Chris' p.o.v
"Uncle Chris, we're soo early!" I glanced at Stella, who was practically dragging her bag on the ground.
"I know, but we were late last time so I wanted to make sure it didn't happen again." She gave me a look, plopping into a seat and putting her bag next to her feet.
"I thought it was because you think Miss Hughes is hot."
"Stella!"
"What? It's true. Uncle Scott says you wanna make kissy faces with her." I'm going to kill Scott. Before I could address Stella, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, drawing my attention to it. The classroom was empty except for a sole dancer pouring everything out onto the floor. Her body moved so fluidly you didn't know when one move ended and another began, her feet painted pictures while her face told a story, her arms framing it all. Everything about the way she moved was captivating, and I found myself unable to turn away.
"Wow." I mumbled under my breath when the song came to a close, Kitty's movements seizing on the last note.
"She's pretty amazing, isn't she? Her talents are wasted here, but she refuses to leave." The woman who spoke came up beside me and held out her hand. "I'm Edie, I teach the 3-6 year olds."
"Nice to meet you Edie, I'm Chris." She smiled then turned her attention back to the studio where Kitty was trying to figure out a move. They were both very beautiful women, but were basically complete opposites. Edie was tall and lanky with very small curves, short brown hair with brown eyes to match, where Kitty was short and sturdy with accentuated curves, her long hair a deep auburn, eyes an icy blue that entranced you. Again, both beautiful, but there was no competition in my mind.
"Oh my gosh, I don't think you've ever been early Stella!" Her silky voice pulled me from my daze, my heart beat accelerating. A woman has never had such an affect on me, so this was all very foreign.
"I know, but Uncle Chris insisted we get here early since we were late last week." Electrifyingly blue eyes pinned me to my spot, all her attention now focused on me. So maybe we hadn't talked since our get together thing like five days ago, but it wasn't because I didn't try. Unless she changed her number, she was receiving the texts and not responding. And maybe this was my way of getting answers.
"Harder to ignore me when I'm actually standing here, isn't it?" She sighed deeply and whispered something in Stella's ear, my niece running off with Edie just after.
"Hi Chris."
"'Hi Chris'? That's it? No explanation as to why you haven't returned any of my texts? I at least expected to see you at the park, but no, instead I see some blonde girl walking what I'm ninety percent sure was Stitch. Conclusion, you're avoiding me." At least she had the decency to drop her head in embarrassment or shame, one.
"You're right, I've been ghosting you, and I'm sorry for that, but..." Her face said there was some kind of major war raging inside her, and part of me wanted to let her off easy because she just looked so torn, a bigger part of me needed closure though, so that won out. "You have to understand, Chris, that I don't date. Okay? I don't do relationships, or puppy love, or any of that romantic shit because I can't afford to. I don't do heart to hearts, hell, I try as much as possible to leave emotions out of my life completely! They're a distraction that I can't allow in my life, and I've done a really great job at avoiding them for nearly three years now.
"Then you come along... You come along with your charming smile, and amazing personality, and your wits and jokes and I find myself blushing and giggling like a schoolgirl. But in the back of my head, as much as I want to believe that you are really, truly everything you showed me five days ago, I was burned too bad before to accept it easily. You scare me Chris Evans, because you make me feel things I haven't felt in years, and have been fine not feeling. These stupid games always end in someone hurt, sadly it's usually me. So I'm sorry Chris, you're a really great guy, I honestly think you are, but I can't go there with you, because I think it would be too easy for me to get lost, and I can't do that."
She walked over and kissed my cheek, leaving the room immediately afterwards. I ran a hand through my hair, gripping it at the roots and pulling. Who the hell is this girl?
~~~~~
*The next day*
Kitty's p.o.v
"I have work, you're going to have to suck it up and take your dog on a walk yourself." Chelsea told me bluntly.
"You didn't hear what I said to him yesterday Chi Chi, if I see him there... I don't even know what I'll do!" She swished her last bit of mascara on and turned to face me.
"Then you shouldn't have said what you did. You have to take Jay with you too."
"Well, there you go then, Stitch just isn't going on a walk today."
