"Kitty told me that she lives in a castle." Parker said from the backseat as Michael drove, trying to follow the directions Melissa had texted him.

"Kitty doesn't know what she's talking about." Michael sarcastically responded. He was just having a bad day and everything, including Parker, had seemed to annoy him. Especially Parker.

"She said it was a castle!" Parker argued, kicking the back of Michael's seat, causing him to let out a big groan.

"Parker, knock it off!" Michael yelled, turning the car onto what he hoped was Katie's street.

Michael couldn't figure out why, but he was just in a really shitty mood. Nothing really out of the ordinary had happened to put him in such a bad mood, he just woke up in the morning knowing that it was going to be a bad day. It was most likely because of Melissa, she seemed to give Michael a bad attitude about things.

"Stop yelling at me!" Parker whined.

"Stop kicking me!" Michael whined back.

"You're mean." Parker pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. Michael drove down the street until he found the address that Melissa had texted him (Katie's house was big, but not a castle) and he pulled into the driveway. "Can you just drop me off and leave me with Kitty forever?"

"What?" Michael practically yelled as he unbuckled his seatbelt. He turned around to look at Parker. "Why would you want to stay with Kitty forever?"

"Because she's nice to me." Parker said softly, looking down at his lap.

"Park, buddy, I'm nice to you." Michael sighed, suddenly feeling really bad about being such a dick to Parker once again.

"You've yelled at me all morning." Parker mumbled. He grabbed his stuffed lion from the seat and brought it onto his lap, playing with it so he didn't have to look Michael directly in the eye.

"I'm sorry, Pac-Man." Michael apologized, "I told you that I was in a bad mood."

"Well that's not my fault." Parker shrugged, finally looking back up at his father. Michael felt really bad, because it wasn't Parker's fault, it wasn't really anyone's fault. It wasn't even Melissa's fault.

"I'm sorry, Parker." Michael said quietly, running a hand through his hair.

Parker was silent for a second before he finally smiled again. "It's okay, Daddy."

Parker then unbuckled his car seat by himself and waited for Michael to get out and open the door for him, not seeming to care at all that just a few minutes before Michael had been acting like a total asshole.

"Well that was easy." Michael muttered to himself as he got out of the car and walked over to the backseat, opening the door for Parker.

Parker held his arms out and waited for Michael to pick him up, also holding his backpack out for Michael to take. Michael sighed and pulled Parker into his arms taking the backpack filled with Parker's toys and swimming stuff as well.

"Are you and Melly going to have a playdate too?" Parker giggled as Michael carried him up to the front door. All Michael could think about was how many dirty jokes Calum would have made if I had been there with them.

"Kind of." Michael shrugged.

"Do you like Melly?" Parker asked.

"She's okay." Michael shrugged again. He's already answered this question probably a million times, it seems that Parker thinks Michael is magically going to change his mind about Melissa every few hours.

"Are we going to go swimming?" Parker asked, totally changing the subject.

"I'm not, you are." Michael chuckled. They reached the front door of Katie's house (it was huge, Michael really couldn't get over it) and he rang the doorbell.

"Aw, why not?" Parker whined. He wiggled around in Michael's arms until he finally set Parker down again, not wanting to deal with his squirmy son any longer.

"I don't know how to swim." Michael lied, just because he didn't want to go through explaining to Parker that he really just didn't feel like doing anything today and was most likely going to try to run away and take a nap at some point in the afternoon while Melissa watched the kids.

"I don't either." Parker shrugged.

"Oh." Michael paused, remembering that Parker was only four and really hadn't bed learned how to swim before. "Right."

"So you have to stay with me." Parker smiled, grabbing onto Michael's hand.

"We'll see, buddy, maybe we can just put your feet in or something." Michael said, rolling his eyes. He was mostly mad at himself, because how could he forget that his own son doesn't even know how to swim?

Parker didn't have time to say anything more, because the front door was opening and Melissa came into view, with Katie trailing closely behind her.

"Kitty!" Parker screamed and ran forward, practically tackling Katie into a hug. Katie pulled away first and smiled, taking Parker's hand in her own. Michael was also kind of pissed about that, because it seemed a though Parker had a girlfriend and he didn't.

"Hi, Katie." Michael smiled down at her, hoping that she'd mention something about how cool his purple hair was.

Katie looked up at Michael for a moment before screaming at the top of her lungs and running away, dragging Parker with her.

"Oh." Michael said, surprised, and turned back towards Melissa, who was laughing quietly and standing against the doorframe.

