My Little Bubble , Needs To Be Popped

Four Years Later

A soft giggle rang out into the spring air, shortly followed by a groan all among the other sounds that came with being in a park. The air was sweet and slightly warm, enough so you didn’t need a thick coat to go outside. The grass was wet from the fresh rain in the morning that allowed the flowers to bloom out as beautiful as they were now. All around the park were the sounds of the wind, birds, and the patter of footsteps that came along with the happy voices and laughter. It was a nice day to be outside and going to the park was a perfect idea.

I stood there, my long brown hair done up in a bun with curls spilling out in a neat mess swaying gently in the wind. Thankfully, I had on a pair of dark denim skinny jeans and a plain red shirt that was covered partly in a black long sleeved cardigan. My feet were adorned with black converses for walking in the grass, knowing heels wouldn’t work for running around. At the moment, I was leaning against a tree trunk, my eyes watching the people around me while I held onto the small purple jacket that was delicately folded over my right arm.

Shifting slightly, I brought a hand up to brush away a stray hair but stopped to look at the ring that hadn’t left my finger in four years. I was adamant about not removing it, wearing it no matter what was going on because it meant so much to me. It was like one of the three part reward I’d gotten after everything that happened. Four years, being happily married to the man of my dreams is truly one of the great gifts in the world.

So is having a beautiful daughter.

Another giggle hit my ears, making me push away from the tree and look over to see Maddy running around and chasing the ducks while John was chasing after her. It was quite a sight, especially considering how frustrated John looked whenever he came close to getting her but missed.

“Maddy, don’t get your dress dirty! We’ve got to go to Grandma’s house soon.” I called out, laughing when the small brunette girl stopped suddenly, nearing making John run into her but he saved himself.

I watched as he wrapped his arms around her and brought her up high in the air, her giggles ringing out as she kicked around while he held her above him before bring her back down to the ground and letting her play while he made his way over to me.

“She’s going to be so tired when we get to my mom’s house.” I said quietly, draping the small jacket on the nearby bench so I could bring my arms up and around his neck, which was quite a height for me.

“Don’t worry, the boys will keep her awake and entertained. We could totally sneak away and have time to ourselves like we did back in high school.” He smirked and kissed my forehead, wrapping his arms around my waist to bring me closer.

“As fun as that sounds, you know we have to stay since we’re leaving soon.” The band was still doing amazing, but it was reaching the point where neither Madeline nor I wanted to be apart from John longer than a few weeks so I’d decided to go with the boy on their next tour.

“I’m so fucking excited about this, Maddy will get to see the world and I’ll get to show her off to the fans.”

“You will not showcase our baby girl like a trophy!” I playfully hit his arm as he laughed, giving me a pout afterwards.

“But I already do that!”

Rolling my eyes, I pulled away from John and called Madeline over so I could get her jacket on before I picked her up and set her on my hip. We walked out from the park, John trying to make Maddy laugh but she just kept staring at him like he was an idiot. Good, my baby girl realizes she has an idiot of a father, but he’s the best idiot of a father in the world. It was strange to think there had been a point where I hated John, where I wanted nothing to do with him while wanting everything to do with him.

Everything used to be so confusing and I always felt lost but I didn’t have that problem anymore. John was faithful and supportive, the best husband and the best father. Don’t get me wrong, there are moments when I want to kill him and we still have out little arguments but doesn’t every married couple? Never once have we gotten into a major fight.

John did have a problem with finding himself sleeping on the couch often though, he’d actually recently been granted access back into the bedroom. Seriously, there is only so much sex one girl can handle in a night!

“Lily? You okay, baby?” John’s worried voice called out, making me realize he’d had the back door of the car open for a while.

“Yeah, I was just thinking.” I mumbled as I leaned forward and set Madeline down in the car seat, buckling her up before shutting the door.

John was still giving me a worried look so I leaned up and pressed my lips against his before backing away a bit saying, “I was just thinking about your constant problem with getting kicked to the couch.”

“Ohh….” He started blushing slightly, running a nervous hand through his hair which just made me laugh as I got into the car.

