Michael had really done such a good job of dropping off and picking up Parker from school until the one day that he decided to take a nap.
It had been three weeks since Parker started school, and Michael felt like he could have won the award for dad of the year because of what a good job he was doing. In the those three weeks he'd gotten into a habit of waking Parker up early enough and feeding him (they still had pizza for breakfast) and then getting him dressed and at the school on time. Michael felt like everything was finally falling into place.
And everything was falling into place, until Michael took that nap. He really only had one thing to do that day, and that was to pick Parker up at exactly 2:30 when his day at preschool ended. Michael usually got there at 2:15 and stood outside with the other parents, just in case the kids got out a little earlier than normal, which never happened. Every day he'd get there early, pick up Parker right on time, and then take him back home where they played Mario Kart and ate ice cream. It was pretty simple, but of course Michael had to fuck it up.
Michael woke up from his nap at 3:00 and immediately panicked because he knew that Parker would be panicking over Michael not picking him up from school on time, so he ran straight out of his apartment without grabbing his car keys or putting on shoes.
He had to come back and grab his car keys, but still didn't bother putting on any shoes.
Michael drove faster than what was probably legal and somehow made it to the preschool two minutes earlier than he'd expected to get there. Not that it made anything much better, because it was 3:15 and Michael was 45 minutes late to pick up Parker.
He literally ran down the street to the preschool, where Michael prayed that Parker was still waiting there and hadn't been kidnapped by some gross man roaming around the streets. That wouldn't be good and he'd definitely get yelled at for that.
When Michael arrived in front of the school he was panting like crazy from running down the whole block and he even tripped a few times before he finally saw Parker, sitting on the ground against the wall of the building with two other girls. One younger, one older.
"Daddy!" Parker yelled, standing up from where he had been sitting.
"Hi, Pac-Man." Michael said, trying to catch his breath. He walked over to Parker, who was already running over to him. He held his arms out for Michael, begging to be picked up again and even though Michael still felt like he was dying from running over there he grabbed Parker and scooped him into his arms. "I'm so sorry I was so late, I fell asleep - "
"You're Parker's father?" Michael looked past Parker to see the one of the girls standing up, the older one. She slowly walked over to where Michael and Parker where standing, taking the younger girl's hand.
"Daddy," Parker whispered, leaning closer to Michael. He turned and pointed towards the younger girl. "That's my friend Kitty."
"That's Kitty? But she - you told me Kitty was a cat!" Michael said, clearly confused. He glanced at the older girl, who Michael secretly thought was really, really hot, and she just rolled her eyes at him.
"I lied." Parker shrugged.
"Her name is Katie." The older girl spoke up, and then Michael began to understand why Parker called her Kitty. Kitty sounded a little like Katie, it made sense, at least for a four year old.
"Right." Michael nodded.
"She's my friend." Parker said, a big smile on his face. "But don't worry, Daddy, she's not my best friend. You'll always be my best friend."
"Okay, Parker, why don't you say goodbye to your friend now, and then we can go get some ice cream." Michael said, because he really wanted to make it up to Parker for leaving him here for so long.
Michael set Parker back down on the ground and watched him as he walked back over to his new friend, Katie, to say his goodbyes.
"You're his father?" The older girl, Michael didn't know what he was supposed to call her asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Uh, yeah. I'm Michael." Michael said slowly. He felt like she was judging him, he knew she was judging him.
"I'm Melissa, Katie's nanny." She said, but didn't offer a hand for a handshake or anything. Michael wasn't even paying attention to that, he was paying more attention to how she was this little girl's nanny. Who even hired nanny's anymore? Stupid, Michael thought, Stupid rich people.
"Oh." Michael nodded, feeling very uncomfortable with this whole situation.
"You're some father, Michael, really." Melissa chuckled, smirking back at Michael.
"I don't normally do this..." Michael looked down at the ground, feeling very embarrassed all of a sudden. Who wouldn't he embarrassed, though? There was a complete stranger standing in front of him and inferring that he was a bad father for making one dumb mistake, Michael had the right to be embarrassed.
