Even If You Don't

Mari's POV; 3:45pm

I was in the middle of moving the cookies I'd baked off of the cookie sheet once they'd finally cooled while Calum had gone upstairs to get Asher washed up so we could decorate them. I took the plate of cookies to the dining room table and while I was digging through the pantry to get the icing and sprinkles and everything, I heard the front door open and then close – and I'd be lying if I said my heart didn't skip a beat.

Since my mom had been at work, she obviously didn't know Calum had flown in to see me. I knew her feelings about him changed after the breakup – she seemed even more upset than me at times – so I didn't know how she'd react to finding out he was here. But it wasn't like I could exactly avoid it.

"I smell cookies," my mom said, walking into the room.

"I would hope so," I mentioned, closing the pantry door with my foot and bringing everything over to the table. Mom put her keys down on the counter and hung her purse on the barstool.

"You and Asher make them?" she asked.

"No, I made them while he was napping," I answered, "But he just woke up, so he is gonna help decorate some."

"You not get him out of bed yet?" she asked. She finally looked over at the table, tilting her head in surprise. "Wow, Mar," she let out a soft laugh, "Baking for the neighborhood today, are we?"

"I... No... You know..." I cleared my throat, "We've got a fourth person staying for a couple days..."

"What?" she furrowed her eyebrows, "Mom didn't mention-"

"It's not Grandma, Mom..." I told her, only confusing her even more.

"Then who would be staying for a couple days?" she wondered. But I didn't get the chance to respond before we heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"I'm gonna make a pink cookie with lots of spwinkles for Mommy!" Asher announced, bouncing on Calum's hip.

I heard my boyfriend chuckle in response, "That's very nice of you, bud; I'm sure Mummy will really love it!" Calum turned the corner after stepping off the staircase, only to freeze the moment he reached the threshold and noticed my mom standing there.

My mom glanced at Calum for a moment before cocking an eyebrow at me while I just scrunched my face up in nervousness. I had no idea what to say, or any idea how she'd react, but Asher was the first to speak.

"Mommy, look!" he smiled widely, "Calum hewe!" The toddler hugged Calum's neck tightly, and I noticed my mom's body relax a bit.

"Yeah, Ashy – I can see that..." she acknowledged her son but her eyes never left the person holding him, "Why...?" Both Calum and I started to speak, but Asher beat us to it.

"He say sowwy to me and Mawi," he informed her.

"I did..." Calum finally spoke, a bashful smile on his face, "And it's suddenly occurred to me that there's a third person I need to apologize to..."

I watched on nervously, unaware of what was going on in my mom's head right now and honestly a bit scared of what she was going to say to him. But of all the scenarios that played out in my head within the span of 10 seconds, none of them were what actually happened.

"Well, if Asher forgave you, I think I'd look pretty ridiculous if I still held a grudge," Mom said.

I couldn't help but snort softly, "You should have seen him when Cal got here then." My mom simply shot Calum a smile, making him breathe a small sigh of relief, before speaking again.

"So what's this I hear about lots of sprinkles?" she wondered.

Asher frowned, "It 'posed to be a s'pwise." Calum and I laughed again as he brought Asher over to the table, setting him in his highchair while I put a cookie, frosting tube, and jar of sprinkles on its table.

"Okay, okay," Mom put her hands up in surrender, "I won't come back in here until you're done with it." She then looked at Calum and I. "No food fights this time," she ordered, walking out of the room.

"We cleaned it up!"

"Michael started it!" the both of us shouted at the same time, hearing her laugh as she sat down on the living room couch to watch TV.

~

Calum's POV; 8:00pm

Mari and I were sitting on the couch while Lori was giving Asher his bath and putting him to bed. I perked up as my phone started ringing with the tone I'd set for Facetime. I pulled it out of my pocket, finding Ashton's name on the screen.

"I'm about to get yelled at for leaving so suddenly," I groaned, only making Mari giggle. I answered the call and Ashton popped up on the screen, but didn't even have the chance to say 'hello' before I heard Michael's voice.

"Please tell us it's true!" he exclaimed, poking his head into frame. Ashton simply adjusted his phone so that he, Michael, and Luke could all be in the shot as they spoke to me.

"What?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. It was obvious to me that they'd just woken up, so I knew they'd had no idea about me and Mari. Or did they?

"We just got on Twitter and saw you and Mari trending!" Luke chirped, "What happened? Is that why you left? Are you with Mari?" Mari giggled at all the questions, crawling over to me and resting her chin on my shoulder so they could finally see her.

"Hi, guys," she grinned.

"Mari!" all three of them shouted simultaneously, making us both laugh that time.

"Are you guys back together?!" Ashton asked excitedly. She looked at me curiously for a moment before turning back to the boys.

"Unless I blacked out and this is all a dream, yeah," she nodded.

I chuckled under my breath, propping my foot up on the coffee table so I could rest my forearm on my knee. I put my other hand on Mari's thigh, tugging on her so her legs overlapped mine. She repositioned herself to do so comfortably, wiggling her arms around my waist and loosely hugging me as she laid her head on my shoulder.

"So you guys are good again?" Luke wondered hopefully. I felt Mari nod, making me turn to kiss her head, then feeling her smile into my shirt.

"Thank God!" Michael shouted, "I was getting so sick of Cal's moping!" I rolled my eyes in response while the girl beside me just giggled again.

"You guys know I love you more than anything, but Cal and I have a lot to catch up on, so..." she said. All three of them instantly groaned.

"Gross," Ashton shook his head, "We didn't need to know that."

"Use protection, kids!" Luke insisted.

"Goodbye," Mari rolled her eyes that time, the arm on top of my stomach moving to end the Facetime call. "They're children," she grumbled, returning her arm to where it had been while I just set my phone on the couch cushion beside us, "How do they survive on their own?"

"They don't," I laughed lightly again, pressing another kiss to her forehead.