the future is ours

"Lil?" I called out as I walked into my girlfriend's house and looked aroundm not finding her anywhere. Maybe she was upstairs. 

She appeared from the stairs, smiling at me as I set my jacket on the back of the couch. "Hey." She smiled and leaned in to kiss me.

"You look like you've been busy." I pointed out, noticing her stained clothes and her messy hair. That only meant one thing: she was painting and had lost track of time.

"I have." She smiled. "How was your day?" 

I shrugged and leaned in to kiss her again, lingering a little longer than initally. "Long." I sighed. "Want to get some dinner?" 

She nodded. "I do but I'm not really dressed for it." She laughed. 

I rose a brow. "Are you telling me you don't have any other clothes besides these?" 

She rolled her eyes. "Don't be a smartass Cole." 

I smirked. "Why not?" 

She walked away, heading for her bedroom. "Because it makes her hot and we'll never get to the restaurant!" She called over her shoulder.

I followed her up the stairs and wrapped my arms around her tiny waist, "Since when is that a problem?" I asked, nibbling on her ear.

"Mhm what are you suggesting exactly?" She purred, leaning back against me as we headed to her bedroom.

"Let's stay home and order a pizza." I answered, pulling back only because it was hot like hell.

She turned around and raised one eyebrow at me, "You don't want to go out?" She asked suspiciously.

Lately we had been going out a lot, with Jax, with my friends, just us, and it was as if we were trying to make up for staying home a lot during winter. Only now that I thought about it I was too tired to go anywhere, mostly if what I wanted was just right here. Lila. I didn't needed anything else, except for something to eat and a nice cold beer. "Not tonight baby." I answered quietly, pushing her hair behind her ear before cupping her pretty face.

"Okay..." She trailed off, nodding, "Are you okay?"

I took a deep breath because I didn't know if I really was. This thing of Colbie being pregnant and breaking my brothers heart was being hard on me, because I loved my family and this felt a little like dejavu. "Yes." I said simply and closed the small distance between us, kissing her, because I didn't want to think about it.

"Mm I don't believe you." She kissed me back.

"You know me." I followed her into her bedroom and watched as she peeled out of her painting clothes, gluying my eyes on her while she slipped into a nightgown. I grinned at her and grabbed her wrist, pulling her into my body, fingering the straps on her dress. "I'm going to leave this on your little body when I slide inside you later." I said, grinning wider when she shivered. 

"Pizza first, then you can have your wicked way with me." She laughed and kissed me quickly before grabbing her cell and ordering our usual from our favorite local place. 

"I talked to Colbie." I said finally, making her raise a brow and look over to me. 

"What exactly did you talk about?" She asked and I was tempted to roll my eyes because the answer was obvious. 

"About Jax, and about the baby." 

"And?" She asked, letting me tell her the story without pushing me. 

"She's a mess." I admitted. And I was being gentle.

"Jax isn't better." She pointed out slowly.

I loosened my tie and kept my eyes on her, "I heard you talked with him too." I said back while I got undressed.

She nodded. "Mhm." She muttered untintelligently.

I shot her a smirk as I tossed my shirt on a chair before pushing down my pants, "Don't get distracted baby."

Her grin mirrored mine and she bit down on her lips, "Ops." She chuckled, "Where did you hear that exactly?" She asked, giving me an amused look.

"Jax told me, of course." I rolled my eyes at her silliness even though I appreciated how relaxed our conversation was going. I wondered if we'd manage to finish it this way too, it was hard for me to talk about things to upset me and both Lila and I knew how easy for us was to fight instead. We blamed it on our personalities, there was nothing we could do about it.

She plopped down on the bed, watching me as I grabbed a pair of shorts I had left at her place, "He's very angry and confused." She sighed eventually.

I wore an old t-shirt before running my hands through my hair, listening to her carefully even though she wasn't telling me anything I didn't know. "Colbie's very confused. She didn't even sound like herself...I think she's re-living the past and it's the worst thing she could do."

She narrowed her eyes on me but followed me downstairs anyway, "It's a difficult situation to handle."

I walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge to grab a beer, raising a brow at her, "Don't you think I know?" I asked before taking a long swig.

