Chapter 10
It had been one day since that little incident. Since Devon had woken James up and I had let my anger and frustration out on my brother.
It had been kind of awkward after James had come back from the gym at about 1:00pm. Whenever we would pass each other, our eyes would lock for a short period before one of us couldn’t stand it anymore and looked away. Whenever we were in the same room, I could feel him watching me. When he wasn’t looking, I would watch him, longingly waiting for him to say something, anything. We would eventually catch the other looking and just stare at each other.
But James no longer looked angry. His eyes seemed to be full of pity. It looked like he didn’t want to fight with me any longer, like he couldn’t.
I would look back at him pleadingly, still waiting for some kind of response from him. It seemed to me that he couldn’t be angry now that he knew the truth about what I had done with the party and all. He gave the impression that he wasn’t capable of anymore rage, that he wanted to move on from it but he didn’t know how.
I had nothing left to tell him. Everything that I had wanted to say had been said. I felt as if there was nothing left for me to do but sit and wait.
Eventually I couldn’t take it anymore. The silence was killing me. I had left the living room where everyone had been watching TV, except for me and James who had only really been secretly paying attention to each other, and went into the guest room I where I was staying. I flopped onto the mattress in frustration. That happened around 7:00pm. I had waited for him to say something for six hours. Six hours of uncomfortable silence and desperate gazes. Six hours of being eaten alive by anticipation. Giving up seemed like the only option. James clearly wasn’t going to do anything like I had originally hoped.
I stayed in the room for the rest of the night, sulking and laying on the bed in irritation.
Not too long after I left, I had heard my mother talking but couldn’t make out the words she was saying. All I knew was that she sounded a little upset. She must have been speaking to James because I heard his voice respond with as much exasperation as I currently felt.
Eventually the talking stopped. I think she had been trying to convince him to go talk to me. I anxiously waited for him to come into the room. I sat up and stared at the door for what seemed like hours. There was a good chance it had been hours too.
At last the door opened. I almost had a heart attack. My hopes were immediately shattered when it turned out to be my mother dropping Devon off. He had been getting really tired and it was late. Everyone was getting ready to go to sleep.
The whole night I moped in the darkness, frustrated that James was being so incorporative. Why couldn’t he just come talk to me? What was holding him back?
…(*Next Morning*)…
Other than me and Devon in the kitchen, the rest of the apartment was quiet.
My mom had decided that she needed some fresh Nevada air. She left to go on a walk with Drew. He was finally torn away from the X Box and forced outside. He wasn’t too happy about it.
James had left a little earlier in the day. He was headed to the gym again.
Alex was still here. He had left the room a few minutes ago to go get everything ready for a shower. Knowing him, he’d probably be in there for a while
“Please be careful, okay Dev?” I watched cautiously as Devon sat on the kitchen counter in front of me.
His little legs were dangling off of the edge. He kicked his sock covered feet at he sat and watched me intently with those blue eyes.
I grabbed the baby yogurt container from the counter top and opened it up. I picked up Devon’s spoon and took a small spoonful of it.
“Alright,” I looked back at Devon, who was watching me excitedly. I smiled. “Open up.”
I brought the spoon close to his mouth and he ate the yogurt. There was a small dribble as some of it came out of his mouth and I caught it with the spoon.
“More, Mommy!” Devon reached his hands out to grab at the spoon.
“Hold on,” I laughed, getting another spoonful.
As I brought it closer to him, his little hands reached out and he grabbed the spoon as I was holding it. I brought it to his mouth again. His hands were still holding on to the spoon as he ate it. He let go of it once the yogurt was eaten off of it.
Devon started hitting the counter with his hands as he waited for me to scoop up some more yogurt.
“This is good, huh?” I held up the spoon again.
“More!” Devon said, his eyes on it.
“Okay. Here comes the plane!” I moved the spoon through the air in different shapes as I made an airplane noise.
After he ate that bite, I got another spoonful.
Devon giggled a little.
“What?’ I smiled. “What’s so funny?”
He just smiled back at me as he sat on the counter.
I lifted the spoon up.
“Me! Me! Me!” Devon stretched his arms out again. His hands were grabbing at the air.
I looked down at him hesitantly. “You wanna try?”
He just nodded as he tried to grab the spoon from my fingers.
I was confident that Devon could feed himself, but that would require a long bath afterward in order to clean the food from all over his body. But, the kid did need to learn how to use eating utensils.
I sighed knowing things were going to get messy. “Alright Dev,” I brought the spoon to his outstretched hands. “Be careful though, okay?”
He eagerly held it and moved it towards his face. The spoon slid across his cheek, leaving a yogurt trail, before it finally found his mouth.
“Wow! Good job!” I congratulated him. I even clapped a little, just to let him know he was off to a good start.
He held the spoon back out to me to put more on it. I did just that and gave it back to him.
Devon completely missed his mouth that time. Somehow he turned the spoon and it ended up all over his face. Only the last drop made it to his mouth.
I couldn’t help but laugh at his messy face. “Devon, you’re gonna need a bath after this!”
