Eight months later

*Jack*

“Hey Jack!” Vicki greeted me when I opened my front door. She was standing outside with Mike and Vic.

“Hey come in!” I said and stepped aside to let them in.

“Vic don’t you have something to give to Mr. Jack.” Vicki told Vic.

“You!” Vic yelled as he handed me a white envelope he was holding. It was an invitation to Vic’s birthday party tomorrow afternoon. He was turning two years old.

“Aw you’re turning two! You’re almost a big boy! Alex and I will be there tomorrow!” I told Vic.

“I’m a big boy too.” Mike whined and crossed his arms. We found out his birthday was the same day as Alex’s so we missed out on going to his birthday party, but we still brought him a gift.

“Of course you are. You’re four years old.” I said.

“Sorry it’s on such short notice. I’ve just been so busy with getting this party together.” Vicki apologized.

“Don’t worry about it we didn’t have anything planned for tomorrow.” I reassured her.

“Okay. Well we’re going to get out of your hair. Come on boys tell Mr. Jack bye.” She said.

“Bye Mr. Jack.” Mike waved.

“Bye!” Vic screeched.

I opened the door to let them out and shut it after them. Alex was taking a nap since he had to work today. Summer flew by quickly along with all the fall and winter holidays. My birthday was in June after we went to visit my mother. Alex took me out to dinner and while we were eating Cassadee and Rian was setting up a surprise party for me at our house. Alex gave Rian the key and they decorated and let everyone in. Alex brought us tickets to Blink- 182 in concert in Los Angeles for my birthday. It was one of the best birthdays I’ve had in a while.

For our one year anniversary, I cooked dinner for Alex so we could have more privacy… Well actually it was so we could have sex in every room in the house. I have to admit I kind of thought Alex was going to propose to me that night. He had been asking me more and more questions about our relationship and what I thought about marriage. Despite me practically telling him I would marry him in a heartbeat he still hasn’t actually done anything about it. I don’t want to make the first step because I’m afraid it might scare him off, but I can only wait for so long.

I spent thanksgiving with Alex, his father, and Dr. Fey. Alex’s father and Dr. Fey seemed to be getting serious really fast. They already moved in together and were dropping hints that they wanted to elope which made Alex angry. He made up a reason for us to leave dinner early. I guess the reason Alex is reluctant to commit is because he doesn’t want to go through the heartbreak his father went through with divorcing his mother. I’ll just have to try harder to convince him that I’m not going anywhere.

I was going to spend Christmas with my mom, but she found out she had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at the last minute so I canceled my flight and stayed home with Alex. Alex and I decided not to get each other Christmas gifts since neither of us knew what we wanted. For New Year’s I went to David’s house for his party and Alex went to Oli and Hannah’s house for their party. Alex tried everything to get me to come to Oli’s party with him but I didn’t want to be bothered with Hannah or Lisa. Alex and I got into a big fight that night, but its all water under a bridge now. We have been having lots of arguments lately. Mostly about me wanting to speed up our relationship and him wanting to slow it down. That’s our biggest, if not only, flaw in our relationship and I fear if we don’t come to some consensus pretty soon we might start to drift apart from each other.
“Who was at the door?” Alex mumbled when I walked in to our bedroom.

“It’s was the Fuentes family inviting us to Vic’s birthday party tomorrow afternoon.” I said.

“We’re going to be surrounded by kids all day.” He whined still not fully awake.

“They’ll be other adults there, besides Vic handed me the invitation and said he wants us to be there.” I said.

“Vic only knows like ten words, I doubt he said all of that.” Alex chuckled.

“Well he said ‘you’ as he handed me the invitation so I assumed that’s what he meant.” I laughed. “What should we buy him as a present?”

“How about you go pick one out while I lay here and rest my eyes.” He yawned.

“You’ve been resting you’re eyes for two hours!” I scolded at him, but he just shut his eyes and ignored me. “Alexander get up you’re going.”

“No please don’t make me.” He begged.

“Remember how you dragged me to see Godzilla after I cried and told you I didn’t want to watch it?” I said. I hate Sci-Fi action movies so that was the most boring 123 minutes of my life.

“I’m getting up.”

