Stepped Up

Chapter 34

Oakley's POV

"So how do we go about this? Do we set up a set schedule of when I can see him, or how do you want to go about this?" Jay asked.

I shrugged. "I'm not sure, I've only ever had to parent by myself but I guess we can start by setting up a set schedule." He nodded. "As of right now I'm only up here for two weeks, but I'm going to be moving back up here in the next month or so."

"You're moving back here?" I questioned, slightly worried. "Yeah." He confirmed. "What about school, are you transferring up here?" He shook his head. "No, I've decided college isn't for me. I'm going to finish this semester then I'll be leaving it at that. I'll be moving up here and staying with my mom until I can find work."

"I thought journaling was something you loved, what happened?"

He shrugged. "College life is not for me, plus theirs different forms of education I can receive other than going to college to get a messily degree."

I smiled awkwardly. "Yeah, of course. Anyways, I was thinking you could have him for a couple of hours on the weekends, then you could see him when your mom babysit for me for them couple of hours. At least, until, Elliot's comfortable enough with you and I see that you can actually take him for longer periods of time."

He chuckled, rubbing his hands together. "Oakley, I think we could both say that I'm more than capable of taking care of Elliot and I'm pretty sure my son is more than comfortable with me. We've spent quite some time together."

"I understand, but that was behind my back on your mothers account. I had no idea about your relations with Elliot. Co-parenting involves trust, an immense amount of it. It's gonna take time for you to earn my trust, and if you don't like what I'm offering then..." I paused. "that's on you, but you're the one that wanted to commit to this."

He sighed. "Your right, I'm sorry. I'm fine with whatever you're are comfortable with."

I smiled appreciatively. "Thank you."

He returned the smile. "Of course."

~~~~

After a little while of Jay and Elliot spending some time together, I was glad to finally be rid of his presence.

Don't get me wrong, I loved seeing Elliot happy while he was playing with Jay but it was so awkward just sitting there like everything was all normal, when in fact it was not normal.

Far from it.

But it wasn't long after that, that there was another knock at the door.

I pried myself from the couch cushions, shuffling slowly to the door. Opening it I was surprised with Issa.

"Issa?" I questioned shocked. "What are you doing here?"

Issa smiled. "Hey Oaks." She greeted. "I just wanted to come see you. I feel like it's been forever since I last seen you."

I smiled. "We just seen each other a couple of days ago."

"I know, but that was forever ago." We both chuckled. I opened the door allowing her into the house. She walked in and into the kitchen setting her bag down on the island.

"So how have things been?"

I sighed. "It's been. Just a lot of nonsense. How about you?"

She turned around, leaning against the island. Her face dropped. "Junior and I broke up."

My face dropped, and my eyes widened. "What?" I exclaimed. "What happened?"

She smiled sadly, trying to suppress her tears. "A lot." She breathed out.

I walked over, immediately pulling her into my embrace. "Oh Issa, I'm so sorry." I apologized, while she cried in my arms. I pulled away. "Come on, let's sit down." I took her arm guiding her to the couch. We both sat down and Issa wiped her eyes.

"Talk to me, what happened?" I asked. She sighed, placing her face in her hands. "I'm not even sure, really. We were good, we were great. But then things just took a turn, we started to argue more and he just became distant. I thought maybe I had done something wrong, but I racked my brain and could think of anything. When I told him we should talk about everything that was going on, and the tension that was between us he agreed. I thought we were gonna talk and everything was going to be okay, but when I went over to his apartment, I barely made it out of my shoes before he said he thought we should take a break."

I wrapped my arms around Issa as she buried herself into me, crying. "Why the hell would he do that?" I questioned, mostly to my self.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think I did anything wrong, or atleast not that I could remember. All I keep thinking is maybe I said something wrong or maybe he was cheating on me and that's why he broke up with me, so he could be with the other girl."

I shook my head. "No, Juniors not like that. He loved you with everything he had."

"That's what I thought too, but why else would he break up with me without no explanation?"

I sighed. "I don't know, but maybe Drake will." I said pulling out my phone after getting the idea to interrogate my boyfriend.

'Hey, Issa and Junior broke up. Any idea why?'

I sent. Within minutes he replied.

'None, but maybe that's what he wanted to meet with me after work about. I'll let you know if I get anything out of him.'

I smiled. 'Thank you babes, love you.'

'Love you more.'

I read his text a couple of times over before shoving my phone in my back pocket. "What'd he say?" Issa asked, wiping her eyes.

"He said he doesn't know, but he's meeting with him after work. He said he would let me know if he gave him a reason. Meanwhile, why don't I go get Elliot up from his nap and we can go grab some grubby food, and ice cream, then come back here and binge watch some movies."

She smiled through her pain. "Can we watch Criminal minds?" She asked with a soft voice.

I smiled, rolling my eyes. "For you, we can watch anything."

Much love, Lillyonna_Paris