A/N
THANKS AGAIN FOR YOU GUYS BEING SO FUCKING NICE omg ! hahahaha. NellWill - I'm sorry, I was unsure as to whether or not you were trolling when you originally left your comment because in the past people have left shitty trolling comments, but im glad you like it and youre not a troll hahaha! Love to you!
The amount of SUPER nice comments that are thoughtful and long are genuinely soooooooo appreciated. Every day I opened up my phone after my last update looking a total Mr Potato Head with a big goofy grin! Please please keep that energy if you like this next chapter.
SO THE NEXT CHAPTER after this will be their time alone. WHAT SHOUD HAPPEN? Should Olivia give in to her sexual frustration? Should Trevor just be a total gent - should they just hang out... TELL ME WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ :D
Enjoy this for now! Sometimes my updates might take a bit longer because Im super busy with work and pass out in front of the TV before i get the chance to write, but I am loving the energy in this for now. So I am eagar to hear what you want me to write!
"Mommy," Noah tugged his mother's arm. She glanced at him. He beckoned her to lower herself down to his level, "Mommy, Ms. Frannie was mean to me…" he whispered. Olivia furrowed her brow.
"Why?" She asked, thinking that maybe he had been playing up. She looked around at the room of stage mothers and over-indulged children and was so grateful that her son cared enough on his account and that she didn't have to push him to do any activities that he didn't want to.
"Because I can't do my turn properly, she said I'm going to ruin my solo." Noah seemed anxious and upset. She felt for him and she was annoyed that the dance teacher was being so harsh with her son.
"Honey, I don't want you to worry…"
"Mommy, I'm gonna ruin my solo!," he hissed.
"Did you ask for help?" She wondered, realising that Noah was upset.
He shook his head, "she didn't have time, she said I didn't practice enough." Well that was a lie, thought Olivia. Her son danced every day and practiced his carefully choreographed routine and quite frankly it was enough, he had other things to worry about.
"Okay, okay…" she thought quickly. She plucked her phone out of her pocket. "Maybe Ava can help, are you happy if I ask Ava to come and help you?"
He nodded.
Olivia texted Trevor who was waiting in the seats she had reserved for them. "Trev, Noah is freaking out about something. Do you think you can get Ava to meet me at the stage door? We might need her dancing expertise."
After pressing send she got to her haunches. "Noah, you can only do your best okay, babe? Don't worry about Ms. Frannie. We both know you've practiced every day and you just go out there and do what you can and I will be so proud regardless."
He nodded with a pout.
She got a message and plucked her phone from her pocket. It was Trevor. "Ava is waiting for you at the door, she's happy to help X."
"Honey, wait here, do your stretches, I'll be right back." She took her son's chin between her pointer and her thumb and kissed his forehead. "Hold tight."
Olivia opened the stage door and came face-to-face with Ava Langan and felt so relieved. "Hi honey," she greeted her, "thank you so much, Noah is having a little freak out about his solo and his teacher is being a bit impatient with him."
"Don't thank me Liv, I would love to help Noah," she smiled her beautiful smile and Liv gave her a hug and a little squeeze. "Follow me…" Liv said, grabbing the teen's hand and taking her to where Noah was.
"Okay Nooooooah!" Ava greeted him, "you look so great! You are gonna do amazing. Let's work on your solo together, okay?"
Noah looked relived too. He smiled and nodded. She turned to Olivia, "why don't you go sit with Dad, Liv, we've got it from here, right Noah?"
He nodded enthusiastically. Olivia couldn't help but to smile. "Okay, thank you. Love you Noah, you're gonna be great!" She turned to Ava, "you're an angel, honey, thank you!" She kissed them both and made her way out to Trevor,
/
Olivia nervously took her seat beside Trevor. She'd barely greeted him but he understood because she was concerned about her son. "Hey…" he said softly, touching her arm with his light hands. She turned to him and grimaced. "Hey, it's okay, Ava will help him work it out. She's really good, she won't let him go out there and fail, I promise."
"I know…" she sighed, "he said his teacher basically put it on him; that he was gonna ruin his own dance because he didn't practice enough and he was so sad."
"I'm sure that's not true and Ava will help…"
She fell back against her chair. Trevor put an arm around her. "I swear I'm not an overbearing stage mother," she managed a laugh. "I just don't want to see my son set up to fail."
"I know, it must feel pretty helpless, but he'll be great, I know it." He leaned in and kissed Liv's temple.
She turned to him and decided to believe Trevor and also in her son's talent. She smiled. "Anyway, hello and thank you for coming."
Trevor chuckled and leaned in to press his lips against hers. "Hello yourself, love. You look wonderful and you smell…" he paused and pressed his nose against her neck, breathing in the intoxicating sweetness of her perfume, "you smell amazing."
She laughed, jerking her head away, his nose tickling her. "Stop it, Langan, we're in public."
He smiled, "sorry…I just feel like I haven't seen you in forever…"
She felt that too, she had been longing to see him all day. She was happy that he was finally with her and was glad for it, she knew she would have been a mess of nerves if Trevor and Ava didn't attend, she wouldn't have been able to help her son and he may just have ended up psyching himself out of his dance.
/
"Let's do a quick run through of your routine," Ava suggested, glaring at the dance teacher who was rushing around making herself look busy while really not helping any of her students. "And you can show me where you think you're making a mistake," she added.
She could tell Noah was very close to crying. "Hey, Noah?" He looked up at his new friend, trying to be brave and trying not to cry. "Its okay," she said softly, "I know this is overwhelming, sometimes solos scare me as well, but I know you can do this, you know how I know?"
"How?," he asked in a little voice.
"Because the other night you showed me your entire routine and your turns were perfect. You're just nervous."
He nodded, unsure.
She took his tiny hand and pulled him toward her and leaned over to give him a hug. "Its okay, you're going to do amazing!," she told him without flinching, "dont worry about your teacher, she has no idea what you can and can't do."
Ava released Noah. He gave her a little smile. "Come on, let's go through it and see how much of a fantastic little dancer you're going to be on that stage!," she was encouraging and enthusiastic so much so that Noah began to believe her.
He stood up a little more confidently and started to show her his routine.
/
"Here she comes," Trevor nodded at his daughter walking back up the slight incline to their seats a couple of rows from the stage. Olivia was so grateful with Trevor's, tall and beautiful teenage daughter.
She eased herself past a couple before taking a seat next to Olivia. She was nonchalant and showed little-to-no emotion on her face. She was a stoic and thoughtful girl, Olivia could tell that already. "Is Noah okay?" Liv asked leaning over to Trevor's daughter.
"Totally fine," she smiled at last, "he was just nervous but I taught him what I do when I'm nervous and then we went through the routine a few times. It was perfect."
Olivia reached for Ava's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Thank you so much, sweetheart, I don't know what I would have done without you."
Ava caught eyes with her father who gave her a smile and a wink. Ava smiled back at Olivia. "You're welcome, anytime. Anything for Noah."
