Forget Yesterday

February. The month where it’s not quite cold enough for scarves and jackets but not quite warm enough for just a t-shirt. Stupid shitty February. At least work wasn’t boring. Alex had already had pierced three sets of ears as well as a septum this afternoon, so he was happy. Brendon and Pete had just started a tattoo each, and Vinny should be finishing up any time soon, so he’d be able to rescue Alex from Ryan’s deep analysis of his latest Palahniuk read (thank fuck). Seriously, that kid needs to lighten the fuck up. He’d have to have a word with Brendon. Ryan’s way too intense for someone so young.

Just when Alex felt like stapling his own hand to the desk to get him out of any more discussion, his cellphone rang. Jack. Perfect.

“Sorry Ryan, I’ve got to take this,” Alex said as apologetically as possible.

“That’s okay. Everyone leaves me eventually,” Ryan sighed.

What?

“Uh, sure. Brendon will be done in an hour though,”

For a second, Alex thought he saw a flash of happiness, before Ryan’s eyes went back to deep and despairing. Strange kid.

“Hey Jack, how are you?” Alex said happily, walking into his piercing room.

“Um, not so great. I’ve done something really stupid and I need a favour,”

Uh, okay?

“As long as it isn’t illegal, sure,” Alex mused.

“Oh thank fuck. I’m really sorry Lex, but would you be able to pick up Emma?”

“Pick up Emma? Why?”

“From her pre-school. I’m across town and I’ve got to into a meeting right now and I completely forgot! Fuck, I’m such a bad dad…”

Woah, woah, woah. Jack did not need to start berating himself right now. He’d only had Emma a week, it wasn’t his fault.

“Hey calm down, okay? You’re not a bad dad, you’ve just got to get used to this. I’m sure Vinny will let me go if I explain,” Alex interrupted.

“Really? Thank you so much, I owe you,”

“Just buy me dinner for our 1 month anniversary tonight and we can call it even,” Alex grinned.

Yeah, one month already, who would’ve thought?

“I already have plans for our anniversary, but I’ll think of something extra. Shit, I’ve got to go. I’ll call you when I’m on my way?”

“Alright, bye,”

The call ended with a click. Well at least Jack hadn’t forgotten about their anniversary. He walked out of his room to see that Vinny had just walked out of his tattoo room too.

“Can I talk to you? It’s urgent,” Alex murmured.

Vinny frowned but nodded.

“Ryan, can you talk Michelle through her aftercare?” Vinny called out.

“Sure thing,” Ryan called back.

Vinny smiled before looking back at Alex.

“What’s up?”

“Jack just called to say he’s stuck in a meeting and forgot that he needed to pick up Emma from pre-school. He asked if I could go and pick her up,” Alex said.

“Is that it? Shit, boy, you had me worried. Sure, go and pick up Emma. You can bring her here after too, to save on you missing any hours of work,” Vinny smiled.

Well that was easier than he thought.

“You don’t mind? Thank you,”

“It’s no problem, you know I love having her around. Do you know your way?” Vinny asked.

“Um, shit, I don’t,”

“It’s easy. Take a left from here and drive 3 blocks…”

~

15 minutes later, Alex pulled up outside a friendly looking building. East District pre-school. This was it. Taking a deep breath, Alex walked inside, heading towards the room that Vinny told him was Emma’s class. When he got there he saw a nice looking brunette woman talking to a parent and child, waiting until they’d walked away to clear his throat.

“Hi there! How can I help you?” the woman asked warmly.

“Uh, I’m Emma Barakat’s dad’s boyfriend? I’m here to pick her up because he can’t today?” Alex announced nervously.

This was Emma’s classroom, right?

“AWEX!”

Oh thank God for Emma’s shrill tones.

“Oh, you must be the pwetty Awex man we’ve heard so much about. I’m Miss Thompson, her teacher,” the woman beamed.

“She really calls me that in public?” Alex winced.

“I told you he was pwetty, didn’t I?” Emma said happily, hugging Alex’s leg tightly in greeting.

“You certainly did. Your dad picked a good one,” Miss Thompson grinned at Emma, winking dramatically.

