Mourning The Losses (Erik Jones Fanfic)

Being Around Town Chapter 12

"I'm going to go show Zoey around." I said to my dad. "Alright, I'll see you both before you leave." He replied before we hugged and then he hugged Zoey. "Of course you will." I replied. "Come on Zoey I have to show you around this small town." I told her before we walked out I found the doctor who took the DNA teat and said "if Hayley, the pregnant teenager told you to tamper with the test and say I'm the father of her baby, just remember I'm a NASCAR driver who doesn't live here so if I'm not the baby's father and some test says I am it would seem like I left the baby and I don't want to seem like I did if the baby is mine." He looked at me and said "that's why she told me to tamper with it, she just wants your money, don't worry I'll make sure the test results are not tampered with." He said.

"Thank you so much." I replied before we left. "She told them to tamper with the DNA test so the baby is mine." I told Zoey. "She just wants the money." She said. "Yeah, at least you don't." I said. "NASCAR sends me money and has since my dad passed, it's all in a bank account, they feel guilty that my dad passed during a race they told me that they do it to every child who looses a parent during races, they stopped sending money to Dale Sr. children who are NASCAR driver." I told him. "Oh." He replied. "Yeah, so I really don't need money I'm set, I'm with you because I want to be with you not your money." I told him. "Good because I'm with you because I want to be." He replied.

*Zoey's P.O.V.*

We got done the tour and everyone in Byron knows Erik that's how small this town is and I was kind of surprised. "I feel like your a rockstar." I said as we got back to his parents house. "Yeah, when I'm here that's how I feel." He replied. "Is it a nice feeling?" I asked. "Yeah, I was wondering, how did you deal with your dad dying?" He asked as we sat on the couch, his mom and sister were still out. "I was a baby, I didn't understand at that time." I told him. "Did you ever ask about him when you could talk?" He asked. "Yeah." I replied.

"I can tell you the story I've been told." I told him. "Please, if you want." He said. "I was about two, it was just me and mom then, everyone else in daycare had dads that picked them up but for me it was always mom no matter what so one day we were in the car going home and I asked 'why don't I have a dad?' And my mom said 'because God had to take him away.' I was ok with that answer until I was five, I asked my mom on her death bed because I was a five year old and that was when I started blurting things out, well this time she said 'Zoey, you don't have a dad because God had to take him away, but he did so when dad was doing what he loved, racing his number eight truck in a NASCAR race.' I then asked 'but why my dad?' She said 'I don't know." I told Erik not realizing I was crying he hugged me to his chest and I told him the rest of the story. "My mom thought that was the perfect time to tell me she was dying because she said 'Zo, God wanted your dad back when you were a baby, and now he wants me back, uncle Joe is going to take care of you after I'm gone but just know I'll always be with you." I said. I had to stop because I was crying too much and Erik was just holding me to him.

"Shhhhhhh Zoe, it's ok I'm here it's going to be ok now." He said while rubbing my back. I just continued to cry. "My parents cant personally watch me grow up, continue to grow up, get married or see their grandchildren." I said crying. "Hey hey hey, they may not get to see their grandchildren but they will be able to help pick out what our children will look like, with the help from my dad if he doesn't survive." Erik said. "Your dad is still alive now, we need to focus on that." I told him. Laying my head on his shoulder I slowly stopped crying and fell asleep.

I woke up beside Erik on the bed. "Hey sleepyhead, how are you feeling?" He asked. "A little better, I always cry when I talk about them, I never knew my dad all I hear are stories about how great he was as a person and a driver." I told him. "I'm going to partly know what that feels like, I got 20 years with my dad, you got a day and as a baby." He replied pulling me closer. We got up and decided that I should meet some of his friends and so we went to do just that. "Guys, this is Zoey." Erik said. "Hi." I said and they all said hi, Erik then told me all of their names and we hung out most of the day.

"I should be getting Zoey back to my house, we have a big day tomorrow finding out who's the father of Hayley's baby." Erik said. "Brian told us about that, and Hayley told him that he was the father of her baby, she just knew it couldn't be you, you always used protection and they didn't." One of his friends said. "She knows the baby isn't mine and is still doing this?" He asked. "Babe, it's ok that means the DNA test will show that you aren't the father and then when we are ready, after marriage we can have our own family." I told him placing my hand on his. "Yeah, you're right we just need to get tomorrow over with." He said.

We finally got home and ordered a pizza, when it finally got here we ate it and then we decided to go to bed.