Game Theory × NH

085 | astatine

× Mercury

I tried to take a nap on the couch, but with Niall's arm draped over my waist, Theo on the floor playing with a Lego Duplo set, and The Fairly OddParents playing on the TV, it was nearly impossible. Niall on the other hand didn't seem to have any problem falling asleep as the soft snores were heard behind me along with his heavy breathing and hot breath against my neck.

Theo had a full head of blonde hair that stuck up in every direction, like his uncle's this morning. His blue eyes were bright and wide, curious to what was going on around him. His little, chubby hands were always reaching up and getting into things he shouldn't, but the smile he would give when he knew he was caught would make you forget you were even scolding him.

Another episode of the cartoon was starting when Niall stirred, his arm wrapping tighter around me. "What time is it?" he asked in a rough voice.

"Eleven."

He groaned loudly before he nudged his nose into my neck. "I should get up and start lunch. My brother and Denise will be home soon."

Instead of doing what he said he was going to do, he stayed where he was. I felt his arm leave from my waste and move to my hip, slowly running his finger down my leg. Even through my sweat pants, goosebumps sprung up on my skin from his touch. Then, before I could say anything, his finger ran across the waistband of my sweats and snuck inside and starting trailing south.

I grabbed his hand before he could go any further. "Not with Theo in the room," I said.

"Then get up so I can make food," Niall whined.

I sat up on the couch as Niall did the same, running a hand down his face as he yawned. When he stood up, he ruffled Theo's hair as he walked passed and disappeared into the kitchen.

Sitting on the sofa, I stared at Theo as he dug through a pencil box full of stickers.

I hated kids. I hated them with a passion. They didn't do anything wrong to me personally, but they were just... easy to hate. Like for instance, their snot. Kid boogers were way worse than adult boogers. Whenever a kid gets a runny nose, it was like a hose on full blast. And they were constantly sticky, all the time. You could press a child against the wall and they would just stay there. Their bodies were always covered in open wounds. Not once in my life have I ever come across a child that didn't have a dirty Band-Aid loosely covering a scab. They were literally like walking infections. And they always cry for no reason. You know what's a good reason to cry? Student loans.

"What this?" Theo asked, holding up one of the stickers.

"A star," I said uneventfully.

Theo turned the sticker around to see the front and looked at it like he'd never seen a glowing ball of gas before in his life. Then he dropped it and picked up another sticker and held it up for me to see.

"What this?"

"A cat."

Then he dropped that sticker and went onto another one, and I knew this was going to go on forever. I looked into the pencil case and saw that it was filled with stickers of every shape and size, and then moaned to myself. I looked into the kitchen longingly and wondered if I should go and help Niall and end this pain.

But before I could even get up, he walked back into the living room, car keys in his hand.

"Where are you going?" I asked hopefully.