Chapter 34

Kevin woke up to see Kristin snuggled close to him. He smiled as he leaned forward and kissed the top of her head.

He slowly moved away from her. Then he got up and went downstairs. He decided that he was going to make breakfast in bed for his beautiful fiancée.

I woke up at 9 o'clock to see Angel still sleeping. So I quietly got up and left the room. I crept downstairs into my Uncle Nick's living room. There I found Aaron playing a video game with the TV on mute.

"Hey Lily," Aaron said, without even taking his eyes off the screen.

"Hi Aaron," I said as I walked over to him.

He moved over so I could sit next to him on the couch.

"Do you want to play?" he asked.

"Umm…I don't really know how to play this game," I said hesitantly.

"That's okay," Aaron said. "It's really easy. Here, I'll show you."

Then he quit his game and restarted it. He got the other controller and handed it to me.

"Thanks," I said.

"No problem," he said, smiling at me.

Soon he was teaching me how to play the game. Afterwards both of us were drawn into the game, our complete concentration on winning the game.

Nick got up and went downstairs ready to make breakfast for the kids, when he heard laughing. He went to his living room to find Lily and Aaron laughing as they played on the video game. He smiled to himself and then went back into his kitchen.

He was glad that Lily seemed to make friends very quickly with Aaron and Angel. He knew that she didn't have any good friends, but she could really use them. So he was thrilled when the three of them got along so well, especially when he noticed that Lily had a little crush on Aaron. He thought it was just the cutest thing.

Kevin made his way back upstairs with a tray of food that was perfectly set for Kristin. He walked into his room and smiled when he saw that Kristin was still sleeping. He set the tray down and then sat on the bed next to Kristin.

Then he bent down and lightly brushed his lips across hers. He watched as a smile slowly spread across her lips.

Kristin slowly opened her eyes to see Kevin's face in front of hers. She smiled and then wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close to her and kissing him.

Then Kevin pulled away from Kristin. "Morning baby."

"Morning Kev," Kristin said, happily.

He sat up, pulling her with him. Then he reached over and grabbed the tray.

Kristin smiled. "Oh! You made breakfast in bed for me!"

"Yep," Kevin said. "Just for my fiancée."

"Thank you," Kristin said as she kissed Kevin again.

"Guys! Breakfast is ready!" yelled Nick.

"No, but I'm winning!" I yelled.

"Oh, look at that. Time to shut the game off," Aaron said, smiling. He hit pause and then exited the game.

"Hey! That's not fair!" I exclaimed.

"Oops," Aaron said, smiling at me as we began walking to the kitchen.

"Next time," I said.

"Okay," he said, laughing.

I loved the way he smiled at me. He was so cute and his smile made him that much more lovable. I was so glad that he seemed to notice me and actually want to talk to me. Which also made my crush on him grow even more.

"Morning Lily and Aaron," Nick said as we sat down at the table.

"Good morning Uncle Nicky," I said.

"Mornin'," Aaron said as he began getting his food ready.

"Where's Angel?" Nick asked.

"She was sleeping when I got up," I said.

"Aaron, can you get her for me?" Nick asked.

"Okay," Aaron said.

Then he yelled, "Angel! Come and eat! Breakfast is ready!"

"Thanks bro," Nick said.

"No problem," Aaron said.

Soon Angel walked into the kitchen. As she walked past Aaron she smacked him on the back of the head.

"Oww!" he exclaimed.

"Don't do that again," she said smiling, as she sat down next to me.

"Nick, she hit me," whined Aaron.

Nick just laughed. "What can I say Airboy? You deserved it."

Once Kevin and Kristin had finished their breakfast in bed she got up and took her shower. Kevin decided that now would be the best time to pick up Lily. That way he wouldn't have to argue with Kristin about it and she wouldn't be able to change his mind.

Ring! Ring!

"I've got it!" yelled Aaron. "Hello?"

"Hey Aaron!" Kevin said.

"Hi Kevin! What's up?"

"Nothing much. What about you?"

"Just glad to be here visiting with Nick."

"Yeah, that's good. So are all of you up?"

"Yep."

"Well can you tell Lily to be ready because I'm on my way over there right now."

"She has to leave now?"

"Yeah, she does."

"Oh okay. I'll tell her."

"Thanks Aaron. And I'll talk to you later."

"Bye Kevin!"

Kevin hung up and then scribbled a note to Kristin, telling her that he'd be back in about 15 minutes.

"That was your dad," Aaron said. "He's coming to pick you up now."

"Oh okay," I said. "I guess I better make sure I have everything in my bag."

The three of us got up and went upstairs to Angel's room.

I packed everything into my backpack. "So…how long are you guys staying with Nick?"

"A couple of weeks," replied Angel.

"Oh cool," I said. "Maybe we can hang out together again?"

"Yeah," said Angel. "That'd be fun."

"Thanks for letting me stay with you guys even though you're visiting with Nick right now," I said.

