Pov y/n
Seconds later we are interrupted by Scarlett's phone ringing. Both of us almost jump at the sudden noise since it was quiet before.
She picks up her phone and stands up to answer the call.
While talking, she walks further away into the dining area where I can't really hear her anymore but see her through the windows and the glass door.
But I want to give her her privacy and pull out my own phone.
I avoid Kelly's chat, who is asking me if that's really me in those pictures. Until I talked to Scarlett about who is allowed to know, I won't confirm anything.
I answer my sister who sent me a picture of her and my brother painting my room. I'm not mad one of them will move in there. When I go to visit home, I can sleep on the couch or on an air matrass and I don't plan on moving back there.
Besides, choosing my room to be all purple when I was like eight, wasn't my best choice, considering we never got to overpaint it.
One wall purple would have been enough but oh well.
When Scarlett comes back, she looks slightly annoyed and plumps onto the couch next to me.
"Everything okay?" I ask, a little worried something is wrong. She huffs a little but then sits up and smiles.
"That was my ex-husband. He just told me he will drop off Rose in a few minutes. I love her, I really do, it's just that she was supposed to stay one more night with him and he was gonna drop her off at school tomorrow but now some meeting came along and he can't anymore. I just feel sorry for Rosie because she loves her dad and likes it when he drives her to school after she spent the weekend. I hate when he disappoints her." Scarlett sighs and stays silent for a few more seconds before she gets up.
"Well, can't change that now. I will start making dinner, please stay and eat with us." She requests softly and smiles at me. I look up to her.
"It's okay, I don't want to interrupt your time with Rose. I don't have to stay. Thanks for the offer though." I say and stand up. Scarlett shakes her head.
"You're not interrupting at all. Besides, Rose loves you and will be excited to see you. And I insist, after today and the rumors and everything. I should have told you sooner who I am and that there are paparazzi but I just enjoyed our time too much and was worried it would change after you knew who I am. So please, let me make it up to you in form of a meal." She almost pleads and gives me puppy dog eyes.
My heart immediately melts at that sight, it's adorable and how could I say 'no' to that. I roll my eyes playfully and nod.
"Okay, I will stay." I say with a smile and Scarlett grins and walks backwards into the kitchen.
"You won't regret it. I'm making macaroni and cheese and mine's the best, according to Rose." She tells me proudly before turning around to get started. I follow her and sit at the kitchen aisle.
"Well, I have to tase that myself then." I smirk and Scarlett nods before winking at me.
"Do you mind if I play some music?" She asks and when I give her a gesture that tells her it's okay, she connects her phone to some speakers that seem to be in the ceiling and music starts playing.
I smile when she starts to sway a little while preparing the ingredients. Her movements tell me that she isn't doing this the first time.
She gets a little lost in cooking while I get lost in watching her. Seeing her moving around so freely makes me aware of the fact that she never behaved this free when we were outside, she always was slightly more careful.
The doorbell pulls the both of us out of our zones and Scarlett walks to the door. I hear a silent conversation and the voice of a man and Rose before the door is shut again. I look towards the entrance hallway and hear Rose getting out of her shoes and excitedly telling her mother something.
When Scarlett tells Rose that they have a special guest, at which my heart melts a little, Rose comes running into the open living room and kitchen and squeals when she sees me.
I get off the barstool in time and catch her as she launches herself at me. I spin us around before setting her down on a barstool, my hands on either side, just in case she loses balance.
She beams up at me and I once again wonder how this child already gets so excited to see me after only knowing me for a few days.
"Hey, Rose." I say and see Scarlett moving back behind the kitchen aisle to continue the cooking.
"What are you doing here?" She asks and looks up at me.
I glance over to Scarlett who also looks at me. It's obvious that we won't tell Rose about the rumors and everything.
"Well, your mom and I just wanted to spend some time together and catch up." I say vaguely but it's enough for Rose as she nods and takes my hand.
"So, she already had her time with you. Now it's my turn." She decides and holds my hand for balance while sliding off the bar stool.
I catch Scarlett grinning at me as Rose tugs on my hand to follow her into the living room. We stop in front of her toy box and she puts the crayons and paper aside to open the box. She looks into it, thinking about what she wants to play with before she hands me a Spider-Man action figure and a purple guy.
In her hands she now has a woman in a black catsuit with red hair, I assume Black Window and Ironman. I chuckle silently at the choice and sit down with her.
"You will play Spider-Man and Thanos." She explains and I nod, so that's the purple guy.
"I will play Black Widow and Ironman. And together with Spider-Man they fight Thanos, okay?" She asks and I nod. I have no real clue what I'm supposed to do but I start to pretend like Thanos is talking.
"I will win this and none of you can stop me." I make my voice sound a little darker, which makes Rose giggle.
The next few minutes, we spend playing with the figures, making up dialogs and making silly fighting noises. Rose's laughter fills the living room and my heart warms up at the sight of her happy state. She doesn't seem to mind that I have no clue what I'm doing and in the end there's only Thanos and Black Widow left. Rose jumps up and holds the figure in front of her.