"She's just really shy, sorry." Melissa grabbed Michael's wrist and pulled him forward, into the house, so she could shut the door.

"She's doesn't seem to be that shy around my son." Michael grumbled, still just a little offended that Katie didn't really like him that much.

"She'll warm up to you eventually." Melissa assured Michael, dragging him through the house (it was huge!!) and into the kitchen.

"So, uh, what's up?" Michael asked nervously, rubbing at the back of his neck he took a seat at the table, watching as Melissa walked around in front of him.

"Well, Katie's supposed to be finishing her lunch right now but that's cool she can eat it later. I know that she wants to go swimming but it's totally fine if Parker's not into that. The pool's outside, but it's heated so it'll be fine. Katie also has this huge toy room upstairs that she's probably already taken Parker into and then I think that later we should - "

"Are you nervous?" Michael asked, cutting Melissa off as she paced around the kitchen, trying to clean up dirty dishes and make things look a little more presentable.

"What?" Melissa questioned, like she was surprised that Michael would even ask that.

"I asked if you were nervous. You were, like, rambling." Michael chuckled awkwardly, "I do that when I get really nervous, too."

"Oh. I mean, yeah, I guess I'm a little nervous." Melissa shrugged, turning away from Michael again.

"I mean, not all the time. I have to be, like, really nervous for me to start doing it but, yeah, it happens sometimes. Mostly when I'm with people that I've just met or, like, adults or something - and oh look I've started doing it now." Michael trailed off, both he and Melissa laughing about the way he'd unintentionally started to ramble on about nothing in particular.

"Nice." Melissa laughed, walking over to the fridge. "Do you want something to eat? Or drink? We have, like, almost everything."

Michael kind of wanted to ask if he could have a beer but he kind of didn't because of this fear that Michael had of Katie's mom walking in and seeing the nanny having a beer with this loser with purple hair while the kids messed around upstairs.

"Can I have a glass of water?" Michael asked, swallowing hard.

Melissa nodded and got Michael his water, setting it down on the table in front of him. She sat in the seat across from Michael and the two of them awkwardly stared at each other for a few minutes before one of them finally spoke.

"I really like your hair that color." Melissa said, giving Michael this weird feeling in his stomach.

"Oh, thanks." Michael said, feeling his face heat up. "Did you see Parker's hair? I gave him a little purple streak. Only because he begged me to, of course."

"Yeah, Katie told me about it." Melissa laughed, running a hand through her own hair. "Now she wants purple hair."

"Well, I told him that it was a one time thing. And once Beth finds out she's going to murder me, but I don't know, he looks cool. It's worth it." Michael shrugged.

"Beth is Parker's mom?" Melissa asked, just clarifying for herself.

"Yeah." Michael nodded. He was mentally preparing for all of the questions Melissa was probably getting ready to ask.

"And you never got married?" She asked, and surprisingly Michael wasn't bothered by that one. He got asked that a lot, along with being asked why he never asked Beth to marry him. A lot of people (mostly Beth's family but also Ashton) thought that it was stupid of Michael to not propose the second Beth found out she was pregnant.

"Nope."

"Why is that?" Melissa questioned, and since Michael saw that question coming already it didn't really phase him either.

"Well when Parker was born I was only nineteen and Beth was twenty, so we wanted to take things slow for a while just because we were so young." Michael explained. "I guess it was a good idea, because look where we are now."

Melissa was silent for a moment, and Michael was sure that she was going to make another comment about that being irresponsible or, again, stupid of Michael to not want to marry Beth.

"That makes sense." She said, catching Michael a little off guard. He'd totally thought that she'd be against what Michael had done, like she always seemed to be.

"Really?" Michael raised an eyebrow and took a sip of water, suddenly really thirsty.

"Yeah. I mean, you're right. You were both really young. That be like, I don't know, me having a baby." Melissa said, nervously laughing at herself.

"How old are you?" Michael asked quickly, because he realized that he'd never asked. It wasn't like he thought that Melissa wasn't old enough for him to maybe possibly kind of date (he still thought she was super hot), but she did have a bit of a young face and Michael would hate it if she was, like, eighteen or something. He'd also feel really gross.

"I'll be twenty-two in three weeks." Melissa said hesitantly. "Why?"

"Oh, no reason." Michael said, feeling a bit more relieved now. He didn't feel gross, either, because she wasn't that much younger than him. "I'm turning twenty-four in a few months."

Michael felt a bit stupid for saying that, because if Melissa was smart at all she would have just added and figured out how old Michael was from when he told her that he was nineteen when Parker was born.

"Right." She nodded.

