𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙨 | 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫

one

i was woken up by tiny, soft hands being placed on my face and small little noises. "mama" i hear, and my eyes slowly start to flutter open, and i see my 2 year old babygirl, wide awake and attempting to wake me up which she gladly succeeded at.

"good morning my love." i coo and sit up bringing her into my arms and giving her small little kisses on the cheek. her laugh was music to my ears and always managed to make me smile.

everything about my little girl was absolutely beautiful. her gorgeous light eyes, and curly hair standing out like always. it impressed me how i was able to to bring such an angel into the world on my own.

my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of my phone ringing. as i pick it up and look at the Caller ID, i see that it's a close friend of mine, victoria , who i had just met not too long ago, in downtown LA. "hey vic !" i smile and see her sitting on the bed as well. "hey brie!" she replies with the same tone of voice.

and of course as soon as elle hears victoria's voice she comes into the picture waving at her. "and hey to you too, cutie!" victoria gushes, as elle tries to snatch my phone from my hands. "elle calm down." i chuckle.

"what are you gonna do later?" she asks with a small chuckle still cooing elle. "not much, i think I'm just gonna stay in." i shrug. "well..." she was smirks, "i was actually calling to see if you would like to come join me on an adventure tonight?" she smiles.

"that depends victoria." i chuckle. "what kind of adventure?" i furrow my eyebrows. "don't worry, nothing risky or dangerous. it's something fun, that's very close to home. you can obviously bring elle!" she pipes up, smiling.

"uh okay, fine. " i chuckle. "great, i'll pass by to pick you up at 5:30." she adds, and i nod smiling. "sounds good."

•

"okay victoria, can you please tell me where we're going?" i ask impatiently, taking a sip of my water bottle. "ugh brie! since you're being such a bug, fine i will tell you." she sighs chuckling.

"we're going to one of my favorite places in the world! dodger stadium!" she smiles excitedly, although I on the other hand spit 50% of my water out. "what??" i ask in shock. "yeah! aren't you excited! it also means, i get to see my dad play. it's been a while since i have." she cheers. "youe dad??" i ask confused. "c'mon brie, have you forgot about me telling you that my dad plays for the dodgers?" she asks, confused.

"your dad plays for the dodgers?!" i ask even more confused. "who is he??" i ask again, while victoria facepalms. "brianna, my dad is matt kemp; you clearly don't listen enough." she laughs at my face. "i swear you've never told me this." i look at her shocked. "yes I have." she chuckles.

"what the hell! that is so cool!" i smile at her, happily. but my mind quickly settles down, when i re-calculate everything again in my head. "wait so we're going to dodger stadium?" i repeat, calming down, and starting to feel pain & worry in my chest. "yes." she nods her head, and i look away from her and straight ahead onto the road.

everything came tumbling onto me like a ton of bricks. it seemed so surreal for a few minutes and the more i thought about it, the deeper i got lost in my thoughts.

•

"hola? brianna?" i hear my mom's voice over the phone. "hello? hey mama, what's up?" i ask, wondering why the sudden call was for. "it's cody!" she starts to cheer over the phone. "mamá, is this what i think is happening?" i slowly start to rise from my place on the couch. "yes honey! he got the call!" she cheers loudly. "oh my god." i jump up, and all i could do was look up with a humongous smile and let out a huge sigh of relief. he made it; he finally made it! i couldn't be more proud of him! i look down to my daughter and immediately engulf her in a hug and hold her tightly. "he made it baby, daddy made it!" i let go of her and cheer, kissing her cheek. all elle could do was look up at me, smiling and blabbering words as if she too, was happy. the tears start to well up in my eyes, just at the thought of how happy cody must be right now, in this moment. "alright, well i'm gonna let you go mija-" i hear my mom say over the phone. "i still need to inform the rest of the family; i just wanted to make sure you were the first one i told." she adds on, and i can't help but smile. "thank you mamá. i appreciate it." i reply. "of course babygirl-now take care and i'll call you later. i love you." She coos and I chuckle. "i love you too mom!"

and as if on cue, right after ending the call with my mom, my phone dings alerting me that I had gotten a message. I look back down and read it..

"hey brianna. i just wanted to let you know that cody has in fact been called up into the majors, this morning. he will be playing for the los angeles dodgers! i wanted to make sure you were informed, even though i'm pretty sure your mom has already told you. it is obviously really tough for cody getting the call-up and not having you here with him throughout this journey; but like you have always told me, it will only make him stronger and i hope it really does! oh also; his debut will be tomorrow night against san francisco, at around 5:30 p.m, please watch it and experience it with us! i hope you and elle are doing okay. please keep me updated if anything! " - jennifer 🤍

he's gonna be playing for the dodgers tomorrow?!? This is best news I've heard in the longest time; he was finally doing it! He was living his dream! The dream he had swore to achieve, 7 years ago. He was finally living it!

•

"hello? brianna? brianna?! i hear someone shout my name, and i quickly snap out of the flashback. "sorry, what?" i respond quickly, looking at victoria. "what's wrong with you?" she asks confused. "oh, nothing. i'm fine, it's just that I'm not feeling the best right now." i sigh, looking into the road once again.

"actually, victoria; wouldn't it be better if we just went back home? i mean we can watch the game at my house if you want and I'll order some food!" i offer, obviously trying to get myself away from the problem, i didn't want to face.

typical.

"no, brianna. I have this all planned out already, and plus you share the same love of baseball as i do. it's going to be so fun!" she replies, looking away from the road for a second to look at me.

"victoria-" i try to argue but she puts her right hand in front of my face, motioning for me to stop talking. "nope. brianna- no more talking." she warns and all i could do is sigh, and pray that i'm kept unproblematic today.

if i don't even believe that, you guys shouldn't either.

i look behind my seat to see elle in her car seat, looking out the window. she looked so peaceful and relaxed looking at all the buildings as we passed by. it made me feel at ease, that she looked at ease. always.

babygirl doesn't have one clue about what goes on in the world around her...

//

hey guys! i hope you guys liked this first chapter, and continue to like the rest of the book! please give me your feedback on what you think so far! 🤍

xoxo - deileen