Friend's Daughter (Sebastian Stan Story)

Chapter 85

2029

Aaliyah was now eight years old and starting third grade. She loved going to school and learning. She always tried her best and was an overall good student. More than anything though, she loved getting to hang out with her friends. For the most part, she had all the same friends she had when she first started school. But this year, there was a new student in her class. Aaliyah was the type of person to make friends with everyone, not wanting anyone to feel alone, so she was considered to be pretty popular. The new student was fairly shy and only really spoke when spoken to. She hadn't gotten the chance to really talk to them but she was determined to be friends with them.

"Hi! I'm Aaliyah!"

They looked up at her shyly, "Hi I'm James."

These six words were the start of a wonderful friendship. Aaliyah and James spent every second of the school day together. It didn't take long for him to come out of his shell and have fun with his new friend. Aaliyah had even introduced him to her little sister who was now in kindergarten.

One day when Aaliyah got home from school, she was excited to talk to her parents. "Mommy, daddy can I have a friend over for a play date?"

"Who's this friend?" Willow asked.

"His name is James!"

"A boy? No. Absolutely not," Sebastian said.

"Sebastian," Willow glared at him. "Lia I haven't met a James yet? Is he new?"

"Yes. He just got to the school this year and he's my best friend. He's friends with Thena too!"

"Well I think if we talk to his parents then it should be fine, right Sebastian?"

He grunted and playfully rolled his eyes, "Fine. Yes. That's fine."

"Okay great. I'll talk to his parents when I pick you up tomorrow and we'll try to plan something."

"Thank you! I'm going to go do my homework now!"

The next day when Willow picked up Aaliyah, she asked her to take her towards her new friend. She was led to a boy with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. Next to him was a beautiful young woman, she looked to be in her mid twenties, her son looked just like her. "Hi James! This is my mommy!" Aaliyah said as she approached her friend.

"Hi James," Willow crouched down to greet the boy. "I'm Willow," she smiled.

"Hi," he mumbled. He was shy meeting new people.

Willow stood back up to now greet the woman. "Hi, you must be James' mom. I'm Willow," she held her hand out to shake. "This is Aaliyah and Athena, my daughters."

"Hi, I'm Grace," she shook Willow's hand and smiled at the two girls.

"So Aaliyah here tells me that James is new here. She wanted to know if they could possibly have a play date at our house."

"I'm okay with that. As long as James wants to of course. James, would you like to have a play date at Aaliyah's house?" He nodded happily.

"Great! Let me give you my number and we can figure out a day that works."

They had planned for James to come over that Saturday. Grace had to work on Saturday and already had a babysitter lined up so Willow offered to just have him stay at their house so that the kids could play together. Sadly, Sebastian already had a meeting in Los Angeles scheduled for that weekend so he wasn't going to be able to meet James and Grace.

Grace had to be at work at noon so she was dropping James off at 11. Grace was in awe when she pulled into the massive house. When Willow opened the door for her, she was even more amazed by the inside. "Wow your house is incredible," she said looking around at the beautifully decorated living room.

"Thank you," she smiled.

"I will call you when I'm on my way back from work. Thank you again for doing this."

"Oh it's no problem at all. Are there any food allergies or anything else I need to watch out for?"

"No he's all good. Thank you for asking."

"I just want to make sure everyone is safe," she smiled. "Are you guys ready to have a fun day?"

"Yes!"

"I'll see you later James," Grace hugged her son. "Be a good boy okay?"

"Okay mommy! I love you!"

"I love you!" Once Grace left, Willow led them to the kitchen for lunch.

"So what do you guys want to do today?" she asked as she prepared sandwiches for them.

"Can we play in the backyard and go swimming?"

"Of course. I'm sure I could find a pair of my husband's shorts that we could tie to fit you. Is that okay James?"

"Yes thank you," he smiled.

"Great! After you guys eat lunch, we can maybe bake some cookies for later then we can go outside."

Athena, Aaliyah, and James all agreed that they wanted cookies. Willow figured sugar cookies would be best so that they could have fun making them into different shapes.

The rest of the day went great. They swam for a little while, played a bunch of games outside, had some cookies, watched a few movies, and did some arts and crafts. By the time Grace got there, all the kids were napping.

"How was he?" Grace asked nervously.

"An absolute angel. You have a wonderful kid."

"Thank you. Raised him myself," she said proudly.

"Well you did a fantastic job," Willow smiled. "So I was talking to my husband and we'd love to have you two over for dinner once he gets back from his business trip."

"I'd love to. Thank you. But I gotta get this kid home now so thank you again and we'll talk about it soon."