dylan. "Crap, Edward taught me better."

"Why doesn't he go by a shorter name?" I mused, as Dylan called Domino's and ordered his pizza. "I mean, Doug's full name is Douglas, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah, but Edward absolutely hates Ed or Eddie, he thinks nicknames are 'for peasants,'" explained Dylan, grinning. "What kind of pizza do you like, by the way?"

"Hawaiian," I said offhandedly, causing Dylan to stare at me in surprise.

"What?" Dylan stared at me, surprised.

"I had a foster home in Hawaii for a year," I shrugged, leaving out the part where my foster dad was a druggie and he'd occasionally made me do deals for him. "Tried Hawaiian pizza. It's not that bad."

"Huh," remarked Dylan. "Okay, fine. One Hawaiian," he ordered, "and one Pepperoni." At my smirk, he shrugged. "Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

When the pizza arrived, the pizza guy, who looked about fifteen, tried to give me his number. After that happened, Dylan refused to tip him until I started digging around in my wallet for some money, came up short, and ended up giving Dylan the puppy dog eyes, mentally making a note of how badly I needed to get a job.

I gave Aurora back to a pleased Dylan, who put her back in her crib, where she slept peacefully with her thumb in her mouth. Then we both turned to the pizzas, where I immediately began eating. The thing you learn, living in group homes? You don't eat fast, you don't eat at all.