Hopelessly Falling [book 2]

Chapter Ten

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"Ashton, we're not giving the kid coffee. He's three."

"Well, what about chocolate? That has caffeine right, or Diet Coke-"

"Diet Coke?" I asked, astonished at his thought process. He shrugged. "Ash, if the kid is tired then let him be tired."

It honestly felt like I was babysitting Ashton, rather than the three year old. We had picked up Connor from Cassidy's apartment and drove to a nice park. However, Connor had fallen asleep on the way there.

"I feel bad for Jake with you being the one in charge," I half-joked.

"Nah, the kid is six and he's more mature than me already.. he's usually the one making the decisions," he told me.

We were currently sitting against my car, waiting for Connor to wake up. The warm temperature and soft breeze felt really cozy, especially next to Ashton.

"Maybe if I scare him, he'll-"

"Ashton," I cut him off and gave him a glare. "Let the kid sleep." He rolled his eyes and let out an impatient sigh. "How would you feel if I woke you up from a good nap?"

"Well, it would depend on what you woke me up for," he answered and wiggled his eyebrows, making me laugh.

"I hate when you do that, you're eyebrows look like fucking caterpillars wiggling," I continued to laugh my ass off, making him laugh as well.

"Hey- apologize to my eyebrows right now," he ordered in between laughs. "Look- they're sad," he added and furrowed them. I rolled my eyes and laughed again.

"You are the weirdest person I have ever met. Ever." I told him before grabbing his face and looking at his eyebrows as if I was talking to them. "I'm sorry." I immediately broke into intense laughter as I said it and fell into him, not being able to handle the stupidity.

I guess it must have been all our laughter and me making fun of Ashton that finally woke Connor up. We had been getting pretty delusional waiting for him. We quickly celebrated the fact that he was now awake and took him out of his car seat before he could fall asleep again.

We probably looked like a whole family. Connor was in between Ashton and I, and we were holding his hands as we walked.

I realized that Ashton probably wasn't thinking much of it, since he's essentially been a father figure to Jake for years now. While I had to think about the little things like holding Connor's hand, or picking him up the right way, Ashton didn't have to think about it at all. It just sort of came naturally to him.

But he also had tried to give him a coffee.. so... I guess we balance each other out in a way?

Ashton was a completely different person when he was around kids. It was funny and cute at the same time, and I loved both versions of him. Although, his usual impulsive actions and inappropriate comments were common between the two.

"I have to go to the bathroom," I told him as we were passing the small building.

"We'll be waiting, feel free to take the hour you usually do in there," he replied sarcastically, leading Connor towards a bench. I rolled my eyes with a smile and went inside.