Cigarettes [Bennoda] ✔

Chapter 84

Chester's POV
Our divorce was final in just a matter of months. It wasn't too complicated which I was thankful for. While it was being finalized, I began moving out.

I bought the house that was for sale right across the street from our, well, Mike's house. We both still wanted to be close to eachother and that seemed like the perfect thing to do. We still saw eachother like everyday or every few days and it was great. We talked on the phone and texted all the time still.

I think splitting up was truly the best for us. After our divorce was final, it was like a weight was lifted off of us in a way. We no longer had that pressure of being married, and doing things that married couples do, hanging over our heads. We were happier, not as happy as when we first met, but happier than we had been. People thought we were crazy to still remain close after our split, but I didn't care. He was still my best friend that I'd do anything for.

-

"Oh my God. Look at this photo." Mike said as he put a box of keepsake type things onto my kitchen table. He helped me move in my house in more ways than one. He helped me pack and unpack, and he also put the first payment in on it. I was so grateful. I was going to pay him back every penny of that, and I still needed to pay him back for bailing my ass out of jail.

Anyway, he held up a photo of us, Till and Ryan together being complete idiots by the pool. Till had Ryan in a playful headlock and I was on Mike's back. I chuckled and took it out of his hand. "That night was so much fun." I said. He nodded and smiled. "It was."

"Look! Our engagement photos. I think this was the peak of our hotness." He said. I laughed and rolled my eyes. I took the box into the living room and put it on the coffee table so I could finish looking through it later that day.

"What should we bring over next?" He asked. "I guess my clothes so I can go ahead and get them put up." I said. "Okay."

We kept doing this until all of my stuff was at my house. Going back and forth across the street I don't know how many times. Finally late that night everything was unpacked and put away. We both sat on my new couch and sighed.

"Thank you for everything." I said. He smiled. "You're welcome. I'm happy to help. If you ever need anything, you know where I am. And I mean anything. I don't care if it's three or four in the morning, if you need me, come over, or I'll come over here." He said. "Same goes with you Shinoda." I said. He chuckled. "Thank you."

We heard little footsteps running down the hall to us and smiled. We had pretty much let Max run wild while we were unpacking and she loved every minute of it. "Daddyyyy" She said as she ran into the living room. I smiled and helped her up onto the couch with us. She was one and a half now, and could talk pretty well. It saddened me that time was moving so fast. Mike was right, we would blink and she'd be sixteen. At the same time though, it made me so happy to see her grow.

"New house." She said. I nodded. "Yup, daddy's new house." I said. "My house?" She asked. "Well, yeah, it's your new house too." I said with a little laugh. She grinned. Mike looked at his watch and saw that it was almost 11 p.m.

"Max it's past your bedtime, we better go." Mike said as he picked her up. It was his week with her, but it was Saturday, so that meant I'd get her the next day and then we'd trade off the next Sunday again. I knew it might be stressful on Max, going back and forth, but we both tried to make this whole thing as normal as possible for her. At least it wasn't like she was going to another city to see one of us or something, she was just going across the street and she'd probably even see the other parent on days throughout the week anyway.

"Bye, baby, see you tomorrow okay?" I said as I kissed her forehead and hugged her. She nodded. "Bye daddy." She said. "Bye Ches." Mike said as he gave me an awkward side hug. "Bye Mike. See you tomorrow." "See ya." He walked out the door and went back across the street.