"adeline, zion. i'm glad you guys could make it." andrew smiled to the two, giving the woman a hug.
adeline felt her cheeks redden, the woman quickly looking away after they released from the hug. zions gaze went around the house, there was music playing loudly from outside along with a few unfamiliar people walking around. his eye caught onto a man holding rosalia, the said child smiling brightly towards the man.
"i— uh, i brought rosalia this for her birthday. i think she'll like it, or at least i hope she does."
andrew grinned softly at the nervous woman. "i'm sure whatever it is, she'll love." the man licked his bottom lip, hearing his daughters laugh from where she was at. "come on, she's been asking about you all day."
adeline felt her heart warm knowing the child had asked about her. she saw a lot of unfamiliar faces, only recognizing nate from the times he'd pick up rosalia from school. she sent zion a look that said 'are you okay?' to which the boy nodded, a smile tugging at his lips.
"rosalia, guess who's here?" andrew asked the child, taking her from jack's arms.
"miss kuwonu?" rosalia replied, her eyes lighting up.
adeline and zion walked into sight, the child letting out a squeal of some sort, running to the woman. rosalia hugged her waist, peeking to zion who's gaze was already on her. the boy sent her a smile to which the child looked away shyly.
jack and andrew watched rosalia with amused grins. adeline bent down to the child's height, handing her the gift.
"this is for you." adeline said, rosalia taking the bag from her hands. "i like your hair, rosalia."
"thank you, miss kuwonu."
"you're welcome, birthday girl."
"tomorrow is my daddy's birthday, but mine isn't until next week. we just celebrate together." rosalia said, dropping her box of drawings on her bed next to the boy.
"that's cool." zion replied, leaning back on his arms, watching as the child's eyes darted from the different drawings. "what's your favorite one?"
"i don't have it with me, i gave it to my mama before she went away."
zion tilted his head, sending the child a sympathetic look. "i know how you feel."
"i wish my mama could've came to this years birthday party, but she hurt daddy so she would never come here again." rosalia let out a sigh, examining one of her old drawings.
"i'm sure she'd want to come, rosalia. maybe she's scared."
"where's your friend?"
zion let out a soft laugh. "he's mad at me, i think."
"i don't have any friends to get mad at me, at least you have one." the child said, standing up and starting to put her drawings back into the box. "i don't get along with kids my age. they're too immature."
"the right people come at the right time, plus you never really keep friends you have at your age. you grow out of people eventually."
rosalia sat on the bed, sitting next to zion. she furrowed her eyebrows, thinking about her dad and his friends. what if they grew out of each other and they left them like her mother did? she didn't know if her father could deal with losing his best friends too.
"itd still be nice to have someone other than miss kuwonu to talk to at school or even someone to hang out with on the weekend other than my daddy and uncles."
"come hang out with me and adeline one day." zion said, looking down at the child.
"really?" her eyes lit up, a bright smile on her face at the thought. "even justin?"
"brandon, you mean?" zion let out a series of laughs. "justin? where'd you get justin from?"
rosalia shrugged. "it sounded right."
the boy nodded, a smile still evident on his face. "if brandon's up for it, then yeah. maybe you could even help us with our new song."
"daddy lets me help him all the time, so i know what i'm doing. that'd be so fun."
"i can't wait."
"too young to see tomorrow, too young to know it hurts. found love in empty bottles, i guess we'll never learn.
so just lay with me, lay with me, late til the morning. cause i'm high and you're high, together we're soarin"
andrew kissed rosalia's forehead, listening to zion play the guitar next to him. rosalia's head rested upon her father's chest, the child playing with his rings that rested on his fingers.
adeline watched from the back, a soft smile on her face at the sight of the two along with her brother next to them. zion had a bright smile on his face all afternoon when talking to the boys about their music careers and how they'd help him. he was on cloud-nine. adeline had watched the way the boys treated and acted around rosalia, like she was the most precious thing to happen to all of them. it warmed her heart knowing that despite the loss of her mother, rosalia still had the strongest support system a child could have.
"dreams, daddy! please!"
andrew rolled his eyes playfully, whispering something in the child's ear. rosalias face automatically redden in embarrassment, the green eyed girl hiding her face in her father's chest.
"fine, okay. i'll do it by myself this time." andrew said, rubbing rosalias back in a sense to comfort her.
