While Parker was at Beth's house the next weekend, Michael decided that it was finally time for him to go look for a job.

But Michael really did not want a job, at all, so he was finding it really hard to apply for something. He'd walk into a place and take a look around, and then find some little mistake with whatever was going on and walk out. Like, the girl at the cash register looked like she'd be annoying or the building itself had a weird smell.

It was kind of pathetic, and Michael knew that. He just didn't want to admit to the fact that he was an adult now, with a child, and he needed to start earning money so he could actually take care of that child properly. The two of them couldn't live on pizza forever, and Michael knew that if he was going to continue living with Parker and taking care of him, he had to actually do it the right away.

By the time Michael had made his way to the park he'd already applied at Target (Michael was pretty sure he wouldn't get the job - he left most of his application blank) and this small bakery downtown (Michael didn't think he'd get that one either, and even if he did he'd probably just try to eat stuff). He needed a break, so he walked over to the park down the street from his apartment that he sometimes took Parker too.

It was a Sunday afternoon, so not many people were there, not anyone that Michael knew at least. There were a few families there with their kids and some people walking dogs, and Michael realized that he kind of looked out of place a little scary with his black clothes and purple hair.

Michael was walking up behind a bench when the person sitting on it turned their head - just for a second - and Michael barely caught a glimpse of her face. He wasn't 100% sure that it was who he thought it was, so rather than just stand there and stare at her, he hid behind a tree and did the only reasonable thing.

He texted her.

Michael: what are you wearing??

Nanny: are you trying to sext me??

Michael: no fuck off I think I'm standing behind you

Nanny: aw man I was totally in the mood to sext

Michael: YOURE IN THE MIDDLE OF A PARK

"Michael!" Melissa yelled, clearly looking around for him, and he popped out from behind the tree, giving her a small smile.

"Hi." He said slowly, taking a seat next to her. He was careful not to sit too close, because he didn't want to seem weird.

"Hi." Melissa greeted him back, keeping her eyes ahead of her rather than on Michael. He was kind of thankful for that, because suddenly he was really nervous and blushy and he didn't want Melissa to see.

"Hi." Michael said again, just to break the silence. He didn't know what else to say to her. They hardly ever talked in person with one another. Sure, he'd seen her a few times since their little pool pushing adventure, but never for very long. It was mostly when they were picking up their kids from school, they'd pass by each other and say hello and goodbye, and one time Michael gave Melissa a high-five.

She texted him later that night and told him never to do that again.

"Where's Parker?" Melissa asked, finally starting up a conversation so Michael didn't feel so awkward.

"He's with Beth. They should be on their way back here, actually, but she lives, like, three hours away." Michael said, mumbling half of his words.

"So you're just strolling around in the park... alone?" Melissa laughed.

"I'm supposed to be looking for a job." Michael chuckled nervously, his hands pulling his sweater sleeves down to cover them. He stared down at the ground, still too scared to look over at Melissa.

"Oh." She nodded.

"I applied at Target." Michael said, trying to sound proud of himself. He really wasn't, because he knew that Target wouldn't hire him anyway.

"Do you think you have a good chance at getting the job?" Melissa asked, finally turning to face Michael. She hit him lightly on the shoulder, forcing him to look up at her.

"No." Michael scoffed, "It's practically impossible for me to get a job anywhere. I never even went to college."

"I didn't go to college." Melissa shrugged, as if that was supposed to make Michael feel better.

"But you have a job already. And you don't have to pay for your house or bills or even your groceries. It's different." Michael sighed. He suddenly wanted to change the topic of conversation, because he knew that if he kept going either he or Melissa would say something to offend one anyone and potentially ruin whatever little "thing" they had going on. "Where's Katie?"

"She's over there." Melissa said, pointing towards the swings. Katie was just sitting on one, not even moving, and staring at the ground.

"Why is she just sitting there?" Michael asked.

"She's in kind of a bad mood." Melissa said, letting out a deep sigh. "Her parents left for a trip this morning and she's a little upset about it."

"A trip, like, a business trip?" Michael asked, remembering his interaction with Katie's mom to other day. She seemed kind of business-y, it'd make sense for her to go on a trip.

"No, a vacation." Melissa scoffed, "To Spain."

"They went on a vacation without her?" Michael gasped, his eyes flicking back to Katie, who just looked absolutely miserable.

"Oh, yeah. Katie's never allowed to come on their vacations." Melissa nodded, sounding almost like she was reading the from a book. Like it was in the official rules of Katie's home.

"That's awful." Michael pouted, leaning back against the bench. "Is that why she's so sad? Because she can't go?"