“I’m gonna work on stopping that.” John said confidently when he got into the car and started it up, backing out from the spot.

“If you weren’t so demanding, we wouldn’t have this problem. I’m surprised I’m not pregnant again.”

John looked at me, that happy little grin on his face that was practically asking me ‘what’s wrong with that?’.

“Not my fault I want you all the fucking time.” He said in a quiet voice. John can’t stop cursing so we’d resolved that he would just keep his voice down whenever he did for Maddy’s sake.

“Sweetie, I think we have more sex than a hundred married couples put together. It’s never a bad thing to slow down a bit.”

He just gave me his whatever-you-say smile and we drove the rest of the way to my mom’s house in a comfortable silence, Madeline playing with some of her toys that she’d kept forgetting in the car. When we pulled up to the front, everyone was practically there already so we were quick to get out from the car and get inside. It was a round of greetings and hugs before everything finally settled down, my parents as well as John’s messing around with Madeline while me and my boys, with their girlfriends, hung out at the back porch.

Jared and Kennedy were having an argument while everyone else was split into their own little conversation. My eyes were focused on some random spot in the yard before I stood up and excused myself, saying I had to go to the bathroom. The house was full of family so it took a bit to get up the stairs to the second floor, but I didn’t bother going into the bathroom but into my old bedroom.

Instantly, I could see that it hadn’t changed at all. My mom was never one for change so it wasn’t really a surprise to see that it was all the same. Even the pictures that where on my walls from high school, a lot of them of me and the guys from the happy moments that were captured. There was one from when we went to the beach, another when we went to a carnival, and the rest were all taken in the hallways of our high school or in someone’s house. My favourite picture was still by my bedside, the one I’d left behind just in case I ever did come back.

The picture was one Jared had taken where I was wrapped up in John’s arms, my back to his chest while he held a bouquet of flowers in his hand. I was leaning down slightly, smelling the flowers while John laughed at me. We’d taken that picture a couple of days after my seventeenth birthday party, all us of hanging out and watching movies when John sudden disappeared for an hour. We’d ignored it since he was always up to stupid shit but I hadn’t expected him to walk in with the flowers. He’d said he just felt like giving me flowers.

I smiled at the memory, taking the picture frame in my hand and staring at the picture a bit longer before I set it back down and walked over to my window, leaning against the wall next to it. Not much longer, another face appeared in the slight reflection, arms wrapping around my waist while his chin rested gently on top of my head.

“You remember the first day we met?” He asked quietly, a smile crawling on his lips.

I rolled my eyes, remembering perfectly. “Yeah, you fucking took my cookie and ate it before taking my doll and burying it in the sand. I kicked you until you told me where it was.”

John laughed but I could see him wince slightly as well. “You were the first and only girl to ever make me cry. Even as a little girl you were a bit of a wild spirit.”

“Remember how you used to chase me around, threatening to drop worms in my hair?”

“Totally! I ended up accidentally doing it anyway and you cried for so long and I felt so bad that I ended up sharing the cake my mom packed me for lunch with you.”

A laugh left my lips as I leaned back against him, pecking just underneath his chin. “I forgave you and became friends with you after that but you were always annoying as hell.”

He hummed out a sound in agreement before looking down at me. “Remember the year we weren’t friends? What was it, eighth grade?”

“No, freshman year. It started at the end of summer and didn’t stop until the next summer. I hated you so much during that one year…”

“It was my fault, but I had a good reason.”

“You beat the shit out of my boyfriend at the time John. For no reason.”

“He looked at you wrong!”

I rolled my eyes with a smile, shaking my head slightly. “Right, keep telling yourself that.”

We both laughed quietly, knowing all of that was in the past now since none of it mattered anymore. It did in a sense, considering it was our past and how everything led up to this but I was perfectly happy living in the present rather than the past. It was never bad to reminisce though. I turned around in John’s arms, wrapping my own arms around his waist while I buried my face into his chest.

“I hate you.” My voice came out thick and mean, not bothering to hold back the anger that was cursing through me as I threw the notebook that was in my hands at the wall. It’d just needed something to throw and it was there at the time.