"Well, that's great." Melissa said sarcastically. "You know, you're lucky that Katie and I saw Parker, because he was standing out here all alone and - "
"Yeah, yeah, thanks for sitting with him for a while. Whatever." Michael scoffed, because now he was pissed off. Who was this girl and why was she being such a jerk to Michael? He didn't even do anything except leave his kid unattended for a while, it wasn't even that big of a deal. Michael watched the news, there were worse parents than him.
"You're kind of pathetic, you know that?" She looked up at him, her lips forming into a big frown.
"Why?" Michael asked, cocking his head to the side. He didn't think that it was very nice of this girl to call him pathetic, he'd only stumbled into her life a few minutes ago, she didn't even know him yet.
"Look at you!" Melissa said, sounding frustrated, waving her hands around like she was just gesturing to Michael as a whole.
"Look at me." Michael repeated, shrugging. "Seriously, I don't get it. What did I do?"
"Well, I don't know exactly what you've done, I just think that it was really irresponsible for you to leave Parker alone like this." Melissa elaborated. She crossed her arms and rested them against her chest again, still scowling up at Michael like he'd just murdered a fucking puppy right in front of her eyes.
"You don't even know him." Michael glared back at her. "Why do you care so much? You don't even know him."
"Katie knows him. She's his friend, she cares about him." Melissa said, shrugging.
"So because Katie cares about him you care about him?" Michael asked, trying to make sense of this whole thing. He was thankful that this girl sat with Parker while he was off sleeping and being a bad parent, but he didn't think that she should be standing here telling him how irresponsible he is. He heard that enough from his friends, and his parents, and Beth. He didn't need some random nanny to tell him that as well.
"Why does it matter whether or not I care about your kid?" She snapped.
"I just think that this whole this is stupid. I forgot about my son, it was a one time thing. Now, I've already thanked you for watching him for a while so I'm just going to go." Michael said, trying not to blow up in this Melissa's face and turning towards Parker. He was smiling as Katie whispered something in his ear, and Michael wished that he could give Parker some more time to talk with her, but right now he wanted to get as far away from this Melissa girl as possible.
"Park, let's get - "
"You don't look like you can take care of Parker at all." Melissa scoffed, cutting him off, and literally made Michael feel like he was going to explode.
How dare she tell him that he can't take care of Parker? The only person that was allowed to say that Michael couldn't take care of Parker was himself. She didn't even know anything, or have any knowledge of what Michael and Parker had been through. Sure, Michael's parenting methods weren't always on point, but they got the job done and Parker didn't have a problem with it at all. Michael couldn't believe this, why was this girl being such a bitch to him and why did she even care in the first place?
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Michael asked, raising his voice a little.
"Daddy!" Parker yelled, and Michael just shushed him. Of course Parker was going to say something about the damn swear jar, and Michael wasn't in the mood. They'd been over this before, anyway. ("Hell isn't a swear, Park, it's a place).
"I mean, I don't think that the way you've raised Parker is very responsible. I spent the last hour with him, I know all about your great parenting skills." Melissa said, and that made Michael flinch. Parker had obviously told her all of the bad things, like when Michael made him cry because in the bathtub or how Parker tripped and hurt himself that one time and Michael laughed.
"You don't know shit!" Michael yelled, taking a step closer to her. He was so mad right now, he honestly wanted to punch something. Mostly himself, for being such a bad parent.
"Daddy!"
"Not now, Parker!"
"Your son told me that you feed him pizza for breakfast." She snapped, folding her arms over her chest, still frowning.
"He likes that." Michael snapped back at her, not even seeing a problem with pizza for breakfast. It was good.
"I don't know, Michael, from what I've heard I think Parker would be better off living with his mom." Melissa shrugged. Michael flinched again, and he felt a big knot start to form in his stomach like it always did when he got nervous or upset. What exactly had Melissa heard? Would Parker really be better off living with Beth?
