We've Got Unfinished Business

I was woken up by Aubrey at eight am. She was crying in her crib trying to tell me that she was awake. I sighed and pushed myself out of bed to get her. She had gotten the hang of sleeping through the night, but she always woke up too early for me.

"I'm coming Aubrey." I told her from my room. I walked down the hall to her room and picked her up from her crib and she stopped yelling and cooed.

"You're so dramatic." I told her and took her downstairs to feed her.

We went down to the kitchen to make her a bottle. I remembered to put a little bit of cereal in it since her doctor told me it was a good idea to do this when she turned six months. I sat down in a chair and fed her. Sometimes my mom would do this for me if she didn't have to work. Her work schedule was changed three months ago so now she works from nine am to nine pm. I think her and Kellin’s mom likes this schedule much better.

I picked up my phone and got on Instagram. I scrolled through my feed seeing everyone have fun doing things teenagers did while I stayed at home all day. I loved Aubrey with all my heart, but I wished I could have had her later on in life. I just needed a break.

I hadn't talked to Alex since he left for his tour one year ago. I made an effort not to look him up on any social media sites so I would forget about him. It was just easier to pretend he didn't exist then stress over what he was doing in his life. I didn't even know if he changed his number or not. I knew nothing about him anymore.

"Should I go check on him?" I asked Aubrey. She stared at me as she continued to drink from her bottle. I like to think she wasn’t judging me.

"What if I just choose one site to look at? Like his Instagram. That should be fine right?" Aubrey continued to stare into my eyes.

"I'm going to take that as a yes." I finished feeding Aubrey then I burped her. I sat her up in my lap and opened Instagram. I didn't have an Instagram when Alex and I dated so he didn't know my username and couldn't block me if he wanted to.

"Okay just five minutes then I'll stop." I mumbled and searched up his name. Aubrey reach for my phone and tried to pull it from my hands. "No mama you can't play with my phone. You might drop it." I told her and she began to whine. I stuck her pacifier in her mouth and lifted my phone so she could see it without touching it. She seemed content with that now so I continued lurking.

Alex's profile came up with a verified check mark next to it. I pressed it and went to his page. I saw a picture he posted three hours ago of him next to a girl on a plane and the caption said "home bound." I quickly prayed that she was just a random girl that was sitting by him. I hoped that it didn't mean he would be in Baltimore this week.

I saw other pictures of him with the guys, him at concerts and exploring other cities, and him with that same girl. I saw a picture with her sitting in his lap and he was kissing her on the cheek. The caption said, "Refused to leave for another tour without putting a ring on it. I'm the luckiest man in the world!" I felt sick as I looked at her hand and saw a ring on her finger. He was engaged to her.

I sat my phone down and felt tears threatened to spill over. "No I'm not going to cry about this." I told myself and picked my phone back up. I clicked on the girls name and went to her page. Her name was Lisa Ruocco. I went through the pictures of her and Alex together making myself feel worse. Aubrey grunted as I scrolled down her page.

"I know. What makes her so special?" I said and we continued to look.

I finally made myself depressed enough that I had to exit Instagram. I sat my phone down and stared into space as I processed all of this. Alex had moved on and was getting married to someone else just one year after breaking up with me. I tapped my foot trying to do anything other than cry, but I couldn't help it. Warm tears began to fall from my eyes.

"I hate him so much." I cried. Aubrey placed a hand on my cheek as she watched me cry. I don't think she understood sadness, but she knew something wasn't okay.

"I'm sorry babe. I know I shouldn't be crying over him anymore, but I can't help it." I sniffled. "Let’s go for a walk. I need some fresh air." I wiped my eyes and stood up.

I went to dress Aubrey in one of the cute outfits my mom bought her. Then I sat her in her jumper and sat it close to the bathroom. She loved her jumper, but only if someone is watching her play with it. I brushed my teeth and did my hair while watching her giggle and squeal while jumping. She made me smile and feel better about this whole Alex situation. It was my fault I felt bad, I shouldn't have been lurking.

"I wish I could be as happy and carefree as you, Aubrey." I picked her up and kissed her on the cheek. I put her jumper back and went to grab her diaper bag.

