Blueberries

The sound of my son's relentless giggling stirred me from my sleep, and I rolled over to find him sitting right next to me with his hand covering his mouth.
I peeked behind him to the clock on the nightstand; it was only 7:30.
"What're you doing up so early, Eli?" I groaned, sitting up and stretching my arms out.
The energetic five year old next to me bounced on the bed, giggling all the more as he did so.
"I'm hungry, daddy. Can you make
me something to eat?" He questioned, sticking his thumb in his mouth and nibbling on the end of his nail.
That was a habit of his that I had tried to break - no matter how many times I reprimanded him, though, he never seemed to quite get the message, so I just figured he'd grow out of it eventually.
"Of course," I sighed, standing up and slipping on a shirt.
I had slept in my jeans last night, too tired to take them off after I had brought Elias back from his babysitter's house.
This wasn't uncommon; I had to work most of the day, and by the time I had ventured out to Kathy's house to pick up Elias I was falling asleep at the wheel.
I toughed through it, though, chugging energy drinks to keep myself awake because God forbid that I accidentally nodded off, I wouldn't ever forgive myself.
Eli giggled and squirmed forward on his chubby hands and knees, then jumped up on my back. "Can you make me pancakes?"
"Blueberry or regular?" I asked, holding onto his legs and charging through our small apartment.
He squealed excitedly, hopping off my back when we entered the kitchen so he can hop up and down. "Blueberry!"
"That's my boy," I commented, grinning. He took after me with his taste in food, that's for sure.
I sat him down at the table and strolled over to the fridge, opening it and peeking inside.
Behind me, I could hear Eli babbling on about how his day with Kathy went, and I nodded periodically to show that I was paying attention.
And I was, I was just more focused on finding those blueberries that I had stored here a few days before.
Where could they have gone? I remember placing them right at the front, in case of pancake days like these where I was just as eager for them as Eli was.
"Do you know where the blueberries are?" I called out to him, pushing the butter to the side to look behind it.
His talking ceased, and it was a few seconds before he finally replied to me, voice low with a hint of guilt. "Nu-uh, daddy."
I knew that tone. That meant he was lying to me. I closed the fridge and turned around, staring him dead in the eyes. "You sure? You know you can tell me if you do know where they are, right?"
He hung his head and crossed his legs, blonde hair falling out in front of his face and shielding the look of regret I knew it held. "I ate them all, daddy."
I sighed and ran my fingers through my black hair, wanting to be mad, but I just couldn't. Not when he was a few feet away from me, bottom lip trembling as if he was going to break down any minute now.
I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his small frame, tying to comfort him. "Hey, look, it's no big deal, alright?" I spoke softly. "We can just go get some more blueberries. Would you like that?"
At that, his face shot up, a look of utter delight shining across it.
"Yeah!" He exclaimed, jumping out of his seat and running over to his room to get changed.
I chuckled and followed him, making sure he was picking out appropriate attire for grocery shopping. He had this habit of picking out pajamas to wear when we went out (which he probably got from me) and normally I wouldn't have a problem with it if it wasn't for the fact that I hadn't done the laundry in about a week or so and it was starting to pile up. Knowing him, he'd go straight for his superman pajamas which were in the dirty clothes pile and had quite a few spaghetti stains on them from our messy dinner a few nights before. As I walked into his room, I made a mental note to get that done. He'd nag me about it sooner or later, anyway. Better to get it now, right?