Olivia held her hand close to her, deciding not to let go of it and Ava loved the ease of which her father's new girlfriend's affection came. It was nice and different to when her Dad awkwardly showed his affection.
She smiled to herself in the dark and gave Liv's hand a little squeeze.
/
"Saving the best to last, huh?" Trevor nudged Olivia as they announced Noah's solo dance. Ava sat up straight in her chair beside Liv.
"I hope it goes okay," Olivia murmured with concern. She felt Trevor's hand on her back, caressing it in circles, trying to show her a little comfort.
The piano music began and the curtains opened with Noah in his all-black tights and leotard at his starting spot. Olivia was always amazed at how he could extend his thin limbs and make them look uncharacteristically long.
She watched her son glide around the stage looking so light on his feet appearing more graceful and flexible than she had ever been as a child. There was absolutely nothing wrong with his spins and without knowing all the technical information around the routine, she did know that he'd done very well.
Olivia felt Ava grab her hand and excitedly shake her as Noah did the splits mid-air and landed in to the most perfect tumble to finish his routine. "He did it! It was perfect!" Ava hissed excitedly.
Olivia grinned at her as they jumped up to clap and cheer for him. Noah held his pose, unflinching despite hearing his mother whistling for him.
"He did so good!" Trevor told Olivia, "I told you he would! He's so talented. Wow!"
"He is really good! He's going to score so well," Ava told them both, "I think he's gonna win. Technically he was almost perfect."
The worst part was waiting for the presentation to begin. All the dancers came to take a bow and were reintroduced.
The emcee was Noah's dance teacher who had been all but a little cruel to him in Olivia's opinion. She called out the runner up winner, the third place and when the second place came Olivia grabbed both hands on either side of her with hope.
Another child's name was called out.
"He's won," Ava said casually to them. "If Noah hasn't won, it's entirely rigged," she said.
"And the winner of the Manhattan On Pointe Dance Competition with a very, very high score is the talented Noah Benson!"
Trevor let out a yell of excitement as he and Olivia jumped up to cheer for him. Ava couldn't help but smile. Her father got just as excited when she won her swim meets. The best part was Noah's shock — as if he never expected that he could have won. His grin was so board and the trophy was so big that he could barely hold it on his own.
"Congratulations Noah," Ms Frannie said as he took the trophy with such shyness that it made Olivia's heart swell with pride.
The presentation concluded and the lights went up and Ava and Trevor waited for Olivia to go and collect her son. Trevor got up and and swapped seats to be closer to his daughter. "That was really nice, right?," he asked, "to see Noah win…"
Ava nodded, "Yeah, he did good, he's really good."
"He reminds me of watching you dance when you were little… its poetic."
"Oh, so now I'm the black swan?," she shot back smartly, tossing her long blond hair over her shoulder.
Trevor rolled his eyes, "That's not what I meant and you know it. I just meant that it brought back really nice memories for me of when you were still my tiny little girl."
"And now I'm just Mrs. Potato Head…"
"Ava!," he snapped with frustration, "stop being difficult. I'm trying to share something nice with you!"
She finally cracked a smile and patted his arm. "I'm just messing with you, Dad."
"Are you doing a solo on Wednesday night?," he wondered.
"Yeah, I'm thinking of stealing Noah's routine," she told him with a very serious expression, lowering her voice.
Trevor widened his eyes, "you can't do that! They're coming to watch!"
"Don't worry," she continued, examining her white-painted nails as if she was bored with his panic, "I'll use different music so they won't know."
"Ava!," he was incredulous and she couldn't help but to begin to laugh.
"Oh my goodness, Dad, chill out… don't be so serious!"
"Don't you be so serious! How am I supposed to know when you're joking!," he shook his head but was able to smile.
"As if I'm gonna steal a 9 year old's dance routine, do you really think I'd do that and invite them?" She laughed. "You're a logical man, Dad, I know that for a fact, don't be so gullible."
They both stood up when they saw Olivia and Noah coming back toward them. She was holding the trophy and Noah had his dance bag on his back. They were both smiling and Trevor knew from his own experience just how proud she must have been. They met them both at the end of the aisle, ready to leave.
"Congratulaaaations champ!" Trevor grinned at Noah, "wow, look at that trophy, I've never won a trophy that big in my entire life!"
Noah was grinning so hard and so proudly. Trevor understood that to some kids that his presence could be foreboding so he levelled down to his haunches to meet Noah's height. "We're all so proud of you!" He told him as they met eye-to-eye.
"Thank you," Noah said shyly. Olivia felt her breath catch the way Trevor got to her son's level. She knew Trevor wanted to give him a hug but was hesitating. "Did you want to give Trevor a hug?," she urged him. She knew if her son didn't want to, she would pick up on his body language and excuse him out of it.
"You don't have to give me a hug if you don't want to," Trevor smiled at him and spoke gently, not wanting to impose himself on the boy. Noah surprised the both of them and stepped forward and put his arms out with an embarrassed closed-lip smile.
Trevor felt his heart warm as Olivia's son wrapped his arms around him. He reciprocated and lifted him up making him burst in to giggles. Ava smiled at her Dad and Noah. "Maybe you and your Mom should get a photo with that epic trophy," Ava suggested.
"Oh that's a great idea," Trevor smiled. "Come on lets go in front of the stage and take a pic so you guys can remember this night." He smiled at Liv too.
Liv put an arm around Ava, not wanting her to feel weird about her father giving attention to Noah. Trevor carried Noah to the stage and took Liv's hand and they found a spot to take some photos.
/
"Shit," Olivia muttered out loud as she looked at her phone.
Noah looked at his Mom, "Mommmmy, swear jar!" He told her.
"Sorry guys," she apologised quickly. She quickly replied to Lucy, Noah's nanny.
"Its okay," Trevor said, "what's going on?" Trevor wondered as the kids eyed both of the adults.
"Oh," she looked up, "it's just Lucy— she thought she'd be able to do the mornings this week to take Noah to school but she can't swing it," she sighed.
"Maybe I can help?" Trevor suggested, now that he wasn't officially working from an office, he could set his own hours unless he had meetings. He thought for a moment. "Noah goes to school close to Ava, why don't you drop Noah off to my place and I can take them both to school this week."
Ava rolled her eyes, "I'm not getting driven to school, Dad, how embarrassing."
Trevor gave her a look but she stared back at him. "No offence, Noah," she added.
"Its okay," Liv replied, "I can probably just work something out with Amanda or Fin," she replied.
"Why don't I walk Noah to school?" Ava asked, "I'm going his school on my way, I may as well."
Olivia and Trevor looked at each other wondering if it was appropriate. Trevor gave a little shrug as if it was up to her.
"Mommmm, can Ava walk me to school, pleeeeeease?," Noah's eyes lit up at the idea of getting to hang out with a bigger kid and Ava was so nice to him. He already thought she was one of the coolest people he knew.
