Perfectly Imperfect | Lippa

"Small Talk." - Thirty-Three

DATE: December 25, 2015

-

"Vanessa?"

Sure enough, Vanessa was there in front of Lin. Tobi was too distracted running away from Sebastian to notice Vanessa.

"Lin," she said awkwardly, taking a peek inside the apartment. "Hey..."

Lin crossed his arms, furrowing his eyebrows. "What are you doing here?" He normally wouldn't have been so rude, but last time they saw each other, it was to sign the final divorce papers.

   Vanessa sighed, pinching her nose bridge. "Can I come inside? I need to talk to you."

   He reluctantly stepped aside as Vanessa walked into the apartment. Pippa walked out of the kitchen, holding two mugs. "Sweetheart, your hot chocolate is going to get cold--" She stopped when she saw Vanessa.

   "Sweetheart?" Vanessa questioned, looking at Lin and then at Pippa, confused.

   Lin walked over to Pippa and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Yes, sweetheart," he muttered, obviously irritated. "Pippa's my girlfriend."

   Vanessa seemed a bit surprised by the news. "She's your girlfriend? How long has this been going on for?"

   "About 6 months," Pippa answered shyly, hanging her head slightly. She handed the mug to Lin.

Before Vanessa could react, Sebastian ran over, hugging his mother's legs. "Mommy!" he exclaimed happily. Tobi trailed after him, letting out little barks at the newcomer.

Vanessa bent down and picked her child up, smiling. "Hey! I've missed you!"

Sebastian nodded and hugged Vanessa tightly. Even though Vanessa was supposed to spend time with Sebastian every weekend, she hadn't exactly been showing up. At all. Not even once.

"What do you want to talk about?" Lin asked, tensing a bit. Pippa set her mug down and picked Tobi up off the floor, carrying the small dog in her arms. She felt awkward standing in the same room as Vanessa, seeing as she was the reason why Vanessa and Lin had gotten a divorce. Maybe not entirely, but she still felt extremely guilty.

"I want to take Sebby out with me," Vanessa proposed, tearing her gaze away from Sebastian. "I haven't seen him in months-"

"And who's fault is that?" Lin asked, annoyed. Vanessa hadn't shown up to pick Sebastian up not even once, and all of a sudden, she wants to take him out? On Christmas?

Vanessa pursed her lips together, glaring at her ex-husband slightly. "I've been getting everything sorted out. I moved out, got a new home, stuff like that."

Lin nodded, clearly unconvinced. "Uh-huh... And how did you find me? You didn't know that I was staying with Pippa."

"Anthony told me," Nessa muttered, looking away.

"Anthony?" Both Lin and Pippa asked in unison. What was she doing talking to Anthony.

Vanessa nodded and sighed softly. "Yes, he told me yesterday."

"Well, do you know where he is right now?" Pippa asked, stroking Tobi's fur as she stared at Lin's divorced wife.

She shook her head no. "Sadly, no. Last time I saw him was at a-- uh.. At a bar."

"At a bar?" Lin echoed, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, at a bar. And why do wish to know? Is he missing or something?"

"Something like that," Pippa murmured.

"Well, he gave me your address. And here I am..." Vanessa bit her bottom lip awkwardly. "I see you got a dog..."

Lin nodded as Pippa's eyes lit up. "Yeah! Isn't she wonderful? Her name's Tobillo." She grinned at looked at him. "My little Linnamin roll here got her for me," she added.

He smiled and pecked Pippa's lips, but it quickly grew into a more passionate kiss. Vanessa just watched, not exactly knowing how to feel. Lin only pulled away when Tobillo licked their chins, causing them both to laugh.

Vanessa cleared her throat. "I understand if you don't want me to take Sebastian out, but he is my son..."

   Lin pursed his lips together, thinking. "No, you're right. It's fine, you can take him out for the day. But bring him back by 7 PM sharp okay?"

   Vanessa nodded eagerly. "Okay, I-"

   "Little Sebby here is still in his pajamas," Pippa interrupted, setting Tobi down. She walked over and took Sebastian out of Vanessa's arms. "I'll get him dressed, and then you can take him, okay?"

   Vanessa wanted to argue, and say that she should be the one that dresses him, but said nothing. All she did was just nod and watch as Pippa walked into what she assumed to be her room, with Sebastian.

   Lin stood there, not exactly trying to start a conversation. Finally, Vanessa spoke up. "You seem happy here." She saw him faintly smile and nod. "Yeah, Pippa and Sebastian are my everything."

   Vanessa couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. She took a step closer to him. "Oh, Lin," she sighed softly. "Where did we go..?"

   Lin's eyes snapped back up to her, not hesitating with his answer. "We went our separate ways."

   She knew this was true, of course, but she missed them. Well, there was no use in trying to win him back, he was already happy with Pippa. In fact, he hadn't kissed her like he had kissed Pippa just a few moments ago in years. They had just simply fell out of love.

   After what seemed like an eternity, Pippa came back out of the room. "Alright little Sebby, ready to go?"

   Sebastian nodded and kissed Pippa's cheek. "Si, mami!"

   Hearing this broke Vanessa's heart. Had Sebastian really replaced her that quickly? She felt bitter all of a sudden. Of course he had replaced her quickly. Lin had done so. Why shouldn't Sebastian?

   She pushed all of those thoughts away when Pippa walked up to her, handing her her 2 year old son. "Take care of him, okay?" Pippa asked her, giving Vanessa a small smile.

   Vanessa nodded and dipped her head in both thank you and goodbye. She let Lin and Pippa say their goodbyes to Sebastian and walked out of the apartment with him.

   Lin hugged Pippa from behind, sighing softly. "Do you think I made a good choice? Letting Vanessa take Sebastian out, I mean." He felt Pippa nod and say, "I think you made a wonderful decision, mi amor."

   Pippa turned around in his arms to face him, smiling. He leaned over and kissed her, pulling her closer.

   "Now we have a little bit of time to ourselves," Lin muttered against her lips, smirking.

   She shook her head, blushing lightly. "Lin, baby, no, we can't..."

   "Fine, we'll stop right before we get carried away." Lin kissed Pippa one more time before sweeping her off her feet, picking her up bridal style. She let out a series of giggles, kissing his cheek.

   Lin brought her over into their room, making sure to close the door with his foot after Tobi ran out into the living room. He laid her down on their bed, but was surprised when Pippa smashed her lips on to his.

   This was going to be a fine Christmas morning, and both Pippa and Lin knew that.

-

For all of you wondering: No, they did not have sex. Just a lot of grinding and.. Alright I'll shut up now.

Excuse me if there were any grammatical errors, typos or repetition!

     Thank you for reading!
        - Danielle