𝘼𝙁𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙒𝙀 𝘾𝙍𝘼𝙎𝙃𝙀𝘿 ↣ 𝙊𝙉𝙀 𝘿𝙄𝙍𝙀𝘾𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉

8. POLAROID

[THREE DAYS LATER]

"You want me to get pizza?"

"Yes," I said. Louis laughed from the other end of the phone. "You wanted to make a good first impression on the kids. I'm telling you, Lou, the way to the heart is through the stomach."

"You sound like Niall," Louis said. "But yeah, I can pick up pizza. What should I get?"

"Pepperoni? I don't know," I laughed. "And get, like, milkshakes too."

"Milkshakes," Louis repeated. "I'm leaving the airport now. Do I need to pick up anything else besides the food?"

"No, that's everything," I said. "I can't wait to see you again."

"Me neither."

It had been five days since we saw each other in person. It was the longest we had gone in the few years since we got back together.

Five days was too long.

"How long?"

"Half an hour tops," Louis promised.

"Okay, honey. I'll see you soon."

"I love you."

"I love you too. Bye."

"Bye."

Louis ended the call and I flopped back onto the couch.

Keenan and Karter were in their shared bedroom. When I last check on them, Karter was playing the X-Box and Keenan was laying next to him watching the screen with a notebook in front of her.

They were settling in. Slowly but surely, I was getting a sense of who the kids were outside of the walls they put up to protect themselves.

Keenan wasn't quiet as quiet as she let on. She had a great sense of humor and laughed a lot. She was quite sassy as well, although she was still nervous to be too outspoken or forward. I was hoping that in the following months, I would get to see her grow more.

Karter, on the other hand, was very sweet. His protectiveness of his sister was deeply engraved into him. After he began to realize that he didn't have to be on watch for her all time, he calmed down. It was nice to see him breathe. Karter liked to draw, and play video games, and tease his younger sister.

Both kids were starting to come around to me as well. I did my best to present myself in a non threatening way to them. In all honesty, getting them to trust me was the easy part.

The difficult part, I knew, would be getting them to trust Louis. After being hurt by men their whole lives, they were valid to be a bit skittish.

I was scared of the boys when I met them, and for some time after that as well. They were guys, and they were older, and they shouted and swung their arms around when they were excited.

I wasn't scared of them because they gave me a reason to be. I was scared, because up until that point any man I lived with hurt me. All I could do, all I had known, was to prepare myself for violence.