Twenty Five.

Chapter four

"it's open!" ellington yelled after hearing a loud knock on the door. the door swung open and Rydel entered her short, flowery summer dress flowing behind her. she looked up from under her blue floppy hat, flashing a cute smile towards ellington, giving him a weird feeling inside he hasn't felt in ages. he smiled and looked down at joey who was sat in his stroller, abset-mindedly playing with one of his toys, a small tuft of brown hair sticking up at a jaunty angle on his head. ellington grabbed the picnic basket and handed it to rydel who greatfully took it, smiling at Joey who had made eye contact and let out an adorable giggle.

"Ready to go?" Ellington asked her pulling his backpack onto his back and placing both hands on the handle of the stroller. she nodded, slipping her free arm through one of his so their arms were linked. "let's go."

there was a nice cool breeze in the air as they headed towards the park, joey gurgling to himself in baby language.

"so what happened after you moved to New York?"

Rydel readjusted her floppy hat on her head, brushing a lock of golden hair out of the way of her face as she did. "well as a family we bought a largeish house and i got a job working in fashion. rocky and ross teach music to kids and riker and ryland got office jobs. a little while later we all sort of bought or own places and got on with our own lives, just like we had never even been famous."

they both had entered the park and were now walking across the grass to a nice spot in the grass under the sun and out of the way of noisy kids, joggers and dog walkers.

"that all sounds so perfect. why did you come back?"

rydel didn't reply immediately, instead she opened the picnic basket and pulled out a blanket. she unfolded the blanket and lay it down in the bright green grass. ellington parked the stroller next to it and sat down next to her on the blanket.

eventually, she replied. "it just wasn't working for me. i missed LA. i missed the beach and the view and my friends and just where i've created my own home, i just missed it all. as a family, we had a little argument and i realised that never happened here..." she trailed off and started messing with a lose thread on the end of her dress. "and i really missed you."

ellington looked up at her, hearing the last bit. she looked at him and smiled cutely which made him smile.

"ga ga gaaa." joey grumbled impatiently, clearly wanting attention. he held out his arms, grunting and wiggling and trying to get out the stroller.

ellington laughed a bit, unclipping him from the stroller and lifting him out. he sat him down on the mat and opened his backpack grabbing a few toys and offering them to joey. rydel watched the two of them, admiration, shining in her eyes.

"now my question for you.." rydel began, taking off her hat and laying it down on the blanket next to her. "when i left for new york you had a nice house, enough money so you probably wouldn't have to work for ages and a lot of other nice things. now your life is kinda the opposite. what happened?"

ellington stopped playing with joey and looked up at her. "joey's mom, took everything i had and then dumped him on me once he was born."

"oh." rydel said. "guess it makes sense."

ellington nodded and then picked up joey who had a daisy in his fist and had just put it in his mouth. "no, joey, no. that's not food." he harshly took the daisy from joey who started screaming and crying. ellington sighed, bouncing him up and down and try to quieten him. joey screamed louder and kicked his legs, his little face going pink. tears rolled down his chubby cheeks as he blubbered, people passing by stared at them. rydel who had been watching them and eating a sandwich she had pulled out of the picnic basket, glanced at her hat and got an idea.

"let me try..." she started, lifting him out of ellington's grip. joey whined a bit, no longer screaming, just looking at her interested. she held him in one of her arms and picked up her floppy hat, putting it on joey's head. joey looked slightly confused and then started giggling, pulling the hat down so it covered his face. rydel smiled, realising it had worked.

"where's joey gone?" she asked to no one in particular.

joey pushed up the hat so she could see his face, exploding into giggles.

"there he is!" rydel chuckled, tickling him lightly.

"you're so good at that." said ellington who had been watching them admiringly.

rydel smiled even more. "thank you. he's such a cutie."

ellington casually wrapped his arm around her as she played with joey, all of them soon forgetting about his screaming fit. they all sat giggling and laughing, just like a family...for about two seconds.

ellington didn't see it coming but the next thing he knew he was lying flat on the ground, a football lying next to him that had just hit him in the head. he groaned in pain. "Ellington!" Rydel screamed as soon as she saw him lying on the floor. joey crawled over to him. "Ellington are you okay?" Rydel asked, helping him sit up. He rubbed his head where he was hit, wincing in pain. "i-i think so..."

a kid came over and picked up the ball before running off again. rydel searched through the picnic basket, looking for something to put on his head to stop the swelling. she couldn't find anything.

ellington sat up and placed his hand on her shoulder. "hey, i'm fine. it was just a little hit, no big deal."

rydels phone buzzed and she answered it immediately, holding the phone to her ear. joey reached up to him and Ellington scooped him up in his arms, talking to him softly as joey poked his cheeks curiously.

"hiiiiii...yeah....i'm out with him right now...yeah....okay....i'll see you later...bye..." rydel said into her phone in a cheery tone. she ended the call and placed her phone down on the blanket.

ellington looked at her and smiled a bit, joey crawling over and grabbing her phone. rydel just looked at him and giggled. "sorry about that by the way, it was just my boyfriend."

a lump formed in Ellington's throat. she didn't say anything about having a boyfriend before.

"um, actually i have to go. i need to put some ice on my eye a-and joey needs to have a nap." Ellington rambled, picking up joey and quickly strapping him in the stroller. rydel just looked slightly confused.

"if you want i can come with yo-" she began but was abruptly cut off with ellington's "NO."

he picked up his backpack and grabbed the strollers handles, setting off walking towards his apartment and leaving rydel sat confused.

he could feel tears brimming in his eyes as he walked and even though it was a warm, sunny, happy day he felt so distant, sad and alone. his mind was full of thoughts but one thought stayed clear in his mind:

how could I be so stupid to fall for her again?

Sorry it has taken so long for an update! Its a long chapter and I accidentally deleted the original one. Don't forget to tell me what you think of the chapter! What's going to happen next?!