One•Shots

caelum + tatum

t a t u m *

I live in a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment with my daughter; her name is Aurora Brynn, but we call her Rory, she's six and a half months old. Her mom and I equally split time between us, but even when she is with her mom, I still do online school. We're Seniors in high school, but I moved out of my parent's house to take responsibility for my kid.

There's a knock on the door. I look at my watch; it's not time for Mariah (Rory's mom) to get her yet. Mariah and I co-parent very well and, believe it or not, we're still really good friends. We hang out a lot so even if it's not one of our days with Rory, we still see her nearly every day.
I open the door and find Caelum, my best friend, on the doorstep.
"Hey," I say.
"Hey," he replies. "Wanna go to dinner later? Or do something?"
"Sure,"
I'm about to say something, but I'm interrupted by Rory crying from her crib.
"Be right back," I tell Caelum, holding up a finger.

"Hi, Rory," I coo at her. Her face is lit up with a smile as soon as she sees me walk into the room. I bend over the crib and pick her up. Today, she's wearing a sunflower (tank top) romper with a yellow bow. She kicks her legs as I lift her into my arms.

I turn off her sound machine and walk back into the living room with her in my arms. Caelum's face lights up when he sees her.
"Hi, Rory!" he says looking at her.
She squeals and reaches out for him.
"Dada," she mumbles grabbing the collar of Caelum's shirt and playing with it.
"Someone is drooling," Caelum says.
"Someone is teething," I say, sticking a pacifier in Rory's mouth and hooking her pacifier clip to her romper.
"When will she be back?" Caelum asks me.
"Not sure, I think Mariah is just taking her for tonight this time," I tell him. Mariah and I don't really have a set schedule, if one of us wants her for longer, we generally let the other one unless we have plans.
"I'm coming over tomorrow night then," Caelum tells me.
"Just spend the night, we haven't had a sleepover in a while,"
Caelum shrugs and agrees.

"Hi baby," Mariah says when she sees Rory.
"When is she coming back?" I ask her.
"Is tomorrow afternoon okay? I have to work the night shift tomorrow and Sunday," Mariah says. "Hi, Caelum," she adds, seeing and waving at him over my shoulder. Caelum waves back.
"Yeah, that's fine," I say.
Mariah comes in while I run to the bedroom to get her diaper bag.
"This romper is adorable," Mariah says.
"Your kid is adorable," Caelum says. "You and Tate make a heck of a cute baby,"
"Are you hitting on my daughter's mother?" I ask sarcastically as I come out of my bedroom. Mariah and Caelum look awkwardly at each other.
"Quite the opposite, actually," Caelum says under his breath when he thinks I'm not listening.
Rory chooses this time to start crying.
"Oh, baby," Mariah coos bending over and picking her up off the floor.

Mariah and Rory leave shortly after.
"Where do you want to go?" I ask Caelum, turning to face him.
"Huh? OH-oh, I don't care," he replies.
I raise an eyebrow at him; he looks away from me.
"B-before we go," he starts, stuttering. "Can we talk?"
"Yeah," I say quickly, surprised at the sudden seriousness of his tone. "What's up?"
He looks up at me from the couch.
"I love you," he says quietly.
"Wh--I love you too, but--" I begin.
"No, Tate, I love you," he says, almost whispering.
"What's wrong with that?" I ask him.
"No, Tate, you're not getting it. I-"
He shakes his head as if to clear it and then stands up and walks toward me.
"Come here, stupid," he whispers before he pulls me into his arms and presses his lips to mine.
I find myself smiling against his lips trying to drag him closer to me. He pulls away slowly and looks up at me.
I smile at him. "I knew what you meant the whole time," I admit. "I just wanted you to kiss me,"
He laughs and shoves me. "Rude," he jokes.
"How about we go get some food, and then we come back?" I suggest.
He nods.

We chose to go to a local Mexican sit-down restaurant.
Afterward, we came back to my apartment.
"Wanna stay tonight, too?" I ask him.
He nods. "I was hoping you'd ask that,"
I laugh and lean over, pulling him against me and kissing his lips gently.
We stumble around the couch and into my bedroom.
"Do you need clothes?" I ask him.
"Not right now," he replies.
I raise an eyebrow, chewing the inside of my jaw. "Hmmm,"

The next morning, I wake up with Caelum cuddled against me.
"We should go to the park later," he says. "It's supposed to be warm, and we can take Rory,"
"I like that idea," I say.
"Mariah knew I liked you the whole time, by the way,"
"I should've known... also, what are we?"
"Forever," he whispers, leaning up and kissing my lips softly.
"We need to tell Mariah," I whisper, kissing him back.
He nods his agreement. At that precise moment, 8:39 AM, Mariah texts and says that she's bringing Rory home at noon.

Mariah knocks on the door with Rory in her arms and her diaper bag on her shoulder. Since Rory is seven months old now, we each have a car seat that we keep in our cars instead of lugging it around each switch off. Today, Rory is wearing a tan (cloth) pair of overalls with Winnie the Pooh on the front, a red onesie underneath and the same yellow bow from yesterday. She's also wearing baby white hightop Converses.
"Hi baby girl," I say excitedly, throwing open the door.
"Dada," she coos reaching for me.
Mariah puts the diaper bag down on the floor as I take Rory.
"She just woke up from a nap about an hour ago and drank half of a bottle, so she'll probably be hungry soon," Mariah informs me.
"We'll have some sweet potatoes then," I say, talking more to Rory than Mariah.
"She never eats those for me,"
"Really? She loves them,"
Caelum comes out of the bathroom at that moment.
"Hey Caelum," Mariah says, somewhat confusedly.
"Hey," Caelum says, waving a hand. "Hi, baby," he adds. And, for the first time, I'm not sure if he's talking to me or to Rory.
Although my confusion is answered momentarily when he looks at Rory and says, "Hi baby girl,"
This is the first attempt we've made at trying to tell Mariah we're together, but I don't think she noticed.
"Come see Daddy," Caelum tells her, reaching for her.
Mariah's neck moves so fast it's a wonder she didn't snap it.
"Really?!" She asks. "Aww, that awesome! I'm so happy for you guys, I always knew you would end up together," she adds when we nod.

After Mariah leaves, I feed Rory, and then we head out to the park.
When we come back, it's time for Rory's second nap.
I'm putting Rory into her sleep sack when Caelum comes into the room with her bottle.
"I've got a bottle for one cute little baby," Caelum says. "I'll hand it to her equally cute daddy,"
I smile at him, kissing him quickly and retreating to the chair in the corner of the bedroom to rock her to sleep and lay her down. Once she's asleep, I turn on her baby monitor (which reads to my phone), turn on her Owlet sock (which also reads to my phone), turn on her sound machine, and turn off the light. (Funnily enough, 'Rockabye' by Clean Bandit, Sean Paul, and Anne-Marie was on when I was writing this scene)

Caelum kisses me softly when I come out of the bedroom and sit on the couch.
I smile as I kiss him back and lay against him on the couch.
This is my life now, and I wouldn't change it for a single thing.

4/8/2020
Yes, he has a car, I just didn't add the picture.