"I'm responsible, I promise. I always just go straight to school and I can even walk him inside if you're worried," she told Olivia.
"I guess that'll be okay," she said slowly. "What if I drop Noah over when I go to work, is that okay?"
"Of course that's fine," Trevor said with a smile.
"That okay with both of you guys?" Liv asked the kids.
"Yesssss, Ava you get to walk me to school!," Noah announced excitedly.
Ava grinned at him and gave him a high-five. "Big day for you, you win your dance competition and you get to hang out with the coolest people in the world for dinner and then you get to see us again tomorrow," she told him.
Noah giggled excitedly.
"Thank you Ava, I appreciate that," Olivia told her meaningfully, reaching out to touch her shoulder gently.
"You're welcome," she replied. The kids looked over the menu of the diner together. It was Noah's choice.
"Well," Trevor announced, "I am really in the mood for a huge hamburger and I can't wait for some fries. Do you guys know what you want?," he asked the kids.
"I would like to have uhhh…" he looked over the menu, "a cheeseburger with ketchup and mustard," he told Trevor excitedly.
"Good choice, little man! What about you Ava?"
"I'll just have…" she scanned the menu with a disgusted face, "does this place even have salad?" She sighed, "I guess some pickles."
"What?" Liv rose an eyebrow at her, "Ava, you can't eat pickles for dinner, have a hot dog or a hamburger."
"Oh, how good would that look, my stomach hanging out when I'm in my leotard on Wednesday night," she replied.
Olivia glanced at Trevor. She wasn't going to allow his daughter to project her eating habits on to her son. "Ava, you're allowed to eat whatever you like in moderation," she said gently, "if you want a burger or fries or a hot dog or whatever, please, get it… it is not going to affect how you look in your leotard, trust me on that."
Ava felt suspicious - that was never the advice of her mother. Her mother often made her second guess every single food choice. She stared at Olivia and then over at her father.
"Olivia is right," he agreed, "I don't want to hear that talk about food, you are absolutely beautiful as you are and you are too young to worry about dieting or depriving yourself of food on account of your hobbies."
"Please," Olivia smiled, placing her hand over Ava's. "As someone who cared too much about weight as a teenager, I can tell you none of that matters later down the track. You have to eat dinner."
"Okay," Ava sighed. She glanced at Noah who was watching on wondering if Trevor's daughter was in trouble with his Mom and Trevor. "I guess I'll have a cheeseburger too."
"And you can share my fries because I can never finish them," Noah added with a smile.
Ava leaned over, putting her arm around him and gave him a squeeze. "You're the sweetest," she remarked.
Trevor let out a quiet sigh of relief. He didn't want to be arguing with his daughter about food — ever. He reached for Olivia's hand over the table and noticed that she didn't pull away. She was comfortable with holding his hand. "What about you, love?," he asked, "what are you gonna have?"
"I'm going to have a cheeseburger and fries too," she told him.
"Okay, I'll go order," he went to get up.
"No," Liv replied, "this is me, I'm paying."
"Absolutely not, we're taking you guys out to celebrate Noah's win." Olivia was already up, heading to the counter. He turned to the kids, ignoring her, "I'll be back in a second."
He followed her and appeared beside her. She glanced at him and laughed, "Trev— seriously, let me pay."
"No!," he insisted, putting an arm around her waist as they waited for service. "Please, please let me pay. I owe you for talking some sense in to my daughter just now."
"Ooft yeah, keep your eye on that, love…" she was serious, comments about food were warning bells for her.
"Do you think its a problem?," he asked, his voice hushed as he pulled his wallet out, bother forgetting that they were quarrelling over who was paying.
"It could be if you don't keep your eye on it, just… encourage healthy food but also don't assign food to be good or bad, just whatever you guys want in moderation, that's what I do with Noah."
Trevor gazed at her with a sense of adoration for how natural being a parent came to her. "Can I kiss you?," he asked as they waited to be served.
She smiled at him, looking in to his beautiful, intense orbs. "Okay," she murmured.
/
"Ava do you think my Mom and your Dad will get married?" Noah asked her as he caught them both kissing.
"I think it's a bit early for that," she replied to him honestly. She glanced at them too and then back to Noah, "do you like my Dad?"
Noah nodded, "I like him, he's really nice to my Mom and he makes her smile. He said maybe one day he could take me to the park with you to play catch or something fun."
Ava smiled. She really couldn't get over how sweet and cute Noah was. "That'll be fun, maybe one day when your Mom is at work we can all hang out."
"Yeah!," he agreed, "do you like my Mommy?," he wondered.
"Of course. Your Mom is the best, you're so lucky to have a Mom like yours," she told him. "I bet she's a great Mom, right?"
"Yeah," Noah grinned, "she's the best, my Mom helps so many people and we do so much fun stuff together. We went to the trampoline park yesterday," he told her excitedly, "we go there a lot."
Ava smiled a little regretfully. She missed her Mom — or at least the relationship that she had with her mother when she was younger before she started to realise that her Mom wasn't always right and the things that her mother often said to her wasn't exactly normal. Her mother had never really been affectionate but Ava was okay with that; by default it made her clam up a little when her father tried to give her a hug but she was slowly beginning to relax in to it after a month of living with him.
It was working out for the better though, she thought. Olivia was the type of woman that she did want around. She imagined that if she told Olivia about a girl she had a crush on, she wouldn't be disgusted nor would she treat her any different, she imagined Olivia wouldn't flinch but instead, just ask questions about it, indulge her a little and would probably be happy for her.
She knew her Dad would be okay too, or at least that's what he said but it would be lame to have to discuss her love life with her father.
She looked over again and saw her father staring at Olivia in a way she had never seen him look at another woman. He looked happy and totally relaxed. He was somehow softer around Olivia. He had never really been stern with her and he had been especially gentle with her since she had moved in, but with Olivia it was something else.
She wondered if he was in love.
He deserved it she thought, for all the years he had to endure her mother accusing him of stupid things. Cheating, not wanting to be a part of the family, choosing to work over her, not making enough money, making too much money. She remembered the day he left and it wasn't because he wanted to, it was because he was pushed out and she had never quite forgiven her Mom for that.
He had cried and apologised to Ava. She had cried too and she begged and screamed for him not to go.
She thought about it often and the greater and more accepting of her that her dad grew to be, the more she resented her mother for not sending her to live with him sooner.
He definitely deserved a woman like Olivia.
/
Olivia couldn't help but to stare at Trevor's forearms; he had folded up the sleeves of the white dress-shirt he'd worn to work that day and was handling his hamburger well — the size of it dwarfing in his huge hands, almost halfway through before the rest of them had made a dent in theirs.
"Summer's coming up, Noah, are you excited?" Trevor asked him.
Noah nodded, plopping some fries in to his mouth. "Yeah, I love summer, don't I Mommy?"
"We both do," she agreed, "Noah and I usually go somewhere for at least a week. We are thinking maybe of going somewhere on a plane this year," she told them. "But we'll see."
