𝐓𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐨 𝐔𝐬 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭

ten

L E V I  C O O P E R
_

My fist makes contact with the white wooden door in front of me. On the other side I can hear muffled noise coming from inside before the door swings open. Blair stands in front of me, her hair thrown into a messy bun on the top of her head, her outfit from earlier now replaced with a black set of sweats.

She opens the door widen so I can walk through, the door closes behind me and she leads me into the conjoined living room and kitchen.

Her house is set in a complex, her house small but enough to fit her family. A wall on the left of the front door, blocking the view from the living room. All the furniture is plain, baby toys littering across the place. The dining table in the kitchen, the stairs next to it, two doors opposite the stairs, most likely leading to the garage and laundry room.

The lived in and cozy feel of the place is a stark contrast to all the cold and empty places I've lived in growing up. A painful reminder of my papa and the unconscious effects he had on me.

"Reese is asleep upstairs but he'll probably end up waking up soon." She sits down on the floor, leaning her back against the couch with a laptop and book along with a few pens sitting infront of her.

"Do you want anything to drink or eat?" She looks up at me still standing. When she sees me shake my head she pats the spot on the floor next to her. I drop my school bag next to me and sit down next to Blair, her sweet scent filling my nostrils. "Do you want to watch anything?" She asks quietly, avoiding doing the assignment.

"Nope." I say popping the 'p'.

"What do we do?" She plays with a loose strand of hair that's fallen from her bun.

"We need to research the topic, which I've already done, and put it into a presentation and make a poster and present it at the end of the month. This is only the first one out of many, so better get used to it, sugar." I open my laptop notes, putting it infront of the two of us.

"Stop calling me sugar." She groans into her hands.

"Never in a million years, sugar." I slow the nickname down, adding to her misery. "You'll love it in no time."

"Never in a million years." She mocks my words, moving her face closer to mine to emphasise the point.

TILL DEATH DO US PART

A soft babies cry breaks our study session, the noise evidently getting louder. Blair sighs before standing up from the floor and up the stairs. A minute later she returns with a baby in her arms, a faint smile on her lips as she looks down at him.

She walks over and takes a seat next to me, closer than last time. Reese looks over at me with his big doe eyes, a few lingering tears resting in his eyes from crying.

He reaches his hands over, making grabby hands at me. "Do you want to hold him?" Blair asks, looking up at me.

"But I'm going to hurt him." I keep my eyes on the baby beside me.

"You're not going to hurt him." I single tear falls down from Reese's eye, he begins to cry but before I could do anything, Blair sits him down on my lap.

He faces me as I hold onto his small body, a large smile grows on his lips, his tiny teeth showing through. He grabs onto my shirt and arm and moves his body.

"Dada." My eyes bulge out of their eyelids while Reese smiles at me and grabs onto my face when he stands up in my lap.

I can feel Blair stiffen next to me, my head turns to look at Blair only to see her staring right back at me with wide eyes.

"Did you just hear him?" I question in pure shock.

"Yes i did." She nods her head slowly, still trying to grasp what just happened.

"He just mumbled dada wile looking at me." I smile at the thought. I look back over at Blair, tearing my gaze away from Reese, and my smile completely drops from my face. "That's not a good thing is it?"

Dread fills my heart, completely confusing me. This girl, that I haven't know for long, has just walked into my life without even knowing it. Her son has just called me 'dada' and I'm definetly not his dad.

"I don't think so." Her gaze remains on her son, lost in her thoughts.

"What do you mean 'you don't think so'?" I start.

"Levi," She turns towards me with a small sigh. "The reason I've never let anyone in is because I'm terrified of them breaking my heart, just like his father did to me. I don't know why and I fucking hate myself for it, but I've let you and your stupid bestfriends into my life even though I swore I never would."

She finishes only to start again, "And saying that it's a good thing leaves something between us, the fact that my son thinks you're his dad but his biological dad is rotting in prison cell."

I swear I saw a lone tear fall from her eye, but before i knew it, it was gone. She shakes her head softly, as if she was dismissing all her unwanted thoughts, she gave me smile which didnt reach her eyes before reaching out and ruffling Reese's short hair.

"You don't need to isolate yourself from everyone because of things you couldn't control, no matter how hard it is you need to leave the past in the past to move on." A smile of my own reaches my face as I watch Reese crawl out of my lap and over to his mother.

He latches onto her black hoodie, tugging as aggresively as he can with his tiny hands. She tries to ignore him but he continues tugging until he sinks into her lap and let tears overcome him.

A sigh leaves Blair's mouth before she relunctly brings her hoodie up, showing off the pink bra she's wearing underneath. She tries her best to cover herself from me while she brings her bra down and Reese instantly laches onto her breast.

Trying my beat to ignore the way her tits are looking and be respectful just like my mother taught me and looking away, the white wall infront of me much more interesting than what's happing next to me.

A sudden thought runs through my mind, "Aren't you meant to stop breastfeeding when they're only a few months old?"

"It all depends on the mother and the baby, and when they want to stop or when the time is right." She looks over at me intensely. "You mainly breastfeed them for about six months before using babyfood but you can still breastfeed occasionally. I only breastfeed him when he really wants it, like now, or if he's having trouble sleeping or just in a mood."

I stay quiet, not having the need to talk in this moment. The only sounds that are heard is Reese sucking on Blair's chest, his heavy breathing and doe eyes, identical to his mother's, allowing myself to believe that's he's the cutest baby I've ever seen, not that I've seen many.

"I won't ever hurt you Blair." I say in the midst of the silent room.

"What do you mean Levi?" She looks over, her brown eyes full of curiosity and a hint of nervousness.

"I would never hurt you if you let me into your life, Blair."

"That's what they all say." Her voice wavers slightly.

"If I ever hurt you, you have my full permission to hit me in my dick or yell at me, whatever you want."

She stares at the wall infront, her thoughts running way to fast for her to speak. "Deal. Just please go easy on me, It's not easy trusting someone after the last time." She sends me a weary smile, one that I can see all her nerves radiating off of her.

"Deal."

—

J<3