Just for a Moment

I have been thrilled to see how much my family seems to love Kellin. He was a ‘smash hit’; my mami’s words not mine, especially with my youngest brother. Everyone seemed to be fighting for his attention and to have some one on one time with him, even me. He told me that each individual threatened bodily harm to him if he hurt me. Which I found very sweet and a bit unexpected; I am not very close with my brothers. I mean we get along just fine but I don’t call them, text them, in fact I rarely even see them, even when I was living here. Ally on the other hand, well she was always everywhere with them. They loved her without a doubt. That’s what made her such a huge flirt and so relaxed around boys. So that sums up why I am shocked to hear that they were being even a little protective of me. It’s the nice kind of shocked, the kind that makes you feel good about yourself. Kellin didn't seem to mind the threats at all, he let everyone know that he was here to stay. Which made me blush all over when he announced it at the dinner table last night. He said he loves me and plans on staying as long as I will allow him to.

Kellin and I’s plans for today are to spend all day with Noel, the youngest. We will be going to the park to play in the snow which just fell last night. I love fresh snow. I woke the boys up at six am, so we could get first dibs. They of course were not happy about the early morning, so I made them breakfast to ease the pain. They shoveled the food down so fast you would think they never had pancakes before. Afterward I pushed them out of the kitchen so they can get dressed and be ready to go. After like 15 minutes both boys were dressed, I was happy that I had decided to get dressed before I woke them up. If anyone hates to be left waiting its Noel, so that and excitement to start my day had me up at 5:30. I made sure I had everything ready for our snow picnic, including our picnic quilt and thermal cups for the hot chocolate I made. I saw Noel struggling with his scarf, so I placed the backpack down by the door and kneeled in front of him.

As I tied the scarf around my little brother’s neck, he yawned, and rubbed his eyes. I heard the door open from the bathroom; Kellin came out of it with a sleepy grin on his face. He stopped himself from coming towards us and leaned against the wall by the bathroom door. I knew that he was standing there watching me zip up Noel’s coat. I was glad that Noel was letting me zip him up even though at ten he is capable of doing it himself. I knew he was only letting me because he missed me so much. Otherwise, he would be embarrassed and pushing me away. I was thrilled that he was allowing me to baby him. In fact I almost had forgotten how much I adore him with all the drama that was going on in my life. I squeezed him and kissed him on the cheek, and then I stood up and started putting on my own things. Kellin made his way over to us with a wide grin on his face.

“I think you will make one heck of a mom someday.” Kellin said kissing me, before putting my hat on my head. “I think that little moment just made me fall even more in love with you. Something that I didn’t even think was possible.”

“Why?” I blushed and played with the bottom of his long black hair. “Do you want kids?”

I stopped fiddling with his hair and zipped up my coat. I was busying myself because I am a bit nervous about the answer.

“Yes, I do.” He gives me a hug, “especially if they are with you. Can you imagine little Lizzys running around?”

I looked up at him, “Ugh, how many little Lizzys are we talking?”

“I don’t know maybe five, I think that’s a good number.” He replied while pushing a piece of my hair behind my ear.

I give him a peck on the lips, “Or maybe we can go down to three but, we can discuss later and in private.” I could see Noel staring at us openly from the corner of my eye. “Now hurry up and put on your coat so we can take Noel to the park.”

He laughs and kisses my nose before going into the foyer to put his things on. Noel hovered around him, chatting away about the video game he just got. Kellin was animated with each response, causing Noel to increase excitement with each word. I smiled as I watched them interact. I put on my gloves and scarf as Kellin zipped up his jacket. When Kellin is done he picks Noel up and throws him over his shoulder. With his other hand he grabs the back pack. He gives me a look letting me know that they are ready to go. I stand there just so happy that they are bonding, my boys.

“Babe, we are ready.” Kellin opens the door and heads out; I laugh and shake my head as I follow them.