I took us down stairs and grabbed her stroller. Then I placed her in it and buckled her up. I handed her her stuffed sheep and she happily took him. I don't know why she didn't mind being strapped into her stroller, but cried about being in her car seat.

"Are you ready?" I asked her and I pushed her outside. I locked the door behind us and walked to the sidewalk.

I pushed us to the end of our street but I decided to go further. We were just going to take an hour stroll. I pushed us out of our neighborhood and continued next to the road. There weren't many cars out which was good because I thought it would scare her if they passed by too fast. I looked down at Aubrey to make sure she was doing okay. She was holding on to her lamb and looking at one of the traffic lights that we were passing. She must have liked the color changes of it.

I tried to clear my head of everything I just found out. Well I tried to make myself think of it as less of a big deal.

"Who cares if he's marrying that girl? I definitely don't." I told myself and Aubrey just happen to coo. "Okay maybe I care a little bit. But still it isn't a big deal, she's not even that pretty. With her colorful eyes and nice smile I don't see what Alex sees in her." I grumbled. "Okay she is kind of pretty but I have something she doesn't have and that's you, Aubrey." I smiled down at her. "What if they grow old together and he has other children with her? He won't even know about you." I whined. "Ugh why does he have to make life so complicated?"

I didn't pay attention to where we were walking and all of the sudden we ended up in front of a Starbucks. I wanted sweets and hot chocolate to help me cope. I pushed us inside and went to put Aubrey's stroller in front of a table so we could hold it for ourselves. Then I took her out of it and went to stand in line. There were three people in front of us and they were each taking their sweet time to order.

Minutes later the door opened behind us and Aubrey, being the nosy baby she is, stared over my shoulder at the people who had just walked in.

"Aw she's so cute!" I heard a lady say. "Hi beautiful!" She continued to talk to Aubrey and Aubrey giggled. I was going to tell the lady thank you for the compliments, but it was finally my turn to order next. I ordered a medium hot chocolate and a brownie to go with it. Those should be able to help me get over Alex for now.

I moved over to let the people behind me order while I wait for my stuff. When the two people moved up to the counter my breath got caught in my throat.

"Oh fuck." I whispered to myself as I saw Alex place an order for him and Lisa. Lisa looked over and waved to Aubrey and I felt sick.

"She's so precious." She told me.

"Thank you." I mumbled as I continued staring at Alex. This whole situation felt like a bad nightmare.
Alex did a double take as he heard my voice. We locked eyes and he tried to figure out if it was really me.

Lisa watched us stare at each other for a second before asking, "Do you two know each other?"

"No." Alex answered at the same time I said yes.

"We do . . . just not that well." He said quickly and Lisa nodded.

"Oh well I'm Lisa, Alex fiancé." She introduced herself. Alex looked away as she did so.

"It's uh nice to meet you Lisa, I'm Jack." I gave her a fake smile.

"Is she yours?" She asked pointing to Aubrey, who was chewing on her sheep.

"Um no. She's my uh niece. I just watch her sometimes for my sister." I lied.

"That's sweet." She said.

The barista called my name before I could say anything. I went to grab my stuff and then I went to Aubrey's stroller. There was no way I was eating here.

I strapped Aubrey in her stroller and got ready to leave. I noticed it was getting crowded because it was close to lunch time. I walked up to Alex and Lisa and told them, "You guys can have that table. I don't need it anymore."

"Aw thank you. Would you two like to join us?" She asked.

"No thank you." I looked at Alex who was still in a state of shock. I wanted to say something to him just anything but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I looked down away from him and quickly pushed Aubrey out of there.

I sped walked back in the direction of my house. I called Kellin on the way to make sure he was coming to spend his lunch time with us. Aubrey and I made it back to my house and saw Kellin's car was outside so he was already there. I opened up the door and found him sitting in the kitchen eating McDonald's.

"Hey, why do you looked so freaked out?" He asked as he came to grab Aubrey out of her stroller.

"I just ran into Alex at Starbucks." I told him and his mouth flew open.