I wasted no time in leaving the classroom, ignoring the calls of the teacher till I rounded the corner and couldn’t hear her any longer. Finally, I came to a stop at my locker, leaning my forehead against the cold metal in hopes it would calm me down somehow. Stupid Angela, running her mouth and being such a bitch. I never understood how she found it amusing to hurt people the way she does. Groaning, I slammed my shoe into the locker in frustration before opening the metal door after putting in the combination.

Quickly, I grabbed my school bag and everything else I would need before I shut the locker and walked down the hallway, stopping when I reached the locker I wanted. John didn’t know I knew his combination but I doubt he had a problem with me breaking into locker, especially if he knew what was going on. Grabbing the car keys on the top shelf, I closed the metal door and walked back out the school and down into the parking lot. I unlocked John’s car and climbed inside, locking the doors again while I tossed my stuff on the floor of the passenger seat.

Sticking the key in, I turned the car on and got the radio blasting before going into the backseat and just sprawling across the whole seat while using my jacket as a pillow. I wasn’t sure how long it had been before someone came, but I’d just barely heard the pounding on the window. Groaning, I looked up to see John giving me a worried look but I just shook my head and buried my face back into my jacket.

It was quiet for a long time and I suddenly got really pissed that John just gave up like that but before I could really get mad, the driver side door opened and then closed. Still pissed, I didn’t bother moving till there was the sound of scraping and then the backseat dipped at the side slightly.

“Babe, what’s wrong?” John’s quiet voice reached me, letting me know he’d turned the radio down.

“I don’t want to fucking talk about it.” I grumbled into the jacket.

“Come on Lily, you can’t just hold everything in.”

I turned my head and glared at him, slapping his hand away as he tried to run it through my hair. “Just leave me the fuck alone, I don’t want to be near anyone right now! You’re such an asshole.”

There was a long moment of quiet where I was staring at him with harsh eyes before I realized what I’d said and sighed, laying my head back down.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.”

“I know you didn’t. Are you gonna tell me what happened?”

I sighed, running a hand through my hair but I shook my head afterwards. “Not right now.”

John nodded and then he did what probably no other guy in our high school would have done. He lay down beside me, wrapping his arms around my waist and just sang to me till I fell asleep. Eventually he’d woken me up and taken me home since school was over but it meant a lot to me that he’d done that.

“You know, I was somewhat of a bitch in high school.” I mumbled quietly, looking up at John who’d been looking down at me.

“You weren’t a bitch; you just didn’t let people fuck with you, not even me. I love that about you and that’s something I don’t want you to ever change about yourself.”

John leaned down and connected our lips, making me moan quietly as he pulled me against him, making our hips crash slightly. Our kiss had gotten pretty heated when there was a quiet and tired voice that suddenly made us pull apart.

“Mommy?”

I smiled at Madeline who was rubbing her eyes in a tired manner before I bent down and let her run into my arms, lifting her up and letting her head rest on my shoulder. It wasn’t long before the little girl was out like a light in my arms.

“Mrs. O’Callaghan, I do believe our daughter should be taken home so she can sleep in her own bed.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Mr. O’Callaghan, is this you speaking or your dick that’s probably throbbing in your pants right now.”

John gave me a sheepish looked but I just laughed before leaning up and pecking his lips.

“You know, I think when we get back from the tour we should really work on building our family.” John said quietly, looking at Madeline with soft eyes.

“What are you saying?” I asked, confused.

“I’m saying…” He paused, taking Maddy from me and setting her on the bed before he pulled me to him once again. “That I want to be with you forever, I want you to always be my wife and my best friend. I want to wake up every day knowing that I have the most amazing woman in the world and the most amazing daughter in the world. But I feel like we should…add another little O’Callaghan to the batch.”

I smiled, leaning up to kiss him. “Let me guess, you want a little boy?”

He shrugged with a happy grin on his lips. “I’ve got my little girl, now I just need a little boy.”

Rolling my eyes, I leaned up and kiss him once again but I didn’t say anything else. Another kid would be good; I knew we could handle it.

“I love you Lily, I really do.”

“I love you too John, always will.”