Spinning Out✔️

34. Are you mad at me?

Warning: This is a long chapter. took me days to write, so I hope you love.😘

Jax's POV

"You're gonna end up with a blue mouth Mouse," I warned the 4-year-old in front of me. She wasn't listening though. Her eyes were focused on the medals on my dresser and she was trying to get her small hands on them.

Standing at about 3-feet tall, Mouse (Melonie) was olive-skinned and adorable. She was the youngest of 14 cousins and got her nickname because of her obsession with cheese.

With a blue lollipop in her mouth, she groaned. I got up from my bed and grabbed the medal from the dresser and handed it to her. It was an old one that I had gotten at a dance competition so many years ago.

She held the fake gold in her hands and inspected it.

It was weird being back in my childhood bedroom. The place looked relatively the same.

My bookcase stood in the corner with all the novels I collected as a teenager and didn't read anymore. The walls were painted a soft yellow and aside from a full-sized bed and a small chair on the corner, the room was pretty empty.

"You winning da ma-medal because you're ba-better than them?" Mouse asked, her little voice stuttering like she usually did. I reached down and placed my hands out. She jumped into my arms and I lifted her up easily, placing an arm underneath her thighs.

I took the medal from her and placed it on the table. "It doesn't really matter anymore Mousie."

Her big brown eyes bore into mine and she leaned her nose forward and I copied her, pressing her noses together.

She giggled and grabbed my face, pinching my cheeks with the enormous strength in her fingers that toodlers always seemed to have.

"You know you're my favorite cousin right?" I said giving her a kiss on the cheek. She smiled and placed her hands on my neck.

"You wike me bewwer than Nico?" She said with the lollipop in the corner of her mouth. With eyebrows raised in surprise her head was tilted to the side as she squeezed my neck muscles.

"Definitely more than Nico. He forgets to wear deodorant sometimes." I crinkled my nose upward and shook my head dramatically. "Gross."

My 10-year old cousin Nico and Mouse's brother was going through puberty and kids tended to always smell at that age for some reason.

She laughed at my expression and I tickled her stomach making her scream bloody murder. She smacked at my arms and squirmed, screaming for me to stop.

I relented and she looked at me with an exhausted expression. Breathing heavy and pulling the lollipop out of her mouth, her lips were bright blue. She pushed her brown hair from her face and sighed dramatically.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and handed it to her, knowing she was about to ask for it.

She punched in my password which surprised me. I hadn't seen Mouse since the spring. Kids these days.

Today was a big day in our family. Nonna was turning 80 and my parents decided to host a party here. Nonna said she wanted to see me for her birthday and I couldn't exactly go all the way to Italy right now. Everyone had come for a few days; my aunts, uncles, and cousins.

The penthouse was big enough to house everyone and because Louie and I had moved out, there were two extra rooms available. It was like a small family reunion but without some of the extended family.

"Who's dis?" Mouse asked, turning the phone in her small sticky hands. She pointed to the photo on my home screen.

It was a random picture of Luna that I had taken. She put her picture as my background to make sure that everyone knew that I had a best friend.