GUYS I SAW ONE DIRECTION IN CONCERT SATURDAY NIGHT (AKA NIALL'S BIRTHDAY!) AND IT WAS THE GREATEST THING OF MY LIFE AND JUST LIKE OMG!!!! so anyways i was inspired by their amazingness that night to write this longer chapter ;* <3<3
Loved You First
"It'll be okay."
I nod and take a deep breath, attempting to calm my anxious nerves.
My dad will be here in a matter of minutes and I am freaking out more than Louis! Although Lou is noticeably tense, I'm about to explode. I didn't think it was a big deal, per say. I mean obviously it's a big deal since I haven't seen my dad in almost 6 years, since the last time he came to California during my Sophomore year of high school. He meant to visit again, but, I don't know, it never happened. He was even going to move back at one point, but for years whenever I asked him when, he would tell me he would be there as soon as he could, which was a time that was still waiting to be determined.
Now I'm getting to see him and I am overwhelmed with excitement, as well as trepidation that doesn't belong in the current situation. I want to just be happy to see my dad, but for some reason I'm nervous.
"Aren't I the one supposed to be calming you down?" I laugh breathlessly, squeezing his hand in mine.
"Yeah, why am I the one doing all the work?" he teases, scrunching his nose up in front of me. I slap his chest playfully, his jokingly light mood calming me a bit.
"That's a good question. It's the complete opposite ninety-nine percent of the time," I joke back, biting my bottom lip slightly to contain my now giddy smile.
"Oh really now?" he says, mockingly stern, nodding his head up and down with his eyebrows scrunched together. His serious expression is given away by the uncontainable smile across his lips.
"Yeah! You are the lazy butt in this relationship, which I didn't even know was possible considering I don't answer the phone if I have to sit up," I giggle. I love how it is so easy for Louis to turn my mood around without doing anything but our casual banter and his heart-melting smile. I bet he would be able to make even Hitler himself crack a smile. His good naturedness is just constantly contagious.
"Oh, okay, whatever you say," he humors. He knows I don't mean it, or at least doesn't care. I just like to tease him for a laugh. I know, I am so nice!
"Keep up with that attitude and this relationship will go very far!" I beam brightly at him.
"Oh I see how it is. I just have to agree with everything you say."
"Look how smart you are!" I coo, ruffling his hair with my free hand. He brings his up to his head, grabbing my wrist and pulling it from his messied hair before clasping his fingers through mine between us so that both of our hands are connected, and begins swinging back and forth.
I look back up from our entwined fingers with a giddy grin across my lips to find Louis intently staring back at me. I feel the lighthearted mood around us shift in a matter of seconds as he gazes at me, now feeling a tentative element in the air.
"What?" I inquire, my grin softening in sync with my tone.
He holds his stare for a few more moments, his small but genuine smile pulled up slightly at one side. I feel myself suck in a breath as I watch him study me with such affection, filling me with a comfortable euphoria.
"I love you," he mutters softly, barely above a whisper. My receding grin widens at his words, but still remains relatively small given the loaded meaning and emotion of the exchange.
"I love you, too," I respond, matching his tone.
His eyes visibly brighten at my words. Although I know he knew them undoubtedly before, I revel in the way it isn't the simplicity of the actual words spoken, but the true feeling of emotion that seeps through every syllable as we admit them to each other, time and time again.
"And I love this little baby so, so much. I just can't wait to meet them, and hold them in our arms," he speaks gently, moving his hand to caress my still flat stomach. My skin tingles at the contact through the fabric of my shirt, his heavy expression and actions causing me to lose my breath.
"You are going to be the greatest father in the world, and I will make sure our baby knows just how lucky they are to have you as their dad," I say warmly.
He shakes his head in response, momentarily confusing me, before he continues in speaking, "No. That'll be their mother. I'll be fine, but I hardly think they will notice with you as their mom."
I smile wide at him compliment, letting his honest tone make me believe he truly means what he says, which pains and joys me at the same time. He can't see how great of a father he will be, so I'll have to believe in him even more, which is by no means a problem in my eyes.
