Family Friends

twenty two.

We arrived in Nashville and rented a SUV for all of us to fit in one vehicle. Paige looked up an outdoor mall with restaurants near our hotel so Christian drove to the hotel first for us to put our luggage away then we loaded back in the car and headed over to the mall.

Lennon wanted to go to Claire's for earrings so I took her there while the rest of the family went to Nike. We stayed in Claire's for about ten minutes trying to decided between two earring packs, I ended up buying both for Lennon because she was taking forever to decided. "Thank you Preseyyy!" She said while holding her bag and grabbing my hand once we were outside. "We need to find mommy." Lennon reminded me, "that's where we are going." I said as she smiled and continued talking to herself the whole walk to the Nike store. We walked in the doors and I looked around to spot Christian's bleached hair but I didn't see him so I picked Lennon up and we searched the whole store but no luck...

"Haiden!" Lennon yelled while squirming out of my arms and my smile completely dropped.
I let the little girl down and she ran towards a guy sitting on a bench, trying on shoes.
"Haidennn!" She yelled again as my heart started pounding and I looked up from my phone
to see that he was already looking my way.

no no no.

"Paige?" I asked as she answered the phone, "where are you?"
"Sorry Jagger needed a bathroom break, where are you?"
"I'm in Nike but why the hell is my EX here!" I whisper-yelled to the phone as Paige gasped.
"Oh shit." She responded and I nodded. "You sure it's him?"
"Yeah your daughter ran straight to him after screaming his name..."
"Oh shit." She repeated. "I'll come get you."

Paige hung up and I glanced over to see Lennon was sitting with Haiden now. I tried to get Lennon's attention but she was too busy looking at his shoes, "dammit." I mumbled. "Presley?" Someone said my name as I jumped then turned around, "oh heyyy." I said to Marissa Deegan who gave me a big hug.

Just a whole family reunion in the middle of a Nike store!

Marissa was talking to me for a little while, asking how I've been and I had to lie to her face because I was not letting her know her son had made me hibernate in my room for almost a whole week...

"I've been good." I responded and she sorta smiled. "If I'm being completely honest babe, Haiden hasn't been doing great..." I raised an eyebrow, "really?" "Well his knee is better but Brian and I have noticed he doesn't do too well on the bike and he doesn't talk to us anymore." Marissa said and that made me a little sad but that also wasn't my problem since he was the one that broke up with me.

"Paige!" I said as she walked in the door, she looked at me then quickly walked over. "Heyy girl!" She said to Marissa and they both talked while I was stuck by myself. "What are you guys doing for dinner tonight?" Marissa asked and I widened my eyes while looking at my phone, pick the right answer Paige... "nothing!" Dammit. "We should get dinner together..." they talked for awhile longer while I stood there with a million thoughts going through my head. "I'm gonna go find Christian." I said then left the store and felt weight off my shoulders. Of course my one outing the Deegan's just had to be in the same exact store in the exact same city. Now that means I'm going to see them all day tomorrow because of the races. Fuck my life.

I didn't know where Christian was and I really didn't care, I just sat at a bench outside and cried silently as I remembered all the bad things Haiden had said to me in the trailer a week ago...

"Presley?" Somebody said my name and I wiped a tear away before looking up to see Christian was right there with Madden in a stroller. "Presley what's going on?" He asked while sitting next to me and more tears came out. "Haiden- his mom, both of them are here. I saw them in the store and it was too much..." I explained as Christian put his good arm around me for a hug. "And Paige agreed to dinner with them." "We don't have to go if that makes you uncomfortable." He said and I shrugged. "I just don't think I'm ready for that yet...it's only been like a week Christian." He nodded while I wiped my tears away and Madden looked at me while drooling. "Well you've got one man drooling over you?" Christian joked and I laughed as the little boy reached for me, I took a deep breath then grabbed Madden out of the stroller and carried him. "I'll tell Paige we're in the car." Christian said and I smiled as he read my mind, "thanks."

***
Haiden's pov:

"What the hell was that about mom?" I asked as we walked out of the store, "Haiden don't do this." "Mom you aren't supposed to talk to her, do you not understand what an 'ex' means?" I asked and she stopped. "If you don't change your attitude I will take your bike and truck keys away- don't be an asshole." She said as people walked by and I rolled my eyes. "When we get back to the hotel get dressed into nicer clothes."

The ride to the restaurant was silent as my dad drove and my mom played on her phone the whole time. Our family was definitely falling apart and lacking on the communication part...

"Remember earlier, now that will happen again if you decided to be an ass and it will be twenty times worse since your dad's here." My mom warned as we walked through the doors and I nodded while preparing myself to see Presley for the next hour or more. A lady led us to their table and when we got to the room, Presley wasn't there...it was Christian, Paige, Lennon, and Madden- no Jagger or Presley.

***