Jiley Oneshots

Broken (pt.2)

Riley's POV:

"Vi, what are you getting, sweetie?" I ask my child as she reaches up to try and grab a specific chocolate bar. I wheel the trolley closer towards where she was stood and as she points at what she wanted, I grab a hold of it for her, put it into the shopping cart, and then begin to walk with her onto the next aisle, her hand holding mine.

"Mommy," her small voice says. I look down at her and notice her cute, little smile had disappeared into a look of worry.

"What's wrong, baby?" I ask, stopping midway through the aisle and pulling over to the side so I wasn't in the way of other customers that were shopping. However, when I look down at her and grab her hand, thinking maybe she had just hurt herself somewhere, her eyes don't focus on me, but straight in front of her. "Violet?" I probe. 

"Is that James?" she inquires.

"What?" I mutter, but when I stand back up properly again and turn around to look where she had been looking, my eyes land on my ex-boyfriend, and miraculously, his gaze also lands on mine. I look down and bite my lip as he begins to walk over to us, not being able to escape the situation any longer now that we had both made eye-contact. He smiles and gives me a short, friendly hug. The only thing is that for the past three weeks, I had been craving his kisses and to be wrapped in his arms like I used to be. But I know that he was right. If I love and care about my daughter at all, we can't happen. 

"Hey," he says to me softly. He looks down at Violet but then she immediately looks down and turns her body around to bury her head into my clothes. I give James a sympathetic smile - not because of Violet's actions, but because it must hurt him to know that a girl who could basically be his daughter doesn't even want to look at his face, let alone acknowledge his presence.

"Sorry about her," I tell him lightly. He shrugs.

"It's alright. Don't even worry about it." His hand brushes my arm for a brief moment, and for a second, I notice him glimpse down to my lips, only making things all the more awkward when we look into each other's eyes again. I clear my throat and he removes his hand from my arm, standing there with his hands by his sides and mine around my daughter.

"So, um, do you have any plans for today?" I ask, trying to break the hefty silence.

"Oh, uh, not really, no. I heard some of the group are meeting up tonight though," he says.

"The group?"

"Yeah, like, Eldon, West . . . Giselle, Chloe, Thalia, you know."

"Oh. Okay."

"Yeah," he says. Then back to the awkwardness as he scratches the back of his neck and I lick my bottom lip lightly. "I'll, um, see you around then?"

"Yeah, I should probably get going. Vi's getting hungry and she really needs something to eat," I tell him.

"Yeah, sure, okay," he says. I smile at him and he smiles back before he turns around to walk off and I sigh to myself, almost angry that I had just let him walk off and go again. Even though I'm doing it for the best, it feels like I'm punishing myself at the same time. "Come on then," I say to Violet as she breaks her stiff touch against my body and she, instead, holds onto the handle bar of the cart. "He's gone now, bubs. Don't worry, darling." I rub her back a little and then we continue with the weekly food shopping, but as we do, I watch James as he walks away from me and I have to succumb to not following after him and kissing him in front of the whole shopping centre. I have to continue with life as if he's just an old friend and I'm not still totally in love with him.

"Mommy, can we go to McDonald's after?" Violet asks me, putting an end to my thoughts.

"We'll see, honey. It depends how much money I have left on me."