"How about we agree that we will both be absolutely wonderful and leave it at that?"
He purses his lips, sighing deeply as he mulls it over in his mind. Apparently, this is a difficult decision for the boy.
He eventually seems to make up his mind, and huffs in resignation, "Fine."
"Good boy," I mock, leaning in give his adorable little nose a peck.
"Gah! Why are you kissing his nose?! Why do people do that?!" a voice I know all too well yells at us a they enter the dressing room.
"I don't know why you have such a problem with nose kisses, Hails," I laugh at the girl and she plops down on the couch, immediately followed by Harry. She wrinkles her nose in distaste, snuggling into her boyfriend's side.
"It's weird!" She shifts her position uncomfortably as if the mere thought weirds her out. "Like why don't you kiss his forehead--even his cheek! Go for the lips even! Just why the nose?!"
I give her the look I use all too often with her as she pouts, annoyed with the topic and my disagreeing with her. Although we have had this conversation before, and while she has expressed her extreme distaste for the gesture, I remain neutral. I don't think it's good or bad, but it always seems to irk her, so I am utilizing that knowledge in giving her a hard time for it.
Sharing my evil mind for the moment is apparently Harry. He jumps forward off the couch so that he can be somewhat face to face with Hailee from where she sits, all but on top of his lap. He quickly leans forward and pecks her on the nose with his lips before he falls back with a victorious smirk.
"Ew! You weirdo! Don't do that!" Hailee shrieks, shuddering. She swings her arm and backhandedly slaps his chest in only a half-playful manner. She really doesn't like nose kisses.
"But your nose is so cute, though!" Harry grins brightly, pleased with himself for riling up his girlfriend. He looks like an elementary school boy who just played a prank and is waiting for the retaliation in anticipation.
"I don't care if it's cute! It's a nose! You don't kiss noses!" she grumbles loudly.
Harry pulls the side of his lip between his teeth, never erasing the playful smirk, before bounding off the couch to kiss Hailee's nose again.
She turns to him in annoyance, but no matter how hard he tries he cannot contain his excited smile as he looks back at her.
"Meanie," she mutters, slapping his chest slightly harder, but still with a playful tint. His eyes widen and his mouth forms an overly dramatic 'o' shape.
"Feisty little one," he giggles.
She rolls her eyes and reclines back against the couch, pouting.
Harry still sits there looking pleased with himself and simply waiting for her to get over it.
"You're both idiots," Louis chuckles beside me. I smile in amusement.
"I second that!" I announce, raising my hand in front of me.
Louis and I both laugh as the two take no retaliation to our teasing and remain in their contrasting positions.
Just as I am coming up with another retort, a loud knock booms through the small room.
"I got it," I call and walk to open the door. The minute I see the face of the man standing in the hallway, all fears or feelings of apprehension are washed away as if they were never there in the first place.
"Daddy!" I mean to scream, but it comes out more as a relieved breath. I launch myself to throw my arms around my dad's tall frame.
"Hey! Avery!" his loud voice booms in my ear as I hold my face in his neck. I feel his strong arms wrap around me, embracing my much smaller body. I exhale in euphoria as I relish the feeling of being back in the safety of my dad's arms. This has always been the place I feel most secure: my dad holding me against his chest as if he'll never let me go.
When he was away, I didn't mull over it too much because I was already not around him all the time, so it didn't get to me too often.
The only time it did, is when I imagined this. I could never think about it because it would make me cry on the spot. This was the thing I missed so much about him always being away, and it feels just as good as I had spent years imagining it would to be back in his embrace.
I feel a hot tear slide down from my eye briefly before it is soaked up by my dad's shirt against my cheek.
"Hey dad," I mumble against his chest, smiling.
"Hey big stuff," he mumble against the top of my head before pursing his lips to kiss it. I smile wider at his nickname he used for me when I was little. Gen and I would get into arguments once we were a little bigger because he always called her 'short stuff' but she said she wasn't short any more. My dad would just laugh and tell her she shorter than me. I was definitely the 'Daddy's little girl' of the family, so I always won that argument. I wasn't sharing dad's name for me with anyone because I was his 'big stuff' and no one else could be.
