June 4, 2005
Journal –
The past few days have been extremely rough for me. I talked to Kevin more and got no further with him. He is still convinced that I need to ‘grow up and start being a proper father figure’. We have spoken several times in the past few days, both in person and on the phone. He is a lost cause!
Then, Nick stopped by today. He was there, where Kevin initially reamed me out, so he came by to check up on me. I swear he wasn’t here more than a half hour before he was dragging me and Baylee out! Leighanne spent the day with some girlfriends so I agreed to go with Nick. Baylee, of course, put up NO fight! Soon, I found myself at the mall watching Nick and Baylee go around on the Marry-Go-Round for the millionth time. Nick was overacting each time the horse went up and down, throwing his hands in the air and screaming ‘weeeeeee!’. Baylee followed in suit and they both returned to me in fits of laughter. I’m not sure if I was more amused by Nick acting like that or by the stares he received for it!
We had pizza and soda for lunch, and then Nick took Baylee over to Dairy Queen. The two of them shared the largest banana split they had to offer. Leighanne is going to kill me when she sees that Baylee got hot fudge all down the front of his new white Tommy shirt. Why does that woman even bother to PUT him in white?!? Baylee is just as messy as Nick!
Needless to say, we got recognized as we shopped. I about died laughing when some skinny bleach blonde asked Nick if he had a girlfriend. It wasn’t her asking that made me laugh…it was Nick’s answer. He said, and I quote, “Nope, no girlfriend. But, that’s cool with me because I can spend more time on the Marry-Go-Round with my bestest buddy, Baylee!” Oh man! The look on that poor girl’s face was PRICELESS! Now, mind you, I am sure that if Baylee wasn’t around, Nick may have flirted and possibly gotten a number; but Nick is so wrapped up into being Baylee’s buddy that he even blows off chicks! Don’t tell him I told you, he would kill me…he has a reputation to uphold, you know.
Well, I guess I better give Kevin another call and try to figure out how to smooth things over. Both sets of Baylee’s grandparents have said that he would be better off with a younger family member. After all, they are getting up in years and no one wants Baylee to have to go through a move like that more than once. Harold…well…I’m not too sure about him. I really want to sort this out as soon as possible, though. TTFN. Ta-Ta for now!
- Brian T. Littrell
The bright sunshine was streaming in through the crack in my curtains as I set the book back in its designated spot. My dad sure seemed to be having difficulties with Uncle Kevin. But the thoughts of Nick, taking me on the Marry-Go-Round, made me chuckle. I rolled my eyes as I got up to get ready for the day.
“Heya, Howie,” I smiled as I joined him in the kitchen.
“Hi, Baylee. How did you sleep?”
“Well, and you?”
“Oh, I slept fine, I suppose. Your uncle Kevin is here,” he looked up at me with sympathy in his eyes.
“Why? What happened? He doesn’t usually come around unless something needs fixing,” I rolled my eyes as I grabbed an orange from the bowl on the counter.
“Somehow, he found out about yesterday’s prank. He’s in the den with Nick.” Giving Howie one last glance, I made a break for the den. The two doors were cracked just a little in the middle, where they came together. Even though I know it’s rude, I still decided to listen in.
“How can you be so childish?” Kevin’s voice roared. With him talking like that, I was surprised I couldn’t hear him in the kitchen!
“It was just an innocent prank, Kevin. Lighten up!” I did a double take, hearing Nick’s response. He…almost…sounded like…me.
“You are his guardian, Nick, not his brother! Grow up!”
“HELLO! I tried that! I couldn’t get the kid to listen to me when I mimicked you! Now that I am back to being me, instead of you, he actually worked on that book he is supposed to read, over the break for school! Oh, and I didn’t even have to ASK him to do it. I couldn’t get him to even LISTEN to the word ‘homework’ when I was your clone, Kevin.”
“Brian trusted you with the well being of his son and you are just screwing it all up! You have to realize that you aren’t his little buddy anymore, you are his GUARDIAN!”
“Yeah, Kevin, you’re right. I am. And, if Brian wanted me to be an exact clone of you he would have just given Baylee to…YOU! But NO! Brain gave Baylee to ME…M…E…ME! He OBVIOUSLY didn’t want me to be you! He wanted me to be…ME!” Nick’s voice was at top notch. I peaked through the crack and saw the two men, almost nose to nose, both of their faces beet red. “This is who I am, damn it! If you don’t like it, you don’t have to come around!”
“That’s the last straw. I told you a long time ago that, if you didn’t grow up and raise him right, that I would fight for his custody. You will be hearing from my lawyer.” Kevin shoved Nick backwards before heading to the door. The color drained from my face as the realization hit me. Nick didn’t change because he wanted to change…he changed because he didn’t want Kevin to take me from him! This, kind of, changes things JUST a little bit…and made me feel a TAD guilty for the way I treated Nick.
“I want to stay with Nick,” I squeaked as Kevin flung the doors open. I looked up at the two men as they both stared at me.
