Dad, Dad, and Dad?

Chapter 7

Riley was alone in her room while all the boys worked on YouTube. She did find it very boring but she had become used to the boredom. The quiet time has aloud her to use her imagination. Riley is a child with a creative mind. She had her toys lined up on her bed. Riley took one of her dresses that had long sleeves, tied them together around her neck, and wore it as a cape. She was pretending to be a queen giving an important speech. Then she decided to go to the bathroom to look for more stuff to use as props.

"...next time guys. See ya!"

Riley heard Simon do his outro. She could just see him through his cracked door as she walked into the bathroom. She opened the cabinets in hopes of finding anything interesting.

"Whatcha looking for, Ri?" Simon crossed his arms.

"I don't know." Riley shrugged.

"Well, I've gotta use the bathroom so..." Simon waited for her leave. He often forgets how different a toddler brain works from an adult's.

"Okay." Riley didn't move. They blinked at each other.

"Which means you need to leave." Simon carried her into his room. While waiting for Simon to return, she climbed on top if his chair. When he came back he asked, "Why have you got a dress tied around you?"

"I'm a queen." Riley answered.

"You look more like a superhero." Simon told her. He sat on the floor since she was on the chair.

"What do superheroes do?" she asked curious. She got down from the chair and sat on Simon.

"They save the day using their superpower." While Simon talked he put the palm of his hand under the palm of her hand. "Damn my hands are big. Oh-! Sh-ugar. I forgot I'm not supposed to curse around you."

"I like sugar, it's sweet." Riley shared. Simon chuckled. "Do you have a superpower?"

"Uh..?" Simon was about to say no but then he remembered that Q&A with Josh. But he said, "No?" anyway. "Riley are you bored?"

"Very, very, oh yes." she said dramatically.

"What if I put on some music for you to dance to while I edit?" he suggested.

"Yeah!" Riley jumped up with excitement. Riley knew for a fact Simon was favourite aside from Josh. At least for now.
~
The next day was more interesting. It started with Riley and Vik at the kitchen island having breakfast. They were both having cereal but Riley's had no milk. The two were being very childish and were playing with their food. They were making pictures with cereal from the box.

"Look! I made a lion! Sort of." Vik pointed at his 'art'. "What the heck have you made?!"

"It's me!" Riley told him.

"Maybe if I stand over here... Now I see the resemblance!" To Vik it looked like a generic face but that's probably why Riley can see so much more from it. Vik is basically Riley's playmate. The two could hear Josh and Simon upstairs. It sounded like the two were arguing. Which was strange considering it was silent less than ten seconds ago.

"Vik!" Josh shouted. He was headed for the kitchen.

"Stay calm, Riley. And act natural." Vik instructed. "Yeah? What's up?" Vik quickly tried to clean up their mess. He put some back in the box, some into his cereal, some into Riley's, and some into his mouth.

"What ever you see on social media about 'Who's that?' and then a picture of Riley in the background, ignore it. Don't respond." Josh notified.

"What? Why?" Vik was confused.

"Josh," Simon entered the room. "I'm sorry. It just slipped. What if I take down the video and re-edit the end?" Simon prompted.

"How on Earth did you not notice her in the background, but thousands of fans did? And changing the end won't change anything else. There are screenshots of her in the hallway behind your door. I don't know how they managed to spot her but..." Josh stressed. Vik now understood; Riley had been spotted in the background at the end of Simon's latest video. So he went back upstairs with his cereal to let them figure it out. Riley was alarmed by Josh's sudden aggressiveness towards Simon.

"You know it wasn't on purpose, Josh. I wish I had closed my door. It was a stupid mistake that caused more drama than one could expect." Simon opined. All the fans were up in arms about who the mysterious little girl was. Some were claiming that she was one of the Sidemen's children, in which case they're right, while others were more mature and said that perhaps she was a family member. All the boys had done a good job keeping Riley hidden up until this point.

"I know it was an accident, Simon. Don't feel too bad about it. If only Riley hadn't walked by at that very moment." Josh said. He hadn't even told Freya about Riley yet.

"Hey now you can't blame this on her." Simon defended.

"I'm not. We just need to think of way to cover this up quick." Josh said.

"Did I do something wrong?" Riley interjected.

"No sweetheart. Nobody meant for what happened to happen." Josh placed a gentle kiss on her head.

"Alright, umm... What if we say it was somebody's sister or cousin?" Simon proposed.

"No, we don't need people asking us to put whoever's 'sister' on camera or for her name. And why would a cousin be visiting us? It doesn't make sense." Josh discarded the idea.

"Then it's friend's kid, I don't know." Simon shrugged.

"I'll just do that. I'll say, we were just looking after a neighbor's, who's a friend as well, kid." Josh decided.

"Good plan. I just hope that shuts everybody up." Simon put his hand on Josh's shoulder and then left. As soon as Simon left, Josh went on to Twitter.

"Oh, Riley, I love you." Josh expressed.

"I love you too, daddy." Josh's heart almost exploded. This was the first time Riley had referred to him as, "daddy". This was probably the most proud and endearing moment he had been waiting for. That was the final step.

After everything was settled, mostly, Josh went back into his room. He worked for a little bit before checking his phone to see what everyone's response was to his tweet. There on the lock screen, were two text messages. Both were from Freya waiting for the real explanation;

-Josh be honest.

-Who was that because i know u dont have any friends who have kids...