I forgot how much I missed him.
An awkward cough breaks me from my moment with my dad. I turn around to find Hailee and the two boys standing awkwardly as they wait for us to be done. Apparently Hailee got impatient and decided to interrupt us. Then again she is probably just saving the boys from the awkward moment more than herself. Although she has only met my dad a number of times, I always talk about him and she knows, at least to a certain extent, how much I missed him, so I know she wouldn't break us apart until the last second. Still, all I want is to curl back in my dad's arms.
"Hailee, you remember my dad." I motion between the two awkwardly.
"Hi Papa Will!" she greets lightly. She used the same expression for my mom, only 'Mama Will'. She had been around my family enough growing up that we basically adopted her as one of our own, in a sense.
"Good to see ya, Hailee," dad calls back in his always loud voice, and letting a bit of his Jersey accent reflect in his words.
"Harry, this is my dad, Robert," I introduce as he leans forward to firmly shake my dad's hand. "Oh, and Harry is Hailee's boyfriend, just FWI."
"Okay. My youngest daughter has told me about that. She seems to like you well enough," my dad says back, a slight hint of cautiousness in his voice. "Call me Rob."
"Yeah, Gen is a great kid. Nice to meet you, Rob," Harry says back, keeping his tone even as he gives my dad a final shake.
"And... this is Louis." I hate these introductions. I'm so awkward about them. I may have to work on that. Oh well, too late now.
"Nice to meet you, sir," Lou says, extending his hand just as Harry had done, shaking it firmly. His face is calm, but I know from the way his eyes flick around, doing their best to hold my father's admittedly intimating gaze, he is nervous. Luckily, I don't think that would be something dad would pay enough attention to to notice.
"You too. I've heard a lot about you," he says calmly, ending with a tone I know distinctively as amusement. That fact scares me.
"Oh, no, that doesn't sound very good," Louis laughs, keeping up surprisingly well with my dad's attempts to read him. I know my dad would be impressed by that fact. They release their hands from each other's grasp, my dad's placing itself on my shoulder farthest from him, squeezing it tightly before softening it's grip to shake back and forth so that my body rocked. I stumble slightly and laugh as I tip into my dad, just like so many times before when he did the same thing.
"Na, na. You're doin' fine. Gen hasn't shut up 'bout the two o' ya," dad remarks back, laughing at his own comment... like always.
Come to think of it, he and Harry would actually get along rather well.
"Oh, well with that little girl there's no telling what she has said," Louis responds, easily. I'm glad he is able to banter back and forth lightly with my dad so seemingly effortlessly. I notice some of the tension that had fallen over his body release slightly, causing me to do the same, not knowing how tight my muscles had become at some point during this conversation until I feel my shoulders slump.
My dad's laugh reverberates through the small room. "You have no idea!"
We all laugh lightly at the reference to the hyperactive little girl we all love. As obnoxious as she is the majority of the time, she is somehow able to be simultaneously lovable.
Once the laughter and small comments here and there from everyone die out, Louis says, "Okay, I gotta ask. What was young Avery like?"
I inwardly face-palm.
Okay, maybe it wasn't so inwardly as I had expected, because now my forehead hurts.
"Oh, we better sit down for this one, huh?!" dad laughs, moving us all over to sit among the chairs and couches set up in the dressing room. Acting out of instinct, I follow Louis to sit in the armchair, waiting for him to get comfortable before sitting on his lap. Once I adjust myself with my arms wrapped around his neck and my legs laying across him to rest on the arm of the chair, I look around to notice everyone staring at the two of us. Hailee and Harry look slightly shocked, while my dad has a slight smile on his lips. I blush and begin to move to sit beside him, still not willing to leave his side completely, when my dad stops me.
"No, no, you're fine. Don't behave for me," he chuckles, but smiling happily. Most parents would be uncomfortable watching their daughter being affectionate to the boy they just met, but not mine. Although my mom probably wouldn't have minded it, I know my dad honestly enjoys seeing me so happy with a boy he knows I'm crazy about and who feels the same way about me. He'll be cautious, but he will want to see us acting normally and happy.