***
*The next day*

Alex and I were walking across the street to the Fuentes house. We were a little early but we lived right across the street so it would be kind of stupid for us to be late.

“Hi Mr. Jack and Mr. Alex” Mike greeted us when Emilio opened their door. We told him and Emilio hello as they let us in their house.

“Where’s the birthday boy?” I asked.

“He’s wrestling with Vicki because he doesn’t want to wear the outfit she brought him.” Emilio said laughing.

“He’s being a baby.” Mike said and Alex laughed.

“Noooooo Mama!!” Vic yelled as he ran out of Vicki and Emilio’s room crying, dressed in nothing but his underwear.

“Victor Vincent Fuentes! Get back here and get dressed!!” Vicki yelled but Vic ran all the way to Emilio and tried to get him to pick him up.

“Fine I’ll let your father dress you.” She huffed. “Hey Jack! Hey Alex! How are you guys” She said to us after she took a deep breath.

“We’re doing okay. How are you?” Alex said.

“I’ve had better days.” She sighed.

“I don’t see how you do it.” Alex told her.

“With lots and lots of love! Mike wasn’t this complicated when he was younger, he was a good boy. Victor, on the other hand, is like the complete opposite. Emilio’s mom says that Emilio was the same way when he was that age so maybe it’s genetic.” She said.

“Vic let your mother put your clothes on for you.” Emilio said to Vic and playfully rolled his eyes at Vicki.

“Noooo Daddy!” Vic cried.

“Either you let her dress you or I’ll cancel your birthday party. Which one is it?” Emilio said.
“Noooo Daddy!” Vic cried again.

“’No Daddy’ isn’t an option.” Emilio said sarcastically and Alex and Mike laughed.

“Vic remember earlier you told me you were a big boy?” I said, trying to help Vicki and Emilio out. Vic nodded his head and I continued. “Well this isn’t how big boys act. They wear clothes and don’t cry when they don’t get their way.” Emilio put Vic down and he went to Vicki and let her take him to go get dressed.

“You’re pretty good at that, Jack.” Emilio said and Alex rolled his eyes.

“Thank you.” I smiled.

Emilio gave us a couple of beers and we talked about the baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and San Diego Padres. After arguing for five minutes about why the Orioles won, Vicki came out with a very handsome Vic. He had on khaki skinny jeans, a button up blue shirt, a navy blue sweater that was covering the button up, and Sperry’s. Vicki combed and gelled his short hair over to one side.

“Look at my little grown man!” Emilio cheered and went to pick Vic up.

“He’s so handsome!” I gleamed.

“He dresses better than me.” Alex laughed.

One by one children and their parents started to appear at the party. Vicki told us that some of them were families from the neighborhood and some were their friends who had kids. There were also two guys who worked with Emilio and they brought their wife and kids. One of the families from the neighborhood had a son, who was no more than fifteen or sixteen years old, it looked like they had to drag him to the party. He walked up to me in awe and I was confused until I saw that he was wearing a Jagk shirt.

“Aren’t you Jack Barakat?” he sounded really nervous and he was kind of shaking. No one ever recognized me because I didn’t put my last name or my face on any of my products.

“Yes I am. How’d you recognize me?” I asked politely.

“I’m Jake! All I basically wear are clothes from your store I love the styles. The Jagk stores always say to follow you on Twitter so I did. You’re hilarious and out of your mind rich. I want to be that successful. You’re like a millionaire right?” He said without breathing.

“It’s nice to meet you and I’m flattered that you love my clothing line.” I said dodging his question about me being a millionaire.

“Yeah of course man. How old do you have to be to work at your store? I need a job so I can earn my own money.” Jake told me.

“Just sixteen.” I said.

“I’m sixteen! Since you’re the owner you can get me a job right?” He asked looking at me hopefully. There was no way I could say no to that face.

“Of course! Just go to the mall tomorrow around noon and I’ll tell them to give you an interview.” I said and his eyes lit up.

“Thank you so much! MOM! Hey mom guess what?!?” He yelled at his mother as he ran away from me.

“Look at you, making dreams come true.” Alex said.

