Alexa's Point of View

I woke up to a load knocking noise coming from the front door. I kept nudging Aaron in an attempt to wake him up, "Aaron.. the door..," I sleepily slurred with my morning groggy voice.

He just turned over in bed. I rolled my eyes and pushed myself out of his bed. I put on one of his shirts that hung pretty low against my thighs. I yawned, "Coming!" I called.

I walked into Aspen's bedroom, she was awake and probably hungry since Aaron and I slept in. I picked her up and placed her on my hip as I went to the door.

"Coming!" I called once more as the knocking didn't stop.

I opened the door to reveal a girl slightly taller than me, her hair was full of shoulder length brown curls and her eyes were a light brown.

"Yeah?" I asked rubbing my eyes since I was not awake enough to see the sunlight pouring in through the door.

"I'm Arianna," She smiled, it seemed like a fake smile. "And I'm pretty sure that's my daughter you're holding."

I clutched Aspen tighter, "I'm gonna go get Aaron."

I shut the door in her face and began to race back to Aaron's bedroom. I pushed the door open, "Aaron wake up!"

He kept tossing and turning. I grabbed a pillow with my free hand and start hitting him with it, "Wake up!"

"Jesus Christ Alexa," He said getting annoyed. "What's wrong with you."

"You said her mother wasn't in her life!" I said in an angry but hushed tone.

"She's not," He said sitting up confused.

"Then tell me why a girl named Arianna is at the door telling me she's Aspen's mom!" I whisper-yelled.

Aaron face looked taken aback, "What?"

"Go see for yourself she's still there," I said.

"Just hold onto Aspen," He said rushing out of bed, nearly tripping over himself.

He threw on sweatpants and I threw him a shirt. No way was he gonna answer the door shirtless given that she was his baby mama. No way.

He walked over to the front door and I went into the kitchen that was near the front door and stayed in there trying to find Aspen something to eat.

"Aaron!" I heard Arianna beam. "Where is she?"

"Aspen? She's with my girlfriend,"Aaron said, I could tell from the tone of his voice he was getting upset.

Girlfriend? I'm back for not even a few days and he's calling me his girlfriend? I sighed and rummaged through the cabinets continuing to find something for Aspen.

"She's not Aspen's mother!" Arianna raised her voice.

"She's in the kitchen right now feeding Aspen! You've never fed her, held her, nothing. Have you thought about the long term effects that can have on my daughter?!" He said getting angry back at her.

"Your daughter?! Last I checked it takes two to tango!" Aspen started to get fussy as she heard the two of them talking.

"Yeah and it only took one to raise her!" Aaron yelled back and it got quiet.

I found some baby buffs for Aspen I put in a little bowl and I also mashed up some bananas to feed her. It was still quiet in the living room besides some sniffling.

"Alexa," Aaron's head peeked into the kitchen. "Can you bring in Aspen?"

I brought Aspen into the foyer where they stood.

"Give Aspen to Arianna," He said motioning over to Arianna.

I gave him a questioning look but he nodded giving me reassurance. I walked over to Arianna and passed her Aspen. And Aspen, as expected, began to wail. Arianna stood there confused not knowing how to soothe Aspen's cries.

Aaron softly took Aspen from Arianna's grasp, "It's okay baby girl," He said as he lightly patted and rubbed her back, "Shh."

Arianna looked astonished as Aaron brought Aspen to a calm state of mind. Aaron looked over to me and smiled, holding Aspen close to him, "Can you take her to her bed?"

I took Aspen from his grasp, her little hands clutched tight to Aaron's long shirt I was wearing. As I walked down the long hallway, I actually had the chance to take a look at the pictures that covered the walls. It was all of Aspen, she was so beautiful. It was all her milestones, one month, two months, and so on. Aaron's ability of parenting was so admirable, especially since he was so young. This made me think of my parents, how were they doing?

I shrugged off the thought of my parents as I placed a sleeping Aspen in her crib, "Goodnight Aspen," I whispered as I left the room.

I made my way back into the kitchen where I began cleaning up the mess from Aspen's breakfast. As I cleaned, I was able to listen closely to what Aaron and Arianna were talking about.

"Why now?" Aaron whisper-yelled.

"I missed her," Arianna said, it sounded like she was nearly crying.

"You can't miss someone you never knew," Aaron said. "You carried her, had her, and never even held her!"

"I carried her though, that shit is tough!" She said getting angry.

"You're either here or your gone!" Aaron demanded. "You're staying for a week or two and leaving. Either you're gonna be in her life for the rest of her life, or just go. She's better off without the back and forth."

"Have you ever considered what I was going through?!" She spat angrily. "Postpartum depression?! What about financially?! I'm at an expressive college and I don't have money from mommy and daddy to pay my bills. Okay?!"

"Leave," Aaron said sternly. "You have no business just showing up on my doorstep asking to see Aspen and bashing me for my money! You have no idea the hell I went through to get this money!" Then, Aspen started to cry from her bedroom, "I'm gonna go take care of my daughter. So just leave."

Arianna took a deep breath before I heard the front door open, then close. I left the kitchen and followed Aaron into Aspen's bedroom. He picked up Aspen from her crib. Holding her, he looked at me, "Alexa, this is my life now. I'm a full time dad and college student. I love you to death, but there's no way I can expect you to drop everything from wherever you went to become a mother and a housewife. I'm so grateful you were here today, but being with me isn't gonna be easy. It's not just me anymore, it's Aspen as well."

"I love you too Aaron," I said to him as he kissed my forehead. "I just need time to think and figure everything out."

"And we need to sit down and have a real conversation about the night you left," Aaron said. "There's so much we need to talk about."

"Okay," I nodded.

"I have to go to my classes soon," Aaron said. "I know you're probably going to visit Hamzah, but you're more than welcome to bring Aspen. Get to know my little munchkin." He bounced her around on his hip as she giggled, "Right Aspen? How does that sound?"

"Of course," I said. "I would love to bring her."

Aaron pulled me into a hug. The three of us, Aaron, Aspen, and I.