All of this past

Not a date

"Dad! Your date is here!" Jude yelled from downstairs. I took a last glance in the mirror, reasonably happy with what I saw and ran down the stairs, where she was waiting with a big grin on her face.

"It is not a date Jude," she smirked and cut me off.

"Which is why you spent an hour in the bathroom and just came running downstairs like a madman."

"I'm not even answering that. We're going to see a play but my phone will be on buzz in my pocket, so call me if anything comes up, and make sure Kate, and especially Sam get to bed in time? Sam already took a bath, he only needs a story..."

"And his teddy bear is on his bookshelf so I should give it to him when he goes to bed. I know this dad, it's not the first time I'm babysitting, remember?"

"Right. Don't stay up too late yourself either, tomorrow's a school day."

"Dad! Go! The guy arrived almost 5 minutes ago and he still hasn't rang the door bell, so either he's nervous as hell, or you told him not to because you're scared of him meeting us and running away. Go already, I won't burn the house down and we'll be just fine and sound asleep when you come home."

"Right. Kate! Sam! I'm leaving!" I gave Jude a peck on the cheek and repeated my action when Sam and Kate came running in to the hallway. "Be good! And don't eat all of the cookies I got at the supermarket yesterday, they're a week's supply."

"Dad!" All three of them chorused, handing me my coat, my wallet and pushing me towards the door and even opening it for me so they could push me outside. Harry was leaning on the hood of his car, looking up to meet my eyes when the door opened. He smirked at me and got up to come and say hi. I kissed him on the cheek before I walked around his car to the passenger seat. The original plan had been for me to pick him up, but my car had broken down on Tuesday evening and they couldn't fix it until tomorrow, so Harry had offered to pick me up instead. As soon as he turned the motor on, loud guitar music blasted through the speakers, causing Harry to turn down the volume a second later.

"Sorry, bad habit," he excused himself. I chuckled, remembering how the same thing happened when we were still together and he had used the car before me. He would always turn the heat excruciatingly high, and the same went for the music volume.

"I know."

"Your kids look fun to be with." He said, glancing my way and smiling before turning his attention back to the road.

"They are. They're really great, although I could do without them hitting puberty. Jude's a great girl most of the time, but the amount of eye rolling she's giving me lately... you'd be scared they'll be rolling out of their sockets. I just hope she gets out of it before Kate starts it."

"Aww, I'm sure you'll survive Li. And besides, Jude did offer to babysit tonight, right?"

"Yeah she did. Now I only have to convince myself it was not only so she could call her friends for hours on end and eat all cookies and crisps she can find around the house."

"You're cute when you're in dad-mode Liam." He grinned at the road in front of him and I could almost feel the mischievous look in his eyes.

"Shut your big mouth Styles." I retorted, a smile starting to form on my lips. "So, how's the song writing going?"

"Ah. Different subject please? It's actually going so well I'm considering making the next record a cover album."

"You're saying that as if it would be a bad thing." I turned so my back was leaning against the door and I could have a better look at him while we talked.