Don't You Go and Carry On With Your Life

Jack

I woke up at first thinking everything that happened last night was a dream. I looked to my left to see Austin wasn't here meaning we actually did have an argument yesterday. That also meant that Alex came over and we made out last night. I sat up in my bed and replayed the kiss over in my head. My body flashed hot as I thought about Alex and my lips being pressed together.

"Happy Birthday Daddy!" Kellin exclaimed, waking me up from my thoughts. He and Kylie came in holding a tray of breakfast for me.

"Aw you both made breakfast for me?" I asked.

"Well I did, Kylie just followed me around the kitchen." He chuckled.

"She would have helped if she could have. Right mama?" I asked and Kylie nodded.

"I can eat?" She asked, pointing to my tray of food.

"Yeah I'll share with you."

We all sat in my bed sharing the tray of food. I felt like I was hiding a secret from Kellin the whole time. I know I didn't have to tell him about what happened between Alex and me but I felt like I should.

"Are we doing anything special today?" Kellin asked.

"I don't have anything planned." I told him.

"Oh how about we go to the carnival downtown. Vic and I were supposed to go but we never got around to it. It'll be fun!" He suggested.

"Yeah that does sound fun. Let's go later on tonight."

"Are we waiting for Austin to get off?" He asked.

"No he's actually mad at me right now so it'll be just us three."

"What'd you do?"

"I didn't do anything, he's just a drama queen." I rolled my eyes and he chuckled.

"Did he buy you those flowers?" He asked pointing to the red tulips on my nightstand that Alex bought me last night.

"Um yep." I lied.

"That was nice of him." He said and I nodded in agreement.

I got out of bed a few minutes later and went to take a shower. Being in the shower gave me a lot of time to think about last night some more. After our argument Austin didn't necessarily say we were on a break but I made out with Alex anyways. Did that count as cheating? Should I even tell Austin about it? He would probably get so pissed and take his anger out on Alex. It was best I kept what happened between Alex and me to myself.

*Kellin*

Daddy went to go take a shower while Kylie and I laid in his bed. Since we weren't going to the carnival until six I could just laze around until then. I laid back on what use to be my dad's side of the bed and Kylie laid on Daddy's side. I closed my eyes about to fall back asleep but I heard Daddy's phone ring. I looked over to see it was Austin calling him. The call went to voicemail and he called two more times after that. I didn't want to answer it since they were fighting. Minutes later my cell phone began to ring. I looked at it and say that it was my Dad calling.

"Hey dad." I answered my phone.

"Hey Kells. What are you guys doing?" He asked.

"Nothing much. Kylie and I made daddy breakfast this morning. Now Kylie and I are laying in Daddy's bed while he's in the shower." I told him.

"Oh, are you guys doing anything special for Jack's birthday today?" He asked, giving me an idea.

"Yeah we're going to the carnival today at six. . . The one that's downtown." I said, dropping a hint.

"The carnival? That sounds fun." He said. "I was actually thinking of going to the carnival around that time too. Maybe I'll see you all there." He said taking the hint, and making me chuckle.

"Okay well I'll keep this just between us."

"Cool, I'll see you later on." He said and we hung up. Hopefully daddy wouldn't mind that I sort of invited my dad to go with us. Spending time together as a family sounded great.

*Jack*

When I got out of the shower and got dressed, Kellin and Kylie were still in my room. They were laying in my bed watching TV.

"Austin called like three times while you were in the shower." Kellin told me and I sighed.

"I don't feel like arguing with him today." I complained.

"Then don't." Kellin's shrugged.

"If I don't call back he'll think I'm avoiding him. I better just get this over with." I picked up my phone and walked out of the room so I wouldn't bother Kellin and Kylie. I went into Alex's old office and closed the door behind myself just in case the conversation wasn't appropriate.

I unlocked my phone and tapped Austin's name so I could call him back. His phone ring once and then he picked up.

"Finally you call me back." He answered.

"Yeah sorry I was in the shower."

"It's cool. I was just calling to apologize about last night. I shouldn't have flipped out and left you alone like that."