-

"Can we get some whipped cream, too?" Elias asked, holding out a bottle of redi-whip toward me for me to put in the cart.
I bit my lip in thought - how much money did I bring in my wallet? I had to ration out the money I earned until I got my next paycheck, but I figured I had enough for just one more item than I intended to get here so I just shrugged and took the bottle from him, placing it inside the cart.
He grinned and ran forward, pacing down the hall and looping around the corner.
"Shit- Elias!" I called, running down the aisle and looking around for him. I pulled the cart behind me and searched around, calling his name out every few seconds and growing frustrated when I heard his consistent giggling coming from what I suspected to be the aisle to my right.
I turned down the aisle and looked down it, only to find him running right into a short tan man who was carrying a bunch of baby supplies.
Eli fell to the ground at the collision and the man yelped, dropping his cans of powdered formula onto the floor.
"Jesus Christ," I muttered, strolling over to Eli and picking him up. I looked at the man apologetically, hitching Eli up higher as he began to make sniffling noises.
"I'm so sorry about that," I told him, rubbing my son's back to soothe him. He had started sobbing now, little tears rolling down his cheeks, and I wiped them away as the man bent down to pick up the formula.
"No worries," he said, lips curling up into a small smile.
He looked at Eli and his expression softened, and he started talking in a voice that told me he had some experience in the cooing field.
"Don't cry, little guy," he started, leaning forward cautiously and patting Eli's shoulder. "It's alright. We're not mad at you, you're okay. Here, look." He turned around and put down his formula inside his cart, and it was only then that I noticed the little girl sitting in the front. She couldn't have been more than two years old, and her brown hair bounced in little locks over her shoulders. She had light brown eyes and a button nose, and she was swinging her feet as she stared at us in wonder.
The man went inside his baby bag and pulled out a taffy, then handed it to Eli. "There you go."
Eli's face broke out into a grin, and he took the taffy eagerly and unwrapped it.
I smiled - not just because seeing Eli happy like this made me happy, but because the man had a bright smile on his face as well. He was pretty cute.
"What do we say?" I said, looking at the blonde boy in my arms.
He mumbled out a "thank you." and sucked the taffy into his mouth, burying his face in my neck.
The man laughed and brushed his hair back. "You're welcome," he said before turning to me. "I'm Vic."
"Kellin." I said, smiling.
He nodded and pointed to Eli. "Yours?"
I bounced the boy in my arms and nodded. "He's Elias."
He turned around and pointed to the baby behind him. "This is Eva."
Eva giggled and reached her hands out, to which Vic lifted her up out of the cart and held her. I watched as he did so, a look of complete adoration across his face. It was adorable, to say the least. I like men who are good with children.
"You look a little young to have a baby," I blurted out unthinkingly, and I was relieved when he just laughed the comment off.
"I'm 21, and I guess that is pretty young to have a baby. Eva's mother was my girlfriend when I was a
teenager, and when she found out she was pregnant she was going to put this little girl up for adoption. I didn't want that for my child, so I got custody over her and her mother moved out to some place that she can 'achieve her dreams' at." I was surprised at how open he was being - I never told anyone about Eli's mother, especially not a complete stranger.
I just nodded. "That's pretty amazing of you to do that, man."
He smiled and I swear a saw a bit of a blush flood his cheeks. "Thanks. How about you? You look young as well."
"I'm 23. Eli's mom, well, she uh.." I bit my lip and looked over at Eli, relieved to find that he was sleeping on my shoulder. I pulled the taffy out of his mouth and held it in my hand. "She died a while ago."
He flashed me a sympathetic look. "I'm so sorry. I can't imagine how I'd feel if the person I'm dating died."
"We weren't dating." I stated, and he just nodded and let a silence cloud over us. I hadn't told him the full story, like how she died, but then again no one knows that besides her parents and friends. Plus, I wasn't willing to go into extreme detail with my son in my arms, even if he was asleep.
"So.." I began, and he cocked his head up to look at me. "I guess I'll be going, then?"
A look of desperation crossed his face, almost like he wanted me to stay, before he just bit his lip and nodded. "I'll see you around, Kellin."
"Hey, how about we exchange numbers? I'd love to hang out with you." I offered, and he pulled his phone out of his pocket a little too eagerly.
We exchanged numbers and I put my phone back, watching as he set Eva back down in the front of the cart.
"See you." I said, waving to him.
"See you." He repeated back to me, and as I turned around to leave he said, "cute kid you have there. Kinda like his father."
Surely I had dreamt that last part, right? He didn't just call me cute, did he?
I turned around and smiled at him, unsure of what to say. "I just- call me, okay?"
He grinned and nodded, mumbling out a quick "will do." before returning to his shopping.
I hurried out the store, Eli in tow, and as I did, I remembered something; I forgot the blueberries.
Well, there goes our breakfast.