Ozzie Blake and Some Twisted Fate

Chapter 4: Mom & Dad

Ozzie's POV

"Hey, you," Luke whispers in my ear the next morning as I squirm under my covers.

"Why are you always in here when I'm waking up?"

"I just came to tell you that I'm heading over to the Blue's house."

"The Blue's?" I say groggily.

"Christian and Avalon Blue? They live next door. I'm babysitting their son today."

My head perks up. "I love kids! I'll come with!"

"Are you sure, Oz? You can go back to bed if you want."

"Of course I'll go! Just let me throw some clothes on." Luke leaves the room as I throw on my tie dye oversized t-shirt and a pair of denim shorts. I quickly throw my hair into a French braid and brush my teeth before meeting Luke downstairs.

"Where'd you get that shirt? I've never seen it," is the first thing he says as we walk next door:

"I've had it awhile. So what—you keep track of my clothes now?" I chuckle as Luke rings the door bell.

"No. I just... notice what you wear, I guess."

I smile as a woman not much older than us opens the door. "Luke! Thank god you're here. Oh—hi there. I'm Avalon. And this is my husband—" she looks behind her. "Ugh. Babe! Come here!" She invites us inside as a guy walks down the stairs with a baby on his hip.

"I'm Ozzie; I'm staying with Luke's family for the summer," I say as I extend my hand.

"It's so nice to meet you! I had no idea Luke had a girlfriend," Christian says as Luke takes the baby from him and Christian throws on a pair of flip flops.

"Oh! I'm not his uh—we're not dating."

"My bad. I was just reading body language, sorry."

"No, that's okay," I reassure him as Avalon hands me a notepad.

"We left a few notes and important phone numbers on here. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you need anything at all!"

"Go, have a parents day out! We'll be fine."

"Thank you two so much. Bye, JJ, Mommy loves you!" she says in her best baby-talk voice as both her and Christian kiss the infant's cheeks and then close the front door behind them. 

"They are the sweetest things," I say as soon as Avalon and Christian leave. Luke lays JJ on his belly for tummy time and sits on the floor next to the baby. "And so young, too!"

"They had JJ a year ago when they were 20 and 21, which is crazy to me."

"Can you imagine having a kid in two years?! Wow."

"Maybe, I don't know. With the right person I guess I can picture anything."

"That's cute," I tell him as I see his cheeks flare. "So, Luke. Are you ready to be the Dad to my Mom today?"

"Born ready." JJ starts wailing—and I mean wailing—and Luke immediately swoops him up and hands him to me before he disappears into the kitchen.

"What the heck is he crying about?"

"It's his feeding time; you hold him and I'll give him the bottle."

"You don't trust me to hold him and give him a bottle at the same time?"

"Frankly, not really. Don't take this the wrong way, but just because you love kids doesn't mean you know how to give them a bottle."

"Fair enough. So why am I holding him?"

"So if he spits up it goes on you," he chuckles as we sit on the couch and Luke plugs JJ's mouth with the bottle. "See? We're doing great."

"Yeah, we make a pretty good team." I look at JJ and then to Luke who's practically breathing down my neck. "This is nice." At this point, we're pretty much a breath away from each other, and it's making me hella nervous and confused all at the same time.

"It is," Luke says as he tucks a strand of my golden blonde hair behind my ear. He starts to lean in, and—

"Um, I think he needs burping," I say abruptly as I stand with the baby and start burping him on my shoulder.

"Ozzie—"

"Can you just grab that towel? Thanks."

"I'm sorry—"

"Shit!" I shriek as I feel JJ's spit up all down the back of my shirt. "Oh, fuck. Fuck! He shouldn't hear me say fuck!"

"You go get cleaned up in the bathroom; I'll take the baby."

I rush into the upstairs bathroom before running the sleeve of my shirt under warm water. Dammit! There's so much happening today that is so, so wrong. 1. This freaking stain won't come out. 2. I don't know what to do with this kid. 3. Oops, I have feelings for Luke. 4. LUKE TRIED TO KISS ME? AND I STOPPED IT?!

If only having guy best friends wasn't complicated.

I hear a knock at the door that makes me jump. "Oz? Can I come in?"

"Um... yeah. Where's the baby?" I say when Luke enters the bathroom.

"It was nap time, so that's why he was cranky."

"Oh."

"I brought you this," he says as he hands me one of his shirts. "I wasn't comfortable going through your clothes, so I just went home really quick and grabbed one of my t-shirts."

I smile. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Hey listen, I really think we should talk about what happened."

"And what happened, exactly?"

"Well, I—I tried to kiss you..."

"There's nothing to talk about," I cut him off. "We're just friends. Best friends. We'll never be more than that."

He doesn't even smile when he says, "I'm glad we're on the same page."

...

Avalon and Christian won't be back until 10 and it's dinner time, so we decide to take a stroll down the boardwalk and grab some pizza at our favorite place. Let me tell you, being a parent is no joke. I don't think I've ever been so challenge yet so humbled in my entire life. And oh, don't even get me started on how hot Luke is when he does quite literally anything with the baby. He could be cleaning JJ's shit off his shirt and I would still find it pretty darn endearing. Weird, I know.

"JJ, would you like a plain slice of pizza?" Luke pretends to ask JJ as the infant gurgles his spit.

"I'll have two slices of mozzarella, thank you."

"Pepperoni for me please," he tells the server as an old woman and her husband sit across from us.

"What a cute little family you three are!" she comments as I look up at her.

"We're actually just babysitting for a neighbor, but that's really sweet of you, thank you."

"Oops! Sorry about that, dear. You just seem very happy together."

"That's just my best friend," I say as I smile at the woman.

"That's too bad. But let me tell you something. My husband and I here have been married for 50 years, and you wanna know our secret? Find someone who's your best friend. It makes all the difference in the world."

"Funny thing is my wife and I were friends for years before I finally decided to man up and ask her out," the woman's husband says. "We were very lucky in the sense that we had a very strong foundation of friendship first."

Our food comes and my eyes swell with tears I'm so hungry. "It was really lovely talking to you two," I tell them as they smile and go back to reading their menus.

That conversation really did not help the hope I have about Luke and I getting together. I just wanted to let my feelings fade out, but if anything that just made them stronger.

I am so, so screwed.