Freddie had helped mom set up one of his two guest rooms into a place for me to sleep, and mom had taken the other guest room. Mom had also been and visited daddy, I don't know what happened in the visit but when she returned she had more of both of our stuff and told me that I'd be able to see dad soon.
So as I had been for the past 3 days I woke up in my new room, it wasn't anything like my old bedroom. The walls were painted white, unlike my previously pink walls, the bed sheets were plain white as well. The only thing that made it more homely was my toys that were scattered all around the floor.
I climbed out my bed and walked out of my bedroom into the small hallway which leads to the lounge area. I could already see mom and Uncle Freddie having the breakfast at the table, they both looked up and smiled at me as I walked over to the table.
"Hey sweetie, what does my growing girl want for her breakfast?" mom asked me as I sat down. The table was square, so Uncle Freddie was on one side, me on another and then mommy opposite Freddie.
"Just some cheerio's please!" I told her, she placed her slice of toast she was half way through and began pouring me a bowl of cereal. Once she'd set it in front of me and I began eating she spoke up once again.
"So babygirl, today mommy needs to go try and get herself a job!" Sam told me, her voice seemed slightly cautious, I just nodded my head as I ate.
"And you won't be able to come with me while I find a job!" she continued, I spoke up between my mouthfuls of cereal.
"Am I spending the day with daddy?" I asked, it was automatic before that whenever mommy was doing something I wouldn't enjoy or wouldn't be welcome to that I'd stay with daddy, but now I was unsure.
"Well sweetie, you know that your daddy has to work at day time!" mom told me.
"Then what's happening to me?" I asked, worried she was going to leave me in the apartment all day by myself.
"Well, Uncle Freddie doesn't have to work today, so will it be ok if you spend the day with him?" she asked me, looking at me worryingly. I most admit I wasn't crazy over spending all day with just Freddie. He was nice and had done stuff with me during the 3 days, but he'd only be here on a night time which wasn't long, what would we actually do for an entire day? But I also knew that mom really needed to find a job.
"Yeah that'll be fine!" I replied as I returned to my cereal, both mom and Freddie gave out what seemed like sighs of relief.
Once I had finished breakfast mom told me to go get changed while she went and got ready to go find a job and Freddie cleaned the dishes since he was already dressed. I decided to wear my favourite pair of jeans, they'd been a Christmas present last year of mommy's other friend Carly. They were just normal blue coloured jeans, but they had a pink flower pattern up the left leg. Mommy always told me I was such a girl compared to her when she was younger since I liked all things pink and mommy said that was a yucky colour. I also wore my yellow butterfly top which was one of my favourites.
Like the good girl mommy had taught me to be, I picked up my now discarded pyjamas and placed them under my pillow, before tucking Rupert Bear, who was lying on the floor, back into the bed. Freddie had said I could keep him for comfort and I'd been sleeping with him ever since.
I walked back into the living area where Freddie was still cleaning up.
"Hey, you can watch the TV for abit while I get the house cleaner and then we'll se what we can do for the day!" he told me with the kind smile he always wore. I nodded my head as I picked up the remote from the usual place and sat down on the sofa, the TV was already on and I guessed him and mom had probably been watching it earlier.
"Does this look okay?" Mom asked from behind, I turned round to see her stood in the doorway looking very unmom like. She wore a grey skirt and jacket with white short, her hair was tied up in a bun and she had black heels on her feet.
"Yeah, I'd hire you if you came looking for a job from me!" Uncle Freddie replied, I nodded my head to.
"You sure? I didn't want to seem to overdressed." Mommy exclaimed, walking into the living area.
"Yeah trust me, they like it when you wear clothes like that because it shows you're willing to be a business women, they'd be nothing worse than someone rolling up in jeans and tee to a job interview." Freddie replied, heading quickly into the kitchen to return the cereals and drinks to there rightful place.
"Okay, so I've got three job interviews today, one at your company and then two for those other officers. That's the good thing about living in New York, there's plenty of officers." Mommy started rambling on, to no one in particular as she grabbed her purse from the chair.
"Now be a good girl for Freddie, make sure you don't do anything to messy or loud for him!" Mommy told me as she looked at me, I nodded my head.
"Don't worry, I had to deal with you through my childhood, if I got through that and survived and can managed a day with a Puckett daughter, and besides, your nice and sweet!" Freddie replied as he walked back into the living area.
"Okay, well I best be off, come and give me a kiss goodbye Lydia." She told me, I jumped up form the sofa to give her a kiss on the cheek. Once I'd give her a kiss I sat back down to watch TV as she straightened out her skirt again.
"Well wish me luck!" she exclaimed, crossing her fingers at the same time.
"Honestly you'll do fine, I've give in a good word with my boos so I'm 99% certain you'll get that job, you managed to get the job at the pear store when we were younger and it's the same company so just be yourself and you'll do fine!" Freddie told my mom, ushering her to the door, she shouted another quick bye to me before she left. Freddie came and sat beside me on the sofa after he closed the door.