"Yeah, but it's cool." I said, while thinking about what happened after he left. I sort of felt guilty about making out with Alex.

"Do you think we can still talk about it?" He asked.

"Talk about what?"

"Me moving in. I know last night you were drunk so-"

"-Me being drunk didn't have an effect on my answer, Aus. I still think it's too soon for you to move in with me." I cut him off.

"Why are you so against this?"

"It's just too much for this relationship. I feel like we should be having fun and spending time together, not trying to move in together."

"So in other words I'm just a fling?"

"That's not what I said."

"That's what it sound like you were saying." He said and I sighed.

We stayed silent on the phone for a moment.

"Maybe we should take a break." I mumbled.

"So you're just going to break up with me instead of attempting to resolve our problem??"

"It's not really breaking up. I just think we need some time to ourselves to think." I explained.

"How much time?"

"I don't know, at least a day or two."

"I hate that we're doing this, but okay. I'll just stay home today instead of spending your birthday with you." He said.

"Yeah, I'm just going to spend the day with my kids. I'll talk to later okay?"

"Alright."

We hung up and I took a deep breath. I hated awkward conversations like that. We definitely were never going to agree on him moving in with me. I don't know how much longer we would last honestly.

I went back into my room and laid down next to Kylie and Kellin. Kellin was asleep while Kylie was watching TV. It was too early for her to take a nap.

"Come on Kyls let's got give you a bath and then we can watch cartoons." I told her.

"Okay." She said and lifted her arms for me to pick her up. I carried her into the bathroom and started her bath water.

*****

A few hours later it was time for us to leave for the carnival. Kylie and I were ready downstairs waiting for Kellin.

"Kellin are you ready?" I called upstairs.

"Yeah I'm just putting my shoes on." He said back. A minute later he was running down, ready to go. "Ready!" He said, eager to leave. I picked up Kylie and we went out to my car.

I drove us to the slightly crowded carnival in no time. It was a normal carnival with games, rides, and food stands all over the place. I just wanted to eat and win a few prizes.

"What are we doing first?" I asked Kellin as he stared down at his phone.

"Giant yellow sign?" He said out loud to himself, not hearing my question. He looked around the front of the carnival until he found what he was looking for. "Is that Dad?" He asked, and my eyes quickly followed his. Sure enough Alex was walking in our direction. I had a feeling this wasn't a coincidence.

"Dad!" Kylie exclaimed and held her arms up for Alex. He picked her up and kissed her the cheek. Then he hugged Kellin and turned to me.

"Hey Jack, crazy thing running into you all here." He said and I playfully rolled my eyes at him. I thought it would be awkward seeing him after last night, but surprisingly it wasn't.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"I just wanted to come enjoy the carnival." He answered quickly.

"By yourself?"

"Yep, I had no idea you three would be here."

"Oh sure." I wasn't mad Alex would be spending tonight with us. This would probably be a good thing for Kylie and Kellin to spend time with both of their parents.

"Well since we're all here, we might as well enjoy our time together." Kellin said and I gave him a knowing look. This had to be his doing.

We walked through the entrance and walked around a little to see what we wanted to do first. Kellin wanted to ride a ride first before eating. Tickets were needed to ride the rides and eat so Alex went to buy a few first. Kellin saw a spinning cart ride he wanted to ride so we went there. Kylie couldn't get on and I just flat out didn't want to so Alex got on with Kellin. The ride didn't last long and soon they were both back with us. Kellin seemed to enjoy the ride, but Alex felt otherwise.

"I think I'm too old to ride stuff like that." Alex complained, holding his head.

"Admitting it is the first step." I joked and he playfully glared at me.

"I'm not that old."

"Sure whatever you say." I chuckled.

"I want! Dad I want!" Kylie stopped and pulled on Alex's shirt. She pointed to a pink unicorn hanging up at one of the games.

"Okay, Baby I'll win it for it you." He told her. We walked over to the game to see how to play it. It was a game where you had to throw darts and pop the balloons.

