23.5 Uncle Kaiden

Kaiden missed his best friend and longed to see her. After finding out about the baby and marriage, he put a little distance between them. At first, he needed to wrap his head around their new dynamic and sort out his feelings about the situation. He was disappointed in them yet sympathetic. When the baby was born, he stayed away to give the little family some space to get used to the new normal. But, so much happened since then, and he felt the need for them to catch up at last.

“Kaiden! Boy am I glad to see you!” Kori wrapped her arms around him and held tight as if she didn’t want him to go anywhere.

Being so close was strange, especially since he had not forgotten what she said. I wish it were you. Most of the time he ignored the echo, but sometimes pondering the statement was all he could do.

Behind her, a little pair of feet padded cautiously out of the apartment. Curious yet shy, green eyes gazed at him. Antwan was his name, and he looked so much like both of them already. Sometimes, it was hard to tell who a toddler looked like, but Kaiden picked out every one of his features and knew where they came from.

“Gosh … He’s really cute.”

The boy’s mother blushed. “Thank you.”

Kaiden waved. “Hey, Antwan.”

The wary boy stared back at him.

“Say, Hi, Uncle Kaiden. You don’t have to be scared. Kaiden is our friend. He’s nice, ok?”

Antwan stepped a little closer as if to inspect Kaiden. Or, maybe to intimidate him. Did little boys know they were supposed to protect their mothers at such an early age?

Kaiden noticed the jersey he wore. “You like the Llamacorns?”

He felt so silly for trying to have a conversation with a baby, but he wasn’t sure what else to do. When his younger siblings were Antwan’s age, he was still a child and so his toddler experience was very limited.

Were there children in his future? Probably. Jared and Asia wanted all of them to get married and have families, but did he want that? He wasn’t opposed to it and saw himself with a beautiful woman one day, but that thought was so far into the future, it almost seemed unobtainable. And children? He didn’t think about them at all. Maybe it would be nice to have some little Pruetts who looked like him, but he preferred worrying about his present day problems.

“Tell him about the game, baby.” She glanced at Kaiden and whispered, “He watches with Nick and is totally hooked.”

The little boy lit up like a night light in the darkness and babbled presumably about the Llamacorns. All Kaiden could make out was “ball,” “game,” and “play.” Despite his confusion, it was very cute.

Kori beamed at her son with such pride and happiness. The old Kori would have been repulsed by responsibility and the idea of having a child so young. But, she ate up all the cuteness like a delicious snack. Kaiden didn’t expect her to hate the child or mistreat him, of course, but he didn’t expect her to be so enamored with him. He always thought some people were naturally gifted when it came to children. He and Kori were not those people. But, they did say kids could change a person, whoever they were. Maybe there was some truth to that.

Kori gestured for him to follow her into the apartment. Everything looked the same minus the presence of a high chair. Last time, the windows were so frosted, he couldn’t see what a nice view of the city they had.

“So … H-how are you guys?” he asked carefully.

She sighed. “We’re making the best of it. Now that he’s here,”–she nodded toward Antwan–“it’s better, I think. I mean, we have him in common, you know? It’s nice not having to make small talk all the time.”

Kaiden nodded. “Well … That’s good. That’s great, actually. Maybe, along the way, you guys will–“

“Kaiden, don’t. I don’t want your sympathetic positive speech thing. I’m ok. We’re ok. I don’t want to think about the future. I’m fine with taking it one day at a time.”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to–“

“It’s cool, Kaiden. What’s going on with you? I need some juicy gossip in my life. Are you seeing anyone?”

“No. Not really.”

He could have sworn the corners of her mouth turned up ever so slightly. If he blinked, he would have missed it. “I made a new friend though. We met at Phoenix’s party, actually.”

“What’s her name?” she asked with just a hint of malice in her voice.

“Kelly.”

“Cute?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Hmm.”

Kaiden was not interested in stepping onto that minefield. “Speaking of Phoenix … Are you guys talking yet?”

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “I can’t keep apologizing to her. I don’t know what else to do.”

“I guess she still needs more time.”

“Does she talk about me?”

Kaiden snickered. “I don’t exactly hang out with her like that.”

“Oh, yeah. You have a new friend now.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Don’t do that, Kori.”

“I’m just messin’ with ya.”

He was doubtful.

“Heard anything about Breanne?”

“Uhhh. Y-yeah, actually.”

Her eyes lit up. “Oooh! Do tell!”

“We hung out.”

Her eyes got even larger.

“Me, her, Phoenix, Kelly, her sister, and our new neighbor.”

“Wait, wait, wait! You hung out with your ex-girlfriend, your new girlfriend, and the girl who has had a crush on you for, like, forever? Ohhhhh, Kaiden! I’m gonna need some popcorn for this!”

“Stop. And, Kelly isn’t my girlfriend, ok?”

“Whatever you say,” she said with a smirk.

“Anyway, our neighbor invited us all separately not knowing we’re, uhh, connected. It was terrible. So awkward. And Phoenix was so petty! It was like she couldn’t wait to tell him about us.”

“That’s really messed up.”

“But, the weird part was how he acted after. I mean, the guy is strange anyway, but he was so extra.”

“How?”

“Like…sensitive? And after Phoenix told him, he asked me if it was true.”

Her face scrunched up like Antwan’s diaper was full. “He likes her?”

“I don’t know if I would say all that, but … Something was up. Oh, and they moved to Brindleton Bay over the weekend.”

“Who?”

“Breanne. The Pancakes.”

“Whaaaaat?”

“Yeah. Mom said Mrs. Pancakes came over and told her, like, right before they left.”

“That’s weird, right? I mean, I don’t know her like you know her, but it’s weird, right?”

“Yeah. No, you’re right. Come to think of it, things haven’t been the same for a while.”

“How do you figure?”

“Well, she and my mom were friends, but they haven’t hung out in a while. Actually, my parents haven’t been to the HOA meetings in forever. And, Mom hangs out with Miss Jones now.”

Kori snickered. “I swear, upper middle class neighborhoods have all the tea.”

“Hey, Kaiden,” Nick said, walking through the door.

“Dah-dee,” Antwan squealed and slid off the couch.

“What’s up, Nick.”

“Hey, buddy! How’s my little baller?”

Experiencing Nick and Kori as parents was so strange. Almost like being in some weird alternate reality vortex or something. It was a good strange, but still very strange. Truthfully, this kind of thing would happen more and more as he and his friends and former classmates got older. Things would change and so would the relationships. Soon, the strangeness would be the norm.

“So, uhh, I’m thinking about moving out,” Kaiden said awkwardly.

Kori’s face brightened. “That’s great! Good for you. Have you started looking?”

“Kinda. I’ve been looking online. Think I’m gonna go visit some this weekend.”

“Good. You should get outta there. Get you a proper bachelor pad.”

Kori made it sound like Kaiden wanted to run away, but that wasn’t the case at all. He loved his family. But, he reached a point where it was just weird to share a room with a teenager and sleep on a single bed every night. And, his mother–Watcher bless her–he loved her to death. Everyone knew that. But, he simply needed to not be around her all the time. She loved hard and cared deeply, but he didn’t need that level of attention all the time and felt smothered. He was a man now but didn’t feel very manly. It was definitely time for a change. Hopefully his parents would do well with the news.