The Parent Plan » Harry Styles

Chapter 24

— Athena & Jake —

Perfect timing is amazing. Like, when you take a picture at just the right moment or if you arrived at the mall just before the crowd begins to form or maybe you tweeted your celebrity husband/wife just at the moment they decided to do a follow spree — perfect timing is something that every one loves. Jake himself, loves perfect timing — not that he knows the exact definition to it — and today, he found himself having the perfect timing to overhear his mother.

When Jake wakes up Saturday morning, he is cold and really tired because Harry was showing him how to play football yesterday — and he wouldn't admit that Athena was so much better than him at the sport (thanks to the influence of her uncles). Monica wasn't present yesterday at this football teaching, even though it was planned, saying she had to pack some things up at the studio she simply dropped Jake off with a kiss on the cheek and a look of "you better act right".

He was on his way to Monica's room, wanting to crawl into bed with her — something he loves doing because the bed was so big and he felt like a king —, but was stopped in his tracks when her voice came from the living room.

Rubbing his eyes, he shuffled his way to the room and yawned.

"I just think it's what's best," Monica sighed into the phone, clearly not noticing a sleepy Jake enter. A deep voice replied and Jake immediately identified it as Uncle Jeff's — he does talk quite loud. "Just please, Jeff. I know you'd just love to feed Matt to a pack of wolves but I can't find him alone."

"Mummy?" Jake almost whines, capturing her attention.

Monica's eyes widen before she mutters a quick bye and turns to Jake with a forced smile. "Hey, fire ball. What're you doing up so early?"

"Why were you talking about Daddy?" He asked rather than answering his mother's question.

Flinching at the name, Monica looks down at the floor and sighs. "It's nothing, baby."

"I tired," he mumbles before walking to his mom who sat on the couch, still stiff over the fact that Jake had overheard her conversation with Jeff. He crawls onto Monica's lap and curls up into a ball. "Can we go to 'thena's when I wake up?"

Monica smiles and rakes her fingers through his hair. "Of course we can."

While in the comfort of his mother's arms, Jake fell asleep and dreamed about Matt. Wondering if he's just as cool as Harry and if he'll call him "bud" just like Harry does and if he'll teach him football just like Harry had — he also wondered if Matt loved mummy just like Harry does. He thinks that'd be cool. He can have his daddy, mummy, his Harry and Athena in his life — that sounds like a pretty cool life.

Will Matt and Harry be best friends? He sure hopes so.

.

Monica calls Harry once Jake wakes up at eleven — his normal time to be waking up — and asks if it's okay to come over, which, it is. So, Jake goes and gets dressed ("I'm a big boy, Mommy. I can dress myself") while Monica starts the car. And after a ten minute car drive, they've arrived to Harry and Athena's house.

Without waiting for Monica to exit the car and help him out of his car seat, Jake immediately unclasps the belt and opens the door — thinking to himself how he's basically the Hulk — before running toward the steps of the large house and knocking frantically since he can't reach the doorbell.

When the door opens, Harry scans behind the five year old before meeting his eyes and giving him a smile. "Hey, bud!"

"Hi!" Jake greets back, tempted to just run in and go to the beloved stairs but instead, he waits for his mum to arrive at the door, wanting to see how they react to each other. "Mummy is taking a long time."