Nick and Charlie (an ordinary life)

Chapter 1 - Movie Night (Friday)

Charlie's POV:

I stared longingly at the rows of shelves stacked with chocolates and biscuits and sweets. I watched as Lilly grabbed handfuls of sweet packets and chocolate bars. I knew I wouldn't be buying all of what she had put into the basket but I loved seeing her tiny face light up with excitement at every packet and choice she made.

We adopted Lilly 5 years ago now, she's perfect. Then again, I may be a bit biassed. Her tiny pig-tails bounced as she pranced up and down the aisle trying to get apparently everything into one tiny basket which was getting increasingly heavier every second. In hindsight, letting her choose the snacks was a bad idea.

"I think that's enough daddy" she says, placing another load of treats into the now overflowing basket. Ok, we had brought some other bits for tonight so it wasn't completely full with her selections.

"Oh really," I answered laughing, "I think it was enough about 5 minutes ago, sweetheart!" This made her pout and I saw her little smile turn into a frown. I hated that. I know that I have to tell her no sometimes and that she needs to be disciplined and not spoiled and all of that but I do hate it, to be honest.

"Do I really have to put it back?" she asks, staring up at me, a small frown on her face she knows gets me everytime.

"Not all of it" i say, " we need something just maybe not so much". It was true, we did need snacks. I mean, it was why we came here in the first place.

Lilly had the brilliant idea to have a movie night. At 6 o'clock on a school night. Being Lilly, she wanted snacks and an immense amount of pillows and blankets. If I'm being honest, it was an adorable idea but just not possible right then. We agreed that after school on Friday would be an appropriate time to do it as Nick could get snacks on the way home from work. Of course, she was happy about the Friday arrangement but really wanted to get the snacks herself. I mean that's part of the fun right? I agreed to take her after school, so that's where we are right now.

"You can pick one bag of like savery things and a sweet each for us all, so long as it's something we all like!" Lilly pondered over the bag of popcorn and the family pack of mini cheddars. Eventually, she decided on the popcorn (sweet, not exactly the savery bag I had in mind but oh well), a bag of Haribo gummy bears for herself and an Oreo chocolate bar for Nick. I ended up picking my own bag of Wispa bars. They were good choices.

We drove home with all of the supplies we'd bought for our 'movie night extravaganza'. Nick called it this once and it just sort of stuck. I strapped Lilly in her car seat and she asked to play some music, so we listened to Lavender Haze by Taylor Swift, one of Lil's favourites.

Not that we had planned to nickname Lilly Lils or Lil but I guess some things like that just kind of happen sometimes.

Nick's POV:

I'm sitting scrolling on my phone when I hear the key turn in the door. Don't get me wrong, I'm fully aware that this is selfish but I'm kind of hoping we end up watching a Marvel movie tonight. Luckily, Lilly has become Marvel obsessed like me so I'm hoping Charlie will just give in. It's also kind of a Lilly night, if that makes any sense, but I've been looking forward to this all week. Well, since Lils had the idea on Monday night.

The front door opens and Lilly comes in, skipping happily. A huge smile is plastered on her face.

"Hello!" I say to the both of them and I take the shopping bags off of Charlie and take them through to the kitchen side. Lilly is on the floor pulling off her tiny school shoes, the velcro making a terrible scratching sound. Then she's running off into the living room to find Daisy, I assume. Daisy is our dog, she's a gorgeous golden labrador. Lilly and Daisy are adorable playmates.