Antonio was leaning against his car, waiting in the parking lot for his sons, Michael and Rogelio, to get out of school. He was a little worried that he was in the wrong place when he first showed up, there weren't many other parents around, but after a few moments the parking lot filled with all kinds of people waiting for the little ones inside. His watch beeped, letting him know that it was 5 minutes before the bell rang. Antonio stood up and started wandering closer to the little garden area where Ms. G (Michael and Rogelio's Kindergarten teacher) said she would walk out the kids at the end of the day. He was just so ready to have his boys back with him and was excited to hear about their first day. Looking around, he saw all the other parents (mostly mothers staring not so subtly in his direction) waiting around too. He felt a little out of place being the only dad waiting alone outside the car, it seemed like the other fathers were either standing by their wife or girlfriend or waiting in the car for the kids to come to them.
Near the garden, Antonio found another dad waiting outside the car too. Not wanting to stand alone, he walked over and tried to start up a conversation.
"Hey, I'm Antonio, you waiting for your kid?" Antonio asked as he leaned against the man's car mirroring the other's posture.
"No I'm waiting for a goat," the other man said without taking his eyes off the door of the school.
"What? Really?" Antonio asked his eyes wide.
"No I'm waiting for my daughter." the man said, muttering something under his breath and rolling his eyes.
The other man turned to look at Antonio. He thought that the man's hazel eyes seemed tired but still lively. Antonio looked the other man over, in what he hoped wasn't creepy, and he noticed that the other man wasn't wearing a wedding ring, but seemed to be more put together than any of the other single dads he had met before, and rather good looking to boot.
"Oh, you have a daughter? That's cool, I have two sons. Twins in fact. We've just moved here from out of state. They just turned 5, if I may ask, how old is your daughter?"
"5 as well," the man said quickly glancing at his watch. He seemed pretty impatient with the wait for school to be let out too.
"Oh wow!" Antonio said his brilliant smile aimed at the other man "I wonder if they are in the same class! She would be in kindergarten right?" Antonio tried his best to go through the faces that he saw at the Meet the Teacher event he went to last week.
"I don't know, maybe, and yes she is" the other answered still trying to ignore Antonio.
"So..." Antonio tried to continue but was interrupted by the ringing of a bell and the sound of running feet.
Both men turned to search the sea of children flooding out into the parking lot. They both started scanning for their children. Antonio saw Ms. G leading a group of students out to the benches in the middle of the garden. He waved enthusiastically to her, she waved back then squatted to talk to his boys and another girl sitting next to them. They all turned towards him and came running.
Antonio braced himself as his boys took off running towards him.
"DAAAAD! WE HAD FUN AND THE TEACHER LADY WAS REALLY NICE!" Rodgie shouted as he tackled his father's left leg, Mikey following closely behind.
"Yeah and we played games and the teacher lady showed us how to write our names" Mikey said, tackling his father's right leg.
"Daddy! School was so much fun!" the little girl shouted as she ran to hug the man next to him. He watched in surprise as the man's demeanor completely changed in the few moments it took for the girl to reach him. The man picked her up and her in his arms and gave her a big hug.
"Hey Chiara, glad you had fun, did you miss me?" the man asked.
"Yeah" she giggled, "Daddy look! It's Mikey and Rodgie! They are my friends! They are twins!"
Antonio laughed as his boys point up to the little girl, Chiara, saying "Dad! Dad! That's Chiara!" She played with us at recess" Mikey shouted.
"Yeah! And her Dad is a chef!" Rodgie added.
Chiara wiggled in her dad's arms "Daddy, are you friends with Mikey and Rodgie's daddy too?"
"Maybe, you ready to go?" the man asked putting his daughter back on the ground.
"Yes! Bye Mikey! Bye Rodgie! Bye Mikey and Rodgie's daddy!" Chiara waved as she was helped into the car.
"Daaaad!" Mikey shouted, "Can we get McDonald's?"
"We'll see, mijo, for now, say bye to Chiara"
"Bye Chiara!" the boys shouted.
"Oh and I never got your name maybe-friend" Antonio said with a smiling turning to the other man who was now getting into his car.
"It's Lovino, now we've got to go, bye"
Antonio and his boys stepped away from the car and waved as Lovino and Chiara drove off.
As Antonio walked his boys back, he hoped that he would see more of Lovino.
A/N: Hey y'all!
I started writing again! I would really appreciate constructive critisim!
I have more chapters planned for this story and if I can find the ganas/energy to finish them they'll be post here too.