All The Small Things

141

Jacob POV]

I planned to just carry Luca inside and let him keep sleeping, but he woke up after I got up the stairs. In the middle of trying to unlock the door one-handed, he shifted and buried his face in my shoulder. I figured he might've just had to adjust himself in his sleep, but when I got inside and sat on the couch with him, he was just quietly awake.

"You gonna stay awake?" I asked, slipping my hand under his shirt and rubbing his back. He nodded and sniffled, wrapping his arms around my torso. A few tears slowly rolled down his face, so I used my free hand to gently wipe them away.

"You have a bad dream?" I asked, genuinely surprised when he shook his head no.

"Just made me sad," he quietly answered.
"What was it?" I asked out of mostly curiosity.

"Was when my momma liked me," he softly said, making me frown.
"I'm sorry, baby," I apologized, kissing his head. He shrugged and slid off my lap, trying to ignore his feelings. It's only like 11:30 a.m, and even though I've got to work tomorrow, I wanted to take him to do something. I figured my mom would love to see him and there's not much else to do outside of the house when it's 28 degrees outside.

"Do you wanna go to my mom's house today?" I asked, walking behind him in the kitchen. He was searching through the cabinets, not just looking at what to eat, but searching for something definitely specific.

"Uh, yeah, okay. I like going to see her," he said, standing up on his toes to try and see the top shelf completely.

"What are you looking for?" I asked, leaning against the counter.

"I had gum and I don't know where it went," Luca whined, giving up looking.

"I might've thrown it away when I was going through the cabinets, but I don't remember for sure," I said, making him pout. If I did throw it out, it would've been I assumed Mason left it on the counter and I didn't feel like bringing it back to him.

"Why do you want it?" I asked, my levels of suspicion rising. I figured it had something to do with not wanting to eat, but there was literally no way to know for sure without asking. He just shrugged and leaned on me.

"Luca, if there was a reason you were looking for it, then I kinda wanna know. Shrugging at me really doesn't answer anyone's questions," I said, lifting his face to look at me.

"I didn't want my stomach to make noise," He said.

"Well then why don't you just eat something?" I asked back.

"Cause my stomach hurts," Luca mumbled, looking away.

"Yeah, I'm sure it does. Anyone's stomach hurts when they don't eat," I responded. I could see him holding back what he wanted to tell me, but if he's recovering, he kinda needs to be honest.

"Tell me what you're thinking. I like listening to you," I reassured him.

"I don't know. I don't even do this stuff on purpose. It just happens. Like, I don't wake up in the morning and think, 'I'm gonna starve myself,'. I just get hungry and in my head I'm like, 'I shouldn't eat,'," He tried to explain, giving me a better idea of what he means.

"Babe, that's 'cause you're so used to skipping meals. Try telling me when you're hungry so I can go with you to find something. Don't even think about it before you tell me. That way you can't talk yourself out of it," I suggested, getting a little bit of a whine in response.

"That's so embarrassing. I'm fucking grown, I shouldn't have to tell my boyfriend that I'm hungry," He complained. I could tell it wasn't because of the suggestion, but more at the fact that he needed to do that.