How I Met Your Father

Holly sat on a couch in her home, she had some crayons in hand and was coloring a Star Wars coloring book that Uncle Austin gave to her before they left. She was coloring a picture of Yoda, he was pink. The phone rang and her mother answered it.

“Hello? Oh! Phil hi,” Holly looked up from coloring. “What’s up.”

“I have exciting news!” Phil said into the phone.

“What?”

“So we managed to get our two free days off after tomorrow's gig in San Diego, ” You could hear the grin in his words. “But don’t tell Holly, I wanted to surprise her.”

She smiled at how sweet the Phil was, it always amazed her. She moved into the kitchen so Holly couldn’t hear them. “So after tomorrow’s gig you’ll be able to stay home for a few days?”

“Yeah, and our manager said we can come home for a few hours tomorrow before we have to go to the club. So we should be home sometime in the morning tomorrow.”

“Oh good! Maybe you’ll come home when she’s at school and we could pick her together, I bet she would love that.”

“When does she get out of school?”

Elizabeth stood in the doorway of the kitchen, she watched Holly push her hair behind her ear and stick out her tongue in concentration as she colored a page. “12 o’clock.”

“Oh good I think we’ll get there by 11ish. Then we can take her for lunch or something before we all head over to the club. You are fine with bringing her to the club right?”

“Yeah I’m fine with it, as long as she has those ear plug things.”

“Oh okay good. And she doesn’t know any of this right?”
“Not a clue,” Elizabeth grinned. She was so excited to see them play.

“ Shit Bat I gotta go, I love you so much.” Phil said.

She smiled “I love you too Phil, see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah tomorrow! I can’t wait to see my two favorite girls! Tell Holly I say hi and I love her. Okay I have to go, I love you bye!” And with that Phil was gone.

“Mommy! Mommy! Was that Daddy! Was it was it?” Holly said jumping off the couch and running over to her mother.

Elizabeth smiled and nodded “Yes it was daddy, and he sends his love.”

Holly scrunched up her nose, “how do you send love?”

“Like this!” Elizabeth chased Holly around the room, Holly laughed as she ran away from her mother. Elizabeth picked caught up to her and picked her up. She threw her over her shoulders, the two of the laughing.

“Mommy stop!” Holly said between fits of laughter. “Put me down.”

Elizabeth tickled her daughter a little bit then sat her down on the couch again to color. They were both giggling “Dinner will be....ready in 10...minutes.” she said while taking in a few breathes.

“Okay Mommy!” the little girl beamed up at her mother.

Elizabeth walked back into the kitchen to finish up dinner, they were having lasagna it was Holly’s favorite meal. The little girl followed her into the kitchen, carrying all of her crayons and coloring books. She bombarded her mother with questions about her dad.

“Can you go wash up and get ready for dinner?” Elizabeth asked after answer most of her questions.

“OKAY!” Holly got up and skipped into the bathroom. She came out a few minutes later with water down her dress. “We didn’t have any clean towels so I used my dress..”

Elizabeth sighed, shaking her head “Sometimes you are just like your father.”

They sat down to eat, Holly began to talk about her friend again. She was very excited to see her tomorrow. Holly hoped they would play together at recess, as did Elizabeth. She paused to shove bites of lasagna in her mouth, earning her a disapproving look from her mother for shoving too much food in her mouth.

“Take smaller bites, I don’t want you to choke boo.” Elizabeth said, she was always scared Holly was going to choke, I think that is every mother's worst nightmare.

&&&

Elizabeth tucked Holly into her bed that was too big for her, she pushed in her sheets close to the little girls body. Holly liked everything tight, it made her feel safe and warm. “Mommy can you tell me a story, can you tell me the rest of the story.” she said as she yawned. “I want to know what happened with you and daddy.”

Elizabeth knew she would be asleep in a little bit, so she agreed. She crawled into her daughters bed, she curled up next to her and began the rest of the story.

I got up slowly, my back cracking as I did. I stretched and yawned, I never got good sleep on couches. I looked around momentarily forgetting where I was. I looked behind me, Phil was slightly curled around me. We must have fallen asleep cuddling, he looked so peaceful so I fought back the urge to scream in his ear. He scrunched up his nose in his sleep, making his face look squishy. His hair fell in front of his face as he turned on his stomach. I smiled and pushed his hair behind his ear.

I pushed myself off the couch and walked into the kitchen, which was around the corner. I figured since he let me steal his clothes and crash at his place the least I can do for him is making him breakfast. I looked in his fridge, nothing. No eggs, bacon, milk, nothing. I sighed, this is going to be difficult, I looked in the pantry, he had a little bit more things than the fridge did. I looked over the counter, there was a fruit bowl which had some bananas and mangos in it.

“Oh I can make vegan pancakes,” I whispered to myself.

“You are my new best friend random girl.” a voice said behind me. I jumped and turned around to see a man standing in the doorway. He was wearing an anthem tank top and some skinny jeans. “Are you Phils girlfriend?”

I blushed, “U-uh no. I’m just his friend.”

“Oh cool. I’m Kellin Quinn by the way.” oh duh, how could I be so stupid, no one has hair like him.

“Oh, nice to meet you. I’m Elizabeth Ashby.” I stuck my hand out.

“Oh are you Alans little sister?” he asked, hopping up on the counter.

I continued to stir the batter “Yeah I am.”

We talked a little bit, but there was still that morning lul. But I have heard a lot about Kellin and he seems very nice. Phil walked in halfway through the process of making pancakes. We said good morning and he made us all coffee. Soon the pancakes were done, we were all in the living room watching tv and eating. Kellin had to leave to record, so Phil and I were alone again.

“Hey thank you for making us breakfast.” he said putting down his plate on the table.

“It’s the least I can do.” I shrugged, smiling at him with my mouth in the coffee mug.

Elizabeth looked at her sleeping child, she smiled. She had a long day. Elizabeth kissed Holly on the forehead and slipped out of her childs bedroom. She couldn’t wait for Phil and the band to come home. She missed all of them so much, she missed her other half, her big brother. Elizabeth fell into her empty bed, she knew she would need a lot of sleep because tomorrow is going to be crazy.