Stepdad

FORTY-TWO

Allie returned home with Rena carrying a sleeping Ryker in her arms behind her, finding a rather large box on her doorstep. "What the fuck is this? This fucking box is almost as big as me." Allie muttered, leaning over the box that was blocking her way inside to find a name.

"Who does it say it's from? Who's it for?" Rena asked in a soft whisper so she wouldn't wake up the toddler. Allie rolled her eyes as soon as she saw the names, a deep groan escaping her lips. She couldn't help but laugh though.

"Oh, he better fucking not have! I swear to god." Allie attempted to push the box over just enough so she could open her front door so Rena could go place Ryker into his bed. "If your boyfriend got my son a fucking drum set, I hope you don't plan on having kids."

Rena burst into a fit of laughter by complete accident, almost waking Ryker before she rushed to put him down and came back to try and help Allie bring it into the house. "I bet he did. I wouldn't put it past him. This is too fucking funny."

Allie took a knife she grabbed from the kitchen and cut the tape on the lid, taking a peek inside before she called him and cussed him out for this, not wanting her neighbors to continuously call the police over Ryker making too much noise.

"I told him not to fucking get this. I told him a thousand times. He swore to me he wouldn't do it." Allie was already pulling out her phone, preparing to call Rook on face time. She was taking several deep breaths, pinching the bridge of her nose as she waited.

When his face appeared on her phone, Rook knew he was in trouble as soon as he saw the look on Allie's face. "Well hello, sunshine. How's your day going?" Rook did his best to smile but he could tell that Allie was pissed about something.

"How's my day going? Why don't you tell me what the fuck this is." Allie turned the camera so Rook could see the gigantic cardboard box in her living room. She could hear Rook's laughter, him clearly knowing what he did.

"Do you like it though?" Rook spoke through his laughter, causing Allie to get more annoyed by the minute. She couldn't be mad at him, he went against her wishes to do something nice for her son.

"Goddamnit, Rook. I can't fucking deal with you sometimes. You give me migraines!" Allie completely forgot she was on FaceTime and saw Colson walk up into the view of the camera.

He was staring straight at her, but he couldn't see anything but the box she was showing Rook. Allie felt herself physically stop breathing. She wasn't ready to talk to him yet. She hadn't gotten all the words right yet.

Colson moved out of camera view when he couldn't see her, a confused expression painted on his face. "Are you talking to Allie?" He asked Rook who quickly glanced at the camera, looking for an answer from Allie who quickly turned the camera back on her.

She quickly shook her head at Rook, mouthing the word please before Rook slightly nodded and glanced back over at Colson. "No, I'm talking to Rena." He replied, Allie quickly tossing her phone to the oblivious girl who completely missed catching it, the phone falling to the floor.

"Hey, babe." Rena quickly responded as she picked up the phone, a slightly worried look on her face as she watched Allie rush out of the living room and slam her bedroom door closed. "I adore you. I really do. I'm so glad to see your face but I have to go check on something."

Rena tried to get Rook to understand what she was really meaning by that but he just kept giving her a weird look so she sent him a text from Allie's phone.

Allie: She just ran the fuck off and slammed the door. Gotta go check on her.

As soon as he read the text, his face fell and he wanted to turn around and kick Colson in the face for hurting his best friend. Rook never wanted any of this to happen, too sure of what would happen. He didn't want to see her hurt, and that's exactly what happened.

"Okay, let me know how that goes." He gave her a knowing look before they exchanged goodbyes and hung up the video call. Rena let out a small sigh before she walked down the hallway to Allie's door, softly knocking on it.

"Allie, you care if I come in?" She pleaded, before she took Allie's silence as the go ahead. Rena opened the door slowly, finding Allie on the floor rolling a blunt, the wrong way.

"Where the fuck did you get that? Honey, you're doing it wrong." Rena went to sit next to the girl on the floor before taking over, Allie's hands visibly shaking. Her nerves were shot, she wasn't expecting to see him, even though she should have.

Sometimes she saw Rook as just her best guy friend, not Colson's drummer. "I don't smoke much. I never got the chance to ask him to teach me how to do this." Allie mumbled, wiping a stray tear from her face. She swore she wouldn't cry over this, it just happened on its own.

"At least you got an answer you were looking for." Rena told her as she lifted the blunt to lick the wrap before rolling it the rest of the way. She reached out to take the lighter Allie was holding out before going ahead and lighting it for her.

"What do you mean? I didn't even talk to him." Allie was super confused, she didn't know how she could get an answer without even having a conversation. She took the blunt from Rena and took the biggest hit her lungs would allow.

"You didn't have to, babe. Just your reaction from seeing him answered your own question. Allie, you're crying and you didn't even say a word to him. You love him, you know it's okay to right?"

Allie hated that she felt more tears beginning to fall. She hated showing her emotions, especially the sad ones. At least she was doing it in front of someone she truly trusted. Rena was probably the only one that ever saw her cry, besides her own mother when she was giving birth.

"I feel like such a fucking idiot for loving him this much. How could I do this to myself? I let myself fall for him the moment I met him and I have never allowed that to happen." She took one more hit before passing it back to Rena, who offered her a warm smile.

"It's only real love if you don't go looking for it. Real love comes to you. I can tell you right now that is what you have with him." Allie took a deep breath as she watched Rena choke from her hit. Allie knew what she had to do. She had no choice but to be ready for it.

"I have to talk to him, don't I?" She asked Rena, who shrugged her shoulders and passed the blunt that was now half gone. Allie leaned back against her bedroom wall and stared up at the ceiling as she smoked.

"If you think it's the right time, then do it. I'll be right here, silently holding your hand through it. I promise."