"That, and because now that she's getting older I think she's starting to realize that her parents don't really care about her." Melissa explain, also looking pretty upset about the whole thing. Michael could tell that Melissa cared about Katie a lot, probably more than anyone else, and he knew that this hurt Melissa as well.

"That's awful." Michael repeated.

He'd said it before, but he could never be one of those parents that never had time for their kid. He didn't understand how someone could just have a kid and then want nothing to do with them. Awful.

"Yeah." Melissa nodded. "I mean, she has me, and she knows that she'll always have me, but it's not the same, you know? She wants her parents."

"I wish that I - " Michael was cut off by his phone ringing loudly in his pocket (his ringtone was this stupidly adorable song that Parker had recorded himself when he took Michael's phone once) and Michael quickly went to answer it.

"Hello?" He said into the phone, mouthing a quick apology to Melissa.

"Michael?" It was Beth, and she sounded annoyed.

"Hey, Beth, what's up?" Michael asked nervously, because Beth sounded mad and Michael got scared when Beth was mad.

"Where are you?" She asked impatiently.

"I am... at the park." Michael said slowly, looking around the park.

"I want to talk to him, I want to talk to him!" Michael could hear Parker jumping up and down on the other side of the phone, probably trying to grab Beth's arm and bring her phone down to him like he sometimes did to Michael.

"Park, honey, not now." Beth sighed, her voice muffled a bit as she tried to get Parker to settle down. "Where is - "

"I need to tell him!" Parker yelled loudly, confusing Michael even more.

"Parker Axel Clifford!" Beth hushed him, and Parker stopped yelling immediately at the sound of his full name. "We're at your apartment already, Michael."

"I thought you weren't coming for a few more hours?" Michael questioned, trying to remember what time Beth had said she'd be back to drop Parker off.

"We got a little bit of an early start, because Parker wanted to go out for breakfast." Beth explained, and Michael nodded in understanding.

"Did you guys go to that one pancake place?" Michael whined, because he loved that one pancake place.

"Can you please come back here?" Beth asked, ignoring Michael's previous question.

"Can't you bring him to the park?" Michael asked, sounding very whiny again. "His friend is here, I was going to bring him over here after you dropped him off anyway."

"Fine." Beth sighed, quickly mumbling a goodbye before ending the phone call.

"That was easy." Michael shrugged, slide his phone back into his pocket.

About ten minutes later Michael could literally hear Parker as he walked up beside him and Melissa, but when he turned to face Parker he was not very happy. Because Beth had cut his hair.

It didn't even look bad, it was actually something that Parker was in need of, but Michael didn't like it. He had sort of an emotional attachment towards Parker's hair (probably because his own was beginning to thin out from how much he'd dyed it) and he loved Parker's long hair. That was really all he ever asked for from Beth; that she didn't touch Parker's hair.

"Bethany!" Michael shouted, standing up from the bench. He grabbed Parker's hand and marched over to Beth, who was making her way over to the bench that Michael had been sitting at. (With Melissa, but he'd momentarily forgotten about her).

"Hi." Beth smiled.

"You cut his hair." Michael stated, crossing his arms over his chest.

"He had a purple streak in it!" Beth said, flipping a piece of her own hair over her shoulder.

"You weren't bothered by it when you picked him up!" Michael said, clearly remembering that Beth hadn't even said anything about Parker's hair when she picked him up a couple days before.

"Oh, I was bothered alright. I just didn't say anything." Beth scoffed.

"You should have asked me first if you could cut his hair." Michael pouted, looking down at the ground. He couldn't really be mad, because there wasn't anything he could do now.

"Really? Why? I'm his mother, I have a right to take him in for a haircut!" Beth argued back.

"But he's my son!" Michael whined, stomping his feet on the ground. "Look at him, Beth, look how short his hair is."

"He looks adorable." Beth rolled her eyes, smiling down at Parker, who hadn't left Michael's side yet.

"I'm adorable!" Parker smiled, squeezing Michael's hand tighter.

"Yeah, buddy, sure you are." Michael said, patting the top of Parker's head.

"Can I go play now, please?" Parker asked, giving both Michael and Beth an innocent smile. "I would like to show Kitty my new hair.

"Yeah, sure." Michael said, giving Parker a little push towards where Katie was sitting. He hoped that Parker would cheer her up a little, because even though Katie didn't seem to like Michael very much he still cared about her, and he didn't like knowing that she was upset.

"I can't believe you did that." Michael said, grabbing onto Beth's hand and leading her over to the bench, where he was sitting before.

"Michael, he's four years old, he doesn't need a purple streak in his hair." Beth rolled her eyes, a small smile playing on her lips as she took a seat on the opposite side of the bench than where Melissa was. Michael sat in the middle of them, but he wasn't paying much attention to Melissa anymore.