"Sounds lovely," he turned to Ava, "remember when I used to take you to the beach when you were little?," he asked her.
Ava nodded, "Yeah, but I think the last time we went on an actual holiday was when I was…" she thought for a second.
"You were 8," Trevor smiled. "But you went to Maine with your Mom sometimes," he added. "You had fun times there."
Ava agreed even though she hated going to Maine without her father after her parents split. Her Mom hated the beach and never wanted to play the way her Dad would with her.
"Well we go to the beach a lot in summer, its our favourite place, you're always welcome Ava," Olivia said kindly.
"And me? What about me?" Trevor asked playfully.
"You're not invited, Dad, just me and Noah and Liv, sorry," she smirked at him.
Olivia laughed.
"Do you like the beach too, Trevor?" Noah asked him.
"I do," he smiled.
"I like it but sometimes I don't like going in the water cos I get scared when the waves are really big," he admitted.
"Well if I'm not invited to your beach adventure, I'll take you and your Mom and Ava can stay home and I can piggy back you or you can get on my shoulders and we can go in to the water and I won't let anything happen."
"No you can come with us, can't he, Mom?" Noah asked Olivia, alarmed as if maybe she didn't want him to come.
"Sure babe, Trevor can come to the beach when we go… Ava is just teasing."
"No, I'm not," she replied, dead-pan as she took a bite of her hamburger.
Trevor rolled his eyes. "She's kidding," he told Noah seriously, "Sometimes Ava doesn't like to show that she's kidding so we all think that she's serious, she thinks its really funny."
Finally his daughter cracked a smile; mostly impressed because her father had cracked the code to her sense of humour. Her little smile grew in to a grin, realising that he understood her. Trevor eyed her with a little smile. "I love you, Dad," she blurted out, feeling her cheeks heat up as soon as it came out.
Trevor beamed back at her, a little thrown by her sudden confession. She avoided her father's eyes as he turned a little sentimental and didn't at all want to be dismissive. "I love you too, sweetie," he responded, giving her a wink. He knew better than to make a big deal of it, but careful enough to not treat it like it meant nothing either.
Dealing with Ava, he was starting to realise, was all about finding balance.
/
After dinner they walked Olivia and Noah back to their apartment and made arrangements for the following morning. Olivia was to drop Noah off at 7 and he and Ava would leave for school at 8 and Trevor was going to organise breakfast and told Olivia via text that he would offer to drive Noah instead of walking as he was usually used to when Liv was home.
"Goodnight guys," Olivia said to Trevor and Ava. She could tell Noah was exhausted. "Thank you for coming to Noah's dance recital and to dinner, it was a really lovely night, right Noah?"
"Yeah!," he grinned, "thanks for coming!"
Olivia gave Ava a hug and a little squeeze. "Can't wait to see you dance on Wednesday, gorgeous girl," she told her.
"Thanks Liv," Ava replied.
Noah fell in to Trevor's arms the way he had earlier. "Goodnight Trevor, I had a fun night, thank you for my dinner."
"You are very welcome, champ, you did so good today, we are all so proud of you. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
He nodded, smiling. Noah turned to give Ava a hug too, allowing their parents some time to politely and frustratedly say goodbye to one another.
"Goodnight," Liv told Trevor awkwardly, knowing that their kids were hovering and waiting for them. Trevor leaned in and kissed her cheek and lingered for a moment until Olivia made an executive decision and turned her head to catch his mouth with hers.
"Goodnight," he replied, staring at her lips. He wanted to kiss her again and draw her closer and hold her against him to feel her body against his, but he was aware of how inappropriate that was for the company they were keeping.
Olivia gave him a knowing smile and took a step back.
Neither of them wanted the night to end there, but it was past Noah's bed time and she had an early start too. Getting Noah up and ready to leave at 7 in the morning was going to be hard enough.
/
"Mommmyyyy, you kissed Trevor, I saw you," Noah grinned at Olivia as the front door closed after them.
She couldn't help but to smile. "Alright, alright, we'll talk about that later but I really need you to go jump in the shower and make it fast and make sure you wash properly!"
"Awwww…" he seemed disappointed.
"Come on, babe," she said gently, "you've had a big night and its really late and we need to wake up earlier than usual tomorrow so I can take you to Trevor's house."
"Okay," he agreed. "Can we put my trophy somewhere special?," he asked. They had briefly dropped in so Olivia put put his trophy inside before they headed to dinner.
"Of course, babe. Off you go, I'll put your fresh pyjamas out," she was trying hard to stop his stalling. Finally, she watched him head upstairs. She sighed to herself.
So, she thought, this is how it feels to be sexually frustrated…
She went upstairs and got out his onesie. She knew he was probably a bit old for it, but it matched hers and it looked so adorable on him. She put it out for him and went to get changed in to her own onesie. She glanced in the mirror at how utterly silly she looked but was able to laugh. She knew just who else would find it funny too.
She grabbed her phone from her bedside table and took a silly selfie and sent it to Trevor.
"Do you and Ava like my onesie? Noah will kill me if I ever told you guys, but I make him wear a matching one too. I'm the worst… xo"
She heard the shower stop running and made sure all Noah's things were together for school the next day. She pulled back his bedding and got everything ready for him. He came in and groaned at her in her matching pyjamas. "Mommmmm it's so lame," he told her, but he was smiling and she knew that he didn't really mind.
She laughed, "Let me just be your annoying, sappy Mommy a little bit longer," she replied.
Noah got in to bed and let Olivia tuck him in. She kissed his forehead. "I was so proud of you today. I know you were scared, but you found your bravery and you kicked your fears down, babe and that takes so much courage. You should be proud of yourself too," she told him with a little smile as she caressed his beautiful damp curls.
"Thanks Mommy, Ava helped me. She said she gets nervous too and she helped me get rid of my nerves," he replied with a happy smile.
"I can tell you really like Ava, I think that's nice that you have a new friend who can help you with dance and with other fun stuff."
"Yeah, she's cool," he agreed. "I like it when we see Trevor too," he added.
"Yeah? What do you like about Trevor?," she wondered.
"He's fun and nice and he talks to me. And he is really nice to you, Mom, he really likes you and I know you like him."
She laughed because there was no point denying it to her son anymore.
"I know babe, but these things can be complicated. Trevor and I don't know each other very well yet, it'll take time for us to see each other more and spend time with the four of us plus we both have you and Ava to think about."
"But maybe you will keep liking each other so much that we could allllll spend time together all the time and he'd be your boyfriend."
Olivia tried not to show her joy for her son's enthusiasm. "Its new and exciting for me too, my love, but I just want us not to have our hopes up too high, okay? If it doesn't work out, Trevor and I will still be friends and you and Ava can still be friends, but I don't want you or Ava to be upset."
"Okay, but I hope it'll be nice forever…"
"Thanks my sweetheart. I love you, get some sleep okay? We are gonna be getting up very early," she kissed his forehead again and turned his lamp out.
