Nightingale

"Alright, El, this one is a hard one. Let's see if you can get it. The word is shoe," Joel said, holding a card in his hand as he looked at my daughter.

There was a smile playing on his face as she scrunched her face up. Her little lips pressed together in thought, which she got that from John. "S... uh.. h... o... and... uh... e!" she spelled, shouting out the ending as she remembered how to spell it.

Joel cheered for her and I grinned from my spot on the couch before standing up to go to the kitchen. "Great job, princess! That was wonderful!"

She let her teeth show as she smiled big. There was a spelling bee coming up at her school on Monday and she really wanted to win. Both Joel and I knew she could do it, but she was a little nervous, so Joel had been quizzing her all morning while I had been cooking breakfast.

While I was flipping the pancakes, we heard someone knock on the door. Joel glanced at me, asking if I knew who it was and I shook my head. He went to answer it, and we were both just as surprised to see John, followed by Lennon, at the door.

"Daddy! Joel is helping me for my spelling bee!" Ellie announced.

"Wow, baby, that's awesome. Listen, do you think Lennon could help you? She's a really good speller."

I cursed myself silently, since I didn't have pants on, and I excused myself quickly into my bedroom. I heard someone follow me, but I assumed it was Joel.

As I slipped shorts on, I saw John instead of Joel. "What are y'all doing here so early, John?" I asked.

He gave me hopeful eyes. "Lennon knew that Noella was having that spelling thing and she wanted to help. You know that she hasn't quite warmed up to Lennon yet and she was thinking this might work."

I scoffed. "Oh come on, John, you know that won't work on Noella."

Shrugging, John poked his head out the hallway. Quickly, he ran over to me and pressed his lips to mine. "I knew I would get to see you."

A smile formed on my lips as I kissed him once more, and then again. "Go back out there."

John left the room and I let out a sigh. Seconds later, Ellie came into my bedroom with a sour look on her face. "Momma," she pouted.

"What's wrong, baby?"

I sat down on my bed and pulled her into my lap. "I don't like Lennon."

"Oh Noella, you need to give her a chance, baby girl. She's trying to be friends with you because she's with your daddy. Can you play nice? Please?" She continued to pout. "If you play nice today, Momma and Joel will take you for ice cream later."

Her little eyes lit up. "Okay, Mommy."

She gave me a kiss and then jumped off my lap. That girl was too much like her father for her own good. As Ellie exited my room, Joel walked in, hopefully Lennon wouldn't show also.

"What did John want back here?" Joel asked, I could see he was trying to act casual, but was also worried.

I shrugged. "Just to say why he was here. Lennon thinks this will warm Ellie up to her, which is stupid because if Lennon knew anything about my daughter, she would know that she's just like John and is stubborn to the bone."

Joel pulled me up from the bed. "No harm in trying, right? She just wants Ellie to like her, especially if she and John are serious. It makes sense." He tugged lightly on my arm, reminding me that I was cooking breakfast. My eyes widened, since I had forgotten, and I went to rush out. Before I could get too far, Joel grabbed my arm and pulled me back to him. He placed his hands lightly on my waist and pressed his lips to mine.

It was a passionate kiss, unlike the ones we'd had in the last couple days. I wondered what was going on in his mind, but I didn't dwell on it and told myself to bring it up later. He slid one hand up my side, all the way up to cup my cheek. Finally, we pulled apart. "I love you, Savannah."

I pecked his lips. "I love you, too."

~

"Okay baby, I think that's enough for today. You need to go and get ready so Mommy can take you to Grandma's house."

John glanced at me. "You're taking her to your parents?"

Shaking my head, I smirked. "I'm taking her to your parents. Jenny called earlier while you guys were eating, said she wanted to spend some time with her, something about spoiling her granddaughter."

Joel walked into the living room, coming back from a call he had just taken. His clothes were different and he sighed. "That was Sean, they need me for retracking a song they lost they vocal recording of. I'll see you later, baby."

He leaned down and kissed me. "Bye baby, I love you," he told me.

"Love you, too, sweetheart," I murmured, then watched as he gave Ellie a hug and kissed the top of her head. He said goodbye to John and Lennon, then left the apartment.

"Momma, are you and Daddy coming with me to Grandma's?" Ellie asked.

I told her no. "Grandma wants to spoil you, which means me and Daddy can't go. But I'll see you tonight, and then we'll go get ice cream, remember?" She grinned and nodded. "Now go run the bath, me or Daddy will be in there in a minute to help you."

"Can Lennon help me?" she asked.

My eyes widened a little, but I glanced at Lennon, who looked just as shocked. She stood up quickly, nodding. "Yeah, yeah, of course I can. If that's okay with you, Savannah?"

I nodded. "Yeah, go for it. She knows where everything is and what to do. You mostly just have to watch her and help her wash her hair out."

The two of them left the living room, making their way into Ellie's bathroom. I glanced at John, who was looking at something on his phone. As he stared intently at the screen, I couldn't help but smile at him. John was beautiful. There was no denying that. I could remember the first day I saw him like it was yesterday.

Seven years earlier

"Savannah Renee, get your butt down here! The O'Callaghan's will be here soon!" my mom called from downstairs. She had been yelling at me for the past ten minutes to get downstairs, but I wasn't ready yet. She said that the O'Callaghan's had sons, so in my hopes that one of them was attractive, I wanted to look my best.

