Bradga Short Stories

Raising Ava [2]

I paced around the living room and grabbed some clothing items off of the floor to put in the dirty laundry basket I was carrying around. I'd just grabbed a glass off of the table when I heard Bradley come down the stairs. I accidentally bumped my hip on a drawer on my way to the kitchen and the glass fell out of my hand and landed on the floor with a loud clattering sound. "Fuck!" I angrily let out and got on my knees to pick up the pieces of glass.

Bradley rushed to my side and helped me, sighing at my stressed and tense aura. I literally radiated all of my tiredness and frustration towards everyone lately and I honestly wasn't good company. I couldn't stand myself.

I hissed out in pain when I cut myself on a piece of glass and felt the tears well up in my eyes. It didn't even hurt that bad, I was just tired and couldn't keep my emotions under control anymore.

Bradley gently took my hand in his and inspected my bleeding finger before he pulled out a tiny piece of glass and sucked on it to make the bleeding stop. I didn't say anything and let him help me while the silent tears ran down my cheeks. When he looked back up at me he wiped them away and helped me up, putting the pieces of glass he'd previously picked up back on the floor. "Come on. You need to sit down and drink something." He said and guided me over to the couch. When I was sat down I buried my face into my hands and let out a deep breath, rubbing at my temples.

"Stefani, what's going on?" He asked, sitting down next to me. I hadn't even heard him come back and looked up, gently taking the glass of water he held out to me.

"It's all just a lot." I paused and put the glass down after taking a sip. "I don't think I had time to process all of this because Ava was more important to me than my own feelings and I keep pushing and pushing and it's slowly getting to me." I let another tear roll down my cheek and wiped it away, quickly putting on a fake smile again to lighten up the mood. "But I'm fine! It's all good. I should do the dishes now." Before I could get up, Bradley pulled me back down and shook his head at me.

"You don't have to keep it all inside, you know? I came back here to raise Ava with you. I want to make sure you're okay, Stefani. I know I've not been the greatest help so far and I'll get better, I promise. How about I start now? I'll do the dishes and you relax. Laundry next? I'll cook dinner for us afterwards and we'll watch a movie." He offered with a smile on his face.

"I don't want to complain and make you do things I should be perfectly capable of doing." I sighed.

"I love to help and since you're stubborn as fuck, I'll have to ask more I guess. We should make a plan on who does what every day to make it easier for you around the house." He suggested and I smiled at his attempt to make me feel better and less useless.

"You're perfect, you know that?" I let slip out, blushing when I realized what I'd said.

"I try." He chuckled, getting up and starting to get to the chores.

I watched Bradley walk around the house for a while and smiled to myself. I hadn't realized how much he was actually trying to help until now. I didn't talk to him a lot, mainly because I was either at work, working at home, doing chores or taking care of Ava and I thought I could do it all by myself at first and it worked out fine the first few days but it suddenly all got too much and I crumbled under the expectations and the pressure of everyone around me.

Bradley carried a plate full of food into the living room and placed it in front of me, handing me a fork. "When was the last time you had a decent meal?" He asked, sitting down next to me with his own plate on his lap.

I shrugged. "Thursday. It was just yesterday, no big deal." I loaded my fork with some noodles.

"It's Saturday, Stef." He shot me a worried look and I guided the fork to my mouth so I wouldn't have to look at him or answer. I was a mess. This was embarrassing.

Bradley brushed some hair behind my ear and I halted my movements, waiting for him to say something else. "We'll work this out. You'll be back to your old self in no time." He assured me.

++++

And Bradley was right. As the weeks passed and Bradley and I worked out a plan for Ava and our chores I found myself go back to my old and carefree self. I still had a hard time with James and Sarah's death but it got easier as the days passed. Ava was a sunshine and turned a year old a few days ago.

"Bradley! Dinner is here!" Today it was my turn to cook and I once again just ordered takeaway food, since I burned our kitchen down the last time I'd attempted to cook dinner.

He rushed down the stairs, still typing away on his phone and absentmindedly pressed a kiss to my cheek before sitting down at the table, not tearing his eyes away from his phone. We'd become close friends really fast and got along very well. It felt like we'd known each other forever and our chemistry was just out of this world, sometimes so much I had to draw a distinct line between where our friendship started and the inappropriate thoughts I had began. I couldn't deny that he was an attractive man. He was charming, funny and smart, always knew how to calm me down and help me when I needed him to and somehow he slipped into the father role much faster than I thought he would. He loved Ava and watching them together warmed my heart.

"What's so interesting?" I asked, taking a peek at his phone display.

He finally looked up and put the phone down to look at me and grab a piece of his pizza. "My parents want to visit and I had to check in with work to see if I could have a few days off." He explained.

"Oh." I swallowed. He didn't tell me his parents were planning to visit and I suddenly felt nervous. I'd met them before of course, we'd cried together at the funeral and watched UFC fights with James and Sarah almost every weekend, yet everything was different now. I hadn't seen or spoken to them since the funeral and the thought of seeing them again was scary to me for some reason.

"I'm sorry. I should've asked before." Bradley apologized when he saw my reaction and I gently shook my head.

"No! They're Ava's grandparents and your parents. They have every right to visit any time they like. I just haven't seen them since...the funeral." my voice cracked at the last part. The thought of it still hurt.

"They told me. They're excited to see you again as well." He smiled, motioning for me to continue eating.

"I'm not hungry." I protested. I'd barely touched my food, let alone any food for the past couple of days. I just couldn't keep anything down and it worried Bradley.

"Stef, you honestly have to eat. It's not healthy for you to keep starving yourself."

I'd told him about my past eating disorders and how I usually refused to and couldn't eat when I was under a lot of stress or experienced trauma. It wasn't because of my weight, but because of my mental health.

"I know." I sighed and shot him an apologetic look. The last thing I wanted was to worry him even more, yet that's all I seemed to do lately and it annoyed me. He deserved much better.

"Do it for Ava...and for me." He whispered the last part, intertwining our fingers. "Please."

I squeezed his hand before I grabbed another slice of pizza and took a bite, slowly chewing it. Bradley smiled a bit and continued to eat as well.

I'm so sorry for the crap chapter, I'm seriously dealing with writers block...