/
"Oh my gosh," Ava laughed as she handed the phone back to her Dad as they walked home. "That's cute! Olivia is so cool," she told him.
Trevor laughed heartily and put his arm around his daughter, drawing her close to him. "She is isn't she?"
"Yeah…and Noah is so cute I could explode."
"Please don't explode, I hate mess," he joked, kissing her on the forehead. "He did do so well tonight, he was so proud too, he's a really, really sweet kid."
Ava laughed too. "Dad, remember when we were talking about holidays tonight?"
"Yeah…" he noticed his daughter shivering slightly from the cold. He had warned her twice to wear a warmer jacket but she had refused and told him that her cardigan was enough. He let go of her and shedded his warm coat. "Here," he put it over her shoulders. She went to protest by pure stubbornness. "Ava," he said impatiently, "put my coat on, you're cold."
She didn't argue, instead she slipped her long, thin arms in to the sleeves and wrapped it around her. "Thanks," she said softly.
"What were you going to say about the holidays," he pressed, resuming his arm around her, enjoying the slow walk home.
"It doesn't matter," she replied and he scolded himself for interrupting her with his coat.
"I'm sure it does matter, tell me what you were gonna say, I wanna know, I'm interested," he pushed.
There was some silence for a moment before she broke it. "I just wanted to say after you and Mom split up, it wasn't the same, I hated going to Maine. It wasn't fun."
A deep sadness filled his stomach as he gave her a little squeeze. "I'm sorry baby," he said softly, "I didn't know that. I genuinely thought you loved going to Maine with your Mom. What did you hate about it?"
She shrugged. "I dunno, just… Mom hated the beach so we never went. She didn't play games with me. She left me with the nanny a lot to go and spend time with her friends… And when we all went as a family, you used to always play with me. We had so much fun at the beach when I was little and I guess everything just changed so much after that."
"I'm sorry," he murmured, "I should have made more of an effort to take you on holidays of our own."
"Its okay," she said, "I don't want to make you feel bad, I have a lot to be grateful for. You worked really hard so I didn't have to move and we didn't have to sell the house in Maine until Mom got bored of it."
He sighed deeply and kissed the crown of his daughter's head. "How are you so mature and sensible and logical at 14?," he asked rhetorically. "I promise that this summer we'll go on a holiday, okay?," he meant it. His daughter deserved it. "You pick, anywhere you want."
"Sun City, South Africa," she replied, the first elaborate place she could think of. He knew she was joking and he was starting to understand her dry wit.
"Okay cool, then after that we'll spend a week in the Maldives," he shrugged.
"Could we go to Egypt after that and see the Sphinx and the Valley of the Kings?," she asked, looking up at him, not even cracking a smile.
"Why stop there? Maybe we'll go to Brazil and climb the big Jesus."
Finally Ava started to laugh.
"Ha," Trevor laughed too, "I out-witted you, I made you laugh," he told her nudging her gently.
"What a first," she jibed him. "But seriously, we don't have to go anywhere, but maybe we can go to the beach a bit, that'd be fun."
"Nah, we'll go somewhere and make new memories," he smiled. He guided Ava in to the lobby of their apartment. It was just before 9pm as they walked in the door. "Wanna have some ice cream with your boring old Dad?," he asked, enjoying the time that he had with her.
"I just ate a crap load of junk, Dad," she moaned.
"Okay, sit down at the counter…Non-negotiable." he told her with seriousness. She hung his coat up and dragged her feet over to the counter and sat down. He went to the freezer and pulled out the chocolate caramel swirl ice cream that she'd chosen when she'd moved in.
"I'm not going to make you eat if you truly don't want to eat ice cream because you don't feel like it, but if you are saying no because of concern over your appearance, I want that to stop."
She sighed and stared at him, propping her chin on her hands, elbows on the countertop. She stared at the ice cream. Trevor's gut knotted as he saw her thinking it over before finally looking up at him. "Just a little bit."
He silently took two bowls out and scooped some ice cream in both. He handed a spoon to her and stood opposite her. "Talk me through this food thing, why are you so worried about what you're eating?"
"Dad, I don't want to talk about it because you're just gonna tell me it's stupid."
"I won't tell you it's stupid, honey, I want to try to understand why you're 14 and so worried about food, because honestly, its a concern to me." He pushed the bowl across the counter to her.
"You're a man, you wouldn't understand, you don't have to always worry about how you look. It's different," she took a small spoonful of her ice cream.
"I know, I understand that there is a difference and I definitely want you to be healthy and if you only want to eat healthy that's totally fine, but if you want to have a hamburger or some junk food or whatever, I don't want you to deprive yourself. For the amount of exercise you're doing, it's not going to be an issue."
"Okay," she replied simply.
"I mean it, Ava. You are so beautiful and athletic and you already push your body to do a lot and you need to sustain it with moderated diet."
"Oh-kay," she repeated, frustrated.
He decided to drop it.
Together they finished their ice cream. "I'm gonna go to bed, Dad, I had a nice night and I really like Olivia and Noah. I hope we spend more time with them."
He smiled, "me too, honey."
As she got to the stairs she turned around and smirked, "I saw you kiss her, by the way, you're gross," she teased him.
Trevor couldn't help but to let out a peel of laughter, "Go to bed, you brat!"
/
"Now that the kids are in bed, are you still awake? I really need to hear your voice and have a proper conversation while thinking about you in that really fucking cute onesie…"
Olivia grinned at her phone and texted him back. "I want to see your face. Give me five minutes and I'll call you."
"Please, I am counting the seconds to see your face… how badly I wanted to run my fingers through your hair tonight and I really wanted to taste your tongue… I really ache for some time alone with you."
Olivia swallowed hard as she got his message and felt flattered by his forwardness and his confidence very, very sexy. She finished brushing her teeth and got in to bed as another text came through.
"I am so sorry, that was too much wasn't it? I didn't mean to be crass, I just feel a lot of feelings about you and I came across as a creep. SORRY! Don't hate me." She would have laughed if she didn't feel so bad that she hadn't responded and that she'd left his original message hanging.
She began to type a message, "Please don't apologise… I liked your message, I think my face may have burst in to flames… but I can't say I don't feel the same…x"
She got comfortable, propped up against a pillow and sat against her brown leather bed head. She turned both lamps on for the best light and hit the FaceTime button on his contact.
He was in his office on the couch they had been making out on the night before. "Hello…" he greeted her, a smile instantly filling her lips. Olivia was immediately drawn to his biceps that she could see. He was wearing a white tank top that wasn't tight, but allowed her to realise he was quite muscular; not in a body-builder, gym-rat type way, but he was well-toned and all she could think of was running her hands over those sculpted arms.
"You look…" she paused and gave him a hard blink, "way too sexy right now, here I am dressed in a comical onesie like a goof ball…"
"Uh-uh," he shook his head, "you look so fucking amazing, that pic you sent, it showed off your amazing figure, Liv, I can't wait to see you in it…" he winked.
