• vanessa •

joel: are you busy tonight?

"Ooh, someone's happy," Antonio told me. I typed a quick reply to Joel that I wasn't busy. "Is that what's-his-name?"

"His name is Joel, and yes. He just asked if I was busy tonight," I responded.

"So is it getting serious?" Antonio asked. I shrugged, we were hanging out whenever we had free time between the two of us. Which usually was past ten at night when he was done in the studio, and I was not at work. "It must be, since you have Brandon tonight."

"We haven't labeled anything, we're just hanging out," I replied. "Let's get back to planning Brandon's birthday, because if we don't get these invitations out no one's going to show up, except us, our parents and Tatiana."

"Everyone who he needs to be there," Antonio added. "But you're right, having to watch over a ton of four year olds—"

"Not a ton," I interrupted. "Just the kids whose parents don't look down at us because we're teenage parents. Speaking of, Grace is in town for the summer so she's going to bring Clay."

"You're still going to push that friendship on our son?" Grace was a girl I met during those pregnancy classes, she was a year older than me, and her son Clay was born exactly a month before Brandon.

"What's wrong with that? Our friendship was pushed unto us. All those vacations spent together, and Sunday brunches, so many," I rolled my eyes. "Anyways, he might be the only kid to show up if we don't—"

"Get these invitations out," Antonio cut me off. "I'm sure you have an entire address book with everyone's address from his preschool class and probably have envelopes written up with said addresses. Just send them. Now that we're done talking about the invitations. Your twentieth birthday, there must be something you want."

"Nope, nothing," I responded. "I was thinking marble cake, since Brandon loves it. We're doing Spiderman, right?" Antonio nodded. "Do you think your parents can get a piñata for him?"

"You can't be serious, 'nessa. You have to do something for your birthday. You're going to be twenty!"

"I am doing something for my birthday, celebrating our son's birthday. And yay, twenty! I'm not going to get strange looks when I mention I'm a teenage mother! I can't even do anything, since I have Brandon that weekend."

"I'd be happy to have Brandon that weekend. I checked all my class schedules, and no papers, tests or anything due for the week after your birthday. Summer semester doesn't have many papers, and I'm off that entire weekend because of Brandon's birthday."

"Actually, you know what I want for my birthday?" I questioned. Antonio looked at me. "For people to forget it's my birthday. It's just another day, and it's Brandon's birthday, so can we just focus on that?"

"No, let's focus on you. You want to celebrate your birthday, and you have the past couple of years. Our son and you have celebrated together, why don't you want to celebrate now?"

"I don't want to," I responded. Antonio gave me a look, which I hated. Always have and always will. "Why should I try and celebrate my birthday when it's supposed to be all about Brandon? It's his day!"

"It's also your day. Brandon loves the idea that he gets to share his birthday with the coolest mom ever! Our son is going to be four, and you're going to be twenty, you're going to have a party, whether you like it or not. I can't take no for an answer, and it shouldn't be too hard to add a few things to the list," he grabbed the notebook from my hands and the pen from the spirals.

"If I see anything for my birthday at our son's party, I will—"

"You won't do anything, 'nessa. You're going to get some presents, and then a devil's cheesecake because you like cheesecake better, and Tatiana is going to help me out with it, and you have no say because it's going to be a surprise, so just forget about it!"

—

"Wait, your birthday is coming up? Why didn't you tell me?" Joel questioned, after he asked about my day, which led me rambling about it, slipping up that my birthday was in a couple weeks.

"It's not important," I quickly responded, taking a sip of my water. "How was your day?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"People who say their birthday isn't important, it has to be important to them," Joel said. "Sure you share it with your son, but doesn't that make it extra special to you? You share a day with, I'm assuming, the most important person in your life."

"It's also the day—" I was interrupted by knocking on my door. "Excuse me," I stood up and walked towards the door. I opened it to see Antonio and Brandon smiling at me. "Bubba!" I knelt down, and hugged Brandon.

"Hi, mami!" Brandon smiled, wrapping his arms around my neck. "I made you something with abuela. ¿Quieres verlo?"

