The first three girls were a bit of a handful and really weren't interested in me all that much.
Soon the 11 year olds started coming in.
"Good afternoon! My name is Alexis," I girl chirped as she walked in. She took a seat in front of me and gave a smile.
"Hi! My name's Mark,"
She's so cute!! I looked at her pink clothes and her blonde little curls that sat on her shoulders. Her bright blue eyes twinkled with happiness.
"Where's your wife?" she asked, tilting her head.
"I uh- I don't have one. It would just be me taking care of you if-" I was caught off gaurd by sudden outburst.
"What?! I want a mom, too! Not just a dad!"
"I-I'm sorry... You wouldn't have a mom for a while if you came home with me..."
She nodded angrily and stood up taking her leave.
I put my head in my hands and leaned back in the small kiddy chair I sat in. I knew this was a bad idea... Maybe I should just go home...
I got up and was about to open the door when another girl came in. Her eyes looked puffy and she had light brown hair tied back into a pony tail.
She looked up at me and held out her hand.
"Hello, my name's Leilah. I'm 11," she said, almost instinctively in her small voice.
I smiled down at her and took her hand. I shook it lightly and she smiled, opening up a but more.
One more interview couldn't hurt...
She sat in front of me, silently playing with her hands.
"So, Leilah, how do you like it here? Is it nice?" I asked, starting off slow.
She shook her head and answered,"No, the girls here are mean to me." she pouted and balled up her shirt with her fists. Tears brimmed her eyes from what I could tell.
"Hey, don't cry... Tell me what happened... Who would hurt someone as sweet as you, Leilah?"
-Leilah-
He was nice, the other parents didn't even sound like they gave a shit about me.
I looked up at him and wiped the tears from my eyes. I gave a small smile, making him grin.
"I had the nicest dress I was going to wear today... but this morning, a girl spilled grape juice on my dress and laughed at me, so I had to wear this," I answered, motioning to my princess shirt.
"You like Princess Peach?" Mark asked eyeing my shirt.
"Peach? I didn't know that was her name..." I looked at my shirt with a new found wonder and hope.
I looked back at Mark who was smiling at me with an expression I had only seen once before. His eyes looked at me with kindness and love. Something I had only seen on my mother a long time ago.
"Leilah, I'm sorry that girl did that to you. And bewteen you and me, I really like your shirt." Mark chuckled.
We continued talking and talking. He asked me about my friends here, and how my life was when I had a home.
I hadn't told him how I ended up here, which he, of course, brought up as nicley as possible. I just didn't feel like talking about it just yet.
"I- I don't wanna talk about that."
Mark was clearly taken a back, knowing he struck a small nerve. He backed off and apoligized.
"That's okay, Leilah. You can tell me when you're rea- hell, you don't ever have to tell me. It doesn't matter," Mark smiled warmly at me and reached out for my hand.
I gave him my hand, and took it in his.
"Leilah,"
No way.
"Our of all of the girls I've met, you have been the funniest to talk to and I think we've bonded a bit here... Would you like for me to... adopt you? You don't have to..." Mark waited for my answer.
"Are you kidding?" My eyes watered and I threw my arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug.
"Of course I do!
Mark didn't hug me back for a long moment before warming his arms around my tall body and picking me up off the floor and spinning me around.
"Let's go sign those papers then!" Mark's face was of pure joy when I held his hand out the door.
~
Mark got everything settled and he was officially my 'adoptive father', full custody.
Bry was going to miss me, but after one last hug goodbye, I followed Mark out the front door.
I followed him into the parking lot and smiled at him when he took my bag and put it in the backseat.
He opened the front passenger seat for me and I climbed in looking at all the gagets.
I haven't been in a car for 4 years, what the hell is this stuff?!
He hopped in the car and looked at me and smiled. "I still can't believe you said 'yes'" he started, turning on the car.
"You were nice, genuinley nice to me..." I said simply.
He laughed at that and put a hand on my head.
He reached over behind me and clicked on my seat belt.
The sound made me jolt, but Mark thankfully didn't notice.
"You're gonna love your new room, I can tell," he said finally, pulling out of the orphanage and towards what I think is his house.
We pulled into this huge house and I couldn't even contain myself. I stepped out of the car and stood directly in front of the gigantic house.
It was a nice yellowish light brown and the grass was bright green. There was a big ol' garage with a window above it and a dark brown roof.
I felt Mark put a hand on my shoulder and knelt down next to me.
"You... like your new home?" It felt like he was having just a hard a time as I was!
"I love it," I nodded my head and followed Mark as he carried my suitcase towards the house.
"It's two stories?" I asked walking up to the front door, behind Mark.
"Yup, and it's all yours now, too" he spoke softly, his keys jingled as he opened the door.
He led me inside and straight upstairs to my room.
He looked back at me and set down my light suitcase.