"What is your problem, Nanny? Like, seriously, I'm sorry that I made a little mistake by leaving Parker alone for a while, but you honestly have no right to sit here and criticize me when you don't even know me!" Michael raised his voice, but he didn't yell. It usually took a lot for Michael to yell.
"I'm not criticizing you just for this. I've heard about some of the other things you've done and - "
"You still don't know anything, you shouldn't judge me for - " Michael tried to interrupt her, but she just kept talking.
"- I can't believe you're actually allowed to take care of him." Melissa scoffed again. Michael was getting seriously pissed off. Who was this girl, and what gave her the right to sit here and judge Michael like this? So he wasn't the perfect father, that was okay, no one was the perfect father. Apparently this rude girl just didn't seem to understand that people make mistakes every once and a while.
"You know, they say you're not supposed to judge a book by it's cover, and I think that's what you're doing right now." Michael snapped, and the girl in front of him almost smiled as well, but she stopped herself.
"You're not a book."
"Okay, Parker, we're leaving." Michael said, quickly grabbing Parker and picking him up again, already walking down the street to where the car was parked.
"Hey, Michael!" The girl called after him, and he didn't even bother turning around. "Nice shoes!"
He wasn't wearing any fucking shoes.
"Fuck you!" Michael yelled over his shoulder, already bracing himself for Parker's comments about the stupid swear jaw. He didn't even say anything.
When they got in the car Michael absolutely lost it. He didn't like to cry, especially not in front of Parker, so he never really did. But today was a bit of an exception, because today just sucked. Michael was frustrated, mostly, because of this damn nanny Melissa being so damn judgmental and making Michael feel so damn pathetic.
"What a fucking bitch. Who the fuck does she think she is, Park? Trying to tell me that I can't fucking take care of my fucking son. Fuck. Fuck this." Michael cried, muttering to himself. He owed the swear jar about five dollars now, but Michael figured that Parker was too scared of how Michael was acting to remind him about it.
"Daddy, are you okay?" Parker asked quietly, obviously noticing how Michael was freaking out in front of him. This had never happened before, and Michael understood why Parker might be a little confused.
"Park, come here." Michael turned around and looked at Parker, who was already unbuckling his car seat. (He'd learned how to do that recently).
"Daddy, why are you crying?" Parker questioned, crawling into the front seat with Michael and onto his lap.
"Daddy's just a little upset right now, that's all." Michael sniffed, "I'm sorry for swearing so much, I just got mad."
"Are you mad at me?" Parker asked, and now it looked like he was going to cry.
"No, buddy, why would I be mad at you?" Michael asked. He felt like crying again, because he couldn't stand the thought of Parker thinking that Michael was mad at him. Parker hadn't done anything wrong, he didn't deserve to think that his dad was upset with him for nothing.
"I lied to you. I said that Kitty was a cat." Parker sniffled, leaning his head on Michael's shoulder. "She's not a cat, Daddy, she's a girl."
"Parker, I don't care that you're friends with a girl. It's okay, you can be friends with whoever you want to be friends with." Michael chuckled softy, feeling a little better now. He brushed some of Parker's hair off of his forehead before leaning in and kissing it, because Michael was just in a really bad mood and he just really needed to cuddle right now.
So they sat in silence for what felt like a really long time but was really only ten minutes, while Michael hugged and kissed Parker and just thought things over for a while. He wasn't that bad of a father, was he? There were some things that he did right, he wasn't always such a fuck up.
"I don't believe what she said." Parker finally whispered, looking up at Michael again.
"What who said?" Michael asked.
"Melly." Parker said, and Michael decided not to comment on the fact that Parker had called Melissa 'Melly'. He didn't want to start something else. "You're the best daddy on the whole entire planet."
"Parker..."
"And I don't want live with Mommy. I don't care what Melly says, I want to stay with you. You let me stay up late and sleep in the bathtub and play Mario Kart and I like making pancakes with you on Saturday mornings. I love Mommy, but I love you a lot more." Parker mumbled, so Michael didn't understand all of it, but he got the gist.