"You are such a coward Katherine Hughes! Maybe if you stopped pushing him away he'd be a great addition to Jay's life. You know she's starting to ask." Her pre-school friends all asked where her dad was constantly, but it wasn't until recently that she started asking me the same thing.
"So I'm just supposed to let him be that for her? And what if we break up? Hm? What then? The whole point of me leaving Louisville was so that her father wouldn't be able to be in and out of her life, no child deserves that least of all her." She sighed and put a hand on my shoulder.
"He doesn't have to be dad, but he can be mommy's male friend that helps her through the things a daddy would. You said you wanted to be friends with him, right?" I nodded in confirmation. "Then be friends with him, just don't let him any closer than a friend until you're ready. Now, I have to go to work, and you have to take Stitch and Jaylee to the park. Love you sis."
"Love you too." Was my grumbled response. I knew in my head that what Chelsea said was right, but this nagging voice was still telling me not to do this. Everything would change when he found out about my daughter, why did the prospect of him leaving because of the news scare me shitless? It was fine for me to push him away, but I couldn't bare the thought of him leaving.
I pushed the thoughts aside and prepared to go to the park, grabbing Jaylee's stroller in case she got tired, and throwing a couple diapers in my purse for good measure. Once everything was set, I grabbed Stitch's leash and hooked him up, slipped shoes on my and Jay's feet, then walked out the door towards the park.
It was a truly beautiful day, the sun was shining, yet it wasn't too hot. A nice breeze blew through the trees surrounding the walkway. When I brought Jaylee with me, I always made sure that we spent longer here, most of the time going so far as to let her play on the playground all the way across the park. She loved it, and I didn't do it with her often, so it was like a special treat. I was beginning to think I was in the clear as far as Chris was concerned, when I heard a deep voice call out my name. Well, this is it, the time for the truth to come out.
I slowed my pace so he could catch up, smiling slightly at the sound of his quick steps coming to me. Stitch's tail started to wag in excitement the closer he got, a small whine erupting from his throat. My guess is Chris and Dodger we're not moving fast enough for his liking. My crazy pup nearly knocked Chris over when he finally reached us, Dodger jumping at me when he realized who I was.
"Hi Dodger! How are you sweet puppy?" I bent down to pet him, giggling when he licked my cheek.
"Mommy, who puppy dat?" Chris' movements froze when Jay's little voice spoke, his eyes darting between the two of us. There was no denying she's my daughter. If nothing else, the eyes were a dead give away.
"M-mommy?" I stood up straight and brushed off my pants, grabbing Jay's hand to bring her next to me.
"Chris, I'd like you to meet my daughter, Jaylee. Jay, this is my friend Chris." Poor Chris was still too shocked to move, his eyes trained on the little girl beside me.
"Daughter?" I released a breath and nodded, nibbling on my lip with nervousness the longer it took him to respond. Without giving me time to object, Jaylee released my hand and walked up to Chris, holding her arms above her head.
"Cis tan you pit me up? You too taw foo me." A small laugh escaped me at her words. She was used to my 5'4 frame and Chelsea's 5'6 one, Chris passing that by several inches. Much to my surprise, Chris leaned down and picked her up per request, holding her firmly yet gently. Once she was in his arms she smiled at him and hugged his neck. "Hi! I'm Jaywee, it nite to meet you."
"I-it's, uh, nice to meet you too Jaylee. That's such a pretty name."
"Teetoo, I wike it. I wike you name too." Chris grinned at her, seemingly relaxing the more he settled with the fact I had a kid.
"I think it's pretty boring, but I'm glad you like it. How old are you?"
"I two!" She held up three fingers, so I reached up and put one of them down.
"We're still working on counting with our fingers." Chris chuckled and nodded, motioning for us to walk, Jaylee making no move to get down.
"Well Miss Jaylee, where are you headed?" Her little face lit up, and she began bouncing in his arms.
"We going to da pawk! Do you want to tum?"
"Would you like me to?"
"Yeah!" Chris smiled and looked at me for confirmation. "Tan he tum? Pease?"