"Ready?" I vigorously nodded my head, excitement evident in my actions.
He slowly opened the door and all I saw was color.
The walls were a light (almost white) yellow and the carpet was a dark purple.
The bed was light pink with the softest looking dark pink pillows I had ever seen in my life.
There was also a dark wood dresser with a really big mirror and lots of drawers for clothes, I'd guess.
"Holy sh..."
I let the 'sh' drag out as I quickly darted onto the bed and plopped down face first, making Mark let out a giddy noise of approval.
I hopped down and looked out the window. It was the window above the garage.
I had a nice view of the street and the rest of the neighborhood.
I sat down abruptly and looked at Mark, who had the biggest grin on his face.
"Do you like it? It took me a while to find the right carpet but I think this one suits the room doesn't it?" He kept drabbling until he saw my expression.
It was a small frown, just worry I think.
"Heeeyyy... what wrong, mouse?" He sat next to me, hands on his knees.
"It's so much..." I said, getting up staring at everything once more.
"I feel kinda... what's that word-"
"Spoiled?"
"Yeah, that! Thank you for all of this Mark... really,"
He smiled and sat down on the bed next to me, pulling me into a hug.
"I mean, don't get me wrong!" I said, pulling away from the hug. "This is the best room I've ever had and I can't thank you enough... But why?"
Mark laughed, running his hand through his hair.
"If I spoil you, it's because your my daughter now,"
I thought about that for a minute before remembering-
"Hey, why did you call me 'mouse'?" I asked, remembering the silly nickname.
"Oh! I called you mouse because you're small and you remind me of Minnie mouse," he said chuckling.
"Speaking of small, I think most of your clothes fit you kind of tight, right? We're gonna go shopping tomorrow for some new clothes, ok?" He said, zipping open my suitcase.
"First, check what fits you and what doesn't and put them in two separate piles. Can you do that for me?" He asked in a fatherly tone.
I gave him mock salute and he walked out with a giggle.
One by one, I tried on each of my clothes. Half of them fit me really small, but the rest fit me just right.
I put them into two piles, just like Mark asked. I open my door and called out for Mark.
"Mark?! I'm done separating my clothes! Where are you?"
I walked around the house until I heard Mark yelling inside of a room. I slowly peaked inside and saw he was doing something on the computer...?
"Hey, Mark what are you doing?" I asked, making him jump and scream a little.
He quickly clicked something on the screen and looked back at me with a petrified face.
"Jesus, Leilah don't scare me like that..." was all he said before letting a chuckle.
"You're even quiet like a mouse!" he said suddenly making him fall on the floor laughing.
"No, I'm not!" I laughed before giggling and pretending to stomp out of the room.
I heard Mark get up and come up behind me.
He grabbed me from behind and pulled me into another hug.
"I'm sorry if I made you mad, Leilah. I was just joking. I won't call you mouse anymore if you don't want me to. I want you happy okay?"
3rd POV
Leilah was shocked for a moment before nodding.
"You can call me mouse, but what were you doing on the computer?" She asked, replaying the scene in her head.
"I'll tell you later. You must be hungry, right?" Mark said, quickly changing the subject.
"Yeah, I am actually..." Leilah said, holding her stomach as Mark stoop up.
"I'm gonna order a pizza, then we can watch whatever movie you want, okay?" Mark said, ruffling my hair and dialing a number on his phone.
-
The pizza got here as soon as Mark was done explaining what he was doing on the computer to Leilah.
It took her a while to understand, but she was put to rest when Mark said it was his job.
"You make money playing games?" She asked biting into her pizza.
"Sounds silly, but a lot of people like watching me play.
Almost 11 million, to be exact."
Leilah almost chocked on her soda when he said that.
"11 Million?!! I was homeschooled but I'm pretty sure that's a really big number," Leilah said, scooting closer to Mark.
"I'm still shocked too; it's so mind blowing going to conventions, too. You'll get to go with me when you're older and see all the people who watch my videos.
"Can I watch your videos?" She asked looking up at him.
"Uhh- of course you can! They're kinda strange but don't worry, I'm just a normal guy!" Mark said, scratching the back of his head.
"Can I watch some on your computer right now?!" Leilah was getting more and more excited.
"No, no, no. Not today, it's actually getting late and we should get to bed, young lady." Mark laughed and lifted up Leilah onto his back all the way to her room.
She laughed hysterically as Mark ran down the hall and swung her onto her bed.
"You have pjs, right?" Mark asked her suddenly.
"Yeah, I do. I'm gonna change. See you in the morning, Mark."
Mark hesitated on kissing the top of her head but did it anyway before awkwardly leaving Leilah to sleep.
He decided to continue the recording session tomorrow. Leilah really tired him out, but it was a good kind of tired.
It's only been a day she's already got him wrapped around her finger...
She was the most important thing in his life now, and he was going to make sure she knew it.
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