pink

six

"shit baby, you broke her nose? who taught you that?"

"shut up! i'm tough!"

i laugh, pecking her lips. "big bad bea. wait but, what did rose do? like, why?" i say, earning a strange look from her. "what do you mean what did she do? billie, she's been torturing you for months. literally since september." "yeah but like, how did talking to rose turn into that?" i ask, and she shrugs. "i told her to leave you alone, and she told me no, so i beat her ass."

eventually, billie grabbed a shoebox from her closet and we made it back to my house, where we sat in the backyard. she emptied the contents of the box onto a picnic blanket, and i realized what it was.

hundreds upon hundreds of pictures of jay and bea, starting with him holding her at the hospital, playing peek a boo with her laying in his lap, smiling at the camera while dancing with her, and showing her off to his other thirteen year old friends, all marveling at her. i thought that one was funny. bea pointed out maury, and i laughed at how young he looked.

then, a slightly older jay holding a slightly
older bea as he skateboarded around, and him holding her hands as she stood on a board. him holding her, now a toddler, on his shoulders to look at the moon. her putting barrettes and clips and bows in his hair, him now looking about sixteen. a tiny bea on his skateboard, giggling with him about something, and my personal favorite, a series of pictures of him helping her into a bumblebee costume, painting her face, and then kissing her cheek as she wraps an arm around his neck, smiling straight at the camera in her bumblebee costume, clearly taken on halloween from the pumpkin basket dangling from her other hand. on the back, in scribbly boy handwriting, was "my honeybea - 2006" i marveled at how small she looked, and about how cute honeybea is, before returning back to the stack.

i shuffled through years of her life, bea eventually growing restless in my lap and standing up to point at the moon showing through the darkening, but still blue sky. quickly snapped a few pictures of her before she whipped her head around, blushing. "you look beautiful, honeybea." i said, meaning it with everything in me.

we sit there, bea resting her head on my stomach for a while, talking about rose, and jay, and everything that could possibly be said. bea tells me she usually yells at people for calling her honeybea, but it sounded sweet coming from my lips. i told her i never had a nickname, but that finneas chose my middle name too, and she laughed until she couldn't breathe at my full name.

eventually, the sun was down and i was playing with a sleeping bea's hair, who had magically curled into me in her sleep. not wanting to wake her, i slightly rose before picking her up bridal style and carrying her to my room. she began to wake up, and nuzzled into my chest, and i felt a pang in my heart. finally, this was my opportunity to take care of bea the way she has so many times. i get her ready for bed, and tuck her in, gently kissing her forehead before sliding in with her, feeling sleep overtake me almost instantly.

that morning, i wake up to the sound of bea shuffling around my room. i groan, mumbling about "closing the lights" and she laughs, shutting them off. "i want to come out." she whispers, and suddenly, i'm more awake. "are you sure?" i ask, not wanting to hear the answer, but to my surprise, she nods. "yeah, i know i'll have you no matter what. all the kids who i used to be friends with don't matter. so what if they hate me? i have the prettiest girl in the world sleeping next to me every night, so who cares?" i blush slightly, before snapping out of it.

"that's sweet, i just don't want you to get tortured too." i say, but her excitement doesn't falter. however, she seems to be fighting back sleep, and she wraps her arms around me tightly. "let's worry about it later. can we skip today? i'm suspended anyways." she says, and i nod before succumbing to bea rubbing circles on my back and the warm covers. so much better than school.

a few hours later, at a more reasonable hour, we wake up and go downstairs, bea sitting on the kitchen counter and grinning sweetly as i make her breakfast. handing it to her, i place a few kisses on her forehead. "this is for convincing me to skip. this one is for all the sugar cookies, and this one is for being the best thing that happened to me."

it doesn't take long for bea to eat her pancakes, and she turns to me with a suspicious look on her face. "why aren't you eating?" she asks, and i instantly come up with a lie. "i don't get hungry in the mornings. remember?" i ask, and she slowly nods.

somehow, we end up back in my bed that day, tangled up in covers with the office playing in the background, because she said she never saw it, and that was not sitting well with me. she loved it, of course, and she ended up sitting in my lap and watching, of course.

a/n: this is kind of a filler chapter but it's a little calmer on purpose bc next chapter is ab to be INTENSE