Another couple chapters!!!!!! Yay :)
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Work was easy today. By the time it was over I had time to get back home, change, eat lunch and head out to Pointer Daycare for this trip. When I got there, it wasn't hard to see how stressed Trisha and her coworkers, Jackie and Kelly, were as they tried to get all the kids in their jackets. It was the second week of September so I guess it was a little chilly out for them.
"Hey.” I said on approach, taking off my sunglasses
"Oh, you're here," Trisha sighed as she helped a girl into her jacket. "I think were almost ready to go. We have the kids split up into three groups of ten for the vans. You're with me, Regina is with Jackie and Wayne Jacobson is with Kelly." Wayne was Bailey's dad. I spoke to him a couple times and he seemed like a cool guy—we joked about how Bailey and Archie were the number one couple at the daycare.
"That's sounds good to me. Need help getting them in the van?"
"Would you mind?"
"No, I'm here to help right?" I chuckled. I helped round up the kids that were supposed to be in our van. It took longer than I thought it would, with a bunch a squirming 'babies' that had a two second attention span. I was proud to say my little buddy Archie was not one of the problem children. He was one of the first to be buckled in (and I tied his shoe, double knotted and tucked the laces in the side). Eventually though, all thirty kids were in their designated van and we were on our way.
"So," Trisha breathed, her eyes focused on the road, "How was your day?"
"Nothing too exciting...well until now."
"What do you do?"
"I'm a business manager for Robert Flander Inc."
"Oh yeah, I remember you telling me that. My uncle is a business manager as well."
"Oh cool."
"I guess, he's a bit of a weirdo." She chuckled.
"Miss Trisha! Nick hit me!" A kid hollered from the back.
I twisted in my seat, giving all of them a stern look. "No hitting." Archie grinned and waved at me. Immediately making me drop the hard-ass act and smirk as I waved back. He's just too cute. I turned back around in my seat. "Do you Jackie and Kelly switch shifts throughout the day or share them?"
"Both actually. Kelly is still a student so she can't be here as much."
"Oh, what's she studying?"
"Something to do with education. She wants to keep teaching little ones."
"Good for her," I nodded.
"How old are you Niall?"
"I'll be twenty-five on Wednesday...why?"
"Oh...I thought you were nineteen! You're so young looking."
I laughed, "Is that a good thing?"
"Yeah, of course."
"How old are you?"
"I'm twenty-seven. What are you doing for your birthday?"
I snorted, "Watching SpongeBob with Archie."
"Yay SpongeBob!" A few kids yelled.
Trisha smiled, "Well that sounds nice. Better than being alone." Something in her voice suggested she might've spent her birthday alone, but I'm not sure.
We arrived at the little kiddy theater and went through the struggle that was getting them all inside. Trisha checked us all in, giving everyone a stamp on the back if their hand as they walked into an almost painfully colorful room. All the kids sat on an alphabet rug, squirming and chatting in their best English. I smiled as Archie and Bailey and a few other kids talked about god knows what. It was so nice watching him be goofy and normal with all his little friends. It warmed my fucking heart.
Regina, Wayne, the teachers and I all sat towards the back. Thank goodness Regina brought coffee for everyone, because once that woman came in with her face painted all crazy to match her outrageous felt outfit, I thought I'd be a goner.
It didn't turn out to be too terrible though. The kids ate that goofy shit up. She taught them little songs and read stories. There was also a puppet show that she did. Idly, I wondered how much she got paid for this. Trisha elbowed me every time she asked for a volunteer and I rolled my eyes. Some of the stuff made me laugh, some was corny but I can't deny that the kids loved it, and that's what's important.
Nevertheless, I was glad to get out of there. So glad. The ride back was a lot less hectic since a lot of the parents just got their kids from there.
"That was exhausting." I muttered on the way back.
"That's why we don't go on many trips."
"I don't blame you."
A few minutes later we got back to the daycare. It was a little after five, when the air a breezy and chilly. Archie was sleeping in the back, him and three other kids, and I scooped him up just as their parents came to get them.
"See you Monday Trisha."
"See you," she waved at me before walking off to a car that seemed to be waiting for her. I watched, not creepily at all, as she got in the car and kissed the guy in the driver's seat. And it wasn't a quick family kiss either.
"Well then," I muttered.
----
I put Archie up to bed and, knowing he'd be out for a while, I went outside to clean out my car. There was an ungodly amount of trash and spills in there and it was time to take care of that. Not that I, in any way, wanted to or felt like it. I grabbed a trash bag and just starting throwing shit in, old fast food wrappers, spilled Cheerios, old cups. This is gross, I shouldn't let it get like this anymore.
I happened to look out the back window to see my new neighbor had just gotten home with some stuff the trunk of his pick-up. Abandoning my disgusting car in the garage, I went across the street to see if he needed help.
"Hey," I greeted. "I'm Niall, I live just across the street."
"Oh, yeah I've seen you a couple times, I'm Bucky." Funny name. He was taller than me, by way more than I predicted, with short dark hair, a bit of a beard growing in around his chin. "You have a kid right?"