"Of course!" I responded, and for a split second, I forgot Joel was sitting on my couch. "Why don't you go put your stuff in your room, and you can show me in a couple minutes," I suggested. Brandon nodded and ran to his room.

"Before you say anything, it's Sunday night, and you forgot didn't you?" Antonio questioned. "I reminded you earlier, didn't I?"

"Yeah, of course you did," I replied. "Just slipped my mind." I glanced towards Joel, who definitely wasn't staring at me and Antonio. "Joel, this is Antonio. Brandon's father. Antonio, this is Joel—"

"Nice to meet you, man," Antonio shook Joel's hand. "'nessa told me a lot about you. She never talked about me like—"

"Thanks for dropping Brandon off!" I interrupted Antonio. "You should get back to your place before traffic hits," I practically pushed him out of my apartment. He sent me a quick wink before I shut the door. I turned around and faced Joel. "I completely spaced that Brandon was coming back today. And I completely understand if you want to leave."

"Why would I want to leave? Or is it too early to meet your son?" Joel asked.

"Brandon's not really good with new people, but once he likes you— which I'm sure he will, because I do— he'll always bother me to call you over," I responded.

"More than you do now?" Joel joked. I shook my head, playfully glaring at him. "Are you sure you don't mind me meeting your son today?"

"Usually, I'd say no and ask you to leave, but I have a feeling you should stay and meet him. He's an awesome kid."

"If he's anything like his mom, I'm sure he is," Joel smiled, pressing a quick kiss against my lips. I pulled away when I heard Brandon's door open.

"Mami!" Brandon yelled before running towards the living room. "Abuela helped me make this for you," he handed me a picture with figures. "This is abuelo, abuela, dad, me, you, and grandpa," he pointed to all the figures. I noticed a small heart above Brandon, and noticed how the figure of Antonio and I were holding hands. "Can I hang it up on the fridge?"

"Of course you can, B! And there's someone I would like you to meet, okay?" Brandon nodded, and rushed to the kitchen. After hearing two magnets being moved, I assumed Brandon was coming back. "Don't be nervous, he's only three," I told Joel. "I heard you're good with kids. He'll like you, I'm sure of it," I assured Joel.

"And if he doesn't?" Joel questioned.

"Brandon!" I called him, and he came hiding a juice box behind his back. "¿Necesitas ayuda?" I asked him, he nodded and handed me the box. I took it, but went to introduce Joel to my son. "Mijo, this is Joel. Joel, this is my son, Brandon." Brandon lifted his hand and shook Joel's hand. I knew he had picked that up from my father or Antonio.

"Are you my mommy's friend like Juliana is daddy's friend?" Brandon asked. Before I could cut in, Brandon changed the subject. "Do you like Spiderman?"

"He's my favorite superhero," Joel responded.

Brandon smiled, "Really? Ooh, wait here!" He ran towards his bedroom.

"See, he already likes you," I told Joel. "Ay, Brandon, don't bring all of your toys out here, please," I called out, and Brandon came out of his bedroom with his Spiderman toys he'd acquired in the past couple of months in his arms. I blame my father, he liked spoiling Brandon as much as he likes spoiling his only daughter.

"¿Puedes jugar conmigo?" Brandon asked Joel, dropping all his toys on the ground in front of him.

"Por supuesto," Joel sat on the ground beside Brandon picking up an action figure. I couldn't help but stare at Brandon and Joel playing. My heart fluttered and I knew I was really starting to like Joel. I never introduced anyone to Brandon this early, but Joel was the only person that stayed after mentioning that I had a child.

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hello, i am back! for now.

I haven't updated for awhile, but i hope you liked the chapter. at first, idk where it was going to go, but i got it to go somewhere.

summer is ending and i forgot that i actually start classes next month and i need to save money for my books and tuition. guys college sucks!!

also, quick question, bc I'm very curious.
how old are you guys?
i'm 20, if anyone was wondering, no one was. i'm just curious to see how old everyone is.

i also have another joel fic out, and it's finished. It's called stella, it's very short. And a cnco baby series bc I haven't seen one on wattpad, so I made one.

it's also almost 2 in the morning and i think this chapter is the longest one yet.

i hope you enjoyed this chapter! 💓