Michael started to cry again.
This time he was happy, though, happy because Parker didn't think that Michael was a bad father. That was really all that mattered, because Michael realized that he didn't care if anyone else called him an awful parent as long as Parker still loved him. Michael knew that things would all be okay as long as Parker was happy with him.
"Daddy, why are you crying? Are you sad again? Did I say the wrong thing?" Parker questioned. He put his hands on his face and tried to wipe away Michael's tears, like he'd done so many times for Parker.
"I'm not sad anymore, Park, I'm happy." Michael laughed softly, finally calming down enough to speak again. Parker nodded and smiled, because he wasn't worried about his father being sad anymore.
"Why do some people cry when they're happy?" Parker asked.
"I really don't know, Pac-Man." Michael laughed, kissing Parker on the forehead once more. He opened the car door and got out again, carrying Parker around to the other side of the car and putting him back in his car seat.
Parker grabbed onto Michael's shirtsleeve and held onto him for a second, not allowing Michael to shut the door just yet. "Daddy?"
"Yes, Parker." Michael nodded.
"I love you." Parker smiled, finally letting Michael go.
"I love you, too, buddy." Michael smiled as well, slamming the door shut.
*•*•*
Michael had totally forgotten that it was Beth's weekend to take Parker.
His afternoon had seemed to be getting better after leaving the preschool, and Michael was actually in a pretty good mood. They'd stopped at Ashton's apartment for a few hours, where Ashton made them all pizza while Michael ranted about "the fucking nanny" and Parker laid with his head on Emily's stomach to try and hear the new baby.
It had seemed like it was going to be a pretty good night, until they arrived back at the apartment to find Beth standing in front of their door, her cell phone pressed to her ear as she talked quickly into it, sounding very, very upset.
She hung up the phone the second she saw Michael and Parker down the hall, and her eyes immediately traveled to Michael's feet, which were still barefoot.
"Where were you?" She asked, and Michael could tell that she was trying really hard not to yell at him. Michael didn't blame her, though, this was his fault.
Beth was drop dead gorgeous. That was really the only was Michael (or anyone) could describe her. She was way out of his league, and Michael still questioned daily how exactly he'd managed to be in a relationship with a girl like Beth for almost six years. Everyone, (literally, everyone), had been surprised when Beth gave Michael a chance back in high school, when they first started dating. All of their friends thought that it was going to be kind of a one time thing, but it obviously led to more. A lot more. Parker.
"Mommy!" Parker yelled, letting go of Michael's hand and running away from him, towards his mom.
"Hi, Parker!" Beth smiled when she saw him, bending down and giving Parker a big hug. Then she looked back up at Michael. "Wasn't I supposed to pick Parker up at 5:30? It's almost six."
"I guess, I don't know." Michael shrugged. He was a little disappointed, he'd been looking forward to spending the weekend with Parker.
"Where'd you guys go?" Beth asked. She picked up Parker, holding him while Michael went and unlocked the door to their apartment, inviting Beth in.
"We went to Ashton's house." Parker answered for Michael, who was too busy moping to even realize Beth had spoken to him. "Daddy was sad, so Ashton made him pizza!"
"Why were you sad?" Beth turned around quickly, looking at Michael. She came forward and pinched one of Michael's cheeks, which was still covered in dried tears. "Where you crying? Oh my God, what happened?"
"Nothing happened, I just - " Michael shouldn't have even tried to answer, because of course Parker was going to interrupt again. Parker always liked to be the one to tell the stories.
"Daddy and Melly got into a fight, and it made Daddy cry. And swear. A lot." Parker explained, looking proud of himself for clearing this whole thing up.
Michael led Beth and Parker into the living room and they all sat down on the couch, because apparently Beth had time now to sit and chat with him, even though she was busy every other second of the day.