"How can I say no to those big blue puppy eyes?" She squealed and hugged Chris' neck again while we continued our walk to the playground. Jaylee was a little chatterbox the entire way, nearly talking poor Chris' ear off. But he soldiered through, a smile on his face the whole time. Once we reached the toddler play area he set her down and she ran off to play, while we sat on a bench close by. "So..."
"Why didn't you tell me?" No nonsense then.
"I haven't completely been able to pin down the reason myself just yet honestly." He stayed silent for a moment, both our eyes trained on Jaylee.
"Why don't you tell me some candidates then."
"Um, I guess one of the main ones was that I didn't want her to get attached only for you to leave. Another part of me, as selfish as it is, maybe wanted you to like me not her. Wanted you to ask about me before you asked about her. I know stupid and selfish."
"No it's not. You give everything for her, I can see that already, wanting someone to give back to you isn't selfish, it's necessary. That's why there's supposed to be a father, so mom and dad can support each other while supporting the baby. So I get it, I really do." I sat next to him in a stunned silence, not sure how to respond to that. "She's why you were pushing me away, wasn't she?"
"Part of it, yes."
"The other part?" I smirked at him, knowing he was going to hate this answer.
"We aren't there yet." He scoffed just like I thought he would, and I laughed. We didn't say anything for a while after that, just enjoyed the silence and watched my world go down the slide countless times.
"She's precious." I smiled fondly at his words.
"Yes, she is."
After about an hour we left the park, Chris coming along with Dodger without saying a word. I think he was trying to win brownie points with Jaylee though, because he insisted we stop to get ice cream when we passed a shop, Jay agreeing wholeheartedly. So that's what we did.
"What's your favorite flavor ice cream? Mine's cookies and cream." Jaylee looked up from her ice cream cone, face covered in chocolate, making Chris burst into laughter. "That's awesome Jay, you rock that look."
"Chocwit!!" She said enthusiastically to his previous question. He nodded, probably already figuring that out, before looking to me.
"Oh, uh, that's a hard question. I like... death by chocolate, maybe? Or Ben and Jerry's cherry garcia, or their phish food. Those are all really good, I can't choose."
"All solid answers. What about movies?"
"Tit!" Chris chokes on his ice cream, going into a coughing fit. Once I was sure he was okay, I burst into laughter at the look on his face.
"Stitch! She means Lilo and Stitch." A look of relief passed over his face and he cleared his throat.
"What about you?"
"Oh lord, that's a really hard question. There are so many great ones! I don't think I could even pick a favorite movie if you put it into genres. What about you? Could you pick?" He shook his head, finishing the last bite of his ice cream and taking our trash to throw it away.
"Nope, probably not." He answered when he returned. We talked like that for a bit longer before Jay fell forward in her chair because she had fallen asleep. I carefully lifted her and placed her securely in her stroller, Chris continuing to walk beside me, both dog leashes in one hand. Neither of us said much while we walked back to my apartment, partially to the fact we didn't want to wake Jay, but also because we didn't have much to talk about.
When we reached my apartment, I placed the key in the lock and opened the door, not really thinking much about it and walking in. I slowly picked Jaylee up and brought her to my room to lay her down, realizing when I walked out of the room that I'd just left Chris at the door. I rushed over to see him still standing at the threshold, debating wether or not he should come in and holding the leash to my dog.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, come in." He chuckled and walked into the apartment, unhooking Stitch and handing me the leash. "Thanks."
"No problem. I had a really nice time today, with you. Getting to know Jaylee was a plus as well." He put me first. Smooth move Evans, smooth move.
"She seems to really like you. Now that you know, I was thinking maybe we could try that friends thing again." His face lit up and he nodded swiftly.
"That would be great, but you have to promise that occasionally it'll just be me and you. Like I said, I really like Jay, I like you a little more though." I giggled, turning my gaze to the ground.
"I can probably make that happen." He moved to leave, so I called out to stop him. "Thank you, for everything." He walked up to me, leaning down to kiss my cheek just as I'd done to him last night.
"My pleasure Kitty." He whispered in my ear, and with that he left. Lord help me, this man does things to me no one else ever has.