Peace Sign

Derek's P.O.V.

Right after I open the door and walk in Mia's daycare center, I see Mia smiling and giggling with a worker who had familiar blonde hair tied back in a ponytail.

"Hello, Mr. Montgomery," Carrie greeted and smiled at me.

"Hi, Carrie," I replied and smiled back as I signed the check out list.

"Mia, honey, your dad is here," Carrie called out. Before I knew it, I heard, "Daddy!" and turned right before my daughter jumped in my arms and I gave her a big hug.

"There's my little girl," I said as I squeezed her tightly. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too, Daddy," Mia replied happily.

As I set Mia down, I immediately came face to face with that pretty girl from my Physics class. "Hey," I said to her and I could tell I was smiling widely.

"Hi," she replied a little quietly, with a confused tone to her voice. That's when I realized that she just saw me with my daughter and heard Mia call me, "Daddy". This wasn't exactly how I planned to mention Mia to Evangeline, but I guess I had no other choice now.

I notice Evangeline glance at Mia, who was gathering all of her stuff from her cubby and then she glanced back at me, still with a confused look on her face. "I'm guessing she's your daughter," Evangeline said to me, with more of a questionable tone than a certain one.

"Um," I replied, "yeah. I'm sorry I didn't mention her earlier today. It's just that, when I meet someone new, Mia isn't exactly my ideal conversation starter."

"It's okay, you don't have to apologize. Did you think that, if you told me about your daughter, I was going to shun you or something?" Evangeline sort of laughed at her question, but I could tell she was serious.

"Well, not exactly. I just usually wait to tell someone about Mia until I know whether they are okay with a guy having a kid at seventeen years old. Trust me, I have had so many people over the past three years give me and Mia disapproving looks and tell me how irresponsible I am and that I've 'ruined my life'. It's not the best feeling in the world."

I didn't expect to share that much with her, but Evangeline gave me a comforting smile. "I understand," she said, "and, just so know, I'm not one of those people. I'm not going to judge you just because you have a child, who is incredibly sweet, by the way."

I smiled and noticed Mia running back toward me. "Thanks," I told Evangeline and she nodded in response.

"Daddy, I'm hungry," Mia whispered to me as she was tugging at my jeans.

I chuckled and nodded. "Okay, we're going to go home now." I looked back up at Evangeline and said, "I'll see you at school."

"Yes, you will," she replied, still smiling.

"Bye, Angie," I heard Mia say cheerfully and walked over to Evangeline before hugging her legs.

Evangeline laughed and hugged her back. "Goodbye, sweetie. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," Mia said and made her way back to me.

I held onto Mia's hand as I, again, said goodbye to both Evangeline and Carrie and walked out of the daycare center.

- - - - -

Right after I opened the front door, Mia ran toward my dad and exclaimed, "Grandpa!" Dad was sitting on the couch watching TV and his face lit up when he saw Mia climb onto the couch to hug him.

"Hello, Emilia," Dad replied and chuckled.

"Hey, Dad," I said as I set my backpack down on a chair.

"Hey, son," Dad said. "How was your first day?"

"It went really, really well," I answered.

Dad gave me this curious look. "Okay, what's up? Every time I ask you how school went, you never tell me it went 'really, really well'."

"Well, it did."

"Did you meet a girl?"

"Dad, what are you talking about?"

"The only reason school could go 'really, really well' for you is if there is a girl involved. So, how cute is she?"

"Dad, I did not meet a girl," I paused and continued, "Okay, I did meet a girl but I don't even know her. I just met her today."

"I knew it. And it doesn't matter if you just met her today. You still haven't answered my question: how cute is she?"

I sighed and ignored his question. Thankfully, I heard my mom walk in the living room. "Grandma!" Mia exclaimed as she hopped off the couch and ran to Mom, who hugged Mia tightly and picked her up.

"How are my two babies?" Mom asked as she walked over to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey, Mom," I said.

"Katie," Dad said to my mom, "Our son here has his eyes on a girl he met today."

"Dad," I groaned as Mom gasped and set Mia down, who seemed to be completely oblivious of the conversation.

"Do you really?" Mom asked, both cheerfully and shocked. "Last time you had your eyes on a girl, Mia was born several months later."

"Can you guys just please drop this?" I tried to ask politely.

"Is she pretty?" Mom asked, as if I was one of her friends she has tea parties with.

"That's what I've been wanting to know," Dad said.

Because I wanted them both to shut up, I blurted out, "She's beautiful, okay? Can I please get started on my homework now?" I grabbed my backpack and walked away from my parents and upstairs to my room.

Before I got to my room, however, I heard my mom say, "Aww, that's so sweet."