This Is Me and You Until We've Got Nothing Left

I put my hands up and pushed against his shoulders; our lips made a smacking sound as soon as they were pulled apart. I stood quickly, "Get out."

"What? What did--why?" Pete stuttered.

"Why the heck did you kiss me?" I asked as I stepped back a bit.

"I dunno...I wanted to." He answered with a shrug.

"You were not suppose to do that!" I hissed at him. "Get out."

"You're being ridiculous."

"You're being an idiot," I pointed to the door, "Get out of my--"

"It's my house." He stated as he stood, dropping the ice pack on the floor.

I sighed and went to Lewis; I picked him up and went to his bedroom. Pete called after me, but I ignored him; I grabbed the diaper bag, and then went to the kitchen and grabbed two bottles, shoving them into the open top of the bag. I then grabbed my keys and started towards the door; all the while, Pete was asking me what I was doing.

I paused in front of him, cradling Lewis, "Since this is your house, I'm gonna go until I feel like coming back."

"All because I kissed you?" He looked stunned.

"Yes. There are boundaries; me and you, we are not together anymore. We are not suppose to kiss; we won't ever kiss, because we will never be together again."

Pete rolled his eyes at me, "Fuckin' being over dramatic, Navy, ya'know that? You're acting stupid."

"I'm not acting, and I'm not stupid. I'm being serious, and I won't have you think you can just come here and fuck me around like I'm some teenager again. I will never let you play me like that again, understand?"

Pete couldn't believe what I had said; you should've seen his face. I, once again, felt completely satisfied by shutting him down.

I left the house, carrying Lewis to my car and putting him in his car seat. I drove off, seeing Pete come out as I did so, and shook my head at him. "Stupid jerk." I spat under my breath.


I was lucky enough to have Lewis's brand new stroller in my trunk, so the only think I really did was go to the park and walk around the perimeter. Kids laughed and screamed as I walked passed them; Lewy had woke up halfway there and was now sucking on his pacifier and shaking his toy monkey with the rattling belly. I was happy to be out with him, I think I needed the fresh air, as did Lewy.

As I passed by a bench, I noticed a familiar face, smoking. I smiled when I saw Ricky, only he didn't have dreads anymore. "Ricky."

He looked up and raised a brow, but then smiled, "Naomi!"

He came over the last few feet away, pulling me into a hug, "Hey, Rick! I haven't seen you in awhile."

We parted and he continued to smile at me, "Yeah, I was out in Michigan and then I was in jail for a few months. I'm on a smoke break right now."

"What?" I was confused by it all, "Bilvy told me you went to Michigan, but what the hell were you doing in jail?"

"I got caught with a little bit of weed," he chuckled, "I did 8 months. I got out 3 weeks ago, and my sister got me a job at that Best Buy 'round the corner."

"That's great, Rick..." I paused and then remembered that, that's where Pete had attempted suicide. "I'm sorry I didn't know about your stint."

He shook his head, "It's cool, Naomi, I didn't need anything than my ass kicked for being an idiot for walkin' around with that shit. I--"

Ricky was cut off by Lewy whining loudly. I laughed and looked at him, "Sorry, I almost forgot, I had a baby."

Ricky snickered, "No fuckin' way! You had a baby? With who?"

"Pete." I answered. "I was still with him when I last saw you."

He nodded, "Yeah, still, I wasn't expecting you guys to get hitched."

"We aren't," I told him, "We were living in sin."

Ricky's brows rose a bit, "Were?"

"We aren't together."

He hummed and then looked down into the stroller at Lewy; "Hmm. He looks like the little fucker; he's around, right? I know he's all famous and shit, but he takes care of the kid..." He trailed, not knowing Lewy's name.

"Lewis, his name is Lewis."

Ricky smiled, "Lewis? That's pretty cool, he looks like a Lewis. Uh, so, he's like, a good dad?"

"When he can," I answered, "He loves him."

"How old is he?" Ricky looked back at Lewy, "He looks tiny."

"Almost a month. I had him May 4th."

Ricky laughed, "Ha-ha, May the 4th Be With You!"

I shook my head, "Couldn't get that passed you, could I?"

"Shoulda named him Luke or Han."

"I had his name picked out since I found out he'd be a boy." I ran a hand through my hair, "I was gonna just call him Lewis, but I decided to do Dale a solid and name him Peter Lewis Kingston."

He smirked, "I bet Pete loves that, don't he?"

I shrugged, "I dunno...Pete's...he's not fully aware that he's a daddy yet."

Ricky scoffed, "He doesn't seem fully aware of much."

"He's a good guy, Ricky, he's just...a hard headed son of a bitch."

Ricky chuckled, "Yeah, I get it. So, Naomi, are you still in school, or did you drop out?"

I scoffed right back at him, "Drop out? Please, I can multitask like hell, Rick. I only have a year left and then I'm gonna start teaching."

"What're you lookin' at?"

"1st to 4th grade."

"You've got your shit together." He laughed; then he looked at my watch and grabbed my arm, "Dammit, my break ends in 5 minutes."

"Sorry I kept you." I relayed.

He waved it off, "It's fine, I'm glad I ran into you, I missed you. Is your number still the same?"

I shook my head, "No, I got a new phone awhile back. I wasn't sure if Bilvy had given it to you, I told him to because I couldn't get a hold of you."