"How many balloons do I have to hit for the pink unicorn?" Alex asked the attendant.

"Three, six tickets will get you five darts." He told him. Alex pulled off six tickets and handed it to the guy.

"I don't think you'll hit three balloons with five chances." Kellin teased.

"Jack can you tell our son what my nickname was in high school." Alex chuckled.

"Bullseye." I sighed. Alex and his friends used to play a drinking darts game and Alex usually made everyone drunk every time because he would almost always hit the bullseye. That's where he got that dumb nickname, but only a few people called him that.

We watched as Alex hit three balloons back to back. He handed the other two back to the attendant and the attendant gave him the unicorn.

"It's been like twenty years, how could you still be that good?" I asked Alex.

"It's like riding a bike." He said cockily and I rolled my eyes at him. "Here you go, Kyls." He handed her the unicorn and she hugged it to her body.

"What do you say, Kylie?" I asked, trying to let her practice her manners.

"Thank you!" She exclaimed.

"You're welcome." Alex chuckled.

"Can we eat? I keep smelling turkey legs and my stomach is growling now." Kellin said.

"Yeah let me get more tickets first." Alex said.

"Wait. Here." I reached for my wallet but he stopped me.

"It's my treat." Then he went to the booth to buy more tickets.

"Are you having fun?" Kellin asked me while we waited.

"Yeah, this isn't as bad as it could be." I said and he smiled.

"Good, maybe we can all hang out like a family more!" He exclaimed.
"We'll see."

Alex came back with tickets and we walked to the food booth. We waited in line and checked out the menu.

"I want a turkey leg." Kellin said.

"Me too." Alex agreed.

"Yeah I guess I'll get the same. I can share with Kylie." I said.

When it was our turn to order Alex did it for us. We had to step to the side and wait for them to make all three turkey legs.

"I'll take Kylie and go find us a table." Kellin told us. He picked up Kylie and walked away, leaving me alone with Alex. Now it felt weird with us being alone together. We stood together silently for a few seconds until Alex broke the silence.

"Oh look, they have a tunnel of love. How crazy would it be for us-?"

"-No." I laughed, cutting him off before he could finish suggesting we get on.

"Okay, it was worth a shot." He chuckled.

"I'll give you an A for effort." I joked.

"Thanks." He said sarcastically. I nodded and checked our order number again so I would know it when they called it.

"So um should we talk about last night?" He asked and my cheeks heated up.

"Do we have to?" I asked, looking down at my shoes.

"I think we should. Because I'm kind of confused. One day you say you won't ever forgive me and then another we're pressed against the door with my tongue down your throat." He said making me glare at him.

"There are literally five-hundred other ways you can say we were kissing." I scolded him and he chuckled.

"Sorry, but I'm serious. I'm really confused."

"Well I am too." I said.

"How can you be confused? You're the one calling the shots."

"No I mean I'm like...I don't know… confused about my feelings." I told him right before our order number was called. Alex grabbed our tray and stopped before we could walk to the table.

"You're confused about your feelings for me now?" He asked and I sighed.

"Can we talk about this later? I don't want Kellin to get suspicious."

"Okay, can we at least talk about it tonight?"

"Okay fine." I said and he smiled.

I rolled my eyes at him and followed him to the table where Kellin and Kylie were sitting. I sat next to Kylie and pulled of pieces of my turkey leg for her to eat.

"This feels like old times doesn't it?" Kellin asked.

"Yeah I'm enjoying spending time with you all. I'm really glad you told about this carnival." Alex said and Kellin face palmed.

"So you're admitting Kellin told you we were coming here?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Wait no that's not what I meant." Alex chuckled.

"Dad you're a lawyer, you should know how not to incriminate yourself." Kellin joked making me laugh.

"I meant I'm glad Kellin told me about the carnival last week, which is why I came today." He lied trying to save them.

"You're so full of it." I said and they both laughed and told me the truth.

We finished eating and went to spend more time at the carnival before going home. Alex and I planned to talk later on after the kids went to bed.

Notes