Beyond The Stage ● Lauren/OC

Chapter 10 - Perfect Chaos

BRANDON

I rolled over in my bed, knowing that the small boy would be there - beside me. He did this most nights, fall asleep in his bed and at some point he'd wake up and join me in my own bed - especially on night's like last night, where he was asleep already when DJ brought him back.

Elliot was two years old now and I couldn't have been prouder of him so far. Me raising him had been a big learning process, but he constantly told me I was his favorite person in the world - which even though he was only two and he didn't know that many people in the world, I was still happy for the days I ranked above both of his favorite aunts.

Dinah and Normani had been probably the biggest help in raising Elliot. And Elliot definitely loved his Aunt Deej and Aunt Mani, as he referred to them. And I had to admit, it might have slightly hurt on the days that I ranked below DJ or Mani as Elliots favorite person.

But I knew the drill, DJ was the fun aunt who really was never hard on the kid. And Mani was the motherly aunt, who we frequently had to call or FaceTime when I couldn't calm Eli down from a bad dream.

I pressed my lips to Elliots forehead and got out of the bed, yawning in the process. I grabbed my phone and looked at it, seeing a couple missed calls from Normani.

The girls had been trying to figure out what to do since Camila left a couple months ago. I knew Mani was worried about what would happen to them now, and I figured the calls were either about that or asking when they could come steal Elliot for the day again.

I set my phone back down and walked into the bathroom, taking a shower so that I would be done with it by the time that Elliot woke up.

Once I was done with the shower and dressed, I walked back out into my bedroom. Finding Elliot sitting up, watching the tv.

"Hey bub." I said, smiling over at him.

"Hey daddy." He replied, flashing me a grin.

I knew I'd never regret my decision to raise Elliot, that was a guarantee that I had made myself. He was the best kid I knew and I couldn't picture life without him at this point.

Though there was a couple days in the beginning that had been rough. Mainly the days where all the guys would go out somewhere and I had to turn down the invitation, cause I didn't have time to find a babysitter that I trusted.

The first few times that I let Elliot go with Mani and DJ without me being there, they practically came back with a full fledged essay on what all they had done during the day.

I had eventually told them not to worry about filling me in, not only would Elliot tell me all the stories from his point of view - I didn't want to know if Lauren had joined their small group for whatever outing or activity they were doing.

"So what'd you do yesterday E?" I asked, sitting down on the bed beside him.

His face lit up, "A bunch of games and movies with Aunt Deej, Aunt Mani, Aunty A, and their friend, Laur."

Aunty A. The nickname that Elliot used for Ally never failed to crack me up. But hearing that Lauren had been there took all of the humor out of Elliots name for Ally.

"Really? Did you have fun?" I asked, preparing to force the next question out of my mouth. "Did you like their friend?"

It was the first time I had heard Elliot mention Lauren as having been there, but I had to wonder if she had been there when he was there before. Not that I could do anything about it.