"No fuc- I mean no way!" He said shocked.

"Yes and that's not all. I met his fiancé too." I had to take a seat next to him.

"Wait wait wait. His fiancé? As in he's engaged to some other guy?"

"No it was a girl. Lisa." I said bitterly.

"Ugh she has my mom's name." He rolled his eyes. "Uh did he say anything about Aubrey?"

"No but his fiancé kept going on and on about how cute she is." I sighed and he laughed.

"Of course she thinks she's cute, Aubrey looks like the guy she's about to marry." He laughed and I glared at him. "Sorry."

"It's fine. I'm just slightly ticked at this whole situation. Like I didn't think Alex and I would just magically get together again, but I also didn't think he would marry someone else's his fast.”

"Yeah it's crazy." He agreed.

I pulled a fry out of Aubrey's hand and sat it back down before she could pull it to her mouth. "What should I do?"

"Um shoot I don't know. I think you should start off by introducing him to her." He suggested.

"Ugh I don't feel like opening that can of worms."

"I'm sure he wouldn’t want to either, but you need to do this for her. She shouldn't have to miss out on meeting her father because you don't feel like it."

"Okay alright I'll try to do it while he's in town." I said.

"No you're not. You're going to try to hold out for as long as you can and then he's going to find out from someone else." He accused.

"Nuh-un I'm really going to do it. I just need time to prepare myself. And there shouldn't be any reason he finds out unless you or I tell him, unless you told someone about this?" I questioned.

"No I haven't said a word to Vic about this. When he asked about Aubrey in my pictures I told him she was your niece." He told me.

"Thank you." I smiled. "How is your friendly relationship with Vic going?"

"Not so good. We're only a month away from my eighteenth birthday and it's hard to keep our hands to ourselves." He complained.

"You guys already broke down and had sex two months ago. What's the difference between now and then?" I asked and pulled another fry from Aubrey.

"We were both drunk that night so it doesn't count. And when I turn eighteen we'll be able to finally be a couple and go out public, somewhat." He chuckled.

"Oh I guess that makes sense." I said sarcastically. "I still can't believe you two actually waited for each other."

"Yeah I thought he would leave me for someone older and stuff, but I guess he loved me too much." He smiled to himself. I rolled my eyes jealously.

"You're so lucky."

"Oh sorry." He chuckled. "I'll ask Vic if he's talk to Alex lately to get some background information on this whole engagement nonsense. Maybe they haven't been dating that long so it won't last."

"Thanks, but I don't want to ruin their relationship. I'll just tell Alex about Aubrey and he can do whatever he wants with that information."

"I bet you can't wait to meet your daddy!" Kellin told Aubrey and she squealed. "See! She seems happily to be able to meet him." He said and I rolled my eyes.

"She didn't understand a word you said. She just liked the voice you used to talk to her." I said and pulled another fry out of her hand. This time she let out an angry wail.

"No fries Aubrey." I told her, but she kept on screaming.

"Why can't she just try it? A small piece won't hurt her." Kellin said. He picked up a soft fry and pulled of a tiny piece for her. "Here baby." He stuck the piece in her mouth and she stopped yelling. She chewed it with her gums and smiled. She opened up her mouth for more and Kellin gave her another small piece.

"See she likes it."

"Yeah yeah. How much longer until you have to go back?" I asked.

He looked down at his phone for a second. "I should leave in twenty minutes."

"Okay. Help me give her a bath really quick." I told him and he nodded.

He carried Aubrey to the bathroom with us and I ran a small amount of water for her. Kellin undressed her and I sat her in the tub. There were ten different toys in with her to keep her occupied, but they didn't matter if no one played with them with her. That's where Kellin came in, he was playing with her toys with her while I cleaned her up.

"You know what I just thought about?" Kellin asked.

"What?"

"Alex’s parents are going to be shocked to hear they have a grandchild too." He said and I squeezed my eyes shut because I felt horrible.

"Ugh I already feel bad enough." I complained.

"Yeah I know, but I thought you'd like to know that." He chuckled and I flipped him off.

