Take Me as I Am

“Hey Mum.” I pulled the dark haired women who looked alarmingly like me into my arms.

“And Mum and Mum.” I nodded to Sarah and Jade’s mothers who just laughed and greeted me with a hug as well.

“Ally’s here with the boys.” My Mum gestured behind her out the back door of Jade’s family home. I grinned at her and rushed towards the back door taking in the yard full of our three families.

“Where are my favourite nephews?” I called out spying the two young boys already playing on the swing set I used to hang out on with Jade and Sarah.

“Aunty Ari!” They both called excitedly as I headed straight to them. I picked up Joshua first and placed kisses all over his face. He was at a young age where he still allowed me. Anthony on the other hand barely allowed me to hug him before he was already pulling away to run back to the swing. I huffed and set Joshua down and moved over to start pushing them.

“Let’s not forget about your niece.” I grinned at my sister Ally who held a small baby in her arms, wrapped up in a yellow blanket. I cooed at the sleeping girl.

“Hello my dearest Leah.” I pressed a kiss to her head and she snuffled slightly in her sleep.

“How can she sleep with this racket?” I asked mesmerized by the little girl.

“She was born with two brothers already running a muck, at four months old I’d dare to say she’s already use to it.” I grinned at Ally before Anthony began tugging on my hand.

“You have to push me Aunty Ari! As high as Aunty Sarah pushes Joshy.” I allowed Anthony to pull me away and over to the swing where Sarah was pushing Joshua who was cackling gleefully the higher he got.

“Hey you.” I greeted Sarah, nudging her hip as I walked past. “When did you get here?”

“About an hour ago. Came with mum to help bring in the car load of food.” I eyed the table that our Dad’s were currently standing around, scoffing down as much food as possible. Sarah’s mum was a professional chef so her food was always guaranteed to be delicious. “Don’t worry I’ve got some of her chocolate cake hidden inside for when Jade shows up.”

“This is why we’re best friends.” I grinned at Sarah and began pushing Anthony as high as Joshua.

“Why isn’t Jade here already?” I asked Sarah curiously. “I offered her a lift over but she said she wasn’t home.”

“I think she was at Liam’s last night. So probably still there.” Sarah laughed as Joshua screamed for more height. “I think Liam might be coming.”

I nodded at Sarah and focused on Anthony for a moment or two. Deciding whether I wanted to talk to Sarah about Jade and Liam.

“How serious do you think they are?” I asked her curiously. She shot me an incredulous look.

“Seriously she practically waited for him to go to rehab and get better before she started having sex with him. I think she’s pretty serious about him.” Sarah scoffed at me, I nodded in agreement.

“And Liam? How serious do you think he is about her?” Sarah stayed quiet long enough for me to shoot her a worried glance. She gnawed on her bottom lip for a moment more before replying.

“I think he’s serious enough that we may have to have the marriage talk with him.” I burst out laughing at Sarah’s remembrance of an old promise we had made to each other. Whenever any of us were ready to get married the other two would sit down with the husband-to-be and explain all the expectation we had going into the marriage and how he would have to accommodate for the two friends. We were 14 at the time.

“God I can’t believe you remembered that.” I giggled with Sarah more into the boys complained that we were paying them enough attention and that they were losing height. “You and Jade won’t have to worry about doing that for me for a long time. Me and Jade though…” I trailed off purposefully and glanced over in time to see Sarah’s mouth drop open in shock.

“Me and Jared are not anywhere near that.” She hissed at me, glancing around the backyard looking for him. He didn’t seem to be outside.

“Are you sure because I mean you don’t come out drinking as much, you’re often busy on date nights and well you practically live with him.” I enjoyed the way she flushed a light pink, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear and focusing her energy on pushing Joshua.

“We are not near that.” She said firmly. I rolled my eyes and shook my head at her before taking pity and deciding to leave it be.

“Good because I don’t think Jade has mentally prepared herself to talk with her brother about your marriage.” I grinned at Sarah before Anthony suddenly yelled to let him down. I grabbed the swing and dug my heels in to stop it before he flew off to where Tyler was beginning to kick a football around.

“I wanna go too.” Joshua yelled. Both Sarah and I dived for his swing to stop it before he jumped off too high. He barely waited for it to stop before scrambling off and away to Tyler.

“Ditched by my own nephews.” I muttered unhappily to Sarah. We headed over to Ally where I easily commandeered baby Leah. She was awake now and glancing around herself with sudden interest. Her hand immediately grabbed onto my hair when I placed her on my hip.