"So, I was wondering that since we had a full day just the two of us we could maybe go and buy you some new stuff for your bedroom, make it more like your own. Your mom said you like the colour pink so we could buy some pink paint to paint your walls and some other stuff if you'd like." Freddie asked me, I liked that idea very much. I'd even asked mom when we first came to Freddie's if I ever could get pink walls but she said that'd it was Freddie's house and we wouldn't be staying her in definite so probably not.
"Really? Mommy said we wouldn't be staying here forever and I'd not be allowed pink walls." I told him, turning round on the sofa so I was facing him instead of the telly.
"Well yeah you won't be staying here forever, but while you are I though you'd like a pink room and then it'll always be your bedroom if you ever need come back here!" he told me, "So, if Uncle Freddie just goes and get's ready do you want to go?" he asked me and I nodded my head eagerly, he quickly got back up off the couch an retreated back to his bedroom.
He returned around 5 minutes later and asked me if I was ready to go, I'd been a good girl while he as getting ready and had already put on my shoes, I'd wore my trainers since they were most comfortable and I didn't know if I'd be walking far.
"It's not very hot out today so why don't you go get yourself a nice warm jacket so you're not too old!" Freddie told me as he pulled on his own jacket, I kept mine in my wardrobe, or at least I think that's where mommy put her jacket. I ran to my room and began searching for my favourite jacket that kept me nice and warm but was unable to find it anywhere. Sadly I picked up my not as warm, purple jacket, maybe mommy had left it at home.
"Hey, wouldn't you rather wear your warmer coat that's on the peg by the front door? It's cold out and we wouldn't want you getting ill!" Freddie told me, pointing over to the peg by the door where my favourite jacket hung, feeling slightly foolish.
"Here, you go get that on and I'll go put this back in your bedroom sweetie." He told me, I nodded, taking off the jacket and handing it over as we both went separate ways, I quickly pulling on the jacket still feeling stupid for not realising.
"Okay then, would you like to get the bus or go by car?" he asked me when he'd returned.
"Oh can we go on the bus!" I asked, I hardly ever got to ride the bus and I always found it exciting.
"Sure, but make sure you keep a hold of my hand at all times because we wouldn't want anything to happen to you!" he told me, extending his hand for me to take. I took it, it felt kind of strange, and I'd probably avoid physical contact with Freddie since the first night since I felt awkward after having hugged, cried and clung onto him.
He kept a tight grip on my hand as we walked to catch the bus and kept talking to me about my interests, it didn't take long from his house to the bus stop and it also didn't take long for the bus to show up.
"You go find us a seat while I pay for the tickets!" he told me, the bus wasn't full, just a few old ladies who smiled at me as I headed to the very back of the bus. Freddie following me about 30 seconds later. Taking a seat beside me as I stood up and watched the passing life from the back window, I don't know what fascinated me about the bus; it just always had been the same.
It was a fairly long journey, I'd estimate about half an hour, but the bus eventually stopped at the place we needed to get off, I took hold of Uncle Freddie's hand again so I didn't get lost as he took me to where I guessed the paint shop would be. But as we were heading there Uncle Freddie almost collided with none other than.
"DADDY!" I squealed excitedly, a huge smile on my face as I left go of Freddie and practically jumped into his open arms.
"Hey princess, what you doing out?" he asked me, smiling at me as Freddie stood awkwardly off to the side.
"Uncle Freddie's taking me out to buy some paint so I can decorate my new bedroom!" I told him, I still had a huge smile on my face, I know that sometimes daddy scares me when he argues with mommy and that I don't always feel safe with him, but he's still my daddy and that means I'll always love him.
"Oh really, so that's where your living now!" he replied, I nodded my head, "So where's mommy?" he then asked me.
"She's gone out to try and get a job, because she said she needs to start earning money!" I told him, as he placed me back down on the ground.
"So she left you with a stranger all day!" he said, send dangers Freddie's way.
"Don't be silly daddy, Uncle Freddie isn't a stranger, him and mommy are best friends and we live with him." I told daddy, confused as to why daddy thought Uncle Freddie was a stranger.
"Well darling, daddy needs to get going, I've got to go back to work. But I will see you soon!" he told me, waving bye before continuing to walk down the street, knocking into Freddie as he walked past.
"Come on then, let's go get you some paint!" he told me, holding out his hand for me to take once more as we continued on to the paint shop.
It wasn't much further and we arrived quickly, there were cool trollies which had seats.
"You want to sit in the seat or walk holding onto the trolley?" Freddie asked me as he pulled one from the long row they were all in.
"Sit please!" I replied, he picked me up and carefully sat me in the seat, making sure I was in securely before we entered the shop. I'd never been here before, since mommy had painted my old bedroom when I was still a baby.
It was basically like a huge warehouse that contained everything to do with decorating, there were bathrooms, kitchens and bedrooms displayed. Rows upon rows of carpets wallpaper and paint. It completely fascinated me.
Freddie took us over to the paint section first; there was an entire half of the wall dedicated to different colours of pink. I hadn't actually realised that you could get more than one pink before.