"Yes he does." Michael pouted.

"Stop being such a child." Beth chuckled.

"I'm sorry." Michael pouted again, a small smiling forming at the corners of his lips.

"Stop it." Beth groaned playfully, shoving Michael off to the side. That's when he remembered that Melissa was there, and he had actually been in the middle of a conversation with her when he'd rudely gotten up to go yell at Beth.

"Beth, this is Melissa, my frrrrnanny." Michael said slowly, gesturing to Melissa, who was sitting beside him.

"She's your nanny?" Beth asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Not my nanny." Michael said quickly, shaking his head.

"I'm a nanny." Melissa shrugged, leaning forward a little so she could see Beth and actually get a good look at her.

"Who's nanny?" Beth asked. Once again, if Michael didn't know any better he would say that Beth was jealous.

"Not mine." Michael said again, laughing nervously.

"Michael!" Both girls screamed, and then shared a laugh.

"I'm Katie's nanny, she's friends with Parker." Melissa laughed, pointing over to the swings, where Parker and Katie were quietly talking to each other.

"The fucking nanny?" Beth leaned in to Michael, whispering in his ear.

"Yeah, that one." Michael turned and whispered back to her, nodding.

"Damn." Beth muttered under her breath before standing up again. "Well, Melissa, it was really nice meeting you, but I should really get going."

"Oh, really?" Michael questioned, standing as well. "You don't want to stay and hang out for a while?"

"No, I have, uh, things to do." Beth said, letting her eyes wander over to where Parker was. He caught her eye and gave her a quick wave goodbye before returning to his conversation with Katie.

"Alright?" Michael nodded, not really understanding why Beth wanted to leave so suddenly.

"I'll see you in a couple weeks, okay?" Beth asked, pulling Michael in for a quick hug like she usually did. Only this time she left a kiss on his cheek too, probably because Melissa was right there, making Michael feel awkward and uncomfortable once again.

"Yeah, okay." He stammered. He couldn't remember the last time Beth had kissed him, even on the cheek, and he wasn't sure that he wanted her to start doing this as a regular thing. It was... weird.

"Bye!" Beth called over her shoulder as she walked away, giving them both another wave.

Michael sat down next to Melissa again, this time scooting close enough so that their knees where almost touching.

"So... That's Beth?" Melissa asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Yeah." Michael nodded.

"She seems nice." Melissa said, sounding as if she was trying to stifle a laugh.

"What's so funny?" Michael asked.

"You really had a kid with her?" Melissa asked, now covering her mouth to keep from laughing.

"Yes!" Michael rolled his eyes. "Why is that so hard to believe."

"Because she's, like, really hot and you're like... you." Melissa said in between laughs, unable to hold it in any longer.

"Gee, thanks." Michael said, scoffing again. Yeah, Beth was really hot, Michael was really not. He'd heard that probably a million times before.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that." Melissa said, continuing to laugh. "So why did you guys break up?"

"Uh, it's kind of a boring story." Michael said slowly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Everyone always seemed to expect that Michael and Beth had this huge breakup that involved big fights and throwing things. But in reality Beth and Michael sat down on the couch one day while Parker was taking a nap and just talked about how they weren't happy anymore and about thirty minutes later it was settled. They were over.

"Just tell me." Melissa insisted, poking Michael's leg.

"So..." Michael trailed off, trying to find the right way to explain what really happened between them. "You know how when you kiss someone that you really love, there's a spark, sort of? Like, you can just feel that you love them and that everything is right? You kiss them and... you feel safe, like it's all okay."

"No." Melissa said.

"What?" Michael stopped, wondering what she meant.

"I've never felt that way." Melissa shrugged. "I've never been in love. But this is your story, so continue."

"Okay..." Michael said, trying to remember what he was going to say in the first place. "Well, in the beginning of my relationship with Beth I always felt that spark. Things always felt right with her and I just felt safe and okay."

"Yeah," Melissa nodded, telling him to continue.

"But... Towards the end, I don't know, when Parker got a little older and Beth got this new job and we would fight a little about money and how I'm still just a kid at heart I realized that I don't feel that way about Beth anymore. The 'spark' isn't there, I don't feel safe and right and okay with her anymore." Michael shrugged. "I guess Beth felt the same way."

"That's... That's kind of sad." Melissa said, letting out a sigh. She shifted and leaned back a little more, crossing her arms over her chest.

"A little." Michael said, shrugging again. "I just was thinking about Parker, mostly, because I wouldn't want him growing up in a home where his parents didn't even love each other, you know? I'd rather have us raise him separately, like this, than have him see Beth and I 'together' but not actually in love anymore."