"I will beat you, Thanos." She exclaims and I get up on my knees to be her size.
"Never!" I reply and she drops her figure and runs towards me. I quickly drop my figure as well, I suppose we're acting it out now.
But different than expected, she runs around me and hugs me from behind, her arms wrapping around my shoulders.
"Down with you." She says and shoots me a pretended angry glare.
I have to hold back a laugh at her cute face and wrap my arms around my back, my hands resting on the underside of her legs to keep her safe as I get up with her on my back. She squeals in surprise but giggles.
"You will never defeat me." I tell her and start to run around with her.
Her arms stay around my shoulder for balance and I also keep my hands where they are, adjusting a little so she doesn't slip.
She giggles and tells me in between them that she will win.
For a few seconds I catch Scarlett looking at us, a fuzzy smile on her face as she watches us play and goof around.
But I concentrate back on Rose as she takes one arm from around my shoulder, so I slow down and come to a halt in the living room. She lifts her arms and hold her wrist out to me.
"My widow bites shock you." She explains me with euphoria and I play along.
"Nooo! I can't move." I whisper-yell and slowly drop down to my knees, always making sure Rose doesn't slip.
When her feet reach the ground, she takes her arms off me and I let her go, so she can move freely. She pushes against my back a little.
"You will go down!"
"Nooooo." My voice gets quieter as I slowly lower myself until I'm laying flat on the ground.
"I won!" Rose celebrates and sits on top of my back. I turn my head a little to look at her and she raises her fist in victory.
"Black Widow saves the universe!" She proudly says and I smile at her happy state.
Rose stays on my back a little longer, celebrating her victory until she gets of and kneels down next to me.
"You can be y/n again." She says and I open my eyes and grin at her. She giggles again and I sit up.
"Well, I didn't have a chance against you, you were just too strong." I say and watch her smirk proudly.
"Mommy's hero is the best." She explains and I nod in agreement.
"Can we draw now?" She asks but before I can answer, Scarlett calls from the kitchen.
"Dinner is ready. Please go wash your hands before, Rosie."
Rose pouts.
"But we wanted to draw, Mommy." She almost whines and walks towards the kitchen, pouting at her mom.
I follow her, not getting involved in this.
"You can draw a little after dinner, okay?" Scarlett offers and Rose thinks about it before nodding and turning around to smile at me.
"Let's go wash our hands." She says and I follow her into one of the doors in the hallway.
Turns out, there's a bathroom behind it, in which we quickly wash our hands before returning to the kitchen.
Scarlett already set the table and places the plates with food on it. Rose runs up to one of the chairs and climbs onto it. Scarlett offers me the chair next to herself, almost opposite of Rose.
The seat directly opposite of Rose seems to be Scarlett's as she sits down there. I sit down as well and Scarlett smiles at Rose and nods. Rose immediately digs into the food, humming at the taste.
"Mommy makes the best mac and cheese." She explains and nods to me.
"Sweetie, please swallow before you talk." Scarlett reminds her gently and Rose nods and continues to eat.
I also start to eat and feel Scarlett's eyes on me as I try the food. It tastes amazing and I close my eyes for a few seconds. When I swallowed, I look at Scarlett and nod approvingly.
"Rose is right, this is amazing." I praise her food and Scarlett smiles proudly.
"Thank you." She says and starts eating her own food now.
It's silent while we eat and I just enjoy the taste of the pasta dish. Sitting here with Scarlett and Rose feels nice, the atmosphere is calm and happy and I really enjoy it.
Once we're all done, Rose starts to get bouncy on her chair and with a smile, Scarlett tells her she can go draw now.
When Rose comes to my side and takes my hand, I look over to Scarlett, not sure if I should help her clean up. But she smiles at me as well and nods her head towards the living room. I give her a smile in thanks and get up to let Rose lead me into the living room. We get the crayons and a paper and sit down at the coffee table.
"Can we draw an aquarium?" Rose asks me with big puppy eyes and I don't know how I could deny her when she looks at me like this.
"Of course." I reply and her face lights up.
"Okay, an aquarium is different than an underwater world." She explains and I nod, letting her go on.
"First, we need to draw the outline of the aquarium, like this." She draws a blue line along the sides of the paper.
"And there are little houses for the fish and of course fish. But no big ones because they wouldn't fit in there." She tells me further and I nod along.
"Can you draw a fish while I draw a house?" She asks and I answer with 'yes'.
When I ask her which kind of fish, she thinks about it for a few seconds before she decides on a purple one.
We start drawing and take turns in drawing houses and fishes until there are enough houses and Rose wants a baby turtle in her aquarium.
But since one turtle would feel alone, we both draw one each. I finish a little earlier and watch her concentrate on her drawing. Her tongue sticks out a little and it's adorable.
When she's finished, she looks at everything proudly and then looks up to me.
"I like you more..." She says and I'm very confused what she means. But then she continues.
