angel's numbers | d.d. [DISCONTINUED]

seven

      one thing i hated in the world was being forced to go to church every sunday. my family wasn't super religious or anything, but for some reason we were committed to going to mass early in the morning. not only that, but the drive there was always terrible. ester would refuse to stay in her seat and always have a fit while sarah just be crying a lot. my mom would be trying to calm down sarah while my dad would be yelling from the driver's seat at ester. it was all just pure chaos, that's why i always tries to drag one of my friends with me so i wasn't alone with dealing with them.

this time though i had brought natalie along with me. she was jewish and her family periodically would go to temple — which i have no clue what days those were or if her whole family was supposed to go with her or not — plus they weren't super religiously too like we were. at first natalie had refused to go with me and i had to convince her to come along. so, in the end, i had promised her that i'd be her personal assistant for a week if she came to morning mass with me, 'cause that was literally always something our friend group would use in order to do anything around here. it was literally just doing whatever the person asked you to do, like make them get up and get something for you and other simple things like that.

you know, now that i think about it, it's fucking hilarious how the tables have turned now with me and natalie.

"hey, dave," natalie had leaned the side of her head closer to mine to whisper quietly into my ear, "how's your, um... number thingymabob doing?"

we were in the car on the way to our neighborhood church. my mom was holding sarah in the front seat so natalie could fit in the car, while the said person was sitting in the middle seat in the back with ester and i. somehow natalie had worked her magic with ester and was able to calm her down before we started our drive to the church. whatever the fuck she had done had my parents asking if she could come to mass with us every sunday. as much of a relief that could have been, too much of natalie can be a real pain in my ass. not that i'd ever say that to her face. i wouldn't want to hurt her feelings.

"hm?" i turned my head to look at her, which made us practically face-to-face with one another, "oh, that." my eyes briefly glanced above the top of natalie's head before locking my eyes back with her's, "still have it."

"i tried to do some research on what this number seeing thing could be." she starts, glancing away, "i've tried to subtlety ask some of our teachers if there's ever been something like that before." she pauses for a moment, "oh, uh, i didn't say anything about you being able to see numbers, don't worry."

"i wasn't really worried that you said anything about me." i said, "that's why i told you about it in the first place. i trust you."

natalie looks back at me, a small smile forms on her face to my words. i happily returned the same smile. the car had slow began to pull to a stop, since my dad had been parking our car in one of the parking spots outside of the church. once my dad had turned off the engine of the car i was out the door with natalie.

"david, go help your sister out of the car." my mom said as she carefully opened the passenger door while sarah was in her arms sleeping, "hold her hand on our way inside so she doesn't wonder off."

"awh what?" i whined, "why me?"

"because i asked you to." she said back.

"i can do it, mrs dobrik." natalie offered, already walking over to the other side of the car.

my head snapped over in natalie's direction, "hey, wait a minute," i said, hurriedly catching up my best friend, "i'm not gonna be one-upped by you."

"too late." she says with a smile as she reaches the car door. there really couldn't have been a better way to describe her being a pain in my ass than this.

as soon as natalie opens the door, she starts to unbuckle  ester from her car seat. when i approached her the door i tried to push my way in front of her so i could help my sister, but natalie put up a bit of a struggle. it just ended up looking like we were shoving each other with out shoulders and elbows. helping ester out of the car took longer than expected, but eventually ester was out of the car and each of her hands was holding mine and natalie's. i never really heard the end of it from my mother from how we all looked — apparently — cute holding hands.

"swing me!" ester happily, beginning to jump up and down in her spot.

i looked over at natalie, "what?" i was genuine confused at the time at what ester had meant.

natalie rolls her eyes at me, "she wants us to lift her off the ground and swing her forward."

it takes a minute for it to click in my head what she said, "oh!" i looked down at ester, "yeah, sure. we can do that. hold on tight to our hands then, okay?"

ester looks up to me, nodding her head frantically. right on cue, natalie and i briefly glance at each almost in a silent agreement before we began to count down from three. once at one, we both lift ester up and swing her forward. a large grin forms on her small face while giggling hysterically when she landed back on her feet. i couldn't stop the smile from breaking out on my face, along with a laugh.

i've always had a soft spot for kids, preferably younger ones. there was just something about them that made my heart instantly melt at the sight and whatever they seemed to do made smile and laugh. along with becoming a famous tennis player when i grow up, i also dreamt about becoming a father. one of the reasons definitely being that i'd be in charge, but also that i'd have my own children. i'd be able to hold them as long as i wanted — when they're babies, of course. that would just be fucking weird as a teenager —, play games with them until they got bored of me, i could even take naps with them. even today i still dreamt of this.

"again!" she cheered with pure bliss.

so for the rest of the way to the church, that's exactly what me and natalie did.

"hey bear!" [name]'s pretty voice said through the headset.

"hi angel." i replied, a smile forming on my face at the sound of her voice, "how was your year?"

"pretty good, actually. can you believe next year we're going to middle school?" [name] asked, continuing to rant on, "i feel like elementary school went by so quick for us, you know? it felt as almost if just yesterday i was starting kindergarten and now— bam! middle school!" she pauses briefly, "sorry, i was ranting again."

"no, it's okay." i reassured, "i like listening to you talk."

"oh... alright." i could almost feel her smile, "i've heard rumors about what middle school was going to be like. apparently we're going to have more than just one class and we don't even have a recess anymore—!"

the rest of our call consisted of me just listening to [name] talk and agreeing to some of the things she asked about. if i could, i'd probably be able to listen to her speak everyday. i'd let her pour her heart out to me just so i can hear her pretty voice. even after when i had suddenly woken from the dream i couldn't be mad like i usually would be after our yearly calls ended because i had gotten to hear her voice for around a good eleven minutes. one of the good things about our calls is that as each one goes by, it feels like the next call is longer than the last. when falling back to sleep that night, my thoughts drifted to earlier when i had been going to church and walking with ester and natalie. a smile formed on my face at the memory.

yeah, starting a family was definitely on my agenda. maybe one day with [name] if i were lucky enough.

❥☏❥

a/n: i'm debating on whether i should throw in [name]'s pov at some point or not cause i have some idea what i'd do with that hhhh idk lmk what you guys think ig