Still, I blush at his choice of words. Not to mention the fact that I'm not sure exactly how his feelings about the situation would change if he knew both Hailee and his baby girl are pregnant with their pop star boyfriends' children.
Well, luckily we don't have to tell him yet so we can all just be happy while he enjoys his temporary ignorance.
I hide my face in Louis' neck. "Dad..." I mumble in desperation that he'll stop. I know he won't, but it makes me feel better thinking I have any semblance of control over what comes out of his mouth, even if it is a lie.
He laughs loudly once again. "Haven't seen you blush that red since your Freshman year!" he cackles.
I groan, further hiding my burning face in the crook of Louis' neck.
"What was this story?" Louis laughs, obviously amused as much as intrigued.
I hate him. At this moment in time, I hate him.
"Okay, so Ave had just started her Freshman year of high school, and they had this event where all the new students hung out and met each other and all that," my dad starts, smiling excitedly. "So anyways, it was her sister's birthday so I was picking her up early so we could celebrate. Well, I was waiting on the side of the school and she walked over to meet me, but she was with this boy. She was all giggly and had a little skip in her step and had the biggest grin on her face, as did the boy, so I knew something was going on there. I mean, I was quite the charmer as a kid, so I knew when a girl liked a guy. Plus she wasn't being very sneaky about it," he laughs harder. "But so she finally walks over to meet me and I ask her about the boy. She acts all shy but smiley and simply tells me that's her homecoming date. Well now I wanna get a better look at the kid, and-" I interrupt.
"And looks back over his shoulder and yells 'where'?! Even though I knew he knew exactly which one it was," I scold my dad, lifting my head to make sure he tells his fault in the story. Everyone bursts out laughing at my comment, finding it absolutely hilarious while I was absolutely mortified when it happened.
"Yeah, and then she blushed so much I thought her face was going to catch on fire!" my dad laughs, nearing the cusp of hysteria. Not that the other three aren't far behind him.
I lean back in the chair, pouting. No one seems to take much notice as they try to get their laughter under control.
"So did you go to Homecoming with him?" Harry asks, the first to calm himself enough to speak.
I roll my eyes. "Yes..."
"Yeah she did, he was her first official boyfriend," Hailee pipes in. I scowl at her. This seems to spark Louis' attention, however, for he leans back to look at me with a slight smirk remaining on his lips.
"Really now? Who was this lad?"
I laugh, slightly uncomfortable and not really liking where this conversation is now heading.
"His name was Brandon, and we only went out for like two months. And that wasn't even Homecoming! We didn't start going out until near the end of Freshman year!"
"Yeah, but he told her he loved her after three weeks of going out," Hailee laughs.
"Seriously?! What were you, 15?!" Harry laughs, finding this far too amusing.
"Yeah, and it still took her another month to break up with him!" Hailee comments further. If a lightning strike could just hit her right about now that would be perfect.
"He was a sweet guy! He was just a little... intense..." I say, trying to defend him the best I could. I feel bad whenever we make fun of him because his only problem was he was just overly sweet and caring. He was the perfect boyfriend, but I could not be the perfect girlfriend. I did not have the patience for that.
"Yeah, okay. 'Intense'," Hailee exaggerates.
"Whatever! Let's change the topic!" I laugh, covering my face in my hands.
"Aww, Aves we are just giving you a hard time," Louis chuckles, rubbing his hand up and down my thigh as the other rest behind me, holding me up slightly. I just groan and resume my hiding position in his chest.
"Oh! You haven't even heard about the overalls yet!" Hailee laughs. Crap.
"Overalls?" Harry questions, sounding amused but confused.
"Yeah, her mother made the mistake of letting me dress her quite a bit, and I always had her in overalls. Then her mom had given her the total bowl cut for the first, I don't know, seven years of her life. Then she would get all upset when people in the store would mistake her for a boy!" my dad laughs, nearly falling off the couch.
Louis throws his head back in laughter. I smack his chest and resume pouting.
This is going to be an interesting night.