As I just finished straightening my hair, my younger sister, Lorraine, walked in my room. "Sav, can I wear your light blue dress, please? I saw the boy that's my age and he's so cute! I want him to like me, please!"

Rolling my eyes, I nodded and told her to go look in my closet. She squealed and went to find it. "Did you see the one that's around my age?" I asked.

She poked her head out of the closet and shrugged. "Yeah, he's alright. I think he has a mullet though."

My eyebrows furrowed and I scrunched my nose. "What the fuck?" She shrugged again and went back in my closet.

Lorraine exited my closet with the dress on, just as we heard the doorbell ring. "Savannah Renee, Lorraine Marie, Aiden Marshall! Get your butts down here, they're here!"

"Coming!" all three of us replied.

I looked in front of my mirror, then looked at Lorraine. "How do I look?"

"Awesome. What about me?"

Reaching forward, I blended her eyeshadow a little more with a smile. "Beautiful, Lor."

We exited my room as Aiden exited his. The three of us walked down the stairs, just as our dad opened the door. Before I could see them, my mom called me into the kitchen. She asked me to open up the bottle of wine so she could go greet our guests. Once I agreed, she hurried out of the kitchen.

There were several voices coming from the front foyer, which made me sigh as I put the cork screw in the bottle of red wine. It only took me a second to take it off and after glancing to make sure no one was watching, I put the bottle to my lips and took a long drink.

"I saw that."

The voice made me jump as I put the bottle down. I glanced over, seeing a boy who looked just a tad older than me. I narrowed my eyes. "You saw nothing."

He smiled at me and stepped into the kitchen closer to me. "I saw nothing if you let me have a drink also."

I held out the bottle, which he took and followed my lead with the long drink. I grabbed a couple glasses and poured the wine in them so my mom wouldn't see how much was missing from the bottle.

"I'm John," he told me. "You must be Savannah."

As I looked at him, I couldn't help but smile. John was plain. He was tall and lanky with light brown hair. He wasn't pale, but he wasn't that tan. His eyes, though, were beautiful. They were a hazel-green color and they were mesmerizing. John was beautiful. He was simply beautiful, just not at first glance.

"Uh... yeah, I'm Savannah."

Before either of us could say anything else, mine and John's family walked into the kitchen. "Savannah, sweetie, this is Mr. and Mrs. O'Callaghan and this is Ross and Shane... and I see you met John," my mother introduced. "This is our eldest daughter, Savannah."

I stepped forward to shake Mr. and Mrs. O'Callaghan's hands and then smiled at the two younger boys. As I glanced at Lorraine, she was already smitten with Ross, I could so tell. It was obvious that he thought she was pretty as well, as he barely kept his eyes off of her.

It only took a couple minutes for everyone to disperse. Aiden and Shane went to play some video game in Aiden's room, my mom and Mrs. O'Callaghan stayed in the kitchen, my dad and Mr. O'Callaghan went to watch football in the living room, and Ross and Lorraine went outside. John and I were standing the kitchen and I nodded at him to follow me. We went up to my room and I shut the door.

"Do you drink, John?"

"What do you have?" I went to my dresser and pulled out a bottle of Jack. "I like you already, Savannah."

~

"John," I murmured softly, once my memory recollection was over. He looked up from his phone at me. "I love you."

He reached over from where he was sitting to where I was and grabbed my arm. He pulled me into his lap, then put his hands on my face. "Baby, I love you, too," he whispered, following his words with a kiss. "I love you."

John picked his phone back up and showed me his screen, which I guessed was what he had been looking at so intently. I smiled at the caption on the picture on Instagram, which was just the word family and then it tagged my Instagram. The picture was of me, him, and Ellie. It was a photograph from John's birthday. It was a candid shot, which John said Lennon took. We were all on the couch. John was on the left and I was on the right with Ellie laying down between us. Her head was in John's lap as she had her blanket curled into her, with her little feet in my lap. John and I were both laughing at something I don't remember and Ellie was half asleep. The picture was beautiful.

"I love it," I said. "Joel won't be happy, though." John shrugged and kissed my cheek.

I stood from John's lap to get my phone. I pulled up the photo and liked it, then commented on it saying that it was my favorite picture.

It only took a couple seconds for my phone to ring with Joel's name on the screen. I laughed, told John he was calling, and then answered it.

"Hey," I said into the phone.

"Hey baby," Joel replied. "John still there?"

Laughing, I walked into the kitchen. "Yes Joel, and so is Lennon. When will you be home?"

"Soon, I hope. Listen, Sav, do you think John and Lennon would watch Ellie tonight? I know Jenny is taking her for the day but could they pick her up for overnight? I want to take you out."

"I'm sure it'll be okay, but I'll text you in a bit. Come home to me soon. I love you."

He told me he loved me and then we hung up. I went back to the living room. John wasn't in there, but he exited from Ellie's bathroom only a second later. He walked over to me and pulled me into my bedroom. He murmured that we only had a couple minutes and he pushed his mouth to mine as soon as we were in my room.

I melted in his arms. His hands fell to my thighs and he tugged lightly. I jumped up, wrapping my arms around his waist as our lips continued to assault each other. This was so wrong, but it felt so right. I loved Joel so much, but John was just... my first love. I couldn't let go.