leave me lonely | joshler

7. mrs. ross

Josh walked into work after dropping his kids off at school. It was currently May 2nd which means it was near the end of the school year. The last day of school was on the 20th and Josh has to figure out where Grayson and Laila could stay during the day while he's at work. Abbie usually picks them up from school but since she takes online college classes and works during the summer she won't be able to. He could ask his mom and dad but they already do so much for them and he doesn't want to bother them anymore than he already does.

Not wanting to stress himself out more than he already has, he put it to the side like he does everything else.

Walking into the breakroom, Josh saw Dallon pouring coffee into a huge waterbottle and noticed the huge bags under his eyes.

"No offense dude but you look terrible." Josh pointed out.

Dallon sighed and ran his fingers through his messy hair before responding. "I feel terrible. Alex and Sutton both have the flu so, Breezy and I were up the entire night with them. We got maybe one hour of sleep." He explained while yawning.

"I know how that is. I'm sorry. Is she taking them to the doctor?" Josh asked sympathetically.

"Yeah she's taking them to urgent care today. After though, she's gonna drop them off at my moms for a couple hours so that she can sleep. I feel bad. She does so much for them constantly. She deserves a break. I'm going to surprise her with a date this weekend." Dallon explained.

"How cute." Josh replied with a smirk.

Dallon rolled his eyes and playfully hit josh on the arm. "Yeah yeah. C'mon let's go out there before boss throws a fit." he groaned out.

"Yeah you're right. Let's go mi amigo."

—

Josh was currently on his way to his sister's house to pick up his kids. During work, he had gotten a call from their school confirming parent-teacher conferences with their teachers Mrs. Honeycutt and Mrs. Ross. Josh had completely forgot and Laila's is at 5:45, so Josh was trying to pick them up as fast as he could so that they wouldn't be late.

When he arrived, he knocked on the door and Gavin, Abbie's boyfriend answered. "Hey Josh," he smiled while hugging him. "They are in the dining room." he answered while letting Josh inside.

He peeked around the corner that led to the dining room and saw them doing their homework at the table with abbie. When the twins spotted him, they ran up to him.

"Hi guys." Josh said smiling as he crouched down to hug them both. Laila doing this everytime, grabbed Josh's hard hat and placed it on her head.

"Dad! Lai Lai p-p-painted my n-nails!" Grayson told him excitedly as he showed him his white nails. Lai Lai was what Grayson called Laila when they were younger since it was easier to pronounce and it just kind of stuck throughout the years.

Josh smiled. "Wow bear they look so good! They look pretty on your tan skin."

Josh never cared about that stuff because they are just kids and it shouldn't matter. If Grayson wanted to wear something pink he could. Josh knew kids like it because it's bright and he wouldn't care who they become as they get old because it doesn't matter.

"Alright guys go get your stuff, we have to go to parent-teacher conferences." Josh told them. Laila went to go grab her backpack and put her shoes on but Grayson stayed put.

"What's wrong?" Josh asked him when he noticed the frown on his face.

"W-what i-if M-mrs. R-ross s-says s-s-s-something m-mean." Grayson stuttered out while tears were filling his eyes. Josh bent down towards him and wiped the tears.

"I won't let her say anything mean about you I promise." Josh swore as he kissed Grayson's forehead. He felt his son nod his head and released him so that he could get his stuff. After saying goodbye to his sister and Gavin, he put his kids in the car and drove to their school.

The meeting with Laila's teacher, Mrs. Honeycutt, went extremely well. Laila is doing well and is a fast learner. She gets along with others which came to a surprise to Josh because he knows how stubborn his daughter can be. When the meeting was over, he walked outside the classroom where his kids were sitting in the chairs provided for them.

"Good job bee." he said softly as he kissed her hair. She smiled proudly and hugged her dad.

Grayson's classroom was across the hall from hers and he took a breath before entering it.

"Mr. Dun? Have a seat." Mrs. Ross said warmly. Josh took a seat at the table and was given Grayson's "report card."

"Grayson is doing very well academically," Mrs. Ross started. Josh smiled because he loved how smart his son was.

"But he still is having issues on the physical and verbal part." she told him sadly.

Josh nodded his head. "Yeah he's very shy with people he doesn't know." he informed her.

"He's been with us this whole school year. He should be able to engage with students by now." she replied which made josh's blood boil.

Remaining calm, Josh calmly spoke. "Him not speaking a lot does not affect his schoolwork as we can see. Grayson is one of the smartest 7 year olds I know and i'm not just saying that because he's my son. He can sit and tell you about every animal there is for hours. He even knows all his numbers in spanish. I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job ma'am but if you were patient and communicated with him, he would learn to trust and want to speak around you. Do you know he has woke up crying because he didn't want to come to school because you forced him to do something he's not comfortable with? It breaks my heart seeing him like that."

Mrs. Ross was silent while taking in that information. "I did not know that." she said after a while.

Josh nodded his head. "Yeah. Maybe you can take that information for future students who have anxiety problems." he said kindly.

Once the meeting was over, Josh grabbed the papers he needed and walked out. He walked towards Grayson and did the same thing he did with Laila.

"I'm so proud of you both. How does pizza sound for dinner?"