Longing For The Day (Java)

[jack edward riley]

It had been a week of pleasant but unpleasant run-ins while dropping off or picking up Chris. It was awkward small talk and fighting, biting comments from him and her just getting fed up. It reminded him of his own parents before his father pushed off to the states and left them behind, definitely not what he’d expect from himself or from Ava. Being back in the diner though, and having Chris there, that was something he loved. All the old regulars coming in and being so happy to see him, people he grew up with, and just being back in a place so familiar it made him realize why he had been so hesitant to leave. Of course being the man that he was when his wife got a job to further her career he picked up without a second thought and would have followed her anywhere but it was hard moving from pleasant. He missed the diner, the place he spent more hours behind the counter of than a desk at school, and having Chris there made him miss Scott.

Scott would have adored Chris and thought Jack was a complete idiot for fucking up like he did. He had Chris behind the counter with him most days watching him work and doing small tasks with him. The kinds of things he used to think about doing with him when he first found out Ava was pregnant. It was the happiest he had ever been. So when she picked him up from the diner that day he was his usual snarky self to her. Indifferent but he allowed himself to inquire what her plans for that evening had been and left it at that. If she was free than he was going to take their getting back together into his own hands. He was starting to go mental without her and couldn’t really take not being home with her anymore. He closed the diner early that night and spent a good hour cleaning up and trying to think of what to do when it hit him. Their first date had been here, as had their first date when they got back together after she left Blake. He couldn’t do that again. Magic and whatnot was gone from that idea. Plus it had rained the night before and anything that had been on the roof was wet and he couldn’t bring himself to go up there and clean it.

He felt like an idiot, when was the last time he wore a blazer? He didn’t even wear one to his own wedding—but then again they eloped so he wasn’t exactly prepared. He shaved, something he hadn’t done since they got married. He favored the short cropped stubble and five-o-clock shadow but he knew that Ava didn’t. He looked himself over in the mirror, black blazer and dress pants with an old Who shirt underneath? Yeah that was probably the best he was going to do as far as cleaning himself up. He packed up something’s downstairs that he knew he’d need and headed out and over to her place. He left his truck on the curb, not wanting to alert her by pulling into the driveway and grabbed the bouquet of Casablanca lilies from the passenger side of the truck before going to the house and ringing the bell.

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[ava louise riley]

The days seemed to pass without so much as a thought, each one more of the same making her wonder when the hell things would feel normal again. She supposed this was normal, or as normal as they'd ever be again, but somehow she felt like a zombie going through the motions. She'd get up, take Chris to Jack, they'd bicker like they always did about the same pointless crap, then she'd go to some interview that would get her nowhere only to later pick Chris up and go home to bed so the day could repeat. Well, she'd had some luck with a job. A small blog was interested in hiring her to write a literary column for them weekly, but it wasn't the news and it wasn't a major daily like she'd wanted.. or even a minor one. Who read blogs anyways? People that lived at home with their parents and played video games? Okay, maybe that was a bit extreme, but.. she wasn't sure how she felt about the job. She'd considered, a bottle of wine on the table at the time, just saying "screw it" and locking herself in a room to write a book, but that wasn't realistic. She didn't have time for that and really, who would read it?

She'd been playing in the living room with Chris when she heard the doorbell and got up, not expecting anyone let alone Jack to be coming by. Answering it, she was surprised to see the flowers and him dressed up. Had someone died? Was there some sort of occasion she'd missed? Looking from him, she looked down at her own attire; jeans, a black Ramones t-shirt and bare feet with her hair tied back. "Hi." She said, confusion in her voice. "Nice flowers." Wow, that was a stupid thing to say. Nice flowers? Really? That's all you've got? Nice freakin' flowers? She wracked her brain for something else, something with more.. sophistication? "You look nice.. I mean, aside from the flowers, you look nice..." Wow, for a writer you just used the word nice far more than you should have. Adjectives, much? Okay, this was embarrassing. She felt completely off-guard. She felt sixteen again. Crap.

"Chris is just inside if you wanted to see him.." She said unsurely, still curious about the flowers and clothing choice, but trying not to make guesses. What if he was going on a date with someone? They hadn't really talked about it yet, seeing other people... Were they? Was he?

[jack edward riley]

“Hi.”He nervously laughed as he shifted from one foot to the other and smirked up at her surprise. He held out the flowers to her offering them to her and hoping she’d approve. He felt like a sixteen year old again and he half expected her father to come to the door rather than the three year old who came running from behind her, pushed past her, and right onto the porch. Jack crouched down and picked him before standing. As much as he had hoped to take her out tonight he preferred how dressed down she was and felt like an idiot and wanted nothing more than to sink back on the couch with her and mock some awful television.