“This is not up to you, Baylee, so stay out of it,” Kevin shouted down at me, causing me to stumble back a bit. “No one cares what you WANT. I am going to do what is BEST.”
“But…” I began to speak but Nick’s angered voice interrupted me as he grabbed Kevin’s shoulder. Spinning the older man around, Nick shoved him up to the wall.
“As of this moment, Baylee is STILL in MY care and you WILL NOT, under ANY circumstances, talk to MY dependant like that!” Nick’s finger poked Kevin’s chest repeatedly as his harsh words filled the entire house. “Call your fucking lawyer if you damn well want to, but don’t you, even for a second, think that there won’t be a battle to the end!” Nick’s face was almost purple and I could practically see the anger coursing through his veins.
“You’ll lose,” Kevin’s voice matched Nick’s as Howie came up behind me.
“Don’t hold your breath, Richardson. Now, kindly get your god damn ass out of MY fucking house! You aren’t welcome here!”
“Come on Baylee,” Howie gently placed a hand on my shoulder. “You don’t need to witness this.”
“Actually, I have something to say,” I looked at Kevin. “My mom and dad picked Nick to be my guardian and THAT is what’s BEST.”
“You listen to me…” Kevin leaned towards me.
“RICHARDSON! I said to get the fuck out of MY house, which means that you are now trespassing on my property. I suggest you get your ass to moving before I get the authorities involved.”
“Let’s go Baylee. You are coming with me. Nick isn’t fit to care for you,” Kevin grabbed a hold of my upper arm.
“Oh, I see you want to add kidnapping to the list? Because, since I don’t give you permission to take him…that makes it kidnapping.” Nick must have struck a nerve because Kevin stormed out of the house, slamming the door so hard that it popped back open.
“I knew he was on your back, man, but WOW!” AJ’s voice broke the silence.
“How much did each of you hear?” Nick questioned, looking at the floor.
“Start to finish,” Howie answered quietly.
“Um…I came in when you were talking about me doing my homework,” I looked up at the man who was now frowning at me.
“Yeah, that’s about where I tuned in, too,” AJ nodded. Nick stepped toward me and pulled me into a hug. He held me tightly and rubbed my back.
“I’m sorry you had to hear that, BayBay,” his voice was now barely above a whisper. I can’t remember the last time Nick used that nickname for me. AJ and Howie never stopped, but Nick had, at some point, began calling my nothing but Baylee. “I won’t let him take you, do you understand? He won’t take you from me!”
“Nick,” my voice cracked as I looked up at him. “He won’t really take you to court, will he?”
“I sure hope not,” Nick failed at displaying the smile he tried to force.
“We are here to back you up,” AJ crossed his arms and leaned on the wall next to where I was standing.
“100 percent,” Howie nodded with a half smile. “I hate for us all to gang up against him, but he has no right to be acting like this. He is being absolutely ridiculous.”
“Enough of this,” Nick shook his head. “We need to go somewhere…do something…” he slid past us and headed to the kitchen. “You know, we should get our minds off of the whole situation.”
“Good idea, Nickers. Shall we hit the arcade?” AJ smirked.
“HELL YEAH!!!” Nick and I shouted. We all grabbed our things and piled into AJ’s truck. All of us pushed Kevin from our minds and focused on keeping the mood light and fun. The whole day was wasted playing video games, eating pizza, crushing cans on our foreheads, and arm wrestling.
After we finally piled out of the truck and into the house, we all sat around a huge bowl of popcorn to watch a movie. We all decided that, since Christmas was only 3 days away, we would spend the next day shopping. We would pair up and trade off so we didn’t have to shop alone but we wouldn’t have to spoil any surprises either. This Christmas was going to be a bit different for us. We were down to a party of four, but we were the closest four.
When the movie was over, I settled into bed for the night and decided to read one more journal entry. I HAD to know how things unfolded and I wanted to get to the part where he chose Nick before we ended up in front of a judge, fighting for me to stay with him. My dad’s journal may provide some good leverage in court.
June 6, 2005
Journal –
You know what SCREW KEVIN! I am officially taking him out of the will COMPLETELY! I just have to figure out where to go from here. I have racked my brain all day and I have ruled out my brother for reasons that are better left unsaid. I am now finding myself back at square one with no map to tell me where to go.
Baylee is everything to me and this is not a decision to take lightly. Leighanne is being no help, either. I don’t know what to do! This journal will be worn to pieces by the time I work this all out. This is going to make performances and appearances a bit more tense for everyone. I am going to have a hard time being civil to him for a while.
Luckily, the other guys are backing me up, rather than Kevin. Nick, AJ, and Howie have all been there for me through this and I think my heart will lead me to entrusting one of them with my son, in the event that something happens.
Why can’t we be like normal parents who just write someone in and be done with it? It’s not supposed to be difficult. I feel my hair graying. I’m going to bed.
- B.T.L.
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Chapter End Notes:
Yeah yeah, sorry to all the Kevin lovers, lol. Kevin is the ass hole in this story. *shruggs* It is what it is.
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