"Um not exactly, but kind of. You're living by yourself?"
"No my sister lives here to. How dumb is that?"
I laughed, "I don't have a sister but I can't imagine living with my brother 24/7."
"Exactly. I knew this was a stupid idea but she was like 'I never see you anymore Bucky, this is so perfect for us', blah blah blah." He put on a girly voice, making me laugh at his impersonation, before he shook his head. "She hasn't even gotten here yet."
"Where is she?"
"Still in America—LA. She won't be here for another couple weeks. So," he pointed his thumb towards his house, "I've got it to myself, if you know what I mean." He bounced an eyebrow. "You single, man?"
"Very single."
"Me too buddy. Me too. Maybe we can go meet some women one night when I'm all settled. I can get my stupid sister to watch your kid if you want."
I chuckled, "We'll see when we get there."
"Fair enough."
"Do you need help getting this stuff inside?" I nodded to his truck.
"Oh yeah, that'd be nice actually."
I figured out very quickly that Bucky was a chatty guy. We talked about a lot of different things, covered a lot of topics that most people wouldn’t expect to cover only within the first hour of meeting someone. We had a lot in common actually and had some of the same interest. He liked a good guitar solo and a game of golf—that's basically me in a nutshell, minus Archie.
"Now I have to get all this shit together at some point." He grumbled once everything was in.
"I could help you out if you want. I don't have to work tomorrow so I'll be home. Archie likes helping too."
He laughed, "Alright sounds good. Come over around noon I guess."
"Got it, good meeting you." I gave him a weird two fingered wave before making my way back to my house. I gave up cleaning my car and told myself I'd finish it tomorrow. Archie was still sound asleep in bed, probably dreaming about those stupid little puppets he watched today. After a shower and some leftovers for dinner, I went to bed myself.
There was a beat if silence before I rolled on my back and stared at the ceiling.
"Admit it Niall, you're lonely," I muttered to myself. "Never..."
Yeah, I refuse to admit it to myself, but the real answer is hard to ignore. A three year old is my best friend. Am I pathetic or am I just being a good... guardian? As a sort of parent, is my life supposed to literally revolve around Archie? Or is there supposed to be other stuff? I mean I work...but I would never put that before Archie. Maybe it's just me. No one taught me how to do any of this and I sure as hell wasn't even slightly prepared, so maybe I'm just a little off in my methods. I don't know.
But perhaps that doesn't matter. What's important is Archie and I are healthy and doing well. Maybe it doesn't matter how exactly I do it. Yeah that seems right. Focus on wellbeing, then everything else can come afterwards.
I sighed. But when does that afterwards part start?
----
----
As usual, Archie hid behind my leg as I introduced him to Bucky. "He's shy," I explained.
"That's alright. We all are scared of new people." He dug his hands in his pockets before presenting Archie with a dum dum lollipop. "But, you can tell someone is cool when they give you a lollipop. So here you go, I'm officially cool."
Archie's eyes got huge as he practically snatched the lollipop away. "What do you say Archie?"
"Thank you."
"Anytime, kid." Bucky looked up at me, "Cute one."
"Yeah. So we’re putting some furniture together, yeah?"
"Yup." We led me into a room he told me would be an office for his sister. It was covered in pieces of desk and chairs and other things that I wasn't even sure of. This will definitely take longer than I thought. "Well...let's get this over with."
We started getting everything separated into piles of what they belonged to, then started the huge desk that his sister apparently ordered without him knowing.
"She's a corporate boss lady and a pain in my ass. She thinks just because she's a boss at work she's the boss in everything."
"What does she do?"
"She's into publishing and journalism...which means she's nosy and criticizes everything."
I laughed as I screwed a piece of wood into place. "You don't make her sound too good."
"Yeah, I guess I’m not.” He huffed out a laugh and ran a hand through his hair. “Don't get me wrong, I love her and everything. She's all I got."
"Oh."
"Yeah our mom just died of cancer a month ago and our dad was never around. Not much other family we know about except each other."
"Wow man I'm sorry."
"Nah, don't worry about it. That's part of the reason I agreed to live with her in this house. We’ve always been close, and we grew apart for a bit…and now we’re just trying to get back to how we were.”
"Yeah, I think that's a good plan." I can't believe how open Bucky was about this.
When my parents got a divorce when I was seven, I hated explaining it to people. I hated that they couldn't just accept that I had a different home situation without needing more information. I hate that everyone needs a thorough explanation.
Nothing has changed as I got older either—Archie for example. I just don't like getting into it, mainly because it makes me sick that that woman just left her baby behind with a man she barely knew. It was pissing me off just thinking about it. And then there was the fact that I get uncomfortable with people call me his dad. Talking about any of it made me uncomfortable, so it was weird to talk to someone who needed very little prompting to spill everything out.
"Niall?" Archie squeaked from his spot in the corner, playing with the toy cars he brought with him.
"Yeah, buddy?"
"I have to go potty."
Bucky chuckled, "It's the next door over." I thanked him and rushed Archie to the bathroom. And it's a good thing I rushed him too.
