Hardzello One Shots❤

The monitor {Part one}

Joe's Pov

I just dropped off my four-year-old daughter Daisy at my mom's, and I'm now on my way to my date. She's my little girl, but I have to admit I miss another kind of love in my life. I've been a single dad for almost two years now, and I think I'm ready to date again.
The past month I've been chatting with a boy on a dating site, and today we're finally meeting in real life.
I know a little bit how he looks, from his profile picture. He has beautiful green eyes, and blond locks. His name is Ben, and he's one year younger than me.
I gotta say I'm excited for this date.
We agreed to just keep our first date small, which is why I'm now on my way to the local cafe. The place isn't that far from my house, so I can just walk. Which is nice, since it's mid spring. The sun is shining, and the temperature is exactly right. Not too hot, not too cold.
I love spring.

After a five minute walk, I arrive at the cafe.
As I enter, a blond boy sitting in the corner immediately catches my eye. He smiles and waves excitedly at me.
God he looks even more adorable in real life than in pictures.
I smile back at him, and with my heart racing I walk over to him. I don't know if my heart is racing because of the nerves, or because he just looks so damn cute.
We both greet each other, and before I realize it I find myself in a hug.
We both sit down, and my nerves disappear. His smile is just so natural and reassuring.
"It's so good to finally meet in person." I say after we both ordered ourselves some coffee.
He nods in agreement. "It really is. Although you're smaller than I imagined." Ben says with a wink.
I chuckle softly. "Yeah, I get that a lot." I say.

Before I left I was quite worried about awkward silences. You know how that goes, the moment you're out of conversation material.
But it turns out I really shouldn't have worried so much about it, because we're talking non stop about anything and everything.
Without my noticing, we've been talking for more than an hour already.
When I take a sip of my coffee, I see Ben's eyes fall on the ring on my finger. I see him frown.
"Oh don't worry, I'm not married anymore." I quickly say.
Ben immediately smiles again. "You're divorced?" He asks.
Now I'm the one to frown. "Uhm, kind of. I'm like 75 percent divorced and 25 percent widower."
I chuckle softly when I see the puzzled look in Ben's green eyes. He's clearly confused.
"Well, I'm bisexual, and my previous relationship was with a girl. When we were five years married we had a daughter. Two years after that, my wife noticed that we were both getting unhappy. So we split up, as friends, you know?" I explain.
He nods, but I can see he's still a little confused.
"I already signed my papers, she only had to sign hers. But before she could, she died in a car accident. So officially I'm a widower, but we'd have been divorced anyway. I'm wearing this ring, as a small reminder to her, you know?" I continue my explanation.
He nods understandingly. "Yeah, that makes sense. I'm sorry about that. But you never told me you have a daughter?" He says, his eyes slightly twinkling.
I look down at my coffee. "Yeah well, I didn't want to scare you away." I mumble.
Ben raises his eyebrow. "Why would I be scared away? I love kids." He says to me with a big smile.
I smile reassured. "Really? Well, ever since my wife died two years ago I've only had three dates. They all left once they heard I have a daughter." I say while stirring my coffee.
"Then they were arses." Ben says with a serious face.
I giggle softly and nod.
"But, is your daughter okay then? I can imagine she must still be very sad after losing her mum."
For a moment I just sit there, drooling over the way Ben says mom. I quickly blink a few times, recovering myself. "Well uhm, she doesn't really remember the moment her mom died. She knows her mom's in heaven, but doesn't have many memories of her. So that saves a lot of sadness, I think." I say.
Ben smiles and nods. "What's your daughter's name?" He asks.
I smile widely. "Daisy."
"Named after the flower?" Ben asks, smiling.
I nod. "Yeah. Her mom really loved flowers, especially daisies."
Ben giggles softly. "That's cute."

////////

It's now three weeks since Ben and I went on our first date. We've been on two more dates after that first date, and I'm falling so hard for him.
Yesterday I carefully suggested we watch a movie together at my place, and he immediately agreed.
And even after I made clear that my daughter will be here as well, he still agreed.
I've never met someone so beautiful, so kind, and so chill before.
I decided that I probably should run a vacuum cleaner through the house before Ben arrives.
And maybe I should put some of Daisy's toys away too. Her dolls and stuffed animals are all over the place. I'm sure Ben wouldn't mind, but still.
When I'm in the kitchen to prepare some snacks, the doorbell rings. I hurry towards the front door, so I'm the one to open it.
It has happened before that Daisy was there before I was, and got a little scared because there was someone at the door she didn't know.
"Daddy who's at the door?" I hear Daisy asking me while she follows me to the front door.
I smile and lift her up. "I invited someone over, to watch a movie together." I say.
Her hazel eyes immediately start to twinkle. "Can I watch the movie with you?" She asks.
I chuckle softly and give her a kiss on her head. "We'll see, okay? Because actually it's almost bedtime."
She nods. "Okay."
I put her down, and open the front door.