"Who's Melly?" Beth asked. Michael hoped that Parker would answer for him again but of course the one time he wanted it, it didn't happen.
"Some fucking nanny." Michael shrugged.
"Daddy!"
"Michael, swear jar!"
"I know, I know." Michael sighed and took out a $10 bill from his pocket (even though he really should have saved it) and handed it to Parker, who hopped off of Beth's lap and ran over to the kitchen, where they kept the swear jar.
"So, who's this...Melly?" Beth asked, scooting closer to Michael. He felt uncomfortable. He wished that Beth would just take Parker and leave again, so Michael could spend the rest of his weekend sulking and drinking beer.
"Parker has this friend, named Katie - "
"Kitty?" Beth butt in, obviously having heard of Parker's friend as well.
"Yes," Michael nodded, "and Katie has a nanny named Melissa. I guess Parker calls her Melly."
"How do you know her? Are you guys friends, too?" Beth asked, and if Michael hadn't known any better he would have thought that Beth was jealous.
"No, I just met her today. We got in a bit of an argument and she said some things, and you know me, I was too sensitive to handle it." Michael explained briefly, not wanting at all to go into detail about what Melissa had said to him.
"What did she - " But this time Beth was cut off by Parker running into the room, now holding his stuffed lion and the bag that him and Michael had packed earlier that week, back when Michael actually remembered that Parker would be going to Beth's for the weekend.
"I'm all ready!" Parker yelled, making both Michael and Beth stand up from the couch.
"Okay, Parker, hold on a second, I need to talk to Daddy for a second." Beth turned to him and smiled. Parker nodded and sat down in the middle of the floor, waiting for Beth and Michael to finish their conversation.
"Talk to Daddy." Michael smirked, trying to find some humor in the whole situation for once.
"Shut up." Beth groaned, reaching over and slapping Michael on the arm. "I'll drop him off Sunday night, okay?"
"Okay." Michael nodded.
"It'll probably be after dinner sometime, if that's cool. Just..." Beth paused. "Please be home this time."
"Where would I go on a Sunday night?" Michael asked blankly and Beth just raised an eyebrow at him, because Michael had a small history of not being home when Beth came to pick up or drop off Parker. Like tonight, for example.
"I'll be home, Beth, I promise." Michael sighed.
"Alright." Beth nodded, turning away from Michael and walking over to Parker again, grabbing his hand and beginning to lead him out of the apartment. Michael followed them and they all stopped at the front door to say their goodbyes.
Michael bent down and gave Parker a big hug and kiss on the cheek, telling him that he'd see him again in only a couple days. Usually Michael wasn't so sad about letting Parker go for the weekend, but this time it was a little different. Still, Michael knew that Parker wouldn't be able to stay with him, so he didn't even try and put up a fight with Beth.
Michael stood up again and faced Beth, who pulled him in for a hug. That wasn't anything out of the ordinary, Beth and Michael were still pretty friendly with each other even though most of the time Michael felt awkward about it. Michael felt awkward about everything.
Beth pulled away from Michael and put her hands on his cheeks, like she'd done earlier. "Don't let anything that the fucking nanny says get to you, okay?"
"Mommy!" Parker screeched, making both Beth and Michael laugh. Beth fished around in her purse for a minute before pulling out a dollar and handing it to Michael.
"Thanks." Michael said, barely over a whisper, as he watched Beth and Parker walk out the door.
"Bye, Daddy!" Parker called as they walked down the hallway, waving at Michael. "When I get back we can play Mario Kart!"
"Bye, Pac-Man." Michael sighed, waving back. "Have fun."
Michael shut the door behind him after Parker and Beth disappeared down the hallway and leaned up against it, suddenly feeling even worse than before.
-
ok see beth isn't that bad right
lol melissa is a bitch right now but she changes I swear
and I'll add Luke in soon I promise I keep forgetting to put him in here omg
I hope you all liked this I'm sorry if it kinda sucks or doesn't make sense it's late and I'm tired goodnight
oh yeah *•*•* is named belela throne