"You are a smelly kid you know that?" I told him as I helped him wash his hands.
"You're smelly," he said back with a laugh.
"I didn't just blow up someone else's bathroom..."
"I didn't blow up."
I rolled my eyes and helped him dry his hands. We walked back into the room where Bucky was, "It's coming along," he said.
"It is. Only two more things to put together," I chuckled.
"I want to help!" Archie cheered.
Bucky and I looked at each other. "Alright big man, come here." I walked him over to where Bucky was sitting and handed him the small bag of nails. "See these? I want you to put all the ones that look alike together okay? Put them in piles."
"Okay," he smiled and got to work pouring nails and screws and shit out and separating them.
"Can he really do that?" Bucky asked.
I shrugged, "Probably not."
We finished up the desk and started the 'special file cabinet'. Bucky’s sister must really be into her work. He told me she has an office in London, and we’re currently working in her home office too. Does she get any free time at all? We were about a third of the way finished that before Bucky's phone rang. He said it was his sister as he rolled his eyes.
"Hey. Yeah, we just finished your dumb desk. ‘We’ is our neighbor Niall and I." He sighed and rolled his eyes, "Across the street. I don't know, Sunny. No, I will continue to call you Sunny until the irony isn't funny to me anymore—which will never happen." I couldn't help but laugh. They're bickering didn't sound half as bad as I thought it would.
Once he hung up I asked, "Her name is Sunny?"
He snorted, "That would be great, but sadly, no. Her name's Constance but everyone calls her Connie. I call her Sunny though because she's the furthest thing from a ray of sunshine you can get."
"A dark cloud, huh?"
"More like a fun sucking hurricane. She's just serious and it drives me crazy sometimes."
"I'm guessing she's older?"
"No, we're twins."
"Oh, that's kind of cool. It makes since that way, one is likes to have fun, and the other is serious and hard working."
He shrugged, "Sounds about right." There was a pause before he teasingly frowned at me, "I work hard though too. Just look at that beautiful desk!" We both laughed before looked at Archie. "How you doing over there Archie my man?"
"Okay." He sighed and slumped his shoulders. "I don't want to do this anymore."
"Are you tired?" I asked.
"No, but I'm going to put my head here." He laid on his side and tucked his hands under his face as a pillow.
"So, you’re tired..."
"No I'm not." He yawned.
I rolled my eyes, "I can put him on the couch while we finish this."
Bucky waved a hand, "I'm bored with this anyway. He can lay on the couch as we watch TV. Do you want a beer or something?"
"Yeah sure." I scooped Archie up, and carried him into the living room, and sat on the couch. "You can lay in my lap, okay buddy?"
"I'm not tired," he said quietly, his eyes already drooping.
"I know, I know, just lay down for me." I put a pillow on my lap and he didn't hesitate to rest his head down.
"Here you go," Bucky handed me a beer and put a glass of apple juice on the coffee table. "He likes apple juice, yeah?"
"Yeah, loves it."
"Good. He can drink that when he wakes up...if he's thirsty."
"Thanks man."
He turned on the TV. We ended up watching a lot of highlights from a game that came on yesterday. It amazed me how much I liked this guy. He was funny, liked some of the same things I did, and was nice to Archie—the last one is important. He didn't just ignore him, he actually spoke to him. That was cool.
"So tell me about your family, Niall. I feel like I've only talked about myself. What are your parents like?"
I fought the urged to just shrug off his questions. He told me about his life so I can at least do the same. "I love my parents. They got divorced when I was young but there was never any mum verses dad stuff. They're, I guess, acquaintances now—they get along."
"That's cool. My friend in high school, I remember his parents got divorced and it was just torture for him. So you're lucky that shit was painless for you."
"Not completely painless but it could've been a lot worse. My brother Greg...your sister kind of reminds me of him. He's a pain in my ass but I have to love him—he's four years older."
"Oh, cool does he visit you a lot?"
"He hasn't yet, my mum plans to bring him and his wife and kid with her when she comes."
"It'll be like a family reunion, eh?"
"I hope so."
He nodded, "So what about Archie?"
"What about him?" I replied a little too defensively.
"I don't know, just what about him?"
"He's my...I don't really know." I finished off my beer and sighed. "His mum just dropped him off at my old apartment one day and never came back."
"Holy shit."
"Yup."
"When was that?"
"Three years ago. He was two months old." I tensed as the situation started to piss me off all over again. How could she abandon him like that?
Bucky sipped from his beer before looking back at the TV, "Don't know. Maybe she knew you'd be good for him. Whatever the reason, you're doing a lot better than some of these other idiots who are actually biological dads. Trust me, I knew some of those idiots. So kudos to you."
Bucky is the man.
----
We didn't even up leaving Bucky's until around nine, after Archie woke up, we finished the office and ate dinner. Thankfully Archie was still tired because I know I definitely was. I put Archie to bed, tucking him in and kissing his head before going to bed myself. Right before I passed out, I praised myself for listening to Liv. A friend was definitely what I needed.