Watch Me Drown

7. Aunties

TW: mentions of throwing up and blood

(Julien's point of view)

"AUNTIES!"

Me and Abby smiled as we pulled into the driveway, Dorothea yapping excitedly from the backseat. We practically flew out of the car to greet Ezra, my three year old second cousin. I got a head start, given that Abby was the one driving, but she managed to shove me aside and scoop the boy up first.

"HA!" She exclaimed, hugging him tight. "I got the first hug!"

"Not fair!" I said.

Ezra giggled at us the whole time, squealing when he was handed off to me.

Ezra was put up for adoption when he was just a newborn in 2020. My cousin and his husband jumped at the chance to adopt him; they'd always wanted kids. By the time we could safely visit them for the first time, me and Abby had been together for a bit. To him, we were his fun aunts, and to us he was our nephew. Directly blood related or not, Ethan, my cousin, was like a brother to me. His husband, Logan, was no different. They were the best family me and Abby had.

"Okay, give me back my son," Logan greeted me. Ethan and Abby were already chatting enthusiastically.

"I just got him!" I whined.

"It's okay, JB." Ezra said from my arms.

"JB?" I questioned. "Where'd you get that from?"

"When you were on tour and he said he missed you we watched some of your performances with Phoebe and Lucy," Logan explained. "It only happened a few times, but he still picked up on it."

They were the sweetest people ever.

"Guess I'm no longer 'aunt'," I chuckled as I set him back on the sidewalk. "What video is your favorite, Ezra?"

He started dancing, just stomping and pumping his fists in the air. "Not stong enough to be you man."

"The SiriusXM one," Logan clarified.

"DOGGY!!!!!!!!!!!" Ezra suddenly shrieked, pointing to our car.

Abby appeared beside him, reaching down to take his soft little hand. Together, they walked over to our car and let Dorothea out of the backseat. She licked Ezra's face, letting him pull on her ears and run his fingers through her fur.

They also had a dog; a black border collie that towered over Dorothea, named Tori. She was named after one of Alice Oseman's characters.

"Alright," I knelt down by Ezra when they came back. "Are you as ready to swim as I am?"

"Not if I'm more ready first!" Abby proclaimed.

She picked Ezra up again and ran through the front door. Our big act of fighting over Ezra was pretty funny to him.

"I don't even have my bathing suit on so...!" I called after them.

"I think your girlfriend is more excited than him." Ethan laughed.

I shrugged with a laugh of my own.

***

Ethan and Lucas had gotten an above ground pool installed when Ezra turned one. Ezra loved swimming, especially with us. While Ethan and Lucas lounged on the back porch, me and Abby played with him for a while. We raced, we floated, we taught him new tricks, we did basically anything you could do with a three year old in the pool.

"Can I jump?" Ezra asked.

"Of course," I told him.

I led him over to the ladder, and held my arms out to catch him. When he jumped I caught him right before he hit the water, pulled him to me, spun us around, and let him go. He had floaties on, which made the whole experience pretty stress free.