Alerrie: His Son

Four.

Vanessa's POV:

I was woken up at around 7:30 by my daughter Amalia, who wanted me to make her some breakfast. It was a Tuesday morning and I had been called upon to do the school run. Hauling myself out of bed, I walked downstairs with her into the kitchen. Sat at the table were my two oldest sons, Jordie and Kymal, both eating toast. Jordie would be making his own way to school that morning but his younger siblings, who were all still in primary school, would have to be driven.

It had been about a week since Jordie had found out about Alex. Since then, he'd been a little distant, but hopefully that was just a phase. I was expecting him to look his dad up. Despite knowing who his dad was, I knew Jordie wasn't very up-to-date on his life. However, he didn't do any research as he apparently 'didn't want to seem like a stalker' when he finally met his dad. I thought it was ridiculous that he would think his own dad would consider him a stalker, but I held my tongue. Jordie was eager to meet his dad, but what he didn't know was that I was actually going to see Alex later that day. We had planned for him to come round to my house so the paparazzi didn't see us together.

At about 12:00, the doorbell rang. I took a deep breath, smoothed out my clothes and prepared to meet the man I hadn't seen in over 13 years. And boy, I was not ready for it. When I opened the door, I couldn't believe my eyes. The scrawny, skinhead teenager I had dated all those years ago was now super fit! He'd bulked up, grown his hair out at the top and gained some stubble. I could feel myself staring so I tried to compose myself - I had Darius, didn't I? Well, kind of.

"You look... different." I stuttered.

"Yeah, so do you." He replied. We stood in an awkward silence.

"Do you want to come in?" I spluttered.

"That would be great, thanks." He replied, stepping into the hallway.

"So how've you been?" He asked, once we were sat down at the kitchen table.

"I've been good. Not premier league footballer good, but good all the same." I laughed.

"Ah yeah, that." He grimaced. "It doesn't help matters, does it? That's one thing about being in the public eye. When you find out you have a kid, it gets very hard to keep it a secret." We both smiled.

"He's at school right now, and you'll have to make sure you're gone by the time he'd gets back."

Alex nodded. "So how is he? Do you have any photos of him, schoolwork? You know, I just want to get an idea of what he's like."

"He's a good kid," I said, whilst getting up to go find some of Jordie's memorabilia. "He gets into trouble sometimes. It's messing around in class, forgetting his books, not doing his homework, you know, that kind of thing." I placed some photos of Jordie, his latest school report and a memory box I'd kept since he was born in front of Alex.

"He's a big sport fanatic is Jord. I'm sure he gets that from your side of the family." Alex laughed, as he flipped through the photos. "He plays for a local club and he's in the school team too. But it's not just football, he also runs and plays tennis, rugby and does a bit of cycling. I'm not quite sure how he does it, to be honest."

"He's certainly good at PE." Alex added, holding up Jordie's report, which featured a 5/5 score in the PE section.

"Yeah, that's his favourite subject."

"So who does he support?"

"Sorry?"

"Football team, I mean. What team does he like?"

"Ohhh, he's a Tottenham fan." Alex probably internally grimaced.

"What's this?" He asked, holding up an official looking document. I went over to him and took it.

"This is Jordan's birth certificate." Alex looked in wonder at the piece of paper, tracing the letters with his finger, until it stopped on the blank space underneath 'Name of Father'.

"Yeah, you're not on it, sorry." I whispered guiltily.

"It's ok." He smiled, but he looked hurt.

"Do you want to be on it? I'm sure we can arrange something." I suggested. His eyes lit up.

"Yeah I really would." He paused. "But if you don't mind, I would like to meet him first."

"Of course." I replied, and then we got down to business.

We discussed when, where and how they would meet, finances, custody, how we would deal with the press, and many other important details until I checked the clock and realised it was 2:57.

"Oh my god it's nearly 3!" I cried.

"I'm so sorry, do you need me to leave?" He asked. I nodded hastily.

"I just need to go pick up the kids from school."

"You have kids?" Alex asked, surprised.

"Yeah, 3 other than Jordie."

"Oh nice, what are their names?"

"Kymal, Amalia and Cameron."

"Are they little kids or..?"

"10, 7 and 4." I answered, whilst grabbing my car keys.

"Cute names. Are you married then?"

"No. I'm on the market." I smiled, whilst leading Alex out the door.

"Oh, is the dad y'know... in the picture?"

"Dads. And not really. Ky's dad takes him out for the day a few times a year and Darius, my ex, occasionally takes the kids on weekends, but he's round the house helping a lot, so I can't complain." I shrugged. He didn't say anything and I stood, waiting for him to leave so I could collect my kids. Finally, he realised.

"Right, I'd better be off then." He smiled. "I'll text you about the meeting arrangements, alright?" I waved as he jumped into his Range Rover and drove off.

As soon as he had left, I jumped into the car and began driving to the school. I couldn't help but think about how he'd shown interest in my relationship status. He was certainly good looking, and also seemed kind and compassionate - maybe after all these years, there was still something there. I snapped out of my daydreams and checked the time on my Satnav screen.

3:21. I groaned. The teachers were going to kill me.

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A bit of background info on Alex's ex in this one, hope you enjoyed it!