leave me lonely | joshler

13. barefoot wine

ugh I have so many chapters written and I see the boys this week so imma be busy so heres a double update enjoy like comment subscribe blow up my notifs

It was a warm Saturday Afternoon and Josh was currently sitting at Chuck E. Cheese with his kids. Grayson had been improving slowly but greatly with his speech therapy, his therapist was trying a new speech technique with Grayson which so far has been working pretty well. She also advised him to try to do one thing a day that scares him, which is why they are spending their day at Chuck E. Cheese. Grayson has always feared that place because it was loud and full of kids which made him nervous. But today, he was having a great time and that made Josh happy.

After eating pizza with their dad, Laila and Grayson took all of Josh's quarters and ditched him for the arcade. He was fine with it though because he could still see them and they were happy. Josh's phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out a smile instantly forming on his face.

Tyler: That's my boy is back on netflix and I have kettlecorn and the wine with the foot on it. Come over.

Josh: ....You mean barefoot? You know that wine is like $5 it's not exactly fancy.

Tyler: Gets me drunk!!! Come over!! Adam Sandler movie marthon and makeout sesh?

Josh bit his lip in thought. He hadn't seen Tyler in a few days and he was sure his kids wouldn't be mad if they had to hangout with their uncle again tonight. He would just have to make up an excuse on why he was leaving.

Josh: How could I say no to you? I'll be over around 8?

Tyler: 🍷🧑🏻‍❤️‍🧑🏻📺

Josh giggled at Tyler's use of emojis and pulled up him and his brother's text thread before sending him a quick text.

Josh: What are you doing at 8PM?

Jordan: Playing Fortnite

Josh: Can you play Fortnite at my house, pleaseeeeeee? I'll give you $50.

Jordan: You have never paid me to watch my niece and nephew before. Sounds sus. Are you being a bad boy tonight, Joshua?

Josh cringed at his brother before laughing and replying.

Josh: Please, ew. I'll see you at 8 thank you so much love you Jordy mwah

Josh and his children spent another hour at Chuck E. Cheese before leaving. Josh stopped at Sonic on the way home and got him and them slushies. Once they got back to their apartment, the 3 of them watched tv together, they were currently binge watching Austin and Ally before Josh prepared them dinner.

At the dinner table Grayson spoke up. "We h-had fun t-today with you d-daddy." Josh's heart clenched. "I had fun today too. I always have fun with you guys." Josh admitted before ruffling his and Laila's hair. They both groaned before going back to eating.

Josh cleared his throat before putting his fork down and turning his attention towards Laila and Grayson. "Uncle Jordan is coming over tonight to watch you. Darren and I are going out." Josh said.

Laila looked up. "Grown up stuff?" She asked. Josh laughed, "Yeah bee, grown up stuff." He replied before taking his plate and putting it in the sink. He sat back down at the table. Laila twirled her spaghetti with her fork. "You've been doing grown up stuff a lot." She stated, a stoic look on her face.

Josh's heart dropped. The expression on her face was unreadable and he didn't know what to do. Instead he replied with the question he wanted to avoid the answer to. "Does that make you upset?" Sincerity in his voice. Laila remained quiet for about 30 seconds, still swirling her spaghetti around. What seemed like forever to Josh, she replied. "No. You smile a lot lately. I like seeing you smile daddy."