She managed a laugh.
"So…. I know you have some early mornings but I'm wondering, do you think the Captain could take a lunch break tomorrow and come and see me if you have time?"
She couldn't say no. If nothing else she wanted to be alone with him. She just wanted to be in his arms. "I don't mean to do anything other than just spend some uninterrupted time with you."
"I can't make any firm promises, but I promise that if I actually get a lunch break, I'll call you and we can figure it out," she replied.
"Good enough for me." They gazed at each other for a few moments, erring just on the side of awkwardness, but both of them were so eager to say more — but the kind of things they wanted to say were not appropriate for the short length of time they'd dated.
"I know this is cheesy," she murmured, "but I really feel like I've known you on this personal level for a long time."
"I feel similarly," he smiled, "I mean we do know each other but… not to the degree of, you know… being so close that I can almost taste your perfume on your neck…" his voice trailed and his voice became a little lower.
"Mmm…" she made a little noise almost like a sigh and a groan and it both made him weak while awakening him down below. "I don't know if this is a conversation I can deal with right now," she laughed so lightly; her voice got softer, more vulnerable and he realised he was turning her on.
She smiled languidly at him through the lens, taking in the very beauty of him. "Sorry," he murmured.
"No, its okay, but… I really need some time alone with you, that is for sure…"
"Saturday night, you and I… organise the baby sitter and I'll organise Casi and I'll tell Ava I'm going to New Jersey for work and we can stay somewhere—" he paused and read her expression and realised she was beaming at him, "but I really want to be clear—"
"With what?," she asked curiously.
"I don't want to place any expectations upon you, okay? Its okay if we take our time getting to know each other like this— I really just… wanna be around you and not have a time limit…"
She bit her lip. "You're perfect…," she whispered.
"I'm not perfect. I don't want you to be disappointed, but I really want us to work, I really… really like you and my kid loves you so much…" he laughed.
Olivia laughed, "My kid thinks you're pretty great too, actually, he told me tonight that he's okay if we see more of each other and roasted me for kissing you."
Trevor laughed, "Ava and I had such a good chat on the way home and when she went to bed she stood on the stairs and said she saw us kissing at the diner and told me I was gross, but I know she was teasing me… that kid is always roasting me."
They both smiled. "It seems like things are getting better between you, that you're both finding out a lot about each other and figuring it out."
"Yeah…" he nodded, "she is incredibly sensitive and nothing gets past her and I really don't know how she became so mature."
Olivia chuckled, "she's very funny and sassy and she is just so beautiful, I can tell she's gonna be a real force in about 5 years time."
Trevor agreed, "I'm starting to think her moving in with me is a blessing. She told me tonight that she hated all her childhood holidays after I left. Her mother didn't make as much of an effort with her and it was just her and the nanny for most of the time, it kind of broke my heart."
"I'm sorry…" Liv replied.
"Its okay, I told her I'd take her on a holiday this summer, wherever she wanted— so of course she began to abuse it and told me she wants to go to South Africa or Egypt," he laughed, recalling her deadpan expression that for one second made him wince that she could be serious.
"Oh shit," she laughed, "was she serious?"
"No," he smiled. "I think things were bad with her Mom and as usual she never complains, she just internalises it, but she's opening up to me slowly but surely and I fucking love that," he added with passion.
Olivia grinned. "I love that too, I think it's so beautiful to see this relationship evolve."
He let out a content sigh. "I hope our relationship continues to evolve."
"It's my hope."
"Liv, can I just say, I really, really, really, really like you and I know we haven't even really been on a second date, like, just you and I… but I have some pretty deep feelings already, I just need to tell you — but if I'm coming on too strong, I want you to tell me."
"Never," she shook her head, "and honestly, I'm really scared — I'm really scared of getting my heart broken, but…I do have feelings for you too and they're probably stronger than they should be for our level of time spent…"
"I'm scared of getting hurt too," he said, "I really don't ever want to hurt you… but I really want us to try to put those fears aside and just move forward together."
"Me too," she agreed.
"I'm gonna let you sleep, love," he said softly, "I've got an amazing little boy coming to my place in the morning."
She laughed, "If I can get him up, I'll be there about 7 as long as I can get him to eat first."
"Don't worry about breakfast, I'll make breakfast for both of them, you just go to work and do what you have to do. We'll take care of the rest."
"Thanks so much Trevor. I'll see you in the morning. Sweet dreams."
"You too, goodnight."
/
"Noah please don't make this any harder than it is," Olivia sighed. She stopped walking and turned to her son who had barely stopped crying since he woke up. "I know you're tired, honey, I'm tired too." She placed both of her hands on his thin shoulders. For a fleeting moment, she thought about calling in sick and letting her son call in sick too and they could spend the day in bed watching cartoons— but she knew better, it wasn't exactly the right thing to do. "I promise that after dance practice this afternoon, I'll pick you up and we can have a quiet night and go to bed early."
"I don't want to go to dance practice," he folded his arms.
Olivia sighed. "Fine, don't go to dance practice," she shrugged, "but you can't complain to me when you don't know your moves or if Ms Frances is hard on you. You are however, going to school and Trevor and Ava are expecting us, so lets go…"
She hoped once they arrived, Noah would perk up but he seemed to just be getting more upset.
"Babe…" Olivia begged him, "I'm really trying to just do my best this morning, okay?," she felt guilty once again that her job was impeding her ability to be a present parent. She wished she could drop him off at school herself and be there to pick him up every day too, but it wasn't realistic with her job.
The guilt of being a single parent always ran so deep.
By the time they got to Trevor's she was almost in tears too.
"Heeeey!" Trevor flung the door open with enthusiasm and a big grin, happy to see both Olivia and her son.
His expression dropped as soon as he saw both of them. "Hey, what's wrong?," he asked, thinking something had gone awry.
"Rough morning, Noah is a little upset about me going to work, having to get up early, not having Lucy around, its a whole thing…"
He stared at Olivia and noticed her blinking back the water that filmed her eyes. He wanted to talk to her in private for a second to give her a hug because he could tell Noah's upset was upsetting her too. First though, he crouched down to Noah who was busy wiping his eyes with the backs of his hands.
"I get that it's tough when Mom goes to work, but I promise we'll have a fun morning before school and if you don't feel like walking with Ava, I can drop you off."
"Trevor and Ava are gonna take such good care of you, my love," Olivia told him, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Okay?"
Noah looked up at her and started to cry again.
"I'm so sorry," Liv apologised to Trevor.
"Hey Noah, what's wrong?" Ava called out, realising they'd arrived. "Why are you upset?," she asked him gently. "I was so excited to see you this morning and so was my Dad." Ava read the room and knew Olivia was also upset. She glanced at her Dad and tried a different approach, "I was gonna ask you to help me go over my dance routine for tomorrow night really quick before we eat breakfast cos I think I need a little bit of help."
