*cover by Lunagust*
Eighteen year old Hudson Baxter has a secret; one that he has kept for three years so far. The secret caused him to move to a new city. A secret that has caused him and his first love trouble. More importantly, a secret th...
"Wait, so you're telling me Jolie moved here?" Mom asked me.
"Yes, that's what I said," I said. "She seemed mad to see me for some reason. Yeah, she was mad at me. And here I was, hoping I would never have to see her again."
"Are you going to let her see Xavier?" Mom asked.
I sighed. "I don't even know if she wants to see him. You know what she did after she left. If she really wanted to see him, she wouldn't have blocked me on every website. She wouldn't have left in the first place."
"That is true," Mom said. "But his birthday is coming up soon. You think she's going to at least want to see him then?"
I shrugged and looked over at Xavier, who was coloring at the dining table on a piece of paper, his tongue sticking out at the side of his mouth as he concentrated on the bunch of scribbles.
Xavier never really asked questions about his mom. He was too young to remember her, and I thought he would have asked where his mom was since I had a mom. He never did.
"He might get a step-mom soon," Mom said.
I looked at her with my eyebrows furrowed. "What are you talking about?"
"Well, you and Nova seem to be getting along just fine," Mom said.
"Yes, because according to her, I'm the only human she can stand," I said. "She doesn't really like humans."
"I think you're missing my point," Mom said.
"What point?" I asked. "Nova's my friend and only my friend. Besides, Xavier has all my attention now. And speaking of, he has been asking to go to the park."
Xavier perched up when he heard the word. "Park? I go to park!"
"See?" I asked. "Alright, Xavier, let's get ready to go to the park."
"Yessssssss," Xavier said, climbing off of the chair and running over to the door. I chuckled and followed him over there. I helped him put on his shoes and his sweater before putting on mine. I told Mom we would be back before dinner before leaving.
We began walking to the park across the street and while we were heading to the crosswalk, I spotted Nova walking in our direction. "Don't tell me you were going to come over," I said.
"That may have been a possibility," she said. "Oh, come on, you're the only human I can stand, and my parents went out somewhere so I didn't want to be home by myself."
"Or you're addicted to me."
"Don't flatter yourself. So, we are you headed?"
"I am taking Xavier to the park," I said. "Right, Xavier?"
"Yeah!" Xavier said. "I love park! Nova come?"
"You want Nova to come?" I asked and he nodded, so I looked over at Nova? "So, you want to come with us? You were heading to our house anyway, so...."
Nova smiled. "Sure. I can't resist someone extremely cute anyway."
"I am extremely cute, aren't I?"
"Yeah, I was talking about Xavier."
"Well....He does look like me, so I'm still taking it as you thinking I'm cute."
Nova rolled her eyes and we continued walking to the park. As soon as we got there, Xavier released my hand and ran over to the swing set, pointing at it as he jumped up and down. "Swing! Swing!"
I chuckled and walked over before picking him up and setting him down on the swing. "Hold on tightly, okay?"
"Okay!" Xavier gripped the chains of the swing tightly. "Go!"
I stood behind Xavier and gently pushed him on the swing as Nova stood beside me. Xavier was laughing almost the whole time of me pushing him on the swing, wanting me to push him higher. I didn't, though. He was only two and I didn't want him to go too high quite yet.
"He really is cute," Nova said.
"Yeah, he better be," I said. "He is my child, after all."
"You're sure full of yourself."
"Thanks, I try."
"So...." Nova hesitated a bit before continuing what she was planning on saying. "Does Xavier ever ask about his mom?"
I shook my head, thankful that Xavier was having way too much fun on the swing as he laughed to hear our conversation. Then again, I knew Nova wouldn't have asked it if he was paying attention.
"I thought he would have because I have a mom, but he never did," I said. "I think he's content with how things are now, which is a good thing because I have no idea what I would tell him about his mom."
"Yeah, I could see that after what she did," Nova said. "I still don't understand it. If she didn't want to raise him, she could have told you and you two could have figured something out instead o just leaving like she did."
"Exactly," I said. "I was glad to move away from all of that, but now I'm going to have to suffer again. I still can't believe she moved down here. Out of all the places in the world, it had to be here."
"You think she's going to want to see him?"
"I doubt it," I said. "Oh and on a completely unrelated yet somehow related note, I'm taking him out somewhere for his birthday next week. Would you want to come with us? He seems to like you and you are a pretty decent human."
"Why, thank you," Nova said with a smile. "Yeah, I'd love to come. Where would it be, exactly?"
"That part is a surprise," I said. "I know he's not really listening to us talking right now, but one I saw where we're going, he'll immediately jump in on the conversation."
"So it's somewhere he likes," Nova said. "Say, if I were to ask him where his favorite place is, would he answer correctly?"
"Don't, I want it to be a surprise," I said.
"Yeah, for him, not for me."
"I'm not saying anything."
"That's rude," Nova said before looking at something in the distance. "Is that....your ex?"
"What?" I asked, following her gaze and forgetting that I was pushing Xavier on the swing, so he ended up bumping into me. "Ow!"
"Sorry, Daddy," Xavier said as Nova stopped the swing.
"Don't be, that was my fault," I said. "And to answer your question, Nova....It is. Great."
"Want to book it before she sees us?"
"....Hey, Xavier, I know you love the park, but how about we head back home where you can show Nova your drawings."
"Okay!"
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I kept getting distracted for this. :/ I found out someone is going to die in one of the TV shows I watch AND I'M JUST TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW AND WHO DID IT. Now I'm going to be waiting impatiently to find out....