Michael was about to speak again but was cut off by the stomping of little feet coming down the stairs and then into the kitchen, and soon enough Parker was standing in front of Michael.

"Kitty and I would like to go swimming now." Parker said sweetly, rocking back and forth on his heels.

Michael looked up at Melissa and received a nod from her as she got up from the table, probably to go help Katie get ready to swim. Michael sighed and got up as well, and Parker took his hand, leading him out of the kitchen.

Once Michael got Parker all dressed and ready to swim (it was a very long and strenuous six and a half minutes), they found Melissa and Katie again and walked out to the backyard, where there was a giant heated pool and pool deck waiting for them.

Parker held tightly onto Michael's hand, clearly remembering that he really had no idea how to swim at all, while Katie excitedly bounced around and went over to the edge of the pool.

"Come with me." Parker whispered, tugging on Michael's hand.

"I can't go in the water." Michael said, shaking his head.

"Put your feet in with me." Parker whispered again, pulling Michael over to the edge, where Katie was already in the water and splashing around.

Melissa had told Michael a few minutes before that Katie, being the rich little four year old that she is, gets private swimming lessons and was already just a natural at it. Which is a good thing, Michael supposed, because it'd be a waste for Katie to have a pool in her backyard if she didn't know how to use it.

Michael sighed and sat down, taking his socks and shoes off and then rolling up the ends of his pants, so he could dip his feet in the water. Parker sat a few feet away from Michael and did the same thing, while bending over silently so he and Katie could quietly talk to one another without Michael overhearing. Katie just really didn't want him to hear her speak, apparently.

Melissa sat down next to Michael, her jeans also rolled to at the bottoms and her feet bare. They watched Parker and Katie in silence for a few minutes until the kids decided to move even farther away and start splashing each other.

"I take it back." Melissa said, breaking the silence between them.

"What?" Michael asked, not sure of what she was talking about.

"I don't think you're a bad father."

"Oh." Michael nodded, feeling increasingly better about himself now that she'd said that. It was a good boost of confidence. "What made you change your mind?"

"I just thought about it a little more, I don't know. It was wrong of me to judge you about being such a bad parent when we first met. I mean, sure, you don't do everything perfectly, but I think that's okay. You know what's best for Parker and that's all that matters, right?" Melissa rambled, turning to look at Michael again.

"Yeah, I guess." Michael nodded. Parker was really all that mattered to Michael, he didn't exactly care whether or not Melissa thought he was a good parent, although he liked the idea of her thinking he was doing a good job at this. But as long as Parker was happy and thought that Michael was a good father he'd be okay, so Melissa's opinion didn't really mean anything in the first place.

"I guess I take back what I said about you being a stuck up bitch as well." Michael chuckled, looking down at his feet as he kicked around in the water.

"You never said that."

"Not to your face." Michael shrugged, thankful that Parker didn't overhear them and demand that Michael adds money to the swear jar.

"Oh."

"So, yeah. Sorry." Michael laughed.

"It's fine," Melissa chuckled, "I'll admit that I can be a bit of a bitch sometimes."

"You're not that bad." Michael said, just because he felt bad about what he'd said a few seconds before.

"Thanks." Melissa smiled, nudging Michael's shoulder with her own. "You're not that bad yourself."

"Daddy!" Parker called, scooting closer to Michael and farther away from Katie.

"Yeah, Park, what's up?" Michael asked. Parker's hair was wet from Katie splashing him and he was shivering due to how cold it was outside, so Michael picked up a towel laying on the deck behind them and wrapped Parker up in it. Again, like a burrito.

"Can I drink the water?" Parker asked softly, looking towards the pool. Michael looked at Katie, who was hanging on to the edge of the pool and giggling like crazy.

"No, buddy, you can not drink the water." Michael chuckled, ruffling Parker's hair a little. He turned to Melissa again. "Park likes to eat things."

"I see." Melissa laughed. She stood up and walked over to the other end of the pool, where Katie had moved to.

"Daddy, are you and Melly going to get in?" Parker asked.

"No, I don't think so." Michael said, thankful once again that Melissa was no longer sitting next to him.

"Why not?"

"Well, we're still dressed in our regular clothes." Michael said, wrapping an arm around Parker to try and warm him up. He was still shivering. M

"So get undressed." Parker giggled.

"I think it's a little too soon for that, little man." Michael laughed, though he knew that Parker wasn't going to understand.

"No it's not." Parker argued, beginning to pout.

"Yes it is."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is."

"Uncle Calum would do it." Parker pouted, leaning his head up against Michael's chest.

