more life / b.simmons (2)

25

ben wakes up the earliest out of the family and starts his day by taking bane and milo for a 5 mile jog, just to clear his head.

once the leashes are secured, ben and his pets take off down the street and ben gets the familiar burn in his legs—a feeling he'll never get tired of. when he runs, especially this early, he feels in control of at least one thing.

he feels awful about last night—missing most of kyras night, fighting with amari and her clone. at least he didn't get into with adrian.

ben understands that he's missing moments that he probably won't be able to get back. he understands that the more that this happens, the farther he's pushing his daughter away from him. he's aware that it looks like he favors adrian, because he's always at his events, but none of it is intentional. it's just always the wrong time.

bane, milo, and ben cut through the park and sprint down the trail, watching out for pedestrians (there's barely any at 5 am) and head through their regular trail.

the dogs run as fast as they can to keep up with bens long strides, and by the time they're halfway, milo is tapped out, panting with his tongue out. "come on, milo," ben says, slowing down to a jog. bane pants, but he still has energy like ben. bane pulls at the leash and ben starts jogging, practically dragging milo up the trail.

back at the house, amari rolls over and when she doesn't bump into ben, her eyes fly open. she looks at the empty space next to her and then at the clock. amari relaxes once she sees the time, and drops her head onto the pillow and yawns.

shes never liked not waking up next to ben, it stressed her out. granted, she knows he's running five miles with the dogs, but amari still hates it.

deciding to get up amari rolls out of bed and takes off her bonnet. she puts on her slippers and leaves her bedroom to go check on the twins.

adrians asleep when she opens the door, so she goes to kyras. when she enters, kyras eyes flutter open and amari stands in the doorway. "you weren't asleep," she states. kyra shrugs and rolls over.

amari takes that as an invitation and sits at the end of her bed. "you know you have school today, right?"

"mhm," kyra groans. amari chuckles and kyra opens one eye.

"what time did you go to bed?"

kyra turns and looks at her alarm clock and sighs. "like three hours ago," she mumbles, her voice groggy.

amari frowns at her. "what i tell you about doing that?"

"i just couldn't fall asleep," she mumbles, closing her eyes. amari nods understandingly. kyra was up half the night crying and then spent the other half on facetime with her friends. "is dad here, though?" she asks.

"no, he's out on his run," amari says. kyra nods and rolls onto her back to look at her mom.

"can you drive me to school today?" kyra asks. amari opens her mouth to say no, and that that is bens job, but the look kyra gives her makes her stop. "please? i don't want to drive with dad today." kyra adds.

amari sighs. "kyra, don't do that to him."

"do what? it's just one day. he can handle that," kyra says, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. amari sighs and nods.

"okay, but only today," amari says. kyra nods and a knock sounds at the door. "come in." amari says. the door opens and adrian walks in and jumps onto kyras bed face first.

"moms driving us today," kyra says to adrian.

"what happened to dad?" he asks, his voice muffled by the blankets.