He dropped the spoon, which clattered to the floor, and grabbed the yogurt container.
“No baff!” He yelled and he scooped up a handful of yogurt before I could stop him.
I quickly tried to snatch the container from him. In the process, the yogurt he was holding ended up being smeared on my chin and neck.
“Hey!” I jumped back a little, laughing. I got the container from him and set it down out of his reach.
Devon began laughing hysterically.
“You think it’s funny?” I asked, smiling, as I moved closer to him. He just kept laughing.
I reached my hands out started tickling his stomach. It caused him to fall over from his sitting position and lay on top of the counter laughing even more.
“No, Mommy! No!” He managed to choke out a few words.
I stopped tickling him and helped him sit back up. He was still smiling.
I made sure he wasn’t going to fall off the counter before heading towards the sink. I grabbed a paper towel and stuck it under the faucet before heading back to Devon.
I wiped to yogurt off of myself and grabbed Devon’s hands.
“Okay, let’s clean you up,” I smiled.
In the middle of the process, I heard the apartment door open and close from behind me.
“You just missed the food fight,” I laughed and looked over my shoulder. “It was-” The words caught in my throat as my eyes found the person at the door.
I had expected to see my mom and younger brother returning from their walk. It wasn't them. It was James.
My eyes widened as I met his gaze and I looked away awkwardly. I went back to wiping the yogurt off of Devon’s face.
I prayed that he didn’t freak out at the sight of me interacting with Devon. I stayed quiet as I cleaned him, waiting to hear James leave the room.
I heard nothing. He hadn’t moved away from the doorway.
I walked towards the sink and opened the cupboard door beneath it to throw away the paper towel. I stood there for a second, staring at it before closing the door. I placed my hands on the edge of the sink and leaned on it. I suddenly didn’t want to turn back around.
“Maddie?” James’s voice rang through the quiet apartment. His tone seemed depressed.
My heart sped up as I heard his voice. I froze and stared down at the sink.
What was he going to do? Had he come to some kind of conclusion? Did he plan on interrogating me again? This couldn’t possibly be the start of the conversation I had been hoping for, could it?
“I, um,” I heard him begin. He paused, probably searching for words.
I closed my eyes and bit my lip as I leaned against the sink. I was afraid to turn around and face him for some reason. I guess it was because I had such high hopes. I didn’t want them to come crashing down again.
“I just wanted to, uh, to talk to you,” He paused again, waiting for some kind of response from me.
I just continued to stand there with my back to him.
“Maddie, please?” His voice cracked as he spoke.
I breathed in sharply, not expecting him to sound so… miserable. My grip tightened on the sink.
“Look Mad, it was a big surprise. I just… I didn’t know how to handle it,” James’s voice was pleading. He sounded truly upset. “I can’t do this anymore.” He took a breath. “I miss my little sister too much…”
I opened my eyes as the words my brother had just spoken sank in. I felt my throat clench from both what he had said and from the tone of his voice. He was always the tough guy. It wasn’t often that got emotional about something.
I slowly turned around to face James. He stood there on the other side of the kitchen in his gym clothes. The same duffel bag was slung over his shoulder.
His eyes locked with mine and he took a cautious step towards me. He looked just as upset as he had sounded. The emotions on his face told me that he had spoken the truth, that he had missed me too much to let this get between us.
Without a second thought I was suddenly running towards him. James dropped his bag on the floor and wrapped his strong arms around me.
I returned the hug and began crying my eyes out again. This time it was from happiness. This was the moment I had been waiting for over two years, throughout both the pregnancy and after Devon was born. It was like a dream come true and it was better than I had imagined. I finally had his acceptance.
I removed an arm to wipe the tears from my eyes and I sniffled before looking up at James. He was staring down at me, his hazel eyes looked teary as well.
“Hi,” I greeted him and smiled at the silliness of it. I had both arms around him again.
“Hey,” He greeted back laughing a little and tightening his grip.
It was like meeting him for the first time since the start trip. He knew everything. There weren’t any more secrets between us.
“I had it all planned out and you didn’t need to hear any of it to come running back,” He spoke softly and his lips broke into a smile.
“I didn’t need to hear it,” My voice was scratchy. “You know… I’ve dreamt about this moment for over two years and I never imagined it would feel this incredible.”
“I’m glad you’re happy,” James murmured before he planted a kiss on the top of my head.
I looked back up to his eyes. They seemed to contain an equal amount of happiness.
Finally, his grip loosened.
“Well,” He sighed. “Why don’t we try this again?”
“What?” I noticed his eyes looking across the room and followed his gaze.
He was looking at Devon who was still on top of the kitchen counter.
My eyes widened as I realized I had left my baby unattended, sitting four feet off the ground with nothing to hold him there. He could’ve fallen off!
“Oh my God!” I pulled out of the hug and ran to the counter. I instantly picked Devon up and placed him on my hip. “Are you okay, Dev? I’m such a horrible parent. How did I just forget he was there? He was what, at least three feet off the ground? What if he fell? What then? We’d have to scrape him up off the floor! Who decided that I was cut out for parenthood? Who put me in charge of-”
“Maddie!”
