𝐃𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 (Discontinued)

ᴛᴇɴ

I'm awakened by the sound of pounding on my door.

I open my eyes, and I'm still on the sofa.

A wave of deja vu hits me until I go to sit up, and something shifts underneath me, Jaden.

Suddenly I'm pulled back to the present.

"Fuck!" I say under my breath.

I get up and glance out the peephole; it's my mother and Emmi.

Fuck!

I race back to the living room and violently shake Jaden awake.

"Hmm? I'm still tired."

He tugs his blanket over his head.

"My mom's here; take your clothes and go hide!"

He smirks, "I've heard that before."

A slight smile creeps onto my face, "You're such a dick, just go."

He grabs his stuff and jogs into my room, closing the door behind him.

I rush to tidy up a bit and quickly compose myself before opening the door.

When I finally do answer it, I fake yawn.

"Victoria, we've been waiting for 15 minutes; I even called to tell you I was on the way!"

"Sorry, I was sleeping. What are you doing here? I told you I didn't feel comfortable having Em here until I sorted everything out."

"I know, but it's just for a few hours; I have a doctor's appointment, and Char's busy."

"Ok."

I put my hand on Em's back and guide her to stand in front of me.

"Well, thank you for dropping her off. Call me after your doctor's appointment, ok?"

I close the door before she can respond and then turn to Em.

"How was your time with Grandma?"

"Super duper Auntie Charlie took me to the park!" 

She jumps and twirls as she speaks.

I can't help but giggle; she's so cute.

"Why don't you go to your room and settle down? I'll be in there in a minute, ok?"

"Ok!" She skips to her room, her backpack bouncing along with her tiny body.

I shake my head in laughter, then go to get Jaden.

I push open my door to find him lying on my bed, scrolling on his phone.

I plop down next to him, laying my head beside his.

"We need to talk to Em today. You know, before we go public."

He looks over at me, "Ok, but I wanna do something fun with her afterward if you're ok with that?"

"That's fine by me."

I push off the bed.

"She's waiting in her room, so I'm gonna head in there; feel free to join us whenever."

He gets up and follows me into her room.

"Hi Emmi," he says, kneeling beside her.

She had made herself busy playing in her fake kitchen.

She looks up from the stove to see who's talking to her, "Hi, Mr. Jaden!"

She prances over to hug him.

"Hey Em, can me and Mr. Jaden talk to you for a minute?"

"Ok, mommy."

She takes a sit at her little table.

I briefly wonder how my 3-year-old daughter has her life more together than I do.

"So Em, I've known Mr. Jaden for a very long time. We've been friends for like forever."

 She nods along, sipping on a juice box my mom must've dropped her off with. 

I continue since it seems like she's following, "But at one point, we were more than friends, and we dated; we were in love."

She giggles, "Ooooo, mommy was in loveeeee, hehe!"

"Yeah, I was, and that's when you started to grow in my belly because all our love couldn't be contained to just two people."

"So Mr. Jaden's my daddy?"

She cocks her head to emphasize that she's confused.

"Yeah," Jaden nods, "I am; is that ok with you?"

She sits for a moment thinking it over before dramatically flying out of her chair and into his arms, "Of course it is!"

He chuckles, reciprocating the hug.

"I'm jealous; can I get in on some of this action?"

I bend down next to them, and they extend their arms until we're in a group hug.

"I'm so glad you're happy about this, Em," I say while pulling back.

She smiles in response.

"Me too, but how about we do something fun to celebrate? How would you like to go to DISNEYLAND?"

"OMG, I WOULD LOVE TO! I WANNA SEE MINNIE MOUSE AND ALL THE PRINCESSES! MOM, CAN WE PLEASE GO, PRETTY PLEASE?"

I glance over at Jaden, who's smiling down at Emmi from ear to ear; how could I say no to that?

"Let's go!"

"YAY, DISNEYLAND!"