"Baby..." Lila ran her hands up my chest and just hugged me, letting me drink my beer before I finally relaxed and wrapped my arms around her.

"I don't know what I think..." I trailed off.

"Are you re-living the past too Trav?" She asked, setting her chin on my chest. 

I shrugged and sipped my beer again. "A little. Maybe." She sighed, her eyes showing me there was a lot going on in her head right now. "Colbie said she was going to keep their baby." I added, almost as if I was convincing myself by saying the words.

 She gave me an I-told-you-so look without saying the words. "Doesn't that make you feel better?" She asked, running her fingers through my hair and settling at the nape of my neck.

"It's still a clusterfuck Lila. She's still hiding from Jax and he's a miserable mess which isn't the mindset you should be having when you're about to be a father."

"Jax is going to make an amazing father." She replied, trying to remind me of the good instead of the bad.

"I know." I nodded.

"I think everything will work out baby."

I took a deep breath, then sighed, "How can you know that?" I asked her.

"Do they have any other chance?" She shrugged.

"Not anymore." I shook my head and I was still very tempted to be angry at my brother for how stupid he had been, only it wouldn't help him and there was turning back so it would be useless.

She lifted herself up on her tip toes and placed a soft kiss on my lips, as if she was trying to console me or something. "Aren't you happy to become uncle again?" She asked and it was clear to me how she was trying to make me see the good. Again.

"Of course I am." I answered, then paused to take a swig of beer as I led her outside on her porch, "It's just that they're not in the best situation to have a baby. And if they can't things work out..." I trailed off, not even wanting to think about that option.

"Have some faith Trav." She said as we sat on the stairs, her eyes on me.

"I hope Colbie will become more stable." I said back and stared in front of me, but didn't miss the glare she was shooting me.

"What are you saying Travis." She retorted flatly.

I turned my head to her again, "Your sister is out her f.ucking mind right now." I pointed out and that was the truth. I knew Colbie was a good woman, a good mom, for what I knew she was a good girlfriend too, but at the moment she wasn't at her best and was too stubborn to let anyone close to her. I only hoped my brother could get her to reason straight again.

"Of course she is." Lila sighed. "She's Colbie. And she's hormonal and this is all hitting her so fast. I don't know what I'd do if She was in her place." She admitted.

"Yeah." I nodded as we watched the pizza guy come up and give us our food.

"Let's not talk about it anymore." She replied, so typical of Lila.

"What should we talk about instead?'

"How's Tara?" She asked, bringing up my beutiful cousin out of nowhere.

"Good. She's still waiting for your girls party at the beach house." 

She grinned. "Oh good."

"Good that you bought furniture." I chuckled.

"Oh YOU bought it. I just picked it out." She smirked and I shook my head.

'How could I forget?" 

She laughed and took a big bite of super cheesy pizza. "When will we go back?" 

I shrugged. "This weekend if you want." I looked over and smiled at her. 

"Yes please." She smiled. "I'll back her new bikini." She winked. "I bought it myself."

"I hope so." I rolled my eyes. "You have enough damn bikinis."

"A woman can never have too many swimsuits. Or shoes." She added. I grumbled and she laughed and climbed into my lap. "You're handsome." She told me seriously.

"Just that?" I asked, a cocky smile forming on my lips.

"Nope." She grinned and left it at that.

"Oh?" My eyes sparkled back at her. "What else?"

"I can't tell you She don't want you to blush."

"I never blush." I spanked her lazily before I grabbed her and set her back next to me.

She looked at me with a big pout on her lips, "Why are you pushing me away?"

I grinned at her, reaching for another slice of pizza, "Because I'm hungry." I shrugged and took a big bite, thinking that sometimes where the little things that made life good. Like pizza, beer and my girlfriend. Because if I looked at the bigger picture it wasn't so good.

She bit down on her lip, nodding slowly, "Mhm you mean you need energy for later when I'll wear you out."

"You? Wear me out?" I asked, then broke into a laugh, "Sure baby."

"Or maybe you won't get any tonight." She raised an eyebrow at me.

"Never." I said seriously then pressed a kiss on her lips.

She sighed, leaning against my shoulder and watching me eat, "Unfortunately you're right." She said and I shot her an amused look. "Will you work tomorrow?"