“I do what I can to help.” I laughed. “Look at all the toddlers here. Aren’t they cute?” I asked him.

“They’re loud.” Was all he said. The kids were playing musical chairs so of course they were loud.

“They’re having fun.” I said.

“Look at how tired and worn out the parents look. They can’t go out with friends or get a day of rest because they have children to take care of. Are you ready to give up all your freedom?” Alex asked me.

“Yes if by freedom you mean boredom. I want someone to take care of. I want to go through all the phases of parenthood. I would gladly give up my ‘wild, crazy life’ to have a baby. I’m sure those people have fun some nights, they just have to hire a babysitter.” I ranted and Alex rolled his eyes because I wouldn’t shut up. “I think it would be better to have a kid now while we’re still kind of young so when they grow older and can take care of themselves, we can still live our life and not be too old.” Alex chuckled when I finished talking and I didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing.

“You’re not going to let this go are you?” He asked.

“Not until you understand my point-of-view.” I said.

Before he could say anything back to me, Vicki announced too everyone that it was time to cut the cake and open birthday presents. Alex gave me a look that said we weren’t finished with the conversation and we walked over to where Vic’s birthday cake was. He had a Transformer cake with Autobot figurines on it. Emilio stood Vic up on a chair so he reach his candles. Vicki counted to three and we all sung happy birthday to Vic as he stood there with the biggest smile on his face. When we finished it took him two tries to blow out his candle with the number two on it. We all clapped and cheered for him and Vicki started handing him presents to open. He opened presents with numerous amounts of toys in them and thanked every person after each gift. He finally made it to Alex and I’s gift, it was a LeapFrog LeapPad learning tablet. It’s going to help him learn his colors, numbers, and the alphabet.

“Oh this is just what he needs! Thank you guys!” Vicki says. “And what do we say Vic?”

“Tank you!” Vic says to Alex and me.

“And now you can see your final gift.” Emilio said and took Vic off the chair he was standing on. He went to his room to get Vic’s present. Vic jumped up and down cheering when he saw what the present was. Emilio came out with a battery powered Fisher Price red Mustang that Vic could drive. He had to turn it sideways to get it out of his room door and outside so Vic could test it out. We all followed the Fuentes family outside so we could see Vic drive his toy car.

“Does he have a driver’s licenses?” One of the parents called out, which caused us all to laugh.
Emilio helped Vic get into the car and start it up. He taught him how to make the car stop and go. Vic hit the gas going straight across the street with Vicki and Emilio walking behind him to make sure he was safe. He kept driving till he made it into my driveway and ran into the back of Alex’s car. I immediately went into a laughing fit and Alex and I walked across the street to make sure everything was okay. He was barely going five miles per hour, so of course nothing was wrong.

“I hope you have car insurance little man.” Alex told Vic and Vicki and Emilio started laughing.

“Sorry!” Vic looked up to Alex with his big brown eyes.

“It’s okay.” Alex said and ruffled Vic’s hair.

Emilio picked up Vic’s car and turned it around so he could drive back to their house. When we made it back inside, it was time for the party to end. They gave all the kids goody bags and told everyone bye. Jake’s mom stopped on the way out to thank me for giving her son a job and I told her it was no problem. Alex and I stayed later than everyone else because Emilio invited us to stay to watch baseball game between the Texas Rangers and the Padres. While they were watching the game together, I was helping Vicki clean up in the kitchen. Vic and Mike were in their playroom playing with Vic’s new toys.

“You’re so good with children. I can tell by the way you act with Mike and Vic.” Vicki said.
“Yeah I love children.” I told her.

“Have you and Alex talked about adopting or something in that nature?” She asked.

“Alex isn’t ready yet. He wants to wait till will married.” I sighed.

“Emilio wasn’t ready yet either, but I got pregnant on accident. He had to either become ready to be a father or be prepared to lose me.” Vicki said.

“I don’t have that option.” I chuckled.

“Well no you don’t, but you can adopt a kid on your own. So you can give Alex the option to adopt with you or tell him you’ll do it without him.” She explained. “If he really loves you then he’ll do anything for you.”

“What if he says no?” I mumbled.

“Then maybe he doesn’t really love you.”

Notes