“How long do you think it’ll take you to get ready.” He asked her with a sheepish grin as he kissed to top of his son’s head. He was glad that Chris had taken that moment to come out because if she was going to say no to him it would be a bit harder now that she had the puppy dog eyes of their child. He was definitely trained by both of them from an early age. She’d use him to find out where the regular coffee was hidden when Jack would get on a health kick, and Jack would use him when something went wrong and he didn’t want to get yelled at. He was pretty sure that Chris would one day grow up learning from both of them and they’d both pay for it. He definitely had her doe eyes that nobody could say no to and once he learned he could use them they’d all be screwed.

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[ava louise riley]

So the flowers were for her. That was.. well, it was awesome. It meant that he was dating anyone else.. Well, so she assumed though it very well could have meant that he was and he just wanted to tell her in the nicest of way so she didn't kick his ass. In any case, she accepted them. "Thanks." She said with a smile, still pretty confused as she spotted Chris running past her and over to Jack.

She was about to ask what he was doing there when he asked her how long it would take her to get ready. Ready for what? She hated surprises and he knew that and she also knew that he was probably loving the fact that she was going crazy trying to figure out what this was. "Give me a few minutes." She said, moving away from the door so he could come in. When had it become so damn cold out? Maybe it was the change from Tampa to here and it just seemed colder than it actually was. In any case, Chris was starting to get a cold and she was carefully hoping it didn't get worse than the running nose he was currently dealing with.

She headed down the small hallway and into her room, wondering what the hell to wear. It was always hard when you had no idea what you'd be doing.. casual or formal? Nice pants or a dress? She decided to go for a dress and cropped black jacket. and quickly changed before remembering the flowers that now rested on her bed. She headed into the kitchen and put them in a vase with some water and headed back to where him and Chris were. "Ready." she said to them, hoping she looked alright. Her hair was now down and floating off her shoulders, but she couldn't help but feel more self-concious than ever.

[jack edward riley]

She went with it a lot better than he expected. At one point he was sure she was going to laugh and shut the door in his face. But when she took the flowers and smiled at him he knew that it was going to be good. He smiled when she left the doorway to get ready and put Chris down as he walked into the house and shut the door behind him. “Come on; let’s get you ready as well.” He said with a smirk as he ruffled Chris’s hair. Chris stepped on his foot and wrapped his arms around his leg in a vice grip as Jack began to walk, rather difficulty, down the hall to his room. He began looking through his closet for something for him to wear at the same time that Chris was going through his drawers and changing into whatever he wanted. Jack turned around to find his son wearing two different shirts, pants and a pair of shorts over them. “You can’t wear that you numbskull.” He said with a laugh as he went over to help him get changed. Chris darted away with a laugh and before they knew it he was chasing him around the small room.


Finally he got him changed into something a bit more presentable than what he had picked out for himself and they left the room and headed into the living room where Chris showed him his toys he had been playing with earlier. He knew that she hated surprises, it was something she had mentioned over the years a number of times but was also one of those things that went in one ear and out the other with Jack. When she walked into the room announcing she was ready his heart skipped a beat. She looked beautiful, although he always preferred her comfortable and dressed down, it had been some time since he had seen her dressed up. With working all the time and having a three year old it didn’t exactly leave a very big window for date nights. “Wow…’” He said before catching himself and the fact that his mouth was hanging open. He laughed and then got up from the floor where he had been sitting with Chris. “Doesn’t she look beautiful kid?” He asked Chris with a grin. He would have kissed her if it had been under different circumstances. “We should uh…head out.” He said, his eyes not leaving hers.

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[ava louise riley]

She hadn't really been sure about the dress, but seeing his reaction, well all worries went out the door. Her smile grew as she tried not to blush. She laughed at he addressed Chris, shaking her head as she noticed that Chris was now dressed too. He kind of like a miniature version of Jack all dressed up, though she'd never actually seen pictures of her husband as a kid either to compare it too."I think Chris looks better than either of us though." She said picking him up as he laughed and bringing him in for a huge kiss. "Mom!" The little boy squealed and she placed him down again. "What? Are kisses not cool anymore?" She joked to them.

She heard Jack say they should get going and nodded. "Can you get his jacket?" She asked Jack. "It's just in the closet." She said, pointing to the closet by the front door and she headed over to her purse and grabbed it from the table it had been sitting on. She took out her house keys to lock up and went to meet them at the door. "So are you guys going to tell me where we are going yet?" She asked them, wondering if Chris was in on the surprise or not. She hated that he had been born with the ability to keep a secret and knew she'd regret it when he became a teenager. "Or at least give me some sort of hint...?" She asked some more, knowing it was probably pointless.

They made their way outside and she locked up, assuming they would be taking his car since she had no clue where they'd be going.