My Little Nerd Chapter 9
Troy's POV
"EW! Uncle Chad, what are daddy and Gabby doing?" I heard my little boy squeal from outside the car.
I broke away from Gabriella and turned to face Chad and Austin, who were both giggling as though they'd come up with this plan and had been there for a few moments; though I was surprised I hadn't heard them. My parents were on the porch and apparently my mother had taken deep notice of the fact the Austin had said 'Gabby'.
"Gabriella's in there?" She asked, her whole face lighting up, as she began to walk down the porch steps.
"Yup, Hi Mrs. Bolton." Gabby answered while crawling out of the car past me, and walking to meet my mother on the front lawn.
Gabriella had always been my mothers favorite of all my girlfriends, even after I got older and Gabby lived in New York, she still compared every girl I went out with to 'that dark haired beauty of a girl'. Of course, she did this right in front of the other girl, making her feel extremely uncomfortable. That, meant I had very few second dates.
"Oh, look how pretty you've gotten! Not that you weren't before, of course, oh but now you're strictly a knockout!" My mother said while holding Gabriella at an arms length and studying her.
"Thanks, you look so much prettier too!" Gabby said while blushing, and smiling.
"Oh, darling! Don't lie to an old woman!" my mother answered, before pulling Gabby into the house behind her, and chatting away about girly things.
I looked at Chad, and then started laughing, typical of my mother to steal Gabby away from me once I'd gotten her back. I put my arm over Chad's shoulder and then we looked at each other before racing to the basketball hoop in the backyard. My dad and Austin came back a few minutes later, but Chad and I were already in an intense game of one on one, so my dad began to give Austin some more lessons which Austin greedily ate up.
I wish I was a better father to him and had more time for him.
Gabriella's POV
I sat in the Bolton's old fashioned and decorated living room talking with Mrs. Bolton. She was sitting on the couch across the coffee table from me, and I was sitting the plush chair off to the side away from the door.
"So why are you back?" She asked after we'd gotten past the pleasantries.
"Well…I got sick of New York, all the lights and what not. They get boring after a while." I said laughing while she raised an eye brow.
"Tell the truth honey, oh, and you should stop calling me Mrs. Bolton, call me Diane." She said to me smiling. That's one thing I'd always loved about the Bolton home, even if Troy wasn't in the room with me, I still felt like I could be here, because Mrs. Bolton made me feel so much at home.
"Well, to be honest, Diane, I missed everyone." I said looking down.
"And by everyone, you mean Troy?" She said looking at me and smiling once more; I knew she loved the idea of the two of us back together as much as either of us was.
"Well, yeah, mostly." I laughed, though I was hiding a blush, "But now I know he has a kid, and that just changes everything. Because, what if it doesn't work out, and Austin ends up getting hurt? I couldn't live with myself."
"So I'm guessing you're opinions on children haven't changed much." She asked.
She was one of the few adults that had known that I never wanted children when I was a teenager. I'd always trusted Mrs. Bolton with everything, because she'd never given me a reason not to, and because she always seemed to act like she cared.
"Oh, no. That's another reason I came back. My boyfriend up there didn't want kids, and after holding one of my friends kids, I decided I wanted them." I looked down sheepishly.
"Oh honey, that's just wonderful!" Diane exclaimed, getting up and throwing her hands around me.
"But I just-"
"Come with me." She said interrupting my thoughts and my sentence for what I think was the first time since I'd met her.
We walked to the kitchen and looked out the window that overlooked the basketball hoops where all the boys were.
"Look at Troy what do you see?" She asked me, while pointing at him.
"A teenager. He's acting just like he used to. I can't believe that!" I said, scrunching my eyebrows.
"Exactly, But that's only the teenager you knew. He stopped growing up when you left. And he'd only started when you got here. He changed so much around you." She wistfully said, while seeming to look at something I couldn't see.
I'd never even known that I'd had such a big influence on Troy.
"Now, look at Austin, what do you see this time?" She asked.
"A little boy who needs a mommy." I answered looking at the little boy shooting hoops with his grandfather because his father was too busy.
"Exactly. Can you be his mommy?" She asked before then excusing herself to go to the bathroom.
I stared at the cute little boy, who every once in a while would stop and look at Troy as if he wished Troy would notice him, and pay a little attention to him. But then Mr. Bolton would nudge him a little or something, and he'd immediately go back to being the happy go lucky boy that everyone wanted him to be.
Then I looked at Troy and Chad, Troy didn't even seem to notice that he was hurting his son. However, Chad seemed to, whenever he passed the little boy he'd frown a little and then go back to the game.
As I stared out the window, I thought of whether or not I could be a good mother to the little boy. He already seemed to like me a lot, and there was no sense stopping what had already started. So I stopped staring and walked outside and began playing games with Austin and giving Mr. Bolton a break to go inside and relax.
By nightfall we were both tired, so we lay on the grass and stared up at the stars, before he fell asleep, curled up next to me.
This is exactly what I've been missing, I thought to myself while smiling, This is exactly what I want, and I'm going to be the best replacement mom to Austin as I can. Because I love Troy and Austin, and they both deserve it.