"More than Dad's new girlfriend. She doesn't draw with me, you know? I asked her to draw with me but she said she doesn't have time to do so and Dad can't draw pretty fish. I missed you because you always have time to draw with me and make a pretty underwater world." Rose says further and seems a little sad when she looks up at me.
Her eyes look like she's about to tear up and I slowly open my arms for her, not sure if she wants my comfort. But apparently she does because she sits in my lap and looks up to me with sad eyes.
"I'm sorry she didn't have time to draw with you, sweetie." I say and gently brush over Rose's hair. She nods and takes my other hand to play with my fingers.
"She never draws or plays with me. She's always too busy but then she just sits around and reads or so." Rose tells me and a pout forms on her lips.
It breaks my heart to see her like this and I hug her carefully. She pushes her little body further into mine and rests her head on my shoulder.
I didn't expect her mood to change this fast but I suppose this really bothers her.
She pulls away a little and looks at me.
"Will you still draw with me, when you are Mommy's girlfriend?" She asks, her voice silent and her eyes sad.
I am a little surprised by the question. I never really thought about Scarlett and I becoming girlfriends.
Of course, that would be nice but none of us are that far yet. And maybe that will never happen at all. But how is Rose supposed to know that?
She probably doesn't even fully understands what it means and even if she does, that's not the point right now.
"Of course, sweetie. I will always find time to draw with you." I assure her and her face lights up a little and she smiles again.
"Thank you." She says before hugging me again.
"You're welcome." I reply, rubbing her back.
When she lets go of me, I hear Scarlett approach us.
"I think it's time to get ready for bed." Scarlett says softly and Rose nods. She takes the picture with her and walks towards the stairs before turning around.
"Will you read me a story, Mommy?" She asks.
"Of course, sweetheart. You go upstairs and get ready. I will clean up here and say goodbye to y/n. Okay?" She says and I start to collect the crayons we used.
After a short glance at my watch, I nod, I probably should head back to the hotel soon, I have to get up early tomorrow.
"Wait, y/n is leaving? Then I want to say goodbye too." Rose says and lays the paper on the floor to come running back to me. She tackles me into a hug and I smile and hug her as well.
"Good night, y/n." She says with a sweet smile after our hug.
"Good night and sweet dreams, Rose." I reply and she grins before she runs back to get our drawing and go upstairs.
Scarlett starts to pick up the action figures from earlier while I put the crayons back.
"Thank you for dinner, it was really amazing and I had a great time. And also thank you for cleaning up." I say and place the crayons back on the toy box. Scarlett smiles at me, her eyes shining with happiness.
"I had a great time as well and thank you for playing with Rose, she really loves to play with you and I think that's what she needed right now." Scarlett returns the thank you and it makes me happy to hear how much Rose enjoys our goofing around.
I think about the last part of Scarlett's sentence and frown a little.
"Do you know that Rose..." I think about how to word it but Scarlett already knows what I want to say and nods.
"Yes, she told me a few times that my ex-husband's new girlfriend doesn't play with her. Either because she has 'no time' or just doesn't want to. I can see that it hurts Rose that she doesn't want to play with her, after all she's the new girlfriend of Rose's dad. But she doesn't seem to care about bonding with Rose. It makes me sad that it makes my Rosie sad but I think playing with you tonight made it all better, so thank you for playing with her. I, and she probably as well, really appreciate it. And also thank you for comforting her when she opened up to you. I know it can be hard but you did great and I think Rose really likes you and it meant a lot to her that you let her talk about it and listened." Scarlett ends and looks to the ground for a few seconds before looking back up at me, a mix of emotions swirling around in her eyes.
"Of course, Rose is the sweetest little girl I know and always so full of energy and just a sunshine. I can't understand how someone would not want to play with her. And I feel honored that she opened up to me and I hope I took a bit of her sadness away." I say truthfully and watch Scarlett's eyes sparkle when I talk about Rose.
"It really seems like you did. Thank you so much." She says and we smile at each other for a few seconds until we're interrupted by Rose who calls for her mother. Scarlett smiles.
"That's my que. I will bring that little bundle of energy to bed now." She says and we slowly walk to the entrance. She grabs her purse out of a bag and hands me some money, that I decline.
"It's for an uber. Please, I want you to get home safely and not to wander around New York alone in the dark." She explains and I see nothing but genuine care in her eyes. I take the money and smile at her in thanks.
"Next time I will pay myself." I say jokingly, not sure if there will be a next time.
"Alright, but let me pay this time." Scarlett says with a smirk and my stomach fills with butterflies at the thought of seeing her again.
I nod in agreement and quickly get into my shoes before we wave good-bye. She opens the door that leads from the little front yard to the street via buzzer.
"Text me when you got home safe." She requests and I turn around and give her a thumbs up.
"Good night, Scarlett."
"Good night, y/n."
A/n: I am fully back now from my vacation and will update every second day again :D
I hope you liked y/n and Rose bonding a little more ;)
Thanks for reading and love to you all <3