Daddy

Chapter 5

2,015 READS IM CRYING. Holy motherfucking shit. I'm also almost at 500 followers?? Jesus Christ you guys are greaaaat

I probably won't be feeling well for the next week for reasons im sure you can guess. I'm leaving for the beach next Thursday though so I'm glad Mother Nature is making me suffer now rather than then.

Quote from White Noise by Pvris

--

Can you hear me? I'm screaming for you. Day by day, I'm slowly replaced in your picture frames. A brand new face on your pillowcase.

Vic and I sat and talked for a while after he arrived. We had to be quiet because we didn't want to wake Copeland, but even through the hushed conversation, we still had an interesting talk. I found out that Vic was a social worker, but he didn't work full hours so he was able to get off earlier than usual. He actually found Copeland through his job. She was only a little less than a year old when her file appeared on his desk, and he fought for a while before the courts eventually let him adopt her.

"It was probably the happiest day of my life. I mean, I had been so lonely because my boyfriend had left about a month prior, and Copeland really brought that joy back into my life. The first time I saw her, she crawled up into my lap and fell asleep in my arms. I wasn't even thinking of adopting her then, but after she fell asleep on me, I knew I had to get her out of the system," Vic explained. I really admired his compassion. Just by the way he talks, I could really tell that he loved Copeland with everything in him.

"Did you get to meet her parents? I'm sure they were awful if they left her behind like that," I commented, watching his face shift.

"No, I didn't really get to talk to them. From what I had heard, they just gave her up when she was born. Apparently the parents were two teenagers who had no idea what they were doing, and neither of them had a job, so they decided to let her go," he told me. I couldn't help but feel a sense of understanding toward the people. I was in a similar situation when I was a teenager, but my child wasn't put up for adoption. My girlfriend was just too weak and the baby died during childbirth. After that, the mother and I decided it would be too difficult to be around each other, so we went our separate ways.

"Well, I'm glad she got to be with you. You probably are giving her more than she could have ever gotten had she stayed in foster care," I replied, looking over to the sleeping child. Not many kids were as lucky as she was, unfortunately.

"I'm glad she did, too. She's really made me a better person," Vic said, smiling over at his daughter.

After that, the conversation became light again, and we moved into the kitchen to get something to drink.

"I know we've only been on one date, but I really like you," Vic admitted, blushing a little.

"I really like you too," I reassured him, smiling and tucking stray piece of hair behind my ear. I had thrown it up into a bun before Vic arrived and I didn't even think about how ridiculous it may have looked. Vic didn't comment, though, so I assumed it didn't bother him too much.

"Well, I was thinking maybe you would want to be my boyfriend? I mean, it's totally fine if you want to go on more dates or if you don't really want to date right now, I just-"

"Vic, sh, I would love to be your boyfriend," I told him, putting my hand over his to calm him down.

"Oh, okay," was all he said in reply, smiling to himself before looking up to me.

We sort of sat in silence before Vic said, "Wow, you're my boyfriend."

--

I met up with Vic a few days later; Copeland had stayed at home with her uncle, so it was just the two of us.

We were holding hands, walking down the street when a certain someone caught my eye, causing me to freeze in my spot.

"Kellin?" Vic asked, stopping and looking back at me.

I remained frozen in my spot, absolutely shocked by who it was. Her face triggered so many memories that it made me want to pass out.

It was my ex.

Tears formed in my eyes as I remembered the heart-wrenching moments only the two of us experienced. Everything came back. The death, the closed-casket funeral, the pain. It was all there because of her.

"Kellin, are you okay?" Vic asked, stepping in front of me and taking both of my hands. I couldn't be near anyone right now. I couldn't stomach the thought of being out in public, or in the general area of the person that crashed a lot of my dreams. The person that took so much away from me. I always tried to make it out that she was a good person, but she had ill intentions from the start.

"Can we, uh, can we just go back to one of our houses. I can't be out right now," I told Vic, not taking my eyes off my ex. I watched her every move, visibly shaking at the sight of her. It wasn't anything she was doing, I just couldn't see her. I promised myself I wouldn't react like this if I ever saw her again; promised myself I would be okay and I would be strong, but this was not one of those moments. I was weak, but only around her.

"Uh, if that's what you want," Vic replied, letting go of one of my hands and turning us away from where my eyes were fixed. It was like a switch was flipped when she left my line of vision, and I was just pissed that I allowed her to have that effect on me.

We walked hand-in-hand for about fifteen minutes before we got to Vic's house. Copeland and her uncle were at his house, so we didn't have to worry about them being here when we got back.

Vic walked me to the living room and sat me down. We sat for a moment before I broke down. I couldn't stop everything from running rampant through my head. It was like when I saw her face, I relived every awful thing we went through. Every awful thing she put me through.

"Kell, it's okay. I'm here for you," Vic told me in a hushed voice, combing his fingers through my hair as he held me to his chest and rocked me back and forth. I was over my ex, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt to think about the things that happened when I was still in love with her.

After a few minutes I managed to pull myself back together and I apologized to Vic for my little breakdown. He, of course, brushed off the apology, saying it was perfectly fine and that he would always be there for me. He told me it was okay to be weak sometimes, because more often than not, you come out even stronger.

God he was so great. Almost too great.