baby it's you // olly murs

5 - excuses

"Mumma? Dadda?" I nodded and looked at Olly, who was staring at Joshua, tears glazing his eyes.

I set Josh down on the floor and he walked over to Olly. "Dadda?" A tear ran down Olly's face, while he nodded.

"Yeah...yeah I'm your Daddy."

Joshua looked between Olly and I, with a confused look on his face. Until he clapped and lifted his arms for Olly to lift him. "Dadda!" Josh chimed, cuddling Olly.

---

"So, what's your excuse for leaving me? Us?" I asked, as I put Joshua down for his afternoon nap.

"I-I er, I can explain."

"Start explaining, then." I said, calmly.

He nodded and breathed in. "we just finished that Skype session, and I came off and I walked into someone...the X factor producers. They asked me who I was talking to, and I said my girlfriend, and they said if I don't end it with you, they'll take me off the show. Harsh, I know. They said it would affect my popularity and I wouldn't get far in the competition, with everyone knowing I had a girlfriend." He took another deep breathe, before continuing. "I nodded, but had no intention in ending it with you. I was...in love with you! Then later that day, I was going to text you. And they caught me. They took my phone and replaced it with a new one. So, I couldn't do anything? I was so distracted by the competition, that I forgot about contacting you. I made myself promise that I would visit you after X factor had finished...but I couldn't. I was so busy, and I hardly ever got a day off. I never stopped thinking about you, you were always in my mind. I haven't been with anyone else. I only ever wanted you."

I, this time, was speechless. He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. I opened my mouth to talk, but was interrupted. By my dad.

"Pops, are you okay? Jake said you left because-" he walked into the front room and clenched his fists. He looked like he was about to hit Olly. "What the fuck are you doing here?!" He shouted.

"Dad, Joshua's sleeping upstairs. Please, don't shout." I said, pushing him back a bit. He nodded and kissed my forehead.

"Pops, can you get us a tea?" I slowly nodded, heading for the kitchen. I wasn't going anywhere until i hear what Dads gonna say.

"Listen, I don't want you anywhere near my daughter or my grandson. I don't want you breaking her heart again, leaving her with nothing. I want you out of here."

"But, Paul-"

"It's Mr Dawson to you." My dad said. I silently laughed.

"Mr-Mr Dawson, Joshua's my son? Please don't keep me from seeing him."

"He's your son? Where have you been for the last three years, ey? Having sex with every girl you can get your mitts on?"

"No, Sir! I didn't know! I love your daughter, you know I do!"

"No, no I don't know. If you really loved her, you would have come back. You knew where she was. You knew she would have waited for you. She was in love with you. She got snooty looks from all kinds of people because you were in a relationship! But she didn't care. Because she was in love with you. And then, you abandoned her. She had to move in with her parents. What sort of 21 year old, now 24 wants to live with her parents?! You told her you would be back, but that was just another lie."

"Sir-"

"Get out of my house, now." I ran to the kitchen, putting on the kettle. I heard the front door slam, which meant Olly must have left.

I poured the water into the mug, adding the milk. Dad came in and kissed my forehead again. "Hello poppet."

"Hey dad...I'm sorry for leaving work.. It's just, Olly was there and I was...serving his table, Joshua came in and he found out..." I took a sip of my tea and continued talking. "And then he suddenly came to the house...I..I introduced him to Joshua...Joshua loved him! Was that wrong?"

Dad shook his head. "As Olly said, he is his dad. But he doesn't deserve to be, poppet."

"I don't know, Dad. I want Josh to grow up knowing who his dad is and seeing him on a regular basis. But...if he does want to be in Josh's life...he's not going to be in mine."