Noah wiped his eyes.
"Yeah," Trevor agreed, "Ava's been struggling a little," he added, "she tried to ask me but I'm absolutely no help. Have you ever seen a man as freakishly tall as me, trying to dance?," he asked Noah who managed a little laugh. Trevor smiled, "I trip over my own feet, it's not as graceful as you two, let me tell you right now!"
"I don't wanna go to school," he pouted.
"I know, school is so annoying and boring, let's pretend we're walking to school but we'll just do something else instead, I stole my Dad's credit card from his man purse earlier." Ava winked and Noah couldn't help but to laugh knowing that she was joking.
Olivia cracked a smile too. "Thanks Ava, I'm going to send the police to both your schools to make sure you're there."
"That's one way to get to hang out with you," she teased. "Come on, Noah. I don't wanna go to school either but my Dad is forcing me too… they think it's the right thing to do so we need to humour them," Ava told him as if she was bored by the idea.
Noah looked up at his Mom. "I like school sometimes."
"Shhh me too, but don't tell them."
Olivia couldn't deal with how everything that came out of Ava's mouth sounded as though she had all the logic of an adult but all the attitude of a 16 year old.
"Imagine if you didn't go to school today and something amazing happened and you missed out?" Trevor asked, "like, your teacher decides you can watch a movie instead of doing math or… they decide to serve hamburgers for lunch rather than boring mashed potatoes or whatever they serve these days."
"I made Noah his lunch," Olivia announced, "that should be amazing enough, that rarely happens, doesn't it?"
Noah nodded slowly, wiping his eyes again. "Come on, we'll make my Dad sweat it out in the kitchen and make us some banana pancakes…"
"Oh brother," Trevor muttered but he was smiling.
"Noah, you're gonna have a great day, my love," Olivia told him, "and I will be at your school at 3:30pm on the dot and I will wait outside your classroom and it's up to you if you want to go to dance or not, okay?" She'd made a decision to pick him up no matter what, it was at least a compromise.
"Okay…" he agreed, nodding.
"Give Mom a big hug and kiss and we'll let her go to work and get some breakfast happening," Trevor suggested.
Noah turned to his mother and reached up with his arms out. She leaned down and wrapped her arms around him and gave him a big squeeze, lifting him off the ground. She kissed him. "Thanks for being such a brave boy," she whispered, winking at her new company over his shoulder.
"Love you, Mommy," he replied in a soft voice.
"I love you too," she answered, setting him down, "Be good okay and have fun with Trevor and Ava."
"Come on," Ava held out her hand, "let me show you my dance before we have breakfast." Noah looked back at his Mom and gave her a little wave. Ava helped him take his backpack off and set it down next to the stairs.
"Bye honey, love you!"
"Love you," he called over his shoulder, following Ava up the stairs.
Once out of sight she glanced at Trevor. "Come here…" he held out his arms for her. She stepped forward and sank in to him. His arms closed around her firmly and she breathed out a long sigh. "I know," he said gently, "they just break your heart…"
"I just… constantly feel like I'm letting him down," she admitted, closing her eyes tightly, trying not to cry. She buried her face in to his shoulder.
"You're such a great Mom, Liv, please don't let one bad morning shake your confidence, love," he comforted her, rubbing her back. His arms around her and absent affection felt so wonderful and so supportive. She knew she was going to be running a little late now, but it was almost impossible to pull away from him.
She had to though.
"Thanks Trevor…" she broke their embrace. "I needed that, that hug," she added.
"He is going to be fine, I promise," he let go of her for a second, "oh, shoot, I almost forgot… wait right here for one second," he left her for a moment and made his way to the kitchen which was just out of her line of vision.
He came back with a smile, holding on to a large, reusable coffee tumbler. "I made you some coffee."
"Oh my gosh," she grinned, "you are best, I really REALLY like you!," she said with a laugh, wanting to blurt the word love out, but was afraid he would take it far too seriously.
He smiled. "I hope it's okay, I am pretty sure it's the way you like it."
"Tall and strong just like my men?," she winked, taking it in her hand. It felt warm and smelled wonderful as coffee always did first thing in the morning.
Trevor laughed, "keep me posted about lunch, okay?"
"Will do," she told him, but she already knew she wasn't going to be able to make it happen if she had any chance of picking Noah up from school. "I'll text you through the day."
She leaned over and kissed his lips softly, lingeringly, placing her hand on his shoulder. He took a little step closer and circled an arm around her waist, pulling her against him. He kissed her again. "Mmmm…" he groaned softly, "this is what I call a very good morning." His words reverberated against her lips, tickling them. He pressed them together again before pulling away.
Olivia smiled. "I gotta go…"
"Gotcha," he nodded, giving her a little upward nod that she was so used to seeing him do - a flirty little move he had with a soft smile filling his lips. It was sweet and she was pretty sure he didn't even realise he was doing it. He opened the door and gave her a wave goodbye.
/
"Right! Now, do you guys, really want pancakes?" Trevor asked as if he really didn't want to make them.
"I promised Noah," Ava said with a flick of her hair and then laughed, "I can help if you can't make them."
Trevor looked at Noah and flashed him a grin. "No, you go and get ready for school, stop dragging your feet. Noah and I can make the pancakes, can't we?"
Noah smiled and nodded. "Okay, better get you an apron because if you spill on your school clothes your Mom will send me to jail," he joked. "Wanna sit up on the counter?," he asked as Ava made her way back upstairs to get ready.
"Okay," Noah nodded. Trevor lifted him up and set him on the counter and grabbed two aprons from beneath the sink. He put his own on and then looped the second around Noah's head.
"Do you cook much with Mommy at home?," Trevor asked as he took out some bowls and ingredients.
"Not really, Mom doesn't know how to cook very many things," Noah replied with a shrug.
Trevor smiled. "Neither do I, but I do know how to make banana pancakes." He noticed that Noah's shoulders were still slumped and his hands were folded in his lap and he looked like he was still on the cusp of more tears.
"Its pretty tough when Mom works long hours isn't it?," he asked him.
Noah nodded. "Yeah, I get that. My parents used to work all the time and sometimes I just wanted to hang out with my Mom or my Dad," he admitted, "but your Mom does such an important job but I do know that if she could she would have loved to be able to take you to school and pick you up."
"I just wanted to surprise her today," he admitted.
"Oh?" Trevor looked up, "what was the surprise?"
"I got classmate of the month and all of my special work is on my wall and I wanted to surprise her and show her."
"WOW!" Trevor exclaimed. "That is so cool, Noah, you should be so proud! I bet Mom is gonna be soooooo excited to see that."
"But now she won't see it," Noah replied glumly.
"I'd love to see it!" Trevor told him sincerely. "What if I took you to school and you showed me, would that be okay?" Noah lifted his head and made eye contact with Trevor for the first time that morning.
"You don't have to show me, you can walk with Ava if you like," he added, wanting to give Noah his own choice.