“She tugs on anything she can so be careful.” Ally winced in sympathy as I felt Leah’s first pull against my scalp. I scowled down at her and untangled my hair from her small pink hands. “Wanna feed her?”

I glanced down at my breasts then back up at Ally who rolled her eyes at me.

“I’ve got bottles for her you idiot.” She moved around me and headed towards the house. I presumed to heat up a bottle. I sat down on one of the chairs next to Sarah and we both continually cooed at Leah trying to keep her attention on us and not the people moving around.

“Jade’s here.” Ally smirked, handing me a baby bottle. I looked at her smirk, confused, before taking the bottle and guiding it into Leah’s happily awaiting mouth before she began crying. If her slowly screwed up face was anything to go by we just narrowly missed her screams. From what Ally’s told me she can throw some rather large tantrums, I had yet to see any. “She brought Liam.”

I glanced over at Sarah who told Ally that this wasn’t really news for either of us.

“They brought someone else though.” Ally said slyly, leaning over to wrap Leah up more in her blanket. A chill was starting to settle in the air. We would probably end up moving everyone inside before we had lunch. “Someone named Niall.”

I cringed from the pain my neck felt after I snapped my head up too fast. I glanced towards the back door of the house but couldn’t see anything.

“Niall?” I asked confused. Glancing towards Sarah who shrugged. Leah suddenly made a sniffing noise pulling my attention to her as I straightened my hand so she could keep sucking the milk from the bottle.

“Mhmm, apparently he’s a good friend of yours?” I glared at Ally who smiled and leant back in her seat. “He was chatting with Mum when I left actually.” I could feel myself visible pale at those words. I seriously did not need my Mum talking to the guy I occasionally fuck. Ally stood up when her husband Jordon called her over.

“Definitely seems like your type Ari.” Ally called over her shoulder before heading toward Jordon who wad dangling a laughing Joshua upside down.

“If I was holding Leah I would totally be flipping her off right now.” I scowled at Sarah who laughed in return. Her eyes turned to the house and I followed. Jade and Liam stepped out of the door with Niall close behind.

“I’m going to go find Jared.” Sarah stood up suddenly, surprising me and Leah.

“What no! You can’t.” I hissed at her, she smiled and glanced at Leah before turning around. Again, if Leah wasn’t in my arms I definitely would have flipped her off too. I watched, confused, as Jade and Liam saw me and waved. Niall instantly headed towards me. I sighed and focused my attention back down on Leah. Niall’s shoes appeared in my vision. I looked up to be met with his bright smile.

“Hey stranger.” He grinned down at me and took the seat next to mine. It had been two weeks since Niall and I had been together at the club. We had texted and called a few times but were both too busy to actually meet up. Phone sex was really not all that satisfying.

“Whose this?” He cooed over my shoulder.

“This Leah. My niece.” I explained to Niall. Shifting Leah so he could see her better.

“She’s fucking adorable.”

“Niall.” I scolded; he just grinned at me and went back to smiling down at her. I sighed and let him continuously baby talk her while she fed on her bottle, seemingly happy to just watch him occasionally grabbing his finger when he held it against her hand.

“So uh hope you don’t mind me coming.” Niall straightened up suddenly and brushed his hand through his slowly browning hair. I noticed that it was odd he wasn’t wearing a hat. “I was at Liam’s this morning before they left and they just uh invited me a long. I don’t really get to go to a lot of family stuff with everyone being back home in Ireland.”

I stayed silent for a moment and pulled the now empty bottle away from Leah and adjusting her so I could begin burping.

“It’s fine Niall.” I smiled over at him while still tapping Leah on the back repeatedly. “I don’t mind.”

“Okay.” Niall nodded his eyes searching over the yard. He looked only slightly nervous amongst the amount of people he didn’t know. His attention was pulled back as Leah burped loudly. I grinned and congratulated her.

“Come on.” I stood up with Leah. “I’ll introduce you to everyone.” Niall grinned and stood up instantly, his hand once again running through his hair. I knew he would have felt more comfortable with a hat one. I wondered again where it was.

“Can I hold her?” Niall asked suddenly, gesturing to Leah. I looked at him surprised before nodding and handing her over. He awkwardly held her for a moment, almost at arms length. I laughed at him before moving forward and situating herself comfortably in his arms, her head resting on his shoulder.

“Ever held a baby before?” I asked him curiously. He shrugged and ginned down at Leah.

“Sometimes, not a lot. Me brother’s wife just go pregnant so I have to learn I guess.” I stared at Niall for a moment before smacking his arm. He looked at me confused.

