𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄 𝙒𝙖𝙠𝙚

EIGHT - Hear Me

Coco, Jim, and Zowie all perked up once they heard the door to the apartment begin to open. It was 12:34 pm, they'd been up for hours, they'd of course found the note he'd left for them, but hadn't planned to go anywhere anyway.

Zowie gasped with a smile, getting up from where he watched television to hug David, who smiled and picked the boy up to hug him properly.

From their places in the kitchen, Coco and Jim immediately caught wind of David's change in mood compared to how he'd been acting the days before. They didn't know what happened. They watched as he laughed and spoke with Zowie, sitting down with him at the tv, before Jim finally spoke up.

"He seems to be in a better mood." He observed, both he and Coco staring at the two, Coco's eyes finally drifting over to the man next to her.

"Yeah, he does." She agreed. They have each other a knowing look before him spoke again, "He and Rhianna get along, don't they?"

"Do they? I haven't noticed." Coco replied in a sarcastic manner, smiling as Jim huffed with slight laughter.

"How much you wanna bet when I go in there he's gonna let me know when they see each other again?" Jim asked, looking over from his spot in front of the fridge to see Coco shake her head, "No, he doesn't usually talk about girls like that."

Jim shrugged, "I don't know, something tells me it's different this time." he said, taking a beer out the fridge and waking back over to the living room where David was still sitting with Zowie.

"Hey, hotshot. Where you been?" He asked, sitting down next to David as he pulled his attention from the child for a moment.

He shrugged, "Went out to eat.". The poor peripheral vision in his left eye barely let him see that Zowie was keenly listening in on their conversation.

"With..?" Jim continued, raising an eyebrow with a smirk, as if he didn't already know.

David gave the man an unreadable expression, taking a look at where he'd placed the note on the coffee table before leaving; it was gone.

"You didn't read?" He asked, looking back at Jim and nodding at the coffee table.

Jim nodded, rolling his eyes as he opened his beer and took a sip, "Alright, yeah, I read. How was it?"

David let a small smile form on his lips, "Great, it was great. She's great, really."

Jim's lips were still pressed against his drink as he hummed, raising his eyebrows before pulling back, "Great, huh?" he repeated, putting emphasis on his words so Coco could hear it from her place in the kitchen. She laughed and rolled her eyes at his behavior, David did the same.

"Yeah, she is." David said again, not being able to stop the smile that took over his face, "I don't know. Just something about her I really like."

Zowie piped in, having taken full interest in their conversation, "Who?" he asked, David and Jim looking down at where Zowie sat on the floor with his toy.

"Daddy's got a crush!" Jim smiled, laughing as Zowie began to laugh, David doing the same.

"First off; don't ever call me 'daddy'." He said through laughter, Coco laughing as she finished up cleaning the kitchen and moved over to where they were in the living area, "Secondly, I never said that."

Jim scoffed, "Oh, but she's great. Oh, but you went off to see her this morning. Oh, but you took her out the other day— and the look on your face tells me that you've got something else planned.", he finished, nodding in David's direction as David held back nervous laughter, glancing over at Coco as she watched with amusement.