Variables | Joshaya ✔︎

What to do...

"I'm really happy for you Peaches," Riley says, making me smile wide, "Even if one day you might be my aunt."

"Please don't say it like that," I say, "Never refer to Josh as your uncle when we're talking about this stuff, it sounds just gross and like incest."

She laughs, "Well, genetically it's not; we're not actually related, so you're fine."

I smile at her but then I feel eyes on me. I look down and see Dillon staring up at me, a large toothless smile on his face. He turns himself around and reaches up to me, grabbing my cheeks.

"Ow!" I fake, making him laugh as he pinches my cheek. He grabs my shirt and pulls himself up, something that he's been doing for the past week or so.

He puts his hand over my eyes, signaling that he wants peek-a-boo.

"Peek a," I start, then suddenly grab his hand and take it off my eyes, "Boo!"

He screeches in excitement and my smile widens as I repeat it a few times, sometimes placing his hand on his own face and doing the classic 'Where's Dillon?'

"You guys are so cute," Riley says as Dillon screeches again.

"Thanks," I say.

"Surprisingly, both Gabi and Dillon look so much like you," she says, and I nod.

"Yeah, it's crazy," I admit honestly, "But I'm happy they do, cause I don't think I'm going to tell Dillon about his parents until he's older. Seeing Gabi go through exactly what I did nearly broke me, and I don't want Dillon to have to go through the same thing."

She nods in agreement, "I agree, but don't wait too long, cause it could all blow up in your face; it would make everything he's ever known turn upside down knowing that it was a lie."

"Yeah," I sigh, "Parenting is hard."

She laughs, "You don't say."

I laugh in return and we talk for the next few hours, Josh joining in about half an hour later and allowing Dillon to play with his fingers as Josh sits behind me, putting me in between his legs.

He kisses my cheek and I lean into him as Riley and I continue our conversation.

At about noon, Dillon's starting to get fussy and I see Gabi, Auggie, and Cory walking back from the playground.

"We should probably go and get some lunch," Topanga recommends and I nod.

"Yeah, Dillon's starting to get fussy," I say as Dillon has a pout on his face, standing up with a tight hold on my shirt and starting to pull at my hair, the tears surfacing, "Oh it's okay bud."

Topanga nods and helps Riley pack up the toys and place them in the diaper bag. I pick up Dillon and hold him against my chest, lightly bouncing him as I stand up.

As Cory, Auggie, and Gabi get back from the playground, we all decide to go to this small pizza place right near the park, so we only have to walk about 5 minutes to get there.

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Right as we arrive, Dillon gets increasingly more fussy in his stroller and I sigh in relief that we made it just in the nick of time.

"Table for..." Topanga starts, looking around at us and counting heads, "8?"

I nod at her and she smiles.

"How many kids menus?" the hostess asks politely.

"Uhhh, 4," she says, and I laugh lightly knowing that the extra one is Riley.

"And height chairs?" she asks.

"Just 1, right?" she asks, turning to me.

"Yeah, Gabi should be fine," I reply.

"Okay, right this way," she says as she grabs everything and leads us to the corner of the place, away from everyone else and to a circular corner booth, "Right here."

"Thank you," I say, but then she notices Josh and I's hands interlocked and her expression changes. Ugh.

"Of course," she says, obviously now forcing a smile.

Josh notices her change in demeanor and says bluntly, "Carry on."

She rushes away and I have to stifle a laugh.

We all scooch into the booth, and surprisingly we all fit, with room to spare (a/n: refer to picture at the top, it shows where everyone is).

I quickly get Dillon into the height chair before he starts to squirm and fight it while Josh grabs a container of some fruit from the diaper bag, handing it to me.

"Thanks," I mutter as I open it and grab one of his baby forks, starting to feed him as a waiter comes over.

"Can I get everyone some drinks?" he asks, taking out his pen and pad of paper.

"Diet coke please," Topanga starts and he nods as he turns to Riley.

"Chocolate milk would be great, please," Riley adds and they continue down the line until everyone has ordered their drinks; Cory with a bud light; Auggie, chocolate milk; I got a Sprite; Josh was going to get a bud light, but I gave him a look and he switched to a coke; and Gabi got a chocolate milk. We talk while we all decide what we're going to get and about 15 minutes later, the waiter returns.

"Are we all set to order?" he asks, and we all nod.

"Okay, let's start on this side first," he says as he turns to me, giving me an uncomfortably sweet smile. I move uncomfortably and Josh notices as he places a protective arm around me.

I immediately relax and then start to order, "Well, I'm going to get a Caesar salad and a side of mozzarella sticks," I say, knowing that I can feed Dillon the mozzarella sticks.

The waiter notices the arm and goes back to a professional demeaner, taking it a whole lot better than the hostess.

He then turns to Josh, his smile still there as Josh orders, "Meat lover's pizza, please."

He writes it down and continues down the line; Topanga with the fresh spinach salad; Cory got chicken wings; Auggie and Gabi got chicken tenders; and Riley got a plain cheese pizza.

About 30 minutes later, Dillon was starting to get fussy again so I took him out of the height chair, sitting him down on my lap right as the waiter came back with a few others with our food. Oh thank god, he can eat his food then take a huge nap. Yay!

"Thank you," I say as one of the other waiters places my salad and mozzarella sticks in front of me. A minute or so later, we all have our food and are finally able to dig in. But, little sass-a-frass over here is not having it.

"Is it okay if I step outside for a second?" I ask, and everyone agrees, nodding in understanding. I stand up, fussy Dillon at my hip and grab the diaper bag, just in case.

Right as we get out of the restaurant, Dillon cracks. Oh god.

I bring him as fast as my small figure can take me back to the park, laying out a smaller blanket and deciding to change his diaper, he probably needs it. I quickly regret it as he starts to squirm on the blanket, kicking and screaming, tears rushing down his face. I grab Fuzz out of the bag and hand it to him, but he just throws it at me, and I'm left flustered and panicking. What do I do?

Just then, I see someone running over to me that I wasn't expecting.

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