“Why didn’t you tell me? That’s great. Congratulations on almost being an Uncle.” Niall smiled happily back at me.

I took him around and introduced to everyone that was around I made sure to ensure my father that Niall and I were not in a relationship.

“Well you’re a lovely young man nonetheless.” My father looked pointedly at me. I rolled my eyes and focused my attention back on Leah who Niall had given her to Jordon while he chatted with my Dad.

“Ow!” I whined loudly as Leah grabbed a handful of hair and refused to let go. Jordon started laughing as my hair got tangled in her hands, Leah harshly pulling as I tried to move it out of her grip. “Jordon! Help.”

Jordon jostled her slightly but his hands were too full to put up much of an effort to get her to untangle. Niall’s laughter came from the side of me my hair was blocking as Leah hung on like her life depended on it. A smile was playing across her face as she watched me. Apparently she hated me.

“Hold still.” Niall told me, still laughing. I huffed and waited as he tugged on my hair a couple of times before finally pulling it free. “There, stop being a baby.” He teased, tucking the piece behind my ear. They all laughed as I glared at him before walking off. I wanted to put as much room as possible between me and the hair-tugging baby.

I joined Jade, Liam at one of the tables as they coloured in with Joshua and Anthony.

“Aunty Ari! You should help me.” Joshua tugged my hand onto the seat next to him. Anthony sat across from us, his tongue peeking out while he coloured seriously. Jade was watching them amused while passing colours to Liam when he asked for them, like surgical tools for a doctor. I laughed as Liam made sure to colour a bit outside the lines like the boys.

“You colour the sky.” Joshua handed me a purple crayon and pushed my hands toward the sky. I stared at him oddly before shrugging and began painting the sky a dark purple. Niall took the seat on the other side of Joshua and watched us curiously.

“Purple?” Niall questioned. I widened my eyes and made pointed looks at Joshua who looked back at Niall shyly. “So much better then a boring blue.” Niall quickly continued. Joshua smiled widely and instructed Niall to begin colouring in Spiderman’s outfit.

Liam and Niall fell into conversation with each other over what they were doing in the couple of weeks that they had off. I half listened while casually fighting with Jade over the colours on the table.

“Aunty Ari, stop stealing Aunty Jade’s colours.” Anthony reprimanded me and snatched the green out of my hands, giving it to Jade who smile smugly. I glared at Anthony and crossed my arms over my chest.

“Well she sucks at sharing.” I pouted at Anthony who rolled his eyes and went back to colouring. I poked my tongue at him before quickly pulling back and avoiding the flying crayon from Jade’s direction. Joshua started laughing and tried to throw his crayon.

“You’re a horrible influence.” I accused Jade before taking the crayons that Joshua was trying to throw. Niall helped every now and then when Joshua moved so I couldn’t grab one.

-

I watched Niall as he tipped Joshua upside down and spun him around quickly in a circle.

“You all leaving?” I turned to Mum and nodded.

“Yeah didn’t get much sleep last night.” I told her honestly, she very obviously looked from Niall to me. “No Mum, God I was at work late that’s all.”

“But he’s going home with you right? Since Liam and Jade are already gone.” I sighed and looked back over at Niall who was saying goodbye to everyone that was left.

“Do you really want to know Mum?”

“He’s a nice boy.”

“Nothing’s happening.” I said sternly, avoiding her eyes. She sighed and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

“I wish you weren’t half as busy as you make yourself. You might actually settle down.” She frowned at me.

“Maybe I don’t want to settle down. I don’t know if I want to.” I admitted to her, grabbing my bag from the table as Niall headed over towards us

“Don’t forget Ally’s coming over with the kids tomorrow.” I nodded at Mum as Niall stood next to us.

“I’ll call you tomorrow night.” I pressed a kiss to her cheek before stepping back and Niall thanked her for letting him stay.

“You’re families great.” Niall commented as he followed me back through the house to the front where my car was sitting. I turned and smirked at him before grabbing the collar of his shirt. I tugged and pulled his body against mine, his warm mouth instantly meeting mine. Warm and wet as he leant forwards until my back was leaning against my car. I let his tongue take control for a moment before pushing him back. He licked his lips and quickly glanced towards the house.

“Come on. I’ve been picturing you naked in my bed for the last hour.” I surged forward and claimed his mouth one more time before rushing to get in the car. Niall was already seated and strapped in by the time I had sat down.

I laughed and reached over, his lips were almost too good to part from.