February (Part One)




"Do you have any idea what is going on?" I ask Cory.

"Not a clue," he answers, his face looking as clueless as my own.

The two of us are sat around the dining room table, as instructed to by my mum. Earlier in the day she told us that she wanted to speak to us over dinner before hurrying out of the door for work. Nothing else was said but that.

Now, a few hours later, Cory and I are sat around the table while my mum prepares the dinner. Erin has already eaten hers and is currently sat in her high chair, wiggling around in her chair hinting that she wants to be let out.

"The last time we had a dinner like this I told my mum I was pregnant," I mumble to Cory. "What if she says the same thing?" my eyes widen in horror at the thought.

"I'm not even going to comment on that," Cory says.

He leans over to undo the straps on Erin's high chair to let her out for a few minutes. The moment she is out she begins crying while putting her hand in her mouth. She's not crying enough for tears but she does manage to scream the house down.

"It's probably her teeth. I'll go find her teething ring. It should be in the room somewhere," I get up from the table and walk into the living room.

Sprawled across the floor are dozens of toys, all in different shapes and colours. I glance around quickly to see if I can find the teething ring but it is not in my immediate view so I begin checking under the sofa and under pillows. Eventually I find it underneath a cabinet and god knows how it got under there.

"I'm just going to give it a wash," I say as I pass Cory on my way into the kitchen.

The aroma of food hits my nostril straight away as soon as I walk in. My mum is stood there, plating the food up onto three plates, her hair scraped back into a pony tail while she drinks a glass of wine. A must have when cooking she once told me.

"I'm just giving this a clean," I say to her as I run the tap water.

"Oh, I put another one in the fridge a while ago. Why don't you use that one?" she says to me.

I take the other teething ring out of the fridge and take it into the dining room to Erin. Instantly it begins to soothe her as the coolness of the ring hits her gums. She calms down in Cory's arms and soon she has fallen asleep.

"Here's your dinner," my mum places a plate full of food in front of me.

I begin tucking into my dinner straight away; enjoying the flavours of the food and how real it tastes unlike the microwave meals I am used to.

"I want to talk to you two about something," my mum eventually says to us both after a few minutes of us eating in silence.

"Okay," I say to her, waiting for more.

"You're probably not going to like this," she says, looking directly at me. "I'm seeing someone and you know him,"

"Don't tell me it's Reynolds?" I ask, dropping a forkful of food.

Instead of saying anything she just nods her head at me.

"Great. Good for you," I say dryly at her.

"Since last year when we broke it off, we've kept in touch. Both of us felt like we still wanted more though. I wanted to tell you before you found out any other way," I think back to last year when I heard Reynolds sneaking down the stairs.

"I still find it weird. You're my mum dating my teacher but I don't care this time. You've supported me throughout this last year, the least I can do is support you too," I say to her, meaning it.

"I'm glad you feel that way Kristen,"

"And I don't think I should input an opinion as you have let me stay here practically rent free," Cory tells her.

"God answer Cory," my mum tells him.

After that we start eating again, devouring the food in front of us. Erin stays fast asleep in her high chair and doesn't have a care in the world. She only wakes up when she hears the scrapes of the chairs against the floor as we clear our plates into the kitchen.

"I'll take her and you two can wash the pots," my mum says, picking Erin up from her seat.

While Cory and I are in the middle of putting everything away his phone rings. He mouths 'my mum' at me and walks off to answer it, leaving me to wash the rest up. I leave the dishes on the side for him to put away when he has finished.

I go back into the living room to see my mum playing with Erin. She keeps rolling a ball towards her which Erin manages to grab hold off and throw it to the other side of the room. It's as if Erin is playing fetch with my mum.

When I walk into the room, Erin turns all her attention onto me. She swivels her head around so she can see me and then begins squealing and giggling. I watch as she attempts to get onto her hands and knees but she doesn't have much luck.

"Soon you'll be crawling," I tell her while I get down on my own hands and knees to play with her.

My mum rolls the ball over to me so I gently roll it over to Erin who grabs it in her little hand and throws it at my face.

"How cute," I say to her which makes her laugh.

After a few more minutes Cory walks into the room, causing Erin to focus on him now.

"How's your mum?" I ask him.

"She seems fine. She was telling me how Missy is loving school and apparently that's all she ever talks about,"

"That's good that she is enjoying it,"

"Yeah apparently she has made a lot of friends but that is easier to do when you're five," he says now rolling the ball to Erin. "My mum also asked if we were ever going to get Erin christened which was quite out of the blue," he tells me.

"That is random. Well at least everyone is okay," I reply back.

"I told her that we would think about it to keep her happy," Cory says, not looking that thrilled with the idea.

"Okay. Anyway I think we should get this one to bed," I say, scooping Erin up in my arms while she rubs her little eyes.

***

The week went by smoothly after that. I kept my distance from Reynolds at school because even though I told my mum it was alright, I still find the situation weird. Luckily though there are mock exams coming up so every class is busy revising for those. Even in tutor all we were doing was revising.

"I can't believe they're throwing these exams at us on the same week as Valentine's Day," Laura whispers to us during tutor on the Friday morning.

