A Cheers to the Life You Don't Get to Choose //Noah Sebastian

III

Noah

I watch the ink transfer from the tip of her pen to the paper. Her hands gripping the pen so tight, her knuckles are turning white. She has a soft and sad demeanor that matches mine. No one wanted this. Hell, we didn't even want this. She finishes signing her name on the papers and my lawyer slides them from her to me. I stare at the papers silently before I hesitantly pick up the pen. I've been trying to prepare for this moment for the last year now.

  I did everything in my power to stop this from happening, so did Avery, but it never stopped. We split amicably at first, but we started to argue more and more. I moved out and let Avery keep the house and still help to pay for it, not that she can't do it herself but I insisted. I moved back in with Nick and Sloane comes over whenever I am home. We tried to still do some things together as a family but it got hard to be in the same space, we try for our baby girl. I sign the papers and felt my heart rip out of my chest just like it did the day we made this decision. Avery and I are now legally divorced.

"Hey." I hear a soft voice and feel her hand on my shoulder from behind. Her touch sends sparks throughout my body, gripping me out of the brutal memory. Does my touch still do the same thing to her?

She shuts the sliding glass door quietly behind her, coffee in hand in a spaghetti strap tank top and running shorts. My eyes linger on her longer than they should be.

"Hey, how did everything go?" I put on a soft smile.

"This morning went well I presume?" I ask her.

"Yeah, it was great. We had an amazing time. He spoils Sloane so much. Are you okay, Noah?" She asks, noticing my demeanor and pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Oh sorry yeah I'm fine, just been a long morning." I took a big swig of my drink. "Luckily I'm off of tour for a little bit so I can hang out with my favorite girls." Avery looks down and I swear I can see her cheeks growing pink.

"Av, you did a hell of a job with the party, and just being a mom to our sweet girl. You are amazing. I'm sorry I am not around as much. I really want you to know that." She softly smiles but quickly brushes it off.

"So..Germany?" She raises an eyebrow questionably.

"Of course only if you want to go. We'll be debuting our new song live, I'll have to show you soon."

"Too late for that..it's all over TikTok, Noah. I would've loved to listen to it first like I use to." I frowned. "It's fucking incredible though. You are a genius." My smile returned hearing that from her.

"Would uh..would you want to be a guest photographer for a night with Bryan?" I ask nervously, like I'm asking my high school crush out on a date.

Her eyes light up and then her face falters to a frown. "I can't Noah, someone has to watch Sloane when you are on." She interjects.

"Well, that's a good thing we have our friends tagging along and a body wrap." We both laugh and she rolls her eyes.

"You really want us to go, don't you?" I smiled and looked at the ground, finally nodding. "Okay, fuck it we'll go." My face must have a shit eating grin on it, my family is going to be all together to watch us play in 3 months for the first time..

Avery

It has been one month since Sloane's party and Noah has been home, but getting ready to head back out on the road. I have been letting him stay at the house so he can spend as much time with Sloane as possible, and his company feels nice but also foreign. When we are all home, my dad has been facetiming us a lot, which has also been really nice.