Michael rolled his eyes, because this happened too often. If Michael refused to do something that Parker thought was fun, he'd be yelled at for days by his own son. It was always "Mommy would buy that toy for me" or "Uncle Calum would take me out for ice cream" or even "Daddy, Uncle Luke would never spray me in the face with water". Michael was beginning to get sick of it, because all he really wanted to do was please Parker and then he was made out to be the bad guy when he couldn't.

"Oh, so since Uncle Calum would do it Daddy should do it too, is that right?" Michael scoffed, letting go of Parker and standing up. He emptied his pockets, setting his wallet and cell phone off to the side, where he'd left his shoes.

"Michael, what are you doing?" Melissa called over to him, clearly wondering what was going on.

"If you jump, I jump, Park!" Michael yelled dramatically, backing away from Parker. He figured that if he was going to make a fool of himself by jumping into a pool fully clothed he might as well try and teach Parker how to swim at the same time.

"Okay!" Parker yelled and stood up, dropping the towel behind him, ready to jump in.

"Ah! Wait, I'll jump first!" Michael screamed, in fear that Parker would drown if he jumped in first. Then Beth would definitely kill him.

So Michael jumped in the water, making a huge splash as he came up again and shook out his hair, his clothes sticking to his now wet body.

"Oh my God." He heard Melissa mutter from up on the pool deck and Katie started cracking up, which made Michael feel good because he'd finally done something to please her as well.

"Can I jump now?" Parker yelled, rocking on his heels again and waiting to get the okay from Michael.

"Uh, yeah." Michael said, holding his arms out. "Go ahead."

Parker jumped (he was somehow smart enough to plug his nose; maybe he'd seen Katie do it) and was only under water for about half a second before Michael pulled him back up again. Parker screamed as he surfaced again and clung onto Michael, wrapping both his arms and legs around his father.

"Ah!" Parker squealed, "I don't like this, I don't like this! Daddy, get me out!"

"What? Why?" Michael questioned, wondering why Parker hated this so much. He liked baths, didn't he? Wasn't this just like one big bath?

"I don't like it!" Parker screamed again, and Michael sighed as he began to make his way over to the edge of the pool. He set Parker up on the deck before climbing out himself, the cool air hitting him and immediately giving Michael goosebumps.

Melissa walked over to where Parker was and handed him a towel, Katie following closely behind her.

"I do not like swimming." Parker huffed, his lips forming into a pout a he folded his arms over his chest.

"Pac-Man, it's not that bad." Michael sighed, running his hands through Parker's damp hair. "You just need to get used to it."

"I will never get used to it." Parker pouted.

Katie, now also wrapped in a big fluffy towel, walked over to Parker and grabbed his hand, pulling him closer to her. Parker stopped pouting and smiled.

"God, I try to do something nice and then he gets mad at me for it." Michael mumbled and Melissa let out a big laugh, because the whole thing was honestly pretty funny.

"I'm cold!" Parker yelled, glaring up at Michael again. Somehow he always managed to do something to piss off his kid.

"Why don't we go inside and make hot chocolate?" Melissa suggested, before bending down and whispering something else to Parker and Katie that Michael couldn't understand. They both nodded quickly, clearly excited.

"Oh man, hot chocolate would be great." Michael said, searching around on the pool deck for a spare towel. He admitted that it was kind of stupid of him to jump in the water like that, considering that they'd still be here for a few more hours and now Michael had to walk around in sopping wet clothes.

"Oh, you want hot chocolate, too?" Melissa smirked. She walked over to Michael and put her hands on his chest, smiling up at him.

"It-it would be nice." Michael stammered, not understand what was going on. Parker and Katie giggled beside him, like they were in on whatever Melissa was planning to do.

"Parker, do you think your daddy deserves hot chocolate?" Melissa asked teasingly, look at Parker out of the corner of her eye.

"No!" Parker threw his hands up in the air, a big smile on his face.

"Aw, Park, come on - " Michael was cut off by Melissa shoving him forward, and before he knew it he was in the pool again.

Michael surfaced the water again just in time to see Melissa, Parker, and Katie all giggling as they ran away from Michael, leaving him with no towel. Michael let out a big groan as he ran his hands through his wet hair again, pushing it off of his forehead. He got out of the pool, shivering again at the cold air that now surrounded him. Michael really couldn't believe that the fucking nanny had pushed him in the pool.

Melissa was a bitch, but Michael kind of liked that.

-

sorry it took me so long to update I hope you guys like this cuz idk if I do lol whatever goodnight