"You can see it," he said, "but I don't want Ava to be sad if I don't walk with her."
Trevor loved the thoughtfulness of Olivia's son. "Ava will be fine. In fact, we can leave a little later if I drive you both."
Ava came down the stairs a few moments later with her uniform on. "Honey, I'm going to be driving Noah this morning because he wants to show me something at school. I may as well drop you off too, are you okay with that?"
"I guess so…" she shrugged. He could tell she was tired too, generally she would have never wanted him to drop her off.
"Can you take over here for five minutes? I need to make a quick phone call."
Ava rolled her eyes and yawned and headed in to the kitchen and took the whisk and bowl from him.
/
Olivia picked up her phone just as she was putting her things down in her office. "Hey, everything okay?"
"Yeah…" Trevor replied gently, "I just wanted to run something by you," he lowered his voice, standing in his own office with the door slightly ajar.
"Okay…"
"Noah told me he had a surprise for you in his classroom that's why he was so sad about you not taking him to school," he was worried Olivia would feel bad again.
"Fuck!," she exclaimed, "I wish he'd told me. Lucy was going to be taking him anyway, he mustn't have realised." Olivia held her face in her hands as she sank down in to her chair.
"Well… I asked him what it was and it sounds kinda special, its a bit of an accomplishment for him. He looked ready to cry again so I asked him if he would like to take me and show me and I realise that might be a massive overstep but-"
"No," she cut him off, feeling warmed by his willingness to cheer her son up. "Its okay, I mean if I left Noah with Amanda or Fin or something I'd have no issue with them doing that, so even if we're not officially any kind of relationship, as a friend, that's a—" he listened to her rationalising it out loud and couldn't help but to smile.
"Olivia," he stopped her with a little chuckle.
"Yeah?"
"I'm not going anywhere. I'm not dating anyone else. I'm not interested in anyone else. I just want to be around you… no need to rationalise. I'm not going to overstep with Noah, I'm not looking to be his Dad, I just want to help, the way I know you would for Ava," he told her.
"Same…" she murmured.
"Okay great. Do you need to let his school know that I'm coming with him or something?"
"Oh, yeah. I'll do that. I can just text his teacher. They know sometimes that other people need to get him or drop him off. I'll do that when we get off the phone. Thank you so much for this, Trev, and I hate to tell you that I don't think I can do lunch, not if I want to get to pick up today."
Trevor was disappointed, but he definitely understood. "That's okay baby, your little boy is always going to be your priority and that's exactly as it should be. Maybe tomorrow or we just wait til the end of the week…"
"I hope so," she replied. "Thanks Trev, I'll text Noah's teacher now. Bye love…"
He said goodbye and went back to take over the pancakes.
/
"Okay, you need to show me where we're going because I've never been to this school," Trevor told Noah as they stepped in to the building.
Without thinking about it, Noah grabbed Trevor's huge hand. Trevor looked down, a little surprised, but didn't flinch. Noah felt proud walking along with his Mom's boyfriend. He had surmised Trevor as being big and strong and definitely someone who his friends would think was very cool.
"This way," Noah pulled his arm down another hallway that was filled with other children and parents walking their kids in to class.
Finally they came to a classroom that was buzzing with noise. "This is my classroom!," he told Trevor. The teacher immediately came to meet them as she did with anyone who wasn't familiar to her.
"Mrs. Shields, this is my Mom's friend, Trevor."
"Hi Trevor," the young, blonde teacher greeted him. "Olivia notified me that you'd be bringing Noah this morning."
"Yeah, we're just helping out with school for a few days," he explained. "Noah wanted to show me his special wall today."
"Of course! Come on in, I'm sure Noah can give you the tour…"
Trevor thanked her and followed Noah who tugged at his arm and pulled him across to the other side of the room, barely saying hello to any of his classmates.
He was impressed — there was a reasonable sized photo of Noah in the middle of the wall with lots of decorations around it. Stapled on the wall in a big circle were paintings, drawings and a story he had written. There was also a math and spelling test that he had aced with a perfect score for spelling and a reasonably high score for math.
"Wow Noah!" He exclaimed, looking down at him with a big grin as he went over all of the work carefully, giving it all of his attention. "I love your drawing of Mom," he nodded to a police officer drawing. "And you wrote a story! Can I read it?," he wondered.
Noah looked a little embarrassed. "What if I take a photo of it and read it when I'm on my own and I can tell you what I think later?" Trevor asked him.
Finally, Noah, bashfully smiling nodded. "Okay, but don't send it to Mommy, I want her to read it when she comes to pick me up."
"I won't, I promise." Trevor replied. "I think this looks amazing Noah and you should be so proud of yourself." The little boy beamed back at him. "I love all of your drawings and congratulations on these quizzes… you are so smart and capable! You can do just about anything you want," he added.
Noah was happy to have Trevor's recognition, it was a little different to his mother's who he knew would always love whatever he did. Trevor felt a very sudden soft spot for the little boy who hung on to his every word. He took a quick picture of the story.
"Okay, champ… let's put your bag up on it's hook and I'll have to say goodbye because I think school starts in a few minutes."
"Okay," Noah agreed. Without letting go of his hand, Noah guided him over to the bag rack. He finally broke free and lifted his backpack off and put it up on a hook that had his name labeled over it.
"Trevor are you gonna be at my house tonight?," he wondered.
"Not tonight, I'm sorry, maybe another night, but Ava and I will see you and your Mom at her dance recital tomorrow night, that'll be fun, right?"
"Yeah, I can't wait! I like it when you hang out with Mom and I, she gets so happy!"
Trevor chuckled. "I get happy to see you both as well," he admitted to him. "Maybe next time the four of us can do something really fun. Maybe some time over the weekend, we'll see."
"Yeahhhh…" Noah nodded excitedly.
"Thank you so much for inviting me to see your incredible work in your class, Noah, it's so great and I'm really proud of you and I just know Mom will be so proud too!"
"Thanks," he ducked his head with embarrassment.
"Alright, I better go." He crouched down til he was at Noah's height. He took the little boy's arms within his. "You're going to have a great day today, you're gonna learn lots and have time with all of your friends, okay? And before you know it, Mom will be here to pick you up."
Noah nodded seriously as if it was all the best advice he'd ever heard.
"Do I get a hug before I go or is that too lame in front of your friends?," he wondered, unsure of the rules at school.
Noah didn't say a word, he just opened his arms and leaned forward and let Trevor give him a warm bear hug — or at least that's how it felt with his Mom's giant boyfriend. It was nice and comforting.
"Okay dude," Trevor smiled at his stupid use of the word, "I really should go…"
Noah pulled away and nodded. "Okay bye, Trevor!"
Trevor got to his feet and waved at the little boy.
When he left the room he turned back to see Noah was still watching him. He gave him an encouraging wave and smile again which Noah returned with a big grin on his face and Trevor knew now that his feelings for Olivia were far well extended past just her but also for her tiny, lovely little boy too.