Alex just groaned, making the teacher laugh.

“Why don’t you go and grab your things, hmm Emma?” she prompted.

Emma just nodded, running over to her cubby hole.

“She’s settling in nicely, y’know,”

“Huh?” Alex asked.

“Jack, Emma’s dad, informed us of the situation. We’ve had a few divorce cases and a few death cases in here before, but Emma is one of the most well-adjusted children I’ve ever met. She paints the most wonderful pictures, and her reading is really quite advanced,”

“I think it’s because she’s quite mature for her age,” Alex nodded, smiling back.

“Well, I think she’ll be happy with you and Jack,” Miss Thompson smiled.

What?

“I-I don’t actually live with them. I’ve only been dating Jack for a month,” Alex spluttered.

“Really? The way Emma talks, it seems like a lot longer,” the teacher said surprised.

Before Alex could answer, Emma ran back over.

“I have all my things now, Awex,” she announced, holding up her bag and jacket proudly.

“Then we’d better get going, hadn’t we?” Alex smiled.

“Bye Miss Thompson! See you tomorrow!” Emma said cheerfully.

“Bye Emma! It’s was good to meet you Alex,”

Alex just nodded and took Emma’s hand, leading her out to his car. All the while they walked Emma rambled about her day but Alex kept thinking about what Miss Thompson had said. Emma really talked about him that much? So much that she thought Alex and Jack had been dating longer? How was he supposed to process that?

When Alex helped Emma into the front seat of his car, she frowned. What?

“Where’s my daddy?” she asked, confused.

Whoops, he didn’t actually explain that, did he?

“He’s stuck in a meeting with some very important businessmen at the moment, so he asked me to pick you up and look after you for a little while. You don’t mind do you?”

“No, it’s okay. You’re pwetty and colourful so I like you,” Emma replied, shaking her head.

Well he guessed that was as good a reason as any. Alex laughed and started the engine, driving away from the pre-school. When they pulled up outside the tattoo parlour, Emma’s eyes lit up. Oh good.

“We’re seeing Uncle Vinny?” Emma asked excitedly.

“Well I work here too and I haven’t finished my hours yet – you don’t mind hanging out with me here for a bit, do you?” Alex smiled.

Emma just grinned, shaking her head. The second they were inside the shop, Emma squealed.

“Uncle Vinny!”

“Emma!” Vinny boomed back.

Emma giggled as Vinny tickled her ribs, squealing until he let her go.

“I take it she was happy to come here,” Vinny asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Happier than I thought, actually,” Alex chuckled.

Ryan stared blankly at them from behind the counter as they sat down on one of the sofas, before producing some felt tip pens from nowhere in particular. Wow. He’s prepared for anything.

“Are they for me?” Emma gasped.

“Only if you promise not to draw on those white sofas,” Ryan said monotonously, throwing the pens to Alex.

Alex caught them and passed them to Emma, not before catching sight of Brendon gazing adoringly at Ryan from his tattoo room. Oh joy. Looks like Ryan will be getting the baby talk soon. Lucky him.

Then Alex felt something scratching against his arm and looked down, only to see Emma drawing what looked like a lumpy flower in purple felt tip onto his skin. Um, what?

“I’m going to make you even pwettier Awex, don’t you worry. I’m going to put even more colours on your arms,” Emma said with a grin, uncapping an orange pen too.

Well at least it’s not on the white sofas.

“Just so you know, blue is my favourite colour,” Alex told her, settling down to get comfy.

“No way! Mine too! I like blue because that’s the colour of the sea and that’s where sharks live. Did you know that sea turtles can live to be over 100 years old? And that seahorses…”

As Emma continued to ramble, Alex felt Vinny nudge him.

“You’re really good with Emma,” he commented, smiling softly.

Alex just smiled back.

“I’ve always liked kids and Emma’s no exception. She’s pretty cool,” Alex said honestly.

“Not all people would put up with getting drawn on with felt tip pen,” Vinny pointed out.

Alex just shrugged, smiling back down at Emma. This really didn’t bother him. Besides, if it kept Emma happy, what was the problem?