tattoos || c.h.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ sɪx

mia

"we're closing up soon." zayn speaks up. "why don't we all go out and eat? call everyone and go eat out. we haven't done that in awhile."

"are you down?" calum looks down to julian who still sits in my lap. i still think it's funny how julian clings to me instead of calum whenever i'm around.

"are you coming?" julian looks up at me. those big beautiful brown eyes. ugh.

"depends on june. she's my ride." i look to june who's wrapped in ashton's arms. "wanna go?" i ask her and she eagerly nods with a huge grin. "i'm going."

"i wanna go." julian looks to his dad and calum chuckles at his son. julian really is the cutest thing and can never fail to make someone smile.

zayn and calum call the others, as most of them don't answer their texts, while june talks with ashton and julian and i are in our own.

"so how's school?" i question julian on his academics in first grade. oh to go back to preschool where there's no responsibilities.

"really good. my teacher always gives me a star on my papers because i do really well." you can hear how proud he is.

"well, you are the smartest kid i know, so i can believe that." i tell him and his smile seems to grow even bigger. this kid only deserves happiness and love in his life.

"we all decided to meet at shake shack." zayn informs all of us. last time i was at shake shack was when julian got an a on his test and i dropped off june's phone. she called me from ashton's.

"i'll see you there." i pick julian up to place him in front of me, so i can stand up. june and i walk out before all of them and head to shake shack.

"the other j stands for julian, doesn't it?" june questions the second j i got for my tattoo. "i've never seen you so attached and happy with a kid. i mean you're always happy with kids, but with julian it does look like you're his mom with how much joy you get when you play and watch kid shows with him."

"him and calum are now two additions to my best friend list. calum comes in the package with julian, plus he's a pretty cool guy."

"so what're you going to order?" june asks me as we stop at a red light. "wanna share that shack stack like last time?"

"i think i'm going to get a ten piece chicken nuggets. i'm not really that hungry right now." i explain my order to june as we now pull up to the restaurant.

looking inside i could see the whole group there besides zayn and gigi. june and i get out of her car and walk inside to sit with our friend group.

julian decides to pull me next to him, making himself sit between me and calum. everyone laughs at julian's actions again before we make more room for zayn and gigi.

everyone orders and i'm surprised how julian knows to order. i was scared to even ask for ketchup at his age, let alone order.

conversation goes around until our orders are handed to us, everyone diving in the second our meals are placed in front of us.

"can i have one?" julian whispers about my chicken nuggets and i allow him to have one. "thank you." he smiles before eating the chicken nugget.

"no problem." i whisper and i look up to see calum raising his eyebrows at my gesture for julian. "he wanted a chicken nugget. nothing wrong with that."

calum let's out a breathy laugh and shakes his head before going back to eating his burger. after julian finishes his food he decides to sit on my lap and rest his head on my chest. yeah, i can see why people would think i'm his mom.

i look down and see julian slowly become sleepy. i turn to see calum already staring at me and his son.

"want to go home?" calum asks julian and he nods while gripping my hands. oh no. don't tell me this is going where i think it's going.

"i want mia to read me a bed time story." julian replies and i have to take a deep breath.

calum looks at me as if asking me 'is that okay?' and i give him a nod. i'm perfectly fine reading julian a bed time story, but i feel like i'm doing stuff calum used to do all the time with julian. and i don't want to take that role from calum.

"this is for our meals." calum places down $50 and all three of us shuffle out of the booth. "g'night." he tells his friends as i hold julian.

"bye, drive safe." i say goodbye to the friend group i made over the last few months. calum opens the car door to the back seat and i place down julian, pulling his seatbelt over him.

surprisingly, we get to calum's fast. usually new york's traffic takes forever. julian drags me to lay down next to him as he snuggles under his covers.

he cuddles into my side as i wrap my arm around him and read him a random story i picked off of his tiny shelf of kid books.

"i love you, mom." julian mumbles before he falls asleep as i'm a little over half way through the story. 'i love you?' mom?' shit. i can hear my heartbeat. instead of physically freaking out, i give him a quick hug and slide off his bed to only look up and see calum's standing there. his face wears the expression i had with julian's words.