Holding Hands (Jardougall)

The Little Boy

Tay's P.O.V.

"I don't wanna," Jenna whined, burying her face in my neck.

"Jen," I sighed. "Please help me. Really quick and then we can go back to the adults."

Jenna groaned and kissed my cheek quickly before the kids could see. The reason I needed Jenna to help me was that we were stuck on kid duty at a family party. I wanted Jenna to catch up with my family, so I brought her along--except now we couldn't be really cuddly and had to track the every move of the kids.

"Miss Tay!" a little girl yelled, running over to me. I held my arms out and lifted her up in my arms as I smiled at her.

"Hey, Lisa," I said. "How are you?"

She smiled with adorable dimples and wrapped her arms around my neck. "Good," she replied, drawing it out.

I giggled and readjusted her in my hold as Jenna was pulled away by two kids. I smiled at her and carried Lisa over to Jenna. Watching Jenna with the kids made me smile a little, just taking into consideration how much she seemed to light up at their acceptance of her.

She laughed at the kids, and made them laugh as well, and she seemed to have an instant connection with them. One little boy seemed to have a certain liking to her, and she liked him back just as much. They played together for about fifteen minutes before I was tapped on the shoulder.

I turned and saw a familiar face, so I pulled my sister into a hug. Lindsey hugged me back and she sat down beside me. Lisa came back over and said her hello to Lindsey before running off to play with Jenna and the little boy.

"So," Lindsey urged with a smile.

"Yeah?" I was a little confused.

"Jenna's back?"

I mentally face-palmed. "Yeah. I'm so happy."

"So, does this mean you two are together? Oh, please! I want to go to a wedding!"

"Lindsey," I laughed, "we just got together yesterday."

"It's never too early to start planning."

I rolled my eyes but laughed anyway. We both looked over at Jenna and, since I was so mesmerized by the connection Jenna had with the little boy, I didn't notice that Lindsey was looking at me. I looked back at her and she had a thoughtful look in her eyes.

"Jenna's really great with kids," she said. "Did you two ever talk about wanting kids?"

I shook my head. Honestly, I wanted to ask Jenna about that, but if she said yes then I would feel like I was holding her back because our own kids would be something I couldn't give her. We could always adopt, but it just was a weird topic for me to bring up.

Lindsey sighed. "I think you should actually talk about this together. You'd both make great moms." She patted my shoulder and walked over to say hello to Jenna. After about a minute, Lindsey left and Jenna said goodbye to the little boy before sitting beside me. She wrapped her arm around my shoulder and I smiled, leaning against her.

I thought about the look on Jenna's face when those kids played with her. She looked happy that they had taken her feelings into consideration, and she just smiled and laughed. I never really had that connection with kids, and these ones were family.

"You'd make an amazing mom," I said, and then quickly sat up. Jenna had a slightly confused look on her face.

"Hm?" she hummed, her hand sliding down to my waist.

"Nothing."

Jenna nodded her head and stood up, pulling me with her. Holding my hand, she wrapped her arm around my shoulders and pulled me against her. I smiled as we walked away from the kids and over to the small group sitting around a round table.

Without hesitation, my mom, Devin, and Sam hugged Jenna tightly--Lindsey didn't since she'd already said her hello. They hugged me afterwards and we all sat down, my mom starting a conversation with Jenna.

The six of us talked for about an hour before food was brought out. There was so much food, I couldn't even process it. After lots of convincing--and a quick kiss--Jenna dug into the food. She said she would regret it once her stomach realized what was happening, but she ate anyways.

About fifteen minutes in, Sam locked eyes with me and nodded behind me. I furrowed my eyebrows and turned around, only to see the one person I didn't want to see that night.

Jenna's P.O.V.

As I took a sip of my wine, Tay turned around and tensed up immediately. I gently placed my hand on her lower back and she turned back around, removing the napkin from her lap and set it on the table.

"I'll be right back, mom," she said quickly, as her mom opened her mouth. Tay slid her chair back and sent me a quick smile before walking away. I turned around as well and saw her walking through the doorway.

A man watched her and turned back around with a smile on his face, locking eyes with me. I knew exactly who he was. He looked exactly the same.

Dressed in a sleek, black suit with a lavender tie, Alex Gaskarth walked over to our table. Tay's mom held her arms out to him and they exchanged a kiss on the cheek.

"Oh, you made it," she said happily. Alex nodded and greeted everyone except me--shaking hands with Devin and hugging the sisters.

When he got to me, he smirked and at down in the empty chair on the other side of me. "I don't believe I know who you are," he said, staring into my eyes.

"Jenna McDougall," I said with a little enmity in my voice. I wasn't sure why I was talking to him in this way, but it happened.

"Alex Gaskarth," he replied, holding out his hand. I gave him my hand and he kissed the back of it, winking at me as he pulled back up.

"Yeah, I know who you are."

He laughed. "You didn't, by chance, go to school with me, did you? Is that why you're here with the Jardine's? Because I am one-hundred percent sure there was an Australian girl at my school, named Jenna."

"I went to school with you, yes."

Out of the corner of my eye, Tay sat back down in her chair, a hard look in her eyes as she and Alex stared at each other.

"Alex," she greeted in a shaky voice.

"Tay," he replied with a smirk. "Long time, no see. Oh, wait." He laughed. "Never mind."

Sam's eyes widened as she let out a nervous laugh. "Alex, why don't you go let everyone else know that you're here?" she suggested. "They've been waiting."

"Oh, I'll go with you," Tay's mom said. He held his arm out to her, and she looped her own with his, both of them walking off.

I set my jaw as I watched him and then turned to face everyone else.

"Tay," I said slowly, tilting my head a little as I stared at the table. "Can we talk, love?"

Already pale in the face, she nodded and stood from the table, following after me out of the room.