#but hey. first attempts will always be kinda bad so i atleast have that haha

[wtimetravelgentlemen]

Got kinda drunk and decided to teach myself spine

Have an annoyed Sinope

[ayyoitsalex]

Chapter 3 - Empty Nest

It's weird now in the house with just Noah, Elizabeth, and myself. It hadn't been three of us since it was just Selena, and that only lasted about a year or so before the twins came along. I guess I've just become so accustomed to having everyone around that I don't like that they're all gone. Though I am proud of where they all are at, Selena up at Stanford, Nathan at Michigan, and Natalie at Duke. Well now since Elizabeth is a little older, which personally makes me sad, but anyway I've taken more full time work back at the hospital. Haley has transitioned to being a full time stay-at-home mom to be there for Austin. So as opposed to daycare or hiring a nanny I just stick her with Haley. Perks to having the best sister-in-law ever. She'll snapchat me throughout the day so I won't miss her too bad, but it's just not the same. Even though I miss being able to hang around with her, getting back to the hospital was the right choice with three of our kids in college. Even though Noah makes enough for us to get by, I figured why should he have to do that alone? I got off my shift around five, and got in my car to head over to Haley's. I could hear Elizabeth from outside when i pulled up. From the sound of it she was just cranky for some reason. She's got a little bit of that Natalie in her that makes her think she knows better than everyone and she ends up paying for it. I knocked on the door. "Oh look that's probably mommy!" I heard Haley muffled from the other side of the door. She opened it up, Elizabeth face red from all the screaming she was probably doing, and she ran up and hugged my legs. "Aha aw hi honey I missed you too." I picked her up and she buried her face into my shoulder and gripped onto me. "One of those days again huh?" I smirked. I rubbed Elizabeth's back in an attempt to calm her down some. "Shh shh it's okay honey." "You could say that. Someone refused to take a nap." "Mhm of course she did haha." As she started to settle down I walked back with Haley into the kitchen to just talk and hang out. She set Austin upstairs and had the monitor hooked on her hip. It reminded me of when I was the one with the baby, so it was funny to see the shoe on the other foot.  Hannah came home from band practice and greeted both Haley and myself. "Hey mom." She leaned in and gave her a hug before picking up bottle of water in the fridge. "Oh hey aunt Nicole. How're the cousins off in the world?" "They seem good. Selena is already back at her apartment with Sam, Natalie is bonding with her cheer teammates in her dorm, and Nathan is with Kelsey." "Can't wait for them to get back already. Be sure to let Nathan and Natalie know I'm a medium. My college shirt collection needs to grow a little." "Haha I'll be sure to pass that along sweetie." She skipped upstairs. "Hey check on Austin while you're up there please?" "Okay got it" Hannah said from the monitor "She's such a great kid Hales." "Yeah I'm glad Brian and I adopted at least one of our kids y'know? Kinda give back to the world for what was done for me." As a big believer in karma myself, I really did get where Haley was coming from. Before I knew it Elizabeth was passed out in my arms. "Alright, well thank you so much Haley. I'll be back tomorrow to drop her back off." "Aha great. You owe me so much." I buckled Elizabeth into her carseat and made my way home. Noah was already home, and to my surprise he was in the kitchen making dinner. It was his go-to meal of pasta, chicken, and salad with lots of crutons. He knows the right ways to my heart, and it's with carbs. "What did I do to deserve this!" I gasped, giving him a kiss. "I can't be pregnant again." "Very funny. What, I can't make dinner for my girls?" "Well you haven't made dinner for just the girls since Selena and I were the only girls." "Whatever, my girls deserve something nice after a long day. Elizabeth especially looks like she had a long day." He brushed the hair out of her face and her eyes fluttered open slowly. She reached out to him and I passed her over. My phone buzzed in my pocket.

"Hello?" "Hey..you guys didn't happen to make extra dinner did you? We uh totally forgot to do some grocery shopping." "Of course Cam, you know you're always welcome-" "OH good see, Logan I told you. We're already here by the way." "Wait wha-" She hung up on me. Typical. I heard the door unlock and Camryn's heels clicking against the hardwood floor. "Well welcome." I rolled my eyes as Camryn and I hugged. "I'm gonna set her down on the couch." Noah laid Elizabeth down, tucking a blanket around her. "What happened to the little blonde one?" "She didn't take her nap today, so Haley had an ear full of crying this afternoon." " With the way she cries, you definitely should be paying her." "Hey! It's her god-daughter!" "Hm..y'know what girl you got a point haha." "How're things now that Alijah's moved out?" "Sigh we miss him being around, but it helps knowing that he's still in state and only a few hour drive away. Not to like rub that in at all..." "It's okay, I mean I'm so happy that all the kids got a great opportunity to see something different. Have you booked any tickets for the games this year?" "Mm not yet, they're just hella expensive and we want to make sure we pick the right one." "Cause we definitely already did." I smiled just thinking about seeing Nathan again. "You're flying all the way to Michigan?!" "What? No! Michigan is playing USC this year, so we booked tickets right away." "Is Nathan is the starter?" "We're not sure yet, but we're still gonna go even if he's not." We uncorked a bottle of wine, and sat outside talking.

"So when was the last time you went a day without trying to facetime one of them?" Camryn sipped, staring into the fire we made. She swirled the wine in her glass, waiting on what she assumed I was probably making up to save face. "Um..a few days ago?" "HA trick question, Noah's already told me that you try atleast once a day for each of them." Camryn side-eyed me as if I should know better. "You've gotta let go of the leash some Nicole. Let them do their thing." "I know I know..but I miss them." "*sigh I know, and I can't begin to even say I understand considering atleast Alijah is still within driving distance. I mean he already got a girl pregnant in high school, god forbid he do it again in college. If so I will castrate that boy myself." "Who's getting castrated?" Audrey poked her head over the neighboring fence before subsequently hopping it to join our little impromptu wine session. Before I could even pick up my glass to save it from Audrey she had it in her hands, taking long sips. I shook my head and proceeded to get up to retrieve another glass. "She was just saying that if Alijah get's another girl pregnant she'll basically kill him." "Aha well she is the first one of us to be a GRANDMA." "SHUT UP! DO NOT REMIND ME. I AM TOO YOUNG AND TOO SEXY TO BE A GRANDMA." "Too young maybe." Audrey smirked. "Excuse me?!" The two argued back and forth as I continued to sip on my wine in amusement. "Knock knock? Room for two more?" Sabrina and Haley were both at the screen door holding a fresh bottle of wine and more glasses. They gathered with us around the fire. While I did miss having the kids around I did enjoy now the time I got to be with my friends. Though we weren't talking about boys and stupid things like when we were young, it maturely progressed to talking shit about people we didn't like. "Mommyyyyy!" I heard Elizabeth whine with her hands pressed against the screen door. Noah stood behind her, trying to pry her away from the girl's club we assembled outside. It wasn't any use, Elizabeth knew where she wanted to be. "It's okay honey I'll take her from here." Noah slid open the screen door and Elizabeth made a dash for me with her little legs. I propped her up on my lap. She laid up against my chest while I rubbed her back gently. "You just wanted to hang out with mommy all day huh?" She nodded her head, hugging me. A collective "aw" fell over the group. My phone buzzed in my pocket. "Hello?" "Hey mom it's me." Selena said in a cheery tone. "Hi sweetie how are you?" "Good just wanted to check-in and say hey." Just fuck me up with feels y'know? "Thought I'd let you know I'm heading home for the four day weekend coming up." "Ah honey that's amazing. Your dad and I can't wait!"