Ricky pulled out his phone and handed it to me, "Gimme yours and I'll give you mine."

We exchanged phones and numbers and then back. I hugged him, "We should meet up for coffee or somethin'."

He hummed, "Yeah, for sure. I'll see ya, Naomi."

I waved as he started off, looking back at me, "See ya, Rick."

I began to push Lewy in his stroller, shaking my head, "That was one of mommy's best friends from high school...well, he didn't go to high school with me, but I did meet him while I was in high school." Lewy yawned, and I laughed softly, "Geez, even your daddy hides it when I'm boring him."


My return home wasn't what I wanted it to be. Pete was still there; I saw him sitting on the porch, smoking a cigarette, which baffled me because I hadn't seen him smoke in well over a year. I got out of the car and got Lewy out after, carrying him towards the house. I stopped short, facing Pete, "Put out that cigarette right now, Peter Wentz."

He didn't falter in snubbing out his cigarette on the paved pathway. He waved the smoke away; "Alright."

I still shielded Lewy's face as I passed Pete and up the porch. I opened the door, let myself in and then shut the door. Less than a moment later, Pete came in, "Where were you?"

"Killing time." I answered shortly, "I was waiting for you to leave "your" house so I could come back."

Pete sighed, "Give it a rest, Naomi."

"It's rested." I muttered as I sat with Lewy.

The tension was in the air, and I tried to act as if it didn't bother me, and I was getting to him. Pete was watching me, while I cooed at Lewy and kissed his face. Lewy seemed to sense the tension, but he didn't know what the hell it was yet.

I then looked at Pete, "Your little namesake needs a diaper change, wanna help?"

Pete cocked a brow, but he couldn't refuse. I handed Lewy to him, "You know where his bedroom is."

He rolled his eyes, but got up anyway. I sat back and turned the TV on; Pete returned with Lewy a few minutes later and sat beside me. Lewy began to touch Pete's face and place his hands on his cheeks. I saw Pete smile, making me smile and grin at the sight; "Don't move." I told him.

Pete raised a brow, "Why?"

"Just don't." I said, rushing off to my bedroom.

I had a old disposable camera from a little over a year ago in my drawer that had a couple of shots left on it. I wanted to finish them up to see what was on it; I returned and took one picture where Pete was grinning at Lewy. They both looked at me and I took another, making sure the flash was off so I wouldn't scare Lewy.

"I bought you that two years ago." Pete remarked.

I sat with him, "I had 4 photos left. 2 now."

Pete set Lewy in his lap and took the camera from me. I whined at him, only to have the flash go off in my face. I made a face, rubbing my eyes, "Jerk."

He laughed softly, "One left."

"I think it should be of Lewis." I said.

Pete hummed and then handed Lewy to me; "Smile."

To my utter surprise, Lewy seemed to grin, "He's got gas." I murmured to myself, "I think."

"He understands, Navy," Pete said, "Now, smile."

Lewy made a cooing noise and then Pete took the picture; no flash. I grumbled, "I wasn't ready."

He chuckled, "The best pictures of you are when you aren't ready. You should see the pictures I have of you."

I narrowed my eyes, "What?"

"I've got a bunch of pictures of you." Pete explained, playing with the spin wheel, making it click.

"Why? How?"

Pete shrugged, placing the camera on the table, "I have those Polaroids Babette took of you years ago, and the pictures I've taken over the years when we were hanging out."

I smiled at the thought, "How come you never showed me?"

Again, he shrugged, "I don't know."

I blushed, "Geez, now I wonder what the hell I must've looked like."

"You look great in them, Nav, don't worry."

I rubbed my neck, keeping Lewy sat in my lap, "Can I see them?"

Pete nodded and then looked down, "Yeah, whenever you want."

I bit at the skin inside of my lip; I was feeling weird all of a sudden. I suddenly felt sorry for the things I've said to him. I don't know, I was always feeling this way towards Pete.

"Ya'know, I love you, Pete," I said to him as he continued to look down. "I don't hate you, I'm just frustrated with how you treat me most of the time. I'm not your or anyone else's property, and we aren't together because I can't rely on you like I could any other guy -and I mean that because if I was in this predicament with anyone in this town, they wouldn't be in a band and always on the go. If they cheated on me and weren't sure about whether or not they wanted to be a daddy, hell yes, I would dump them just like I broke it off with you, so don't think that I'm doing all this to torture you; you've been through enough."

Pete licked his lips, "Yeah, I get it."

"Look at me, please?"

He looked up, but not at me, at Lewy, who was reaching for his bottle on the table. We both reached for it, but Pete got to it first. He gave it to Lewy and then took him from me, and held him, feeding him; he finally looked at me, "How do I say sorry so you'll believe me?"

"Only say it when you mean it, not when you feel like you should, okay?"

He gave a nod. "I've got to leave tomorrow morning...early in the morning. We're going up to Canada, do you think you could get that film developed so I can have a copy of that picture of me and Lewy?"

I nodded, "Yeah, sure, Pete."

He cleared his throat, cheeks turning a pink color, making me laugh softly; "Can I kiss you?"

"You're like a little boy."

He smirked at me, "I didn't want you to push me away if I did try it, so I might as well ask."

I scooted closer and leaned over and kissed him on his lips. He smiled like a child, "Good?"

He nodded, "That'll hold me over for awhile."

I patted his cheek, "You're welcome, Pete."