Glitter

“C’mon Ronnie! Push me higher! I thought you got muscles from all the weight lifting you did in the pokey!” I laughed.

“Fuck you Regan!” Ronnie said but nonetheless pushed my swing higher.

“Hey watch your mouth Radke! There are little ears around here!” Max said where he sat holding our 3 month old daughter Story.

Yes that’s right. Our 3 month old daughter. It turned out the day Ronnie caught Max and I having sex in the shower I had gotten pregnant despite the fact I was on the pill. Apparently I hadn’t been taking it long enough for it to take effect.

I’d found out about her when I was in rehab. I had gone to deal with depression and my addictions. When I had come out I was excited about life and the baby growing inside of me.

Nine months later I gave birth to Story Elizabeth Green. She was beautiful with Max’s green eyes and a head full of my dark hair. It was because of her I stayed perfectly sober and the reason I couldn’t remember the last time a frown crossed my face.

“I’m sorry! I forgot!” Ronnie smiled.

He loved being an uncle more than anything which was wonderful to see.

Suddenly a familiar twinkling filled the air.

“Ice cream!” Max yelled and Story laughed.

“Ooh! Yay!” I smiled and dragged my feed against the sand under the swing to stop myself.

“Jesus you two are parents? You’re more like little kids!” Ronnie laughed.

“Oh hush Ronnie and lets get some ice cream.” I said and grabbed my older brother’s hand and pulled him towards the truck that was stopping for a couple of little kids.

We ordered 3 ice cream cones; Vanilla for me, Chocolate for Max and Strawberry for Ronnie. Once we had our cones we walked over to a picnic table to sit down. Ronnie cradled Story in one arm while I sat next to Max on the other side.

We had been sitting silently enjoying our ice cream when Max started laughing.

“What?” I asked.

“Look at Story.” he smiled.

I looked over at our baby and saw her staring at Ronnie’s ice cream cone opening her mouth like she wanted to eat.

“Aww…she wants ice cream.” I smiled.

“Well then I’ll give it to her. Here hold this.” Ronnie said and handed me his ice cream cone.

I took it and he swiped his finger over it and wiped the ice cream on her bottom lip. She licked it off her lip and began to squeal with happiness.

Ronnie laughed, “Looks like she’s going to have a sweet tooth like Max.”

“She’s just like her Daddy.” Max grinned.

I smiled at Max and Ronnie. Since the day they had promised they would stop pulling me in different directions they hadn’t had so much as a spat. It was almost like it had been before Ronnie had gone to jail. Story had only reinforced that.

Ronnie was a great uncle and it was the funniest thing in the world to see him and Max on the floor cooing over a little girl in a pink dress. I had snapped several pictures of them doing so and had posted them on my Twitter.

Both had complained for about 2 seconds about how much the pics hurt their reps but as soon as the words crossed their lips they had began talking about how cute Story looked. I just rolled my eyes and printed out copies so they could show their band mates.

We spent the rest of the day at the park. We only went home when Story began to get fussy. Max and I put Story in her car seat and told Ronnie goodbye before heading back home.
Shortly after I had gotten out of rehab my dad had decided that he wanted to retire. He had met a woman in Wyoming and they decided to move to Florida. He left the house to Ronnie, Riley and I to do whatever we wanted with it. Riley hadn’t cared so that left the choice up to Ronnie and I. The both of us were split between selling it and keeping it due to the fact we’d both grown up there when Max had spoken up.

He suggested that he and I move into the house and raise Story. There were too many memories for us to sell it and for the same reason we couldn’t rent it out either. Ronnie and I had both like that idea and now the three of us lived there.

By the time Max and I got home Story was sound asleep in the backseat. I picked her up and carried her inside while Max grabbed the stroller and diaper bag from the trunk. I carried her upstairs and to her room which was my old room.

I laid her down on the changing table and removed the bow from her hair and her pink sneakers. After taking off her jean shorts and pink ‘Rebel’ onesie I changed her diaper and put her in a pair of pink and brown striped pajamas with little bears at the feet. Thankfully she’d had a bottle right before we’d left the park so she wouldn’t be waking up for awhile.

Once she was in her bed I turned on the nightlight and the baby monitor before walking out. When I reached the hall I saw the ladder to the attic was down meaning Max was up there. Dad had kept a lot of junk over the years and to make room Max and I had been sorting through it with help from Ronnie, Craig, Monte and Robert.

I climbed the ladder and sure enough Max was sitting on the floor of the attic holding a large piece of poster board with a smile on his face. It only got bigger when he saw me.

“Story go down okay?” he asked.

“Yeah she didn’t even wake up. What’s that?” I asked.

Wordlessly he handed it to me. A smile just as big as Max’s. It was the poster board from our junior year Government project. A large 98% was drawn on the top, the best grade I’d ever gotten in that class.

“You know when you threw that bottle of glitter at me it really hurt.” he laughed.

“Oh hush you got a kiss out of it.” I smirked.

“Yep and haven’t been able to get rid of me since.” he smirked.

I smiled and walked over and sat in his lap, pressing a kiss on his lips. Pulling away I put my forehead to his and smiled.

“Yes you stick like glitter Maxwell Green and I wouldn’t have it any other way. “