Hating You From The Beginning

𝟯𝟲| 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 

"Ready to go in?" I ask, looking at the little girl sitting in the back of the car through the rearview mirror.

"Yes!" She cheers. I turn off the car, grab my wallet and go to the back door to let Aria out of her car seat. I still remember where most of the stores are from when I came with Rebecca and Roman. I intertwine my hand with her tiny one and something immediately catches her eyes. "Your ring, daddy has one like that." She tells me while stroking my ring.

"We came here one time and I made him wear it," I smirk. "I'm going to pick you up okay?"

She nods her head and lifts her little arms waiting for me to pick her up. I lock the car and walk towards the entrance with Aria in my arms. We step inside and I put her down so she can walk. We make it a few feet into the mall when an Idea pops into my head. "Hey Ar, you really like the ring?" I ask her.

"Yeah," she replies almost immediately. This mall has three floors. The food court and a few boring stores are on the first floor. The second floor has 'adult' stores.

Get your head out of the gutter. I just meant that they have bath-and-body works, Sephora, Hollister, etc. The third floor is more of the kid's floor. It had GAP, the Disney store, a shit ton of toy stores, and Build-A-Bear.

"Want to get something to eat before we go to get your bear?" I ask her while still holding her hand. I'm pretty tall, around 5'7 to be exact so I have to slouch a bit to hold her hand. "Can I get a slushy?" I nod my head at her request and we head to the food court. I look around for different places that might have slushies but I don't find any. I'm about to tell her but an idea pops into my head. "Give me a second I'm just going to call your dad real quick, okay?"

She simply nods her head. I lead us to a table and place her on a chair next to me before dialing Roman's number.

After the second ring, he picks up, "missing me already?" I can practically see his smug smile from here.

"Not in the slightest. Aria and I are having the time of our lives, we almost forgot you exist." I tease.

"How does she already like you more than me?"

"I'm very likable. Anyways I just called to ask if Aria has any allergies?" I ask. I don't want to have to explain to Roman that his child got an allergic reaction under my watch.

"No, my child is perfectly healthy." He says almost sounding proud.

"Perfect thanks. We'll be home in maybe an hour." I tell him.

"Hurry up I miss you."

"The phones not on speaker wise-one," I tell him, thinking that it was meant for Aria.

"I know." He says as if it was no big deal. It is.

We say our goodbyes quickly and I turn my attention back to Aria. "Was that daddy?" She asks.

"Yes, it was. Now let's go get you your slushy." I tell her. We walk over to the Starbucks and wait in line. "Do you like strawberry lemonade?" I ask her as we're getting closer to the cash register.

"Yes, I love it."

We reach the counter, "hey what can I get for you?" The barista asks. She looks around my age with red stripes in her hair. I'm jealous. "Can I get a tall strawberry açaí lemonade double blended please?" I learned this trick on TikTok a few months ago, and now it's my go-to order for when It's hot. It's basically a slushy. "Alrighty, anything else?"

I look down to Aria, "want a cake pop or something?" I ask her. She simply shakes her head. "That's it," I tell her. My total comes to $3.75, I pull out a five and hand it to her. She hands me my change and less than five minutes later another barista hands me the drink. I grab a straw and give the drink to Aria. "Ready?"