Salvia High School

Chapter 82: Some Friendly Advice

"Are you alright?" A man seated at the table directly besides James turned to face him as he noticed James's nervous expression with Lauren.

He looked to be only a few years older than him with a girl of his own in his lap. The girl had a pacifier in her mouth as she rested peacefully amidst all the chaos happening around.

"Hello?" The man asked as James just sat startled staring back at him.

"Sorry." He mumbled sitting straight trying his best as to not disturb the girl in his lap too much.

The man chuckled. "You're really new to this aren't you?" He asked.

"Is it obvious?"

"Only a little." The two of them shared a quiet laugh. Glancing down at the girl in his own lap, James was  still panicking about her sleeping situation. He couldn't make up his mind whether to take the bottle out of her mouth or not. She seemed so peaceful taking tiny sips every now and then, but at the same time he didn't know whether it was safe or not.

"Hold her close and rock her gently." The man said across from him as he began to do the soothing motion to his own girl in his arms.

Following in suite, James watched as Lauren relaxed even further into his chest almost completely relaxed. Her mind was in a whole different world by how calm she was.

"I'm John." The man said extending his arm across the open gap between them.

"James." He smiled shaking his hand.

"Who's that sleepy girl?" He cooed as Lauren's eyes were squinted. She was trying so hard to keep them open, but in her fight against the urge to sleep she was losing miserably.

"This is Lauren."

"Lauren, is it. Well this is Raven, but we call her Rae." John said glancing down at the girl in his own lap. "I've got two other ones, Tera and Bri, but their off running around here somewhere." He chuckled.

"I do too." James said surprised by the similarities so far.

"Are they all yours?"

He shook his head. "Just two."

"I see. All three of the girls are mines. Well technically their my wife's and mines, but she's at work so I thought we could have a fun day out. Have you been here before?"

"No it's our first time."

"Well if you get a chance you should take the kids to the back sometime. They have a princess activity for them to do back there."

"A princess activity?" James questioned.

"Yeah, there's some guy dressed like a king and he's handing out crowns and tiaras to the kids who show up." Making a mental note of it James nodded. Finally deciding to set the half empty bottle down on the table his nerves spiked when Lauren whined.

She wanted the comfort it was providing her back. Unsure how to properly deal with it, James tried patting Lauren's head similarity to that of a pets, but it barely had any effect. The only thing he did manage to do, was cause John to chuckle louder than before, even bothering the girl in his own lap.

"I'm sorry pumpkin, go back to sleep." John told Raven as she settled right back to bed. Turning his attention back to James, John leaned over slightly. "Have one of these?" He asked tapping the pacifier in Raven's mouth.

Remembering only now Nina had packed some of them for the girls, he reached into the bag pulling out one with a little sheep painted onto it. Gently easing it into Lauren's mouth, she began to suckle on it just as content as before.