her and much more / joe mazzello

ten

the two headed back to joe's place and enjoyed a glass of wine and small talk.

"would you like to go out with me?" joe blurted our halfway through their time at joe's. he curled his lips in, "i'm so sorry. i did-"

"i'd love to." she leaned on the counter with a smile on her face. "i've been waiting." she let out a little laugh.

"really??"

"yes." she laughed once more before taking a sip. "you're adorable, you know that?"

"no i'm not." he rolled his eyes.

"yes you are, now stop talking down on yourself."

"only because you said so." joe sat his empty glass in the sink.

"what next?" vivian did the same.

"i want to get to know you more."

"ask me anything."

"your ex."

"oh. umm, well he was a piece of shit."

"clearly." joe chuckled.

"he wasn't the best and when he found out i was pregnant, it wasn't pretty."

"he didn't, did he?" vivian stayed silent. "did he hit you?"

"a little. i also found out he had been cheating on me that whole previous year leading up to that point. with thirteen woman, all one night stands. but knowing paisley was on the way, i knew i needed to stay strong and get myself out of that. i took my ring off, put it on his coffee table and got a few moving guys to help me get my stuff out and into my home that i have now."

"i'm very proud of you and very happy that you're in my life now." joe looked her in the eye while she talked.

joe found out so much from the last hour and a half they spent together. "i've learned that you're more than just a mom tonight. you're one of the strongest people i've ever known. and i absolutely admire that about you. and you have the most gorgeous little girl i've ever seen. you have so much and you realized that and got yourself out of a bad situation. you started from the bottom and worked your way up. i'm so proud of you."

"thank you.." vivian smiled and let a few tears slip out.

"come here." joe held his arms out and vivian climbed into them.

she dozed off for a little bit while joe held her.

"viv.." she jolted up and saw joe sitting up.

"what? what's wrong?"

"nothing..i just thought maybe you'd want to go get paisley and you guys could stay the night here."

"yeah." vivian rubbed her eyes and stretched before getting up.

"i think the guys blew up your phone by the way." joe said while backing out of his driveway.

ben:
hey! paisley woke up so brian has been holding her and singing '39 to her for a good ten minutes now

gwilym:
brian and paisley are new besties!

"i wish i could've seen this.." vivian smiled at her phone and read the messages to joe.

they continued to make small talk and get to know each other. she learned joe had been cheated on before as well and disappeared from the dating scene for a hot minute.

"hey!!" ben greet as the couple entered brian's house.

vivian looked over at brian in a rocking chair holding paisley. she noticed he was quietly singing still.

"so she woke up?" vivian crouched down by him.

"yeah, i enjoy her company." brian raised his shoulder and gently passed her over to vivian.

"thank you so much brian." brian hughes vivian after she thanked him multiple times.

"we should probably get back to my place." joe smiled at the mother and daughter.

paisley rested her head on vivian's shoulder while sucking her thumb. "say bye bye to ben and gwilym."

paisley stretched out her unoccupied hand and did a bear wave. "bye sweetheart. see you soon i hope!" gwilym booped her nose.

"bye lovey!" ben made a silly face causing paisley to giggle them yawn right after.

"you're boring ben." joe smirked. "c'mon hun, you both need some sleep."

"hun?" ben looked puzzled. "did you actually
make a move?"

"look at joe being a big boy!" gwil teased.

"shut up." joe blushed and held the door open for vivian.

"say bye bye to brian." paisley scrunched her face up and smiled.

"goodbye sweetie. i'm sure i'll be seeing you with big boy joe." brian smiled and watched as the three made it to joe's car safely.