when there was me & you ⇀ ricky bowen imagines {ON HIATUS}

five years later (i)

↬ language, secrets

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now

you smile as you approach the preschool classroom, hearing your son ask his teacher a question. it sounds like their afternoon group, which it usually always is by the time you get to picking him up.

you lean against the doorway, watching as your little guy leans forward, pointing to the picture on the page.

"the kissing hand!" finn squeals. "my mama and i do that!"

one kid that you remember is named lewie looks toward the door, and he reaches for your son, pulling at his sleeve.

"mommy!" your son squeals as he spots you in the doorway of his classroom. he jumps up, running into your open arms.

"told you i'd be back soon!" you coo, giving his cheek a kiss.

"yeah!" he wriggles in your hold and you set him down, letting him run to his cubby to grab his stuff.

finn slips on his rocket zip up, and slings his small backpack over his shoulder.

"okay, i'm ready mom. let's go!"

"i need to talk to your teacher real quick, okay?" you tell him.

ms. macy nods at you, indicating she heard you, before she goes to finish the book.

you ruffle finn's dirty blonde locks. he has ricky's brown eyes, and his loose curls are also definitely from ricky, but he thankfully got his blonde hair from your estranged father.

finn sighs, going to grab a sheet of paper and markers from the art shelf. he sits down at one of the three tables in the classroom and pulls out a gray marker, looking down at his jacket for reference as he does a crude outline of a rocket ship.

ms. macy finishes up the book, closing it and setting it in her lap as she smiles at her group of children.

"finn?" she calls. your son stops his drawing of his rocket ship and looks up at his teacher. "what was your favorite thing you did at school today?"

finn hums, placing his chin in the palm of his small hand as he thinks. he smiles as he says, "playing rockstar with soren."

that's something he has in common with his dad, his love of music. not that he knows that. you love music too but more so listening to it— not creating it.

the rest of the kids go, sharing their favorite part of day ("taking a nap!" is your personal favorite). then ms. macy lets the kids go play and gets up to walk over to you.

"good afternoon, y/n!" she greets, smiling warmly. "what's up?"

"hey, yeah. so uhm, finn and i are going to go to salt lake for two weeks or so for christmas. is that alright?"

finn's ears perk up at that news, and he looks up at you, a big smile on his face.

"we're going to visit grandma?" he asks excitedly. "and auntie marta?!"

you smile at him, nodding once before turning back to ms. macy.

"yeah, that should be fine! i would just call carol on monday and tell her as well."

"wonderful," you smile at ms. macy. "so we're leaving tonight, yeah. we'll see you in january?"

"see you!" she smiles.

finn shoves his drawing at you, then turns to give ms. macy a big hug.

"merry early christmas, ms. macy." he says before skipping out of the classroom.