Sweet Nothings (Stauren) {Book 1}

Chapter 2

Every morning, I would always lay in bed, thinking about how I would manage to keep my secret for another day. Not only was being a mother stressful in itself, but trying to keep it a secret was a complete struggle.

As soon as my alarm went off the next morning, I let out a groan and rolled myself out my bed.

Nothing ever changed in my morning routine. After getting out of bed, I always got myself dressed and ready to go to set before waking up Tyler, Emmie, and Sam.

"Momma, it's too early," Emmie mumbled, half asleep as she shuffled into the kitchen.

"Why does school start so early?" Little Sammy asked, sitting down at the table next to Emmie. "I wanna go back to bed."

A small chuckle escaped my lip as I kissed both of their heads, Tyler sleepily walking in. "Here guys," I said, placing a bowl of cereal in front of each of them.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, making me jump slightly. Without thinking properly, I made my way over to the front door and opened it.

"Hey, Laur," Steven said, smiling.

Steven.

My eyes widened at the sight of him standing at my door. Quickly, I scooted my way outside, shutting the door behind me. "Uhh...okay," Steven chuckled. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?! What do you mean what's wrong?!" The frantic tone in my voice stood out, making my best friend give me a look of concern.

"Well for starters, you're acting like that." He motioned to my frantic posture, laughing at me as I began to gather myself together. "Anyways, I came to take you to set. I wanted to make sure you were okay after yesterday."

Another true smile tugged at my lips. It seemed to me that only Steven and my foster children could make me actually smile, but they were all I needed to be happy.

"Yeah...that'd be great." Feeling my cheeks heat up from blushing, I looked down at me feet. "Could I just have a minute?" My finger pointed to the door, hinting that I wanted to go inside for a moment.

"Oh yeah, yeah, of course! Take as long as you need," Steven expressed. "I'll be in my car." With that, I walked back into my house and quickly ran down the hall.

"What's wrong?" Sammy asked, all three of the kids turning to face me.

"Tyler, come here for a second." I waved for Tyler to come over to the living room with me. "I need you to do me a favor, bud."

"Okay," he agreed, glancing up at me thoughtfully.

"I need you to make sure both Emmie and Sammy are ready for school when the bus arrives in fifteen minutes," I explained, placing one hand on his shoulder. "I've got to leave for work now."

"M'kay, I can do it," Tyler replied. I quickly thanked him, ruffling his hair before grabbing my bag and rushing out the front door once again.

Just as Steven said, he was waiting in his car.

"Sorry, I just had to...take care of something."

"It's cool," Steven said. "Ready to go?"

I replied with a nod of my head, and Steven turned on the radio. It wasn't even three minutes into the half hour drive when Steven began dancing in his seat. I tried holding in my laughs while attempting to keep my smile to a minimum.

"What?" He looked at me, a smirk on his lips. "My dancing isn't good enough for you?" When I opened my mouth to speak, a laugh escaped.

As he waved one hand in the air, in lightly came down and brushed over mine accidentally. There was a small moment of awkwardness, creating a tension that wafted throughout the car.

The two of us shared a glance before Steven grabbed onto my hand, bringing it up into the air and continuing with his dance movements.

"What are you doing?" I chuckled, letting his free hand shake mine to the music.

"Uhh dancing, duh."

At that point, I couldn't hold in the laughter caught up in my throat. "Alright hotshot, calm yourself down. And keep both your hands on the wheel!"

"What are you, a mother?" He joked.

Something in my snapped and I quickly said, "No!" Steven looked at me with a weird look, hinting that I replied a bit too fast. "Sorry, I'm just...tired."

Once we reached a stop light, Steven turned to face me, taking hold of my hand in a friendly way once again. "Laur, if you're still not feeling good, I can take you home. I want you to do what's best for yourself."

"No, I'm fine," I replied, not wanting to make eye contact.

Steven let out a sigh, speaking once again. "Lauren...I know that something isn't completely right with you at the moment."

"Why would you think that?"

"Because you're my best friend, and I know when something up," Steven explained with a soft time. "You don't have to tell me what it is if you don't want to, but just know that whatever is going on...I'm always here for you."

Finally, I looked up at him. "Thanks Steve."

And once again, he brought me into a hug that made all my worries in that simple moment.

A/N
Chapter question: How do you think Steven will find out about Emmie, Tyler, and Sammy??

Sorry for the short chapter, but I broke my hand today in taekwondo. I was doing this hand power breaking and didn't warm up my hand so I basically popped two fingers out of their sockets on my hand and I hand to pop them back into place myself soooooo yeah my hand hurts so it's kinda painful to type hahaha.

Hope you liked this chapter!