Growing Up - Pete Wentz Fanfic

Chapter 9

“How long have you been living out here in L.A.?” Pete asked. “I was born here. My family lived in Spain, then they moved here and when I was out of the house, they went back to Spain because the rest of the family is there.” “So, you’re basically alone here?” I nodded, chewing on my bottom lip. “Yeah but … it’S alright. I have the greatest friends and I’m so used to all of this here. I’m an L.A.-girl at heasrt, this is my home.” He smiled. “Well, for a boy from Wilmette, Illinois it was pretty scary at first.” I laughed. “I can imagine that.”

When we reached my house, I looked at him and locked his eyes, catching myself getting lost in them. “Do you have time tomorrow?” I asked, trying to be brave. He smiled and looked down. “No, sorry. I finally have Bronx tomorrow, first time this month. But hey, you can still come over.” “Are you sure?” I asked. “Yeah, why not?” “Because … it’s kind of weird. Are you sure that we will be seeing eachother that much? I mean, I don’t have a kid myself but I’m used to people only letting their childreen meet somebody when they’re sure they’re really going to stay in their life.” Pete bit his lip. “Am I a bad dad because I didn’t think about that?” I took his hand into mine. “You’re not. I feel honored that you want me to meet Bronx, especially so quickly, seriously. But maybe you should think about it.” “You don’t want to stay in my life?” I quickly shook my head, laughing because he was pulling that face again that made him look like a little boy. “Please, you know what I mean. I just want to make sure that you’re aware of the situation.”

“I’m gonna be very honest with you right now” he announced. “Alright.” “I want you to stay in my life. I’ll make an effort to see you because I like you and I want to hang out with you and I have absolutely no idea why we suddenly shouldn’t see eachother anymore. You understand?” I blushed and smiled. That was so nice, my heart fluttered. “Thank you, I appreciate you saying that and I couldn’t agree more.” He leaned over and hugged me tightly. I wrapped my arms around him and patted his back. “So, you wanna come over tomorrow? At 3 maybe?” “Yeah, alright.” “Cool.” I pulled back out of his arms and opened the door. “Goodnight” he said before I shut the door, waved and smiled at him before disappearing into the building.

-

I had talked to Mandy on the phone for almost the whole night and she had kept telling me that it was a bad idea to meet Bronx because of the same reason that I had confronted Pete with earlier. But she also knew that I was determined to meet Bronx, simply because Pete wanted me too. And she totally fangirled over the fact that Pete had told me all about Ashlee and Meagan. She had said that he must’ve really trusted me and that made me feel really good. Because I trusted him too, already. He was right though, we trusted eachother but we hadn’t known eachother for a very long time.

After having received a text from Pete with his exact adress, I drove down to his place. But suddenly, I stopped at the gate that seperated the reguar streets from his. How was I supposed to get in? A guy was standing on the other side of the gate so I rolled down my window. “Who do you want to visit, Miss?” the guy asked, he was wearing a sort of security uniform. “Um … Pete Wentz” I stuttered nervously. Couldn’t he just come out and get me? “Name?” the guy asked. “My name?” “Yes, Miss.” “Charlie, Charlotte Miller.”

He actually opened the gate even though I probably looked like an obsessed insane. But Pete must’ve announced that somebody with my name was going to come by. I drove in and the gate closed behind me, I drove to Pete’s villa and parked my car in front of it. I felt so fancy being here. I walked the way up the driveway and rang the doorbell. Pete opened immediately, he was in the middle of talking.

“…yeah. I fucking know that. Alright.” “Don’t swear in front of Bronx!” Pete made a motion with his hand for me to come in and I saw a tall blonde standing next to him, Bronx on her arm. Ashlee. “You’re having company when you’re supposed to take care of Bronx?” she asked, looking at me and taking off her sunglasses. What was she wearing them for anyway? She was inside. “Who is that anyway?” Pete looked at me with an apologizing look, he seemed a little annoyed by his ex-wife. “That’s my friend, Charlie. Charlie, that’s Ashlee.” She looked at me again and shook my hand. “Pleasure” she said but already turned back to Pete. “Alright! How long have you known her? You think you can just introduce strangers to my kid? What if he gets attached to her? You can’t just do that to a little kid!” “Listen, Ash, Bronx is our kid. And if you care – Charlie said the same thing you just said to me last night, she was unsure about coming over when Bronx is here for the exact same reason, if that makes you feel any better. But I’m sure about this, okay? I know what I’m doing, I’m not stupid.” “Well, it doesn’t look like that to me! But I have to go now, I have a meeting. I’ll get Bronx tomorrow, alright?” “Are you fucking kidding me? You said Friday?” “No swearing!” she repeated and put Bronx into Pete’s arms, kissing the cute child’s forehead. “Well, I’ve changed my mind. Bye!” She put her sunglasses back on and was out the door. “Bye, Carly!” she shouted before the door shut, purposely getting my name wrong.

“I’m so sorry” Pete said and walked into the kitchen with Bronx still on his arm. He sat him down on a chair. “Daddy, who is that?” Bronx asked and looked at Pete first, then at me. “That’s my friend, Charlie, she’ll spend the day with us.” I sat down next to him. “Hi, buddy” I said with a smile and shook his little hand. He actually smiled back at me, I had to hold myself back not to squeak, he was so adorable. I just found little kids so adorable. “Did you fight with mum, daddy?” Bronx asked and looked back at Pete. “What? Oh, no. You know your mum’s great.” Bronx smiled. Then he looked at me again. “Do you like my mum too?” “Having a little obsession with your mum there, huh, sweetie? I don’t know her so I can’t really tell.”

Pete had planned to go to the zoo with Bronx and the little dude actually seemed to like the idea of me joining them, he walked holding my hand the whole time and Pete was so happy that Bronx liked me. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I had actually become friends with Pete, I had met his son today. When Bronx decided to go to the playground before leaving the zoo, Pete and I sat down on a bench on the side. “He likes you” he said as we watched Bronx talking to some little girl that was building a sand castle. “He’s a great kid, he’s so adorable” I said with a smile. Pete put his arm around me.”What a player, your son” I joked when Bronx took the girl’s hand and they walked over to the slide together. “I keept telling that to Ashlee and Gabe always jokes about it” Pete laughed. “Speaking of Ashlee, don’t listen to her. You’re a great dad.” He kissed my cheek and smiled. “Thanks, Miller.”