My franticly wandering eyes and rushed tone came to a halt. I quickly glanced at my older brother, who was wearing a slightly amused expression.
“Maddie, he’s fine” James laughed, smiling at me. “Don’t worry about it, nothing happened.”
I forced a laugh. I guess he was right.
Looking down, I saw that Devon was completely content. He had a fist in his mouth and drool running down his arm. He happily watched me without a care in the world.
“God, you sound like Mom. Motherly instincts?” James teased as he glanced between me and Devon.
I shifted Devon’s weight to hold him on my hip with one arm. I then brought my free hand up to rub my forehead and the side of my face before keeping it on the side of my chin.
“Yeah, uh. I guess so.” I bit my lip. I had just embarrassed myself by becoming an overprotective mother.
James just laughed at me.
“Well, if it was your baby you’d be freaking out even worse than me,” I wrapped my arm around Devon again.
James raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really?”
“Yeah, you’re a kagillion times more overprotective than I am,” I teased him back.
A few seconds passed in silence and I glanced back down at Devon to watch him.
“Do you…” I took a deep breath. “Do you want to hold him?” I looked back towards James, not sure what to expect.
He hesitated and a flash of uneasiness passed over his face. It quickly disappeared.
“Yeah,” A grin spread across James’s lips. “I’d love to.”
My face mirrored his grin and I suddenly felt butterflies in my stomach. They weren’t the same nervous butterflies that I had become so used to though, these ones were caused by the excitement I was currently feeling.
I walked over to James and shifted Devon’s weight again.
“You have no idea how happy that makes me…” I locked my brown eyes with my brother’s hazel ones. “Oh my God!” I laughed. “I could literally jump up and down right now.”
James’s eyes held so much satisfaction as he watched my reaction. He always enjoyed to see me happy, especially when it was caused by something that he did. And right now, I was smiling from ear to ear.
“Alright,” I turned my attention to the toddler I was holding. “Devon, I think it’s time you officially met someone.
I snuck a glance at James to see him watching me in admiration. I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of what was happening.
I turned back to Devon again, his blue eyes were watching my face. “Well Bud, this is your Uncle James.”
It felt so good to finally say those words and know that James was accepting of it.
I lifted Devon off of my hip and handed him to my older brother.
This was it. It was happening.
I held my breath in anticipation as I placed Devon in his outstretched arms. My eyes instantly became glued to James’s face. I wanted to catch every emotion that passed over it.
He met my eyes for a brief second before he set Devon on his hip, just like he had seen me do not too long ago.
I let out the breath I was holding and continued to smile at the sight.
“Hey there,” James spoke softly as he ducked his head down to try and meet Devon’s eyes.
Devon still had a fist in his mouth. His eyes wandered to James’s face and he watched him keenly.
I had the sudden urge to wipe the drool that trailed down from Devon’s chin to his arm. I resisted. The moment was just so adorable and I couldn’t risk ruining it.
“You’re a good little guy, aren’t ya? You’re mommy must’ve done a good job raising you, huh?” James’s eyes flickered to mine.
My eyes widened in shock. I had not been expecting him to say anything like that. He had just complimented my parenting skills? I didn’t even know how to respond to that.
James grinned at me and turned his attention back to Devon.
“You probably like it better when me and Mad- . Me and your mommy aren’t fighting.” James adjusted Devon’s weight.
Devon’s eyes had never left his face the whole time he spoke to him. It was so cute.
Finally, Devon removed the slobbery fist from his mouth. “Hi!”
James and I turned to look at each other. He looked kind of surprised at Devon’s sudden outburst. I thought it just made the situation even more precious.
My brother’s gaze drifted back towards the toddler in his arms.
“Hi Devon,” He laughed, his eyes crinkling.
I giggled too, suddenly thankful that his favorite word was ‘hi’.
Devon looked between the two of us and smiled widely, suddenly happy because of the reaction he got. Then he started laughing along, his baby cackle filled the air.
I met James’s eyes again. By that time, my smile was so wide that my cheeks hurt.
“You were right Maddie,” James shook his head and looked at me. “He’s just a baby.”
I bit my lip again and stared up at him expectantly.
He took a step closer toward me, his eyes on my face. “And he’s freaking adorable at that.”
I practically squealed with joy. “I’m glad you think so.” I began to bounce on my toes a little, not being able to contain my excitement any longer.
He just smirked at me.
Right then and there, I was on top of the world. At that moment nothing else mattered. My relationship with my brother was mended and there was nothing between us anymore. He had accepted Devon and complemented my parenting skills. It was officially the best day ever. Twenty eight stress filled months of pregnancy and baby raising had lead up to that one moment, and I couldn’t have been happier.
AN: So writing this chapter hit me right in the feels. It was probably about the third time that my own characters almost made me cry lol. I thought this chapter was adorable and stuff and I hope you like it! Sorry about the long wait. I had finals and research papers to worry about the past couple weeks....eww. Lol. Well, I hope you're enjoying Uppercut so far! I have so much planned, it's ridiculous. I'm really excited about it! :D