"Of course I will." I answered before taking another sip of beer.

"Why don't they send you again to NY?" She grinned, making that silly face that I loved so much, "So that I can come with you again."

"It was fun, wasn't it?" I smirked at her, remembering those days spent together as she nodded. "I don't know, it not in their plans now...if they send me there maybe it could be not temporary."

She widened her eyes, "What?! You never told me you could be transferred to New York Trav!"

"Baby, it's not happening." I reassured her. It was a mere hypothesis since no one had ever said anything about it, and even if they did I'd say no. If I had to move to NY I'd like to be for something more...like Wall Street. The thought was a fascinating one, but it was all it was, a thought. "Don't make that face, I'm not going anywhere." I said and kissed her forehead, then went back to that delicious pizza.

"New York is nice to visit, but I don't think I'd like to live there." Lila  shrugged and took a bite of pizza herself.

"How come?" I asked, leaning back in my chair. 

She shrugged. "It's too busy. And no one wears any color. Plus I like living in a house instead of an apartment."

"Those are silly reasons except the last one." I chuckled.

She threw her napkin at me. "You're silly." She corrected. "We should plan a vacation." She thought out loud.

"We just went to the beach." 

She waved me off. "Not here. Like real traveling. To England or Italy or France." 

My brows shot up. "What would we do there?" 

She shrugged and smirked back at him. "I need to cross off countries on her list of places I've had sex in." She joked and Travis laughed out loud.

"You want to fly thousands of miles to do something we could do right here?" She shook her head and faked a serious face.

"I already checked off here. Plus you know I'm joking. I've only ever been to France and that was for school. It would be much better to do it for fun."

"You must think I'm made of money." Travis smirked and She shrugged.

"That's why She fell in love with a workaholic." She teased, leaning against me and setting her feet up.

"Ahh, and She thought it was just for her good looks."

"And stamina."

"So many reasons then." 

"So many." She agreed.

"I'd tell you to go on but it'd take too long." I shot her a cocky smirk and she raised one eyebrow at me.

"Why do you have other plans tonight?" She asked as she bit back a grin.

I finished my pizza and wrapped my arm around her shoulders, "I'm craving something sweet." I told her seriously.

"Here I am." She kissed my lips.

I chuckled against her mouth, keeping her in place, "I meant something sweet like dessert. I'm hungry."

"Meh you're no fun tonight." She retorted flatly as she tried to push me away, "All you think about is food."

"You should spend more time with Tara." I said instead, ignoring her.

"I'd love that! She seems so nice...too bad we don't live closer." She sighed, shaking her head and looking irresistibly cute. "I could use a new friend."

"You could use a cooking lesson." I teased her because really, she got so much better lately. She was no chef but she was good enough for me.

"Travis." She glared at me, then pouted, "I wanted to make dinner tonight but got busy painting...what so they say? It's the thought that count."

I grinned at her, noticing how she didn't bother to take offense of anything anymore. She knew how much I loved her and appreciated what she did for me. "Your thought was delicious." I joked.

She chuckled, "I have ice cream if you want."

"Chocolate please." I nodded enthusiastically, thinking that this night was only getting better. Lately I appreciated small things a lot more and at the same time big ones didn't seem to satisfy me instead.

She let out a fake sigh, "What will I get back if I go inside and take your fave ice cream that I bought just for you because I'm an amazing girlfriend?"

I smiled at her, "I'll cook for you this weekend. And I'll let you stay on top tonight." I said as my smile turned into a grin.

"Ha. It doesn't count if my hands are tied." Lila narrowed her eyes.

I laughed. "You never complain." 

Her straight face turned into a smirk and she shrugged. "That's because it's a damn good ab workout." 

"I'm sure that's why yes." I shook my head as I sipped my beer.

She smiled. "I love you." She said seriously. 

I looked over at her. "Do you?" 

She rolled her eyes and turned away from me. "I'm not saying it again, all you ever want is compliments."

"Is love a compliment?" I asked, amused by how cute she was as she nodded and grabbed my beer, taking a sip for herself. "Hey."

"Ugh. This beer is awful." She winced.

"It's not for babies." I took it back from her and she walked past me into the kitchen.

"I'm not even justifying that with a response silly man!"