"i had a dream about you last night," andrew met adeline's gaze, the two sending each other soft smiles. "your eyes were shining so bright, those lips and that bittersweet smile. i need this forever. beautiful dream, yeah, yeah. don't know what it means, yeah, yeah. all i know is i don't know, but i need this forever."
andrew continued to sneak glances at adeline, the woman's heart racing every time. she bit her bottom lip, trying to talk herself into finally asking him out, but the fear of rejection making her become too scared to go through with it. she didn't want to ruin anything if he was to say no.
andrew sang for a couple more minutes before he finished, the man feeling rosalia fall slowly asleep in his arms. it had gotten late since everyone started singing and dancing and rosalia had been awake since the crack of dawn getting ready for the party. adeline made her way to sit down next to her brother and andrew, the woman sending a sleepy rosalia a soft smile.
"that was so beautiful." she said loudly enough for the man to hear her over the other guys who were singing and rapping their own songs.
"rosalia ask me every year to do this and she always falls asleep towards the end," andrew played with her hair, pushing the curls out of her face. "but thank yo—"
"i'm not sleeping, daddy. i'm resting my eyes." rosalia replied, her eyes still closed.
zion let out a laugh, handing the guitar to sammy who had asked for it. "pretty sure that's almost the same thing, rosalia."
rosalia hummed, too tired to answer the dread head. adeline watched as andrew continued to play with the child's hair, the way he became so gentle with her making the woman get a giddy feeling inside. she adored the way andrew treated his daughter, the way he put the child first no matter what. it took a lot for him to grow up and take care of rosalia by himself and adeline respected that.
"i've has a lot of fun today, i just wanted to say thank you for inviting us." adeline said.
"yeah, she's—" zion pointed to the sleeping child. "definitely something else, but the only kid i've ever met that didn't make me rethink having my own children one day."
"it was no problem, really. i enjoyed having you both and i know rose did too." andrew replied, keeping his gaze on the woman in front of him.
a bottle breaking was heard behind adeline, nate staring at andrew with a guilty face. "sorry— i'll clean it up."
"no, sit down. i got it." ana stood up, shaking her head with a laugh. "you need to lay down on the drinking, baby."
andrew grinned at his best friend and his girlfriend before moving his gaze back to adeline.
"your friends are—" zion paused, trying to think of the right word.
"different?" andrew said, raising an eyebrow.
"yeah, yeah, but they're so cool."
"it took me awhile to find them, but i'm thankful that i did. i don't think i would've been able to pull off this whole single father thing without them." andrew watched his best friends fool around, the four drinking and laughing with bright smiles. "they're family."
"i think you could do it on your own, if you would've had too. i mean, not a lot of guys would drop everything at seventeen or eighteen to be a father. i admire it." adeline tilted her head, keeping eye contact with the man.
"i don't know what to say." andrew mumbled, a blush rising to his cheeks.
"im going to get something to drink." zion said, standing up from his seat beside andrew and walking towards the house. the boy sent adeline a suggestive wink towards andrew.
adeline rolled her eyes at her brother, looking at the small watch on her wrist, seeing it almost nine. "we should get going."
andrew saw the time, his eyebrows raising. "i hadn't realized it gotten so late. i'll walk you out."
adeline grabbed rosalia's small hand in her own, giving it a squeeze. "happy birthday, rosalia." she whispered.
the man stood up, following after adeline. andrew laid the child down on the couch, leaving a kiss on her forehead before walking out with the siblings.
"it really was a pleasure to have you, zion." andrew said, shaking hands with the young boy.
"i invited rosalia to hang out with me one day, if that's okay with you. thank you though, i had fun." zion leaned against the car.
"that's fine. i know she'll love it."
zion nodded, sending the man a smile before getting into the passenger seat and leaving the two adults in private.
"i'm gla—"
"than—"
adeline and andrew let out a laugh, andrew feeling a blush come to his face. adeline put her hand over her face in embarrassment.
"you can go first." andrew said.
"thank you for letting me be apart of this birthday get together. it was nice to see all of you together and seeing who's built that little bundle of joy inside." adeline crossed her arms due to the wind blowly outside.
andrew shook his head. "you're special to rosalia which makes you special to me, adeline."
"would you like to go out for coffee or something, sometime? you can say no, of course, i just—" adeline stumbled over her words, feeling her face redden.
"i would love too." andrew replied nonchalant, trying to hide the fact that his heart was racing inside his chest.
adeline licked her bottom lip, feeling relief fall over herself. "good, good. i'll text you?"
"i'll be waiting by my phone." andrew pushed his hands into his pockets, watching the woman walk to her car door. "goodbye, adeline."
adeline sent the man a smile, opening her door. "goodbye, andrew."
AUTHORS NOTE:
i got a great idea for my baby rosalia and
her friendship problem ! it's going to be so
fucking cute i can't wAIT ! i love adeline and her socially awkward self omg she's me !