all american | lance tucker

ch. 37 • stupid runs in the family

We spent the rest of the day scouring Pinterest for wedding ideas, during which Lance got really excited that I said yes to letting Jace wear a tiny tuxedo, we decided that I would go dress shopping the next day, and we were getting married in the gym, where we first met.

It sounded dumb, but we both liked the idea and gymnastics was basically the only thing people really knew us for. Well Lance, anyways. By the time we had settled for the night, it was way too late, and there was a thunderstorm raging outside. It was around 2:15 in the morning, but we were still up trying to get the kids to go to bed.

"I'll tell you what. You kids can sleep in the living room, and if you get scared just wake me, not your mom. Only me." Lance was holding Shay in his arms, rocking her back and forth in his arms as he spoke. I was sitting on the couch with Aria huddled up against my side, watching with a little jealousy.

He was holding Shay, Ciara was attached to his leg, and Jace was attached to his other one. The kids agreed to this idea, and we set up a little sleepover in the living room for everyone before finally getting them to go to sleep. We stumbled back to our room, making sure to leave the door half open and collapsed on the bed in exhaustion.

"In case you don't know, they're going to be in and out of here pretty quick coming up, so you might want to fall asleep now." Lance murmured, stripping down to his underwear before pulling the covers over himself, sighing.

"I still haven't gotten used to sleeping here." I admitted, staring at the ceiling. "I miss the old place."

"I don't like the two dresser thing. We have a closet, we don't need both of them." He added, even though I knew he wasn't really listening.

"Oh, but your stupid posters can be in here?" I scoffed. "If the dressers go, so do the classic movie posters."

"Shut the fuck up. I love you. Go to bed." He then yawned, and said nothing else. A couple minutes later he started snoring, and I knew he was done for the night. And a couple minutes later, so was I.

When I woke up the next morning, something was pressing into my side. Like, hard. I groaned, pushing at something.

"Lance, stop touching me." I complained, not ready to wake up yet. After there was no reply, I opened my eyes to see Aria, trying to shift over me.

Her hand, which was holding her up, was pressed right into my side. I sat up just enough to lift her over and set her down so that she would leave me alone. I then looked around a little bit to see that all four of the kids were currently sleeping in bed with us. Ciara was tucked under Lance's arm, Aria was now sandwiched in between us, Shay was sleeping behind me, and Jace was in between Lance's legs.
Lance was still sleeping.

Aria rested her head on my arm, closing her eyes again and sighing gently against my neck. I decided to just go back to sleep, not wanting to deal with how it would be when all the kids woke up for good. 

When I woke up again, the kids were still asleep, but Lance was awake. He was just laying there, Ciara tucked in the curve of his chest and Jace now sleeping with his head in Lance's hand.

"This is what happens when you leave the door open." I mumbled, brushing Aria's small hand off of my face.

"Well, on the bright side, after they came in here, everyone fell right asleep and there was not a single cry all night."

"Were you up all night?"

"No, just for a while. I woke up with Ciara's fingers in my mouth, so that kept me up for a while."

"Shit. I have to go dress shopping." I rolled out of bed, making sure not to disturb the kids before heading to my dresser, getting dressed and calling Harley.