Raura's Daughter

seven.

Ross' POV

"Connor freaking Ball?" I repeated after my younger cousin who sheepishly sat underneath the bleachers with a slanted smirk on her face. I folded my arms over my chest and furrowed my eyebrows in frustration at her. "This isn't funny, Cece. He's old enough to be your father!"

Laura sniggered from beside me and I shot her an angry glance. "Ross, he's two years older than her. If he was old enough to be her father that would mean he would have become a father at the age of two."

The rest of the girls began to giggle along with Laura's comment and I sighed in annoyance. I pointed my finger to Connor who was thankfully to busy tackling some guy to notice Cece gawking at him from underneath the bleachers and then pointed back at Cece. "That guy is not right for you, trust me. I want you to forget about this little crush of yours and move on, are we clear?"

Rydel rolled her eyes and stepped in front of my face with her arms crossed over her chest. "Ross, she's almost sixteen, give the girl a break. It's natural to have crushes at that age, you of all people should know that."

"Stop acting like such a dad, Ross!" Cece yelled over the loud cheers and shouts from my soccer team. She pushed her way past me with Trisha following behind her with a worried expression on her face. Cece stood by the entrance to the gym and shook her head at me. "You might be a father, Ross, but you aren't mine, so quit acting like it!"

Rydel and Raini walked away in silence, leaving Laura and I to ourselves underneath the bleachers. I slumped myself down on the squeaky wooden flooring beneath me and held my head in my hands. "I'm just trying to protect her."

Laura sighed and shrugged her shoulders at me. "She can protect herself, Ross. She's becoming a young woman now, whether you like it or not. A crush is a natural thing to experience at this age, let her enjoy it while she can."

"I don't want her to end up like..." I quickly trailed off from my sentence and avoided Laura's gaze. A gentle sigh came from the both of us as we realised how messy our situation truly was. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

Laura faintly smiled at me and nodded her head slowly. I'd never seen her look so beautiful, even when she was bare faced and ready to workout in a gym. I couldn't believe how stupid I had been to let go of her. "Me neither." She murmured before wrapping her hand up in my own. "But she's smart, she knows what she's doing."

"You're smart." I said quietly as she released her grip from my hand. "But look where that left you."

Laura released her grip from my hand and folded her arms over her chest. "My decisions may not have been the smartest back then, Ross, but I wouldn't change anything about my past. I have a beautiful daughter who I love more than anyone else in the entire world."

I weakly smiled back at her. Laura was becoming a strong independent woman and I still felt like a little high school boy who hadn't grown up yet. I was a father to a little girl and yet I still couldn't process that properly in my mind.

I was about to continue our conversation when a sudden grunt could be heard from behind us. I quickly scurried out from underneath the bleachers and saw Troy engaging in a fight with a tall guy with blonde hair and deep green eyes. "Hey!" I called out aggressively as I ran towards them and pulled them apart from one another. "Who the hell are you?" I asked breathlessly as I locked eyes with the random blonde.

The boy licked his lips in Troy's direction and chuckled lightly to himself. "Me?" He asked, pressing his finger to his chest. "Well, since you asked lover boy. My name is Jesse Moore. I go here now, in case it wasn't obvious."