"It was no problem," Aaron said. "I had a lot of fun with you."

"Lily! Your dad's here!" yelled Nick.

I smiled and grabbed my backpack. Then I raced downstairs to see my dad standing with Nick.

Kevin smiled as he saw Lily. He opened his arms and she came running into them, wrapping her arms around him.

"Hi my girl," my dad said.

"Hi Daddy," I said, smiling up at him.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked.

"Uh huh," I said.

"All right then, let's go," my dad said.

"Okay," I said.

"Bye Lily," Angel said.

"See you later," Aaron said.

"Bye you guys," I said, smiling. "Thanks Uncle Nicky for letting me stay here."

"Anytime," Nick said.

Then my dad and I walked out the front door. I hopped into the 4-Runner and waved goodbye one last time to the Carters.

"So what did you do last night?" my dad asked.

"Oh, we had so much fun," I said. "Nick took us out to eat at Sonic's and we got Cherry Limeades. Those are the best, you and me have to go there sometime."

"Okay, I'll remember that," my dad said, smiling. "What else did you guys do?"

"We went bowling. It was so much fun because Angel and I won," I said. "Plus, I had never been bowling before."

"So you and Angel got along well?" my dad asked.

"Oh yeah," I replied. "She's really nice. We talked a lot and found that we have a lot of things in common."

"Really?" my dad asked.

"Yeah. She's kind of quiet like me," I said.

"Well I'm glad that you and her got along really well," my dad said. "What about Aaron?"

I smiled. "He's nice too."

"What are you smiling for?" my dad asked suspiciously.

"Oh, nothing," I replied. "I just had a good time with Nick, Aaron, and Angel."

"Oh, okay," he said.

"So what else happened?" my dad asked.

"Oh! We all ganged up on Nick and began tickling him," I said.

Kevin smiled as he listened to Lily go on and on about how much fun she had with the Carters. He was pleased to hear that she had made friends with the twins. He knew that she didn't have any other friends from her childhood. He also knew that she couldn't have better friends than Angel and Aaron.

As we pulled into the driveway, I grabbed my bag. My dad and I got out, opening the front door.

"Did you guys eat this morning?" my dad asked.

"Yeah, Nick made breakfast," I said.

"He did?" my dad asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yep, and it was actually very good," I said.

"Wow, sounds like he's improved," my dad said.

"Yeah, I guess," I said. "I'm going to go put my bag upstairs."

"Okay," my dad said.

I ran up the flight of stairs and into my room, to find Kristin in it.

"What are you doing here?!" I exclaimed.

Kristin turned around and glared at me.

"Is this where Kevin is putting you for now?" she asked rudely.

"This is MY room, I live here. Now what are you doing in here?" I asked angrily.

Kevin heard Lily exclaim and immediately ran upstairs to see what was going on.

"This is not your room. It's Kevin's," Kristin said as she sat down at my desk and began going through it.

I ran over to her and shut the drawer. "Get out."

"Why? What are you hiding in there?" Kristin asked staring at me.

"What's going on?" my dad asked as he came over to me.

"Tell her to stay away from things and out of my room!" I yelled at my dad.

"This isn't your room," Kristin said as she stood up.

"Yes, it is!" I said angrily.

"Kristin," my dad said.

"What?" she asked. "It's just temporary custody. So it's not her room."

I smiled at Kristin. "And what does it mean if my dad has full custody?"

"What are you saying?" she asked, surprised.

"Daddy, you didn't tell her?" I asked.

"Tell me what?" she asked.

Kevin sighed. This was not how he wanted to tell Kristin about him getting full custody of Lily.

"I've had full custody of Lily for two and a half weeks now," my dad said.

"You what?" Kristin exclaimed. "I thought you said that we would talk about this!"

"Well you wouldn't take my messages! Plus, I was going to get full custody of Lily no matter what you had to say," my dad said.

"Oh, so you didn't care about what I would say or think. It's all about Lily and what she wants," Kristin said.

"What about what I want?" my dad asked. "Did you ever think that I wanted my daughter to live with me? That I'm not only doing this for her, but for me too."

"Obviously then you don't care about me," Kristin said.

"Nope," I said.

"Lily!" my dad yelled.

"Sorry," I said quietly.

"Little girl, you better keep your nose out of this," Kristin said angrily as she turned around and stared at me. "This involves Kevin and me. You are NOT apart of this family. So stay out of it!"

Then she quickly brushed past my dad and out my door.

Kevin looked at his daughter and saw the hurt in her eyes.

"Lily…" he said, quietly.

"Please leave," I said as I pointed towards the door.

"Okay," my dad said as he walked out and shut the door behind him.

Once the door was shut, I let the tears escape from my eyes.

I told myself that it didn't matter what she thought because I already knew what she thought. But it hurt so much to hear her say it to my face, then for me to just pretend I knew what she was thinking. When people at school ignored me, I figured it was because they didn't like me. But no one had ever told me or let me know how much they didn't want me around, until now.