"I can't believe you care. About Valentine's Day I mean. Even though they're mocks, the exams are important," I whisper back at her.

"Well some of us like to have fun," she gives my arm a shove which gathers the attention of Reynolds.

"Miss Lace, Miss Mason are you revising like you should be?" he shouts over the silent classroom.

"I was just asking Kristen a question about... about chemistry," she stutters at him.

"Well that's interesting considering neither of you do chemistry. Just get back to work," he tells us, turning his attention back towards his computer screen.

I look around at the faces on our table. Everyone appears to be biting their lips to stop themselves laughing while Laura has gone bright red.

We spend the remainder of the hour working in silence, thankful for when the bell finally rings at the end.

"Why did I say chemistry?" are the first words out of Laura's mouth when we leave the classroom.

"Because you're an idiot, that's why," Maddie tells her straight away but links her arms through hers.

"Why don't you two come over to mine tomorrow and we can study chemistry together. Wait, that sounds flirtier than what I intended to be," I invite Laura and Maddie over, knowing that both Cory and Adam will be working.

The school day goes by quickly and before I know it, it is already Saturday. Both Laura and Maddie are sat in the living room, playing with Erin.

"I can't believe she can already sit up by herself. What happened to her being so little?" Maddie coos at Erin while trying to impress her by waving one of her toys in her face.

"I have no idea. She keeps trying to crawl as well now. By the time we are doing the exams, she will be all over place. That's going to make revising fun," I tell them through a forced laugh.

"You'll be fine... oh please don't cry," Maddie says to Erin who has all of a sudden broken down into tears. "Can you turn her off?"

"I wish. It's probably her teeth. We think she has one growing but it hasn't come through yet. I'll go get her a teething ring," I return moments later with the ring which I place in her mouth.

I decide to pick Erin up and seat her on my lap. She nuzzles into me while I rub her back. It doesn't take her long then to fall asleep.

"What do you want to do?" I ask them both once I know that Erin is fast asleep.

"Shall we go out somewhere? It's the first time in what feels like months that it is not raining," Laura suggests.

We all agree to and decide to go into town and do some window shopping. The sales are over now although there are a few shops with some Valentine's Day offers. I browse through some of the chocolate shops- which is not as easy as it looks with a pushchair- to see if they are any deals on. I settle on buying a couple of boxes of caramel chocolates for myself and a small bag of chocolate buttons for Erin to suck on.

"I thought you didn't do Valentine's Day?" Maddie asks when I come out of the shop.

"I don't but I do eat chocolate," I reply back to her as I place the carrier bag in the basket underneath the pushchair. "Anyway, where are we going now?"

"Coffee?" Laura asks us.

"Coffee," both Maddie and I agree back at her.

I don't realise where we are walking to until it is too late. The sign above the coffee the house reads FRANCOS in bold, orange letters.

"Seriously, we are going to drink here?" I ask them.

"Yep," Laura says popping the 'p'. "I want to see how London Boy works,"

"London Boy?" I ask raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, Cory. I'm trying new nicknames for people," she tells me as if I was supposed to know that.

"I knew who you meant," I mutter as I walk into the shop, trailing behind Maddie and Laura who had already gone in.

I decide to sit down at a table rather than wait in the queue. Erin begins to wake up again so I sit her up on my lap.

"They said someone will bring the drinks over... yey she's awake," Laura says when she notices Erin who is sat up staring at everyone who walks by. "No sign of London Boy yet. Are you sure it is here that he works?" she asks as if I have been lying to her.

"Of course I am, now go make yourself useful and get a highchair," I smirk at her.

She comes back with a high chair which I quickly sit Erin in. Her eyes immediately light up because she thinks she is about to be fed. I rummage around for the chocolate buttons that I bought earlier and take one out for her. I break it in half and let her suck on it.

"Ooh I think these are our drinks and look who happens to be serving them," Maddie says.

"What are you guys doing here?" Cory asks us while he gives us our drinks.

"It was their idea," I tell him.

"We just wanted to say hi London Boy," Laura says to him which causes his face to screw up in confusion.

"Just go with it," I say to him while shaking my head.

"I better get back to work. Let me know if you need anything," he says to us, not before kissing Erin on the head.

"Anyone got any big Valentine's Day plans? Not you Kristen. We already know you hate it. You'll probably be sat at home dressed in black while worshipping Satan," Laura asks us.

"How did you guess?" I mumble at her.

"I'm going out with Leigh. She's trying to get me a fake ID so we can go to this club together. She wants me to meet some of her friends there. I think it will be fun," she tells us with a dreamy a smile on her face.

"When do we get to meet her?" I ask.

"Soon, I'm thinking of inviting you two over one night for a sleepover with her," she tells us. "What about you and Adam? Any plans?" Maddie asks Laura.

"Probably a quite night in for us. My parents will be out again so I think it will be a film and takeaway but I don't mind,"

We spend the next few hours sat in Fancos. Time seems to slip by but eventually Erin grows restless and begins to cry.

"I think the two of us are done here," I tell Maddie and Laura as I begin putting Erin back in her pushchair. "I'll see you both at school," I tell them before leaving the coffee house.

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