I shout a 'see you later' to my sleeping parents and lock up before heading out. I have to jog a little to catch up to those two silly boys, since they decided to race up the first block. I heard their united laughter and my heart melted. Kellin would make an amazing father, just watching him with Noel made my heart swell. Maybe he was right, five is a good number. I shook my head before catching up to them. They both called me a slowpoke in perfect unison and then they stuck their tongues out at me. This of course makes my heart fill with even more love, seeing them in sync like that. I imagine him with our own kids and sigh, distracted for a moment. Finally I catch up to them, I flicked Kellin on the forehead and tickled Noel until he started to plead for mercy. Of course, this meant that we didn’t get very far from home after leaving. We ending up pausing on this block for ten minutes to goof off as Kellin started tickling me to ‘save’ Noel. I am glad that that we aren’t in a rush or anything, I mean the park wasn’t going anywhere. The whole point was just to have fun and be together, finally though we resumed walking.

As we walked down the street with Noel, he held both of our hands, so we can swing him as we walk. He just laughed the whole way and it made me feel so great. I truly couldn’t be happier. These past three days at home have been so amazing, I was sad to be leaving tomorrow. I was however, very grateful that my family wasn’t making a big fuss or asking any question as to why we were leaving so early. I didn’t want to have to spoil the surprise Kellin and I had in store, plus it was more romantic this way. It was like the two of us had something that was just ours. He made eye contact with me and I knew he knew what I was thinking. He smiled sweetly at me, and mouthed an ‘I love you’. Then he winked at me, just like the first day we met, before we both swung Noel higher.

When we got to the park Noel instantly ran to his neighborhood friends, who were already at the park despite the early hour. I guess other people had the same idea as me. Kellin grabbed my hand in his and kissed my cheek while Noel and his friends yelled and played. I kept my eyes glued on Noel, too nervous to let him out of my sight. Kellin and I simply trailed quietly behind him until his friends left. I was happy that I could be with someone who didn’t need me to be talking every second to feel comfortable. When Noel’s friends left, the three of us got into a huge snowball fight. This led to Kellin dunking Noel and me into the snow. So I got up and pushed Kellin into a huge pile of snow laughing as his body sank deeper into the white frost. I instantly started regretting the decision since Kellin was wearing the backpack with our stuff in it. I hoped that the snow didn’t get into our backpack and freeze our food, even though I thermal packed everything.

I reached out my hand to help Kellin up and that’s when I spotted him. Body slumped against a tree smiling at me, was Max. I had heard he got on bail until the trial next month but I never would have thought he would show up like this. When Kellin noticed I was distracted he looked up and saw Max. An anger I have never seen on Kellin’s face replaced his carefree smile. He got out of the snow and blocked Max’s view of me. I grabbed Noel and put him behind me, and he wrapped his arms around me. I had no idea what Max was doing here or why, but I won’t let him hurt my Noel or Kellin again. I hand Noel to Kellin and before he could stop me I was making my way over to Max. I knew he would stay put with Noel, I was trusting him to keep him safe and distracted.

“I knew you couldn’t resist me,” he said when I was close enough to hear.

“What do you want?” I didn’t hide the anger or disgust from my voice.

“I missed you. How’s my Ally? Does she think about me every day? I sure hope she does. Did she get my letter?” Max didn’t leave the spot that he was causally occupying on the tree. Maybe he was afraid of what Kellin would do if he got any closer. He laughed and I felt my stomach churn at the sound. “Tell your boyfriend to chill, I won't hurt you." He looks me up and down and suddenly I can't feel covered up enough. "Its Ally that I'm after.”

Before I could even reply he was gone. My hands were trembling and Kellin was at my side before the fear could manifest. Noel looked at me confused and a bit scared so I comforted him, telling him that everything was fine. So we just went about our day as if Max never even appeared. I wore a brave face, and I enjoyed my day greatly. But I could not help but look over my shoulder every once in awhile, afraid that he would be standing there, watching.