"So, we can either paint your bedroom walls all one colour, or we can paint them two different colours, or if you'd like we can get some wallpaper and decorate them that way!" Freddie told me, stopping the trolley at the pink section.
I wasn't sure what I wanted, I liked the idea of wallpaper, but in a few years I will likely not enjoy that pattern. With paint, yeah it's slightly more boring, but you can easily hang things and take things down.
"I think I'd like two paints best!" I told him, with a shy smile. I was still feeling shy around him, It felt slightly weird asking him for stuff when he wasn't actually related to me. I know he'd offered but still, I didn't want to seem greedy.
"Okay, what colours do you want. You can have two different pinks, a pink and another colour, or you could not have any pink whatsoever." He replied with a smile. Out the corner of my eye I spotted a tin of paint, the colour of pink was bright pink colour, and it looked amazing. My old bedroom the walls had been a baby pink, but this pink was like Barbie's lipstick.
Freddie followed my gaze to the paint tin,
"Do you like that colour?" he asked me, I nodded my head, still looking at the tin. He smiled and reached up and got down two tins of paint and placing them in the trolley.
"Would you like another pink or a totally new colour?" he then asked me, I finally brought my gaze back from the colour and to Freddie once more.
"I really like the colour yellow as well!" I told him with a smile.
"Let's go look at the yellow paints then!" he smiled, as he started pushing the trolley again. We rounded the corner and I spotted none other than my very best friend.
"Matty!" I yelled excitedly, he turned and saw me and began waving enthusiastically. Freddie stopped pushing the trolley as Matty as his mommy walked over.
"Hey Le Le!" he exclaimed once they reached the shopping trolley, his mommy extending her arm out to shake Freddie's.
"What you doing here Matty!" I asked him.
"I drew on one side of my bedroom walls and mommy got mad and sad it looks messy, so we need to get some more paint to paint over it." He told me with a smile, "What are you doing here Le?" he asked me.
"I need paint as well. My mommy and daddy have just decided they no longer love each other so me and mommy have moved in with Uncle Freddie and I need some new paint for my new bedroom walls!" I told him, Matty and his mommy looked slightly taken back by this.
"So you're Sam's brother, I never knew she had one!" his mommy finally spoke up, addressing Freddie.
"No silly, Uncle Freddie is mommy's best friend forever!" I told her.
"She just calls me Uncle Freddie because I'm close with the family!" Freddie exclaimed to Matty's mommy. Was that really why I called him Uncle Freddie? Mommy had just always told me he was Uncle Freddie, and up until a couple of days ago I'd barely seen Freddie and wouldn't have said he was close to us.
It was 6 hours later when the door finally opened and mommy walked into the apartment, placing the key Freddie had given her on the side table and shouting an hello.
"In my room Mommy!" I replied, once we'd got home from paint shopping Uncle Freddie said we could start painting the walls. He had covered the cupboards, my bed, my teddies and my carpet with some old sheets and dressed me in one of his old shirts. Like mommy I was small, smaller than the average 5 year old, and this meant that Freddie's shirt buried me, stopping half way down my leg.
By now we'd completed one wall of pink, and we were half way through the wall opposite. Uncle Freddie said it'd be best to do the two pink walls first and then the yellows walls tomorrow or Saturday, because it'd be easier to paint walls next to each other when one wall is dry.
We were both covered in paint, mainly me, I had it in my hair, on my skin and there's no way Freddie would ever be able to wear the shirt again. Mommy walked into the bedroom and gasped at the site.
"Look mommy, where painting!" I exclaimed, holding up the wet paint brush and shaking it. Mommy jumped out the way to make sure she didn't get hit by the paint. But Freddie didn't managed to get out the way in time and now he was splattered in even more paint.
"Yes I see that honey but why are we painting?" she asked looking at Freddie for an answer, I knew she'd want him to reply so I just began getting more paint on the brush.
"I though she deserved a room she felt was her own, and if I was her age I'd have been bored with plain white walls. So I remembered you saying she liked pink so I thought I'd let her get some pink paint for her bedroom walls. It give us something to do today and hasn't caused any harm." He told mommy as I began to apply the paint to the walls.
"What about when we move out, you'll have a pink spare bedroom!" Mom told him.
"It takes nothing to paint once more, anyway, how'd the job hunting go?" he asked, I looked up too. I know this was an important matter.
"I think it went okay, they all said they'd get in touch with me in a couple of days, so fingers crossed!" she said, crossing her fingers at the same time.
"Well why don't you come and paint with us two and have some fun mommy!" I asked, going back to my painting spot.
"Oh go on then, I'll just go get into some old clothes." She exclaimed, exiting the bedroom.
A/N: I know this chapter doesn't have much seddie, but as the chapters progress they will be more, and the relationship between Lydia and Freddie will get more comfortable and less shy.
So hopefully you enjoyed this, and I gotta say thanks so much for 6 reviews on my last chapter, I never expected to get so many. So thank you, and please review this chapter as well.