I sighed as I finished the most difficult part of giving Aubrey a bath; washing her hair. Kellin picked her up and took her to get dried off while drained the tub and cleaned up the small mess.

When I walked into Aubrey's room she was dressed in a comfortable onesie and cuddled into Kellin's chest. It was close to her nap time and she was slowly falling asleep. Kellin had to go back to school so he slowly handed her back to me.

"I'll be back when schools out." He whispered and I nodded. He left downstairs and out of the house.

I grabbed Aubrey's blanket and wrapped it around her. She still wasn't sleep, but her eyelids were becoming heavy by the second. I took us downstairs so I could watch TV quietly as she slept. I sat on the couch and slowly rubbed her back until her eyes were all the closed.

Usually I would let her sleep in her bassinet down here, but I continued to hold her. She smelled strongly of baby products. Plus she was all I had right now to remind me of Alex and I's relationship. I kissed her on the forehead and let her sleep peacefully.

May came over a few hours later. She usually came over when she got of class to check on Aubrey and me, if our mom had to work. Aubrey was wide awake now and extra giggly in her auntie's arms. Having May here was helping me relax since she was watching Aubrey, but I was still pretty upset about Alex.

"Do you know how pretty you are?" May asked Aubrey and she squealed loudly. "Yes you! You're the cutest baby!" May laughed.

"She's so loud." I chuckled.

"She can't help it. Right Honey?" She said and Aubrey just continued to giggle. "I would love to meet the guy she takes after."

"He's right here." I said and May rolled her eyes.

"I mean the other guy."

"We'll never know." I shrugged.

"I know you know who he is. You can tell me. There's like no chance I would even know the person." She knew Alex so there was no way I was going to tell her.

"I don't who it is." I said.

"Can you at least give me a hint? Did he go to school with you? Did you meet him at a party? Does he even know about Aubrey?"

"No." I answered quickly without thinking.

She smiled victoriously, "No what?"

"No to all of that stuff. Just no...I don't know who her father." I sighed.

"You're going to have to tell us one day, right Aubrey?" She said.

She was kind of right. If Alex decided he wanted to be In Aubrey's life, he was going to meet my mom and May sometime. I just hoped May doesn't flip out when she finds out it Alex. I also hoped that my mom didn't flip out over the age difference between us again.

Kellin walked in and sat his things down. He got out of school an hour early because seniors weren't required to have a last class. He came to sit on the couch next to me and threw his legs in my lap.

"Kellin do you known Aubrey's dad is?" May asked him and I rolled my eyes. My mom has asked him this hundreds of times and he never gave away the answer.

"No your brother was a major slut. It can literally be anyone here in Baltimore." He laughed and I hit his leg.

"Come on! Just tell me, I won't tell mom." She complained.

"I wish we could, but we don't even know him." Kellin said.

"I'll just figure it out on my own." She huffed. The fact that she could accidentally run into Matt or Alex or Rian and Cass scared me. They could start talking and somehow figure out that May and I are related, if they haven't already.

"Why does it matter?" I asked nervously.

"Because I want to beat up the jerk that knocked up my brother." She said and Kellin laughed.

"That's really sweet May, but it’s okay." I assured her.

"No it's not okay. Think about how shitty you and I felt growing up knowing our dad didn't want us. Do you really want Aubrey to feeling the slightest amount of heartache we felt?"

I looked down at Aubrey as she played with her sheep. I thought about her one day asking me why her dad didn't want her like May and I asked our mom so many times before. Then I thought about Alex finding out she was his and wanting absolutely nothing to do with her. I couldn't tell which hurt worse.

"No I don't want her too." I answered May.

"Well look for her dad and tell him about Aubrey and if he doesn't want to be a part of her life tell me so I can go pay him a visit." She said.

"And me too." Kellin agreed.

"Okay." I smiled at them thankful to have both of them supporting me.

I guess I would have to figure out some way to explain everything to Alex while he’s in town.

Notes

Hi, welcome to the sequel! I missed all of you! I know this story already off to a bad start since Alex is engaged to marry someone else. There are eighteen chapters in this sequel so a lot can happen before the end. I hope you all enjoy this!!