Michael wasn't sure that anything he was saying was really making sense, but he hoped that Melissa would understand what he meant.

"That totally makes sense." Melissa agreed, nodding. "My parents split up when I was sixteen, my brother was thirteen, and they walked around for about a year just... pretending that everything was okay. It was like they were acting like they loved each other, even though we could tell they didn't. It sucked."

"I'm sorry," Michael said quietly, his shoulder bumping up against Melissa's. Her hand was just sitting there, resting on her thigh, and Michael wondered what she would do if he grabbed it. He went for it. "About your parents."

"It's fine." Melissa said, just brushing it off. She realized that Michael had grabbed her hand and slowly laced their fingers together, both of their hands now resting in her lap.

"You're very easy to talk to when you aren't being a bitch." Michael admitted, feeling his cheeks heat up again.

"You're also very easy to talk to." Melissa smiled back at him. "When you're not... Being stupid."

"Being stupid, that's a good one." Michael joked, rolling his eyes at her.

"You've never really done anything wrong!" Melissa laughed, trying to defend herself. She leaned her head over on Michael's shoulder, and the two of them sat comfortably like that for the next few minutes.

Michael had closed his eyes and leaned his head against Melissa's, and felt almost as though he could fall asleep when he felt someone poking at his knee.

"Yes?" Michael said, not bothering to open his eyes.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, Park?" Michael asked, still not wanting to open his eyes. He didn't know whether or not Melissa had her eyes open, but he knew that she was still leaning against him and holding his hand, and Michael really didn't want it to end.

"I'm hungry."

"Bud, Mommy just took you out for breakfast, didn't she?" Michael asked softly, yawning. He was really exhausted, and if Parker hadn't come up to him he most likely would have fallen asleep by now.

"That was, like, a million hours ago." Parker groaned, poking at Michael's leg again.

"It was not a million hours ago." Michael scoffed.

"Yes it was." Parker argued. Michael finally opened his eyes, revealing a very pouty Parker.

"What do you want to eat?" Michael asked, sitting up a little so his head was no longer resting on Melissa's. He was pretty sure that she had actually fallen asleep, and he really should have woken her up, but she just looked so cute that he couldn't do it.

"I want mac n' cheese." Parker said, a smile speeding onto his face.

"Where's Katie?" Michael asked, looking around for the little girl. He wanted to go make Parker invite Kitty to come back to the apartment and have lunch with them, because that meant Melissa would need to come too.

"She's sitting under the slide. She's depressed." Parker said, pointing to where Katie was sitting.

"How do you know what depressed means?" Michael asked, wondering where Parker had learned a word like that. The kid was only four and he knew way too much for Michael's liking.

"It's a big word for sad." Parker smiled. "Kitty told me."

Michael sighed and slowly untangled himself from Melissa, waking her up in the process, and telling her that he'd be back in a few minutes. He ruffled Parker's hair once more before following him over to the slide, where Katie was hiding.

Michael knew that he could have easily sent Melissa over there to see what was wrong with Katie, but this was something that he wanted to do on his own. He really wanted Katie to like him, especially if they were going to be seeing each other so often, and he'd really like it if she didn't run and scream every time Michael came over.

"Daddy, what are you doing?" Parker asked, finally turning around.

"I'm going to talk to Katie." Michael said, as if Parker should have known that already.

"Kitty is sad, Daddy, and you'll just make her sadder if you try to talk to her." Parker pouted, trying to stop Michael as he got down on the ground and crawled under the slide, where Katie was sitting.

"Hi Katie." Michael said softly, bringing his knees up to his chest and hugging them to him.

She didn't run or scream when she saw Michael, she just looked up and gave him a small smile before putting her dropping her head back down into her hands.

"Hi." She said softly, speaking to Michael for the first time.

"What's wrong?" Michael asked.

"I'm sad."

"Um, why?" Michael asked. He had been hoping that Katie would give him a better answer than that so he didn't need to ask so many questions, but apparently that wasn't the case.

"Because."

"Oh, Jesus." Michael muttered to himself, shaking his head. He didn't think it would be that hard to cheer Katie up, but it looked like it would since she wouldn't even tell him what was wrong. "Why are you sad, Katie?"

"My mommy and daddy don't like me." Katie finally spoke, looking up at Michael again.

"Yes they do, Katie, of course they do." Michael argued, though he really wasn't sure if what he was saying was true or not.

"They always leave me home alone with Melly, I never get to come with them when they go to nice places." Katie sighed.

"Well, uh, you have school, Katie. They probably just don't want you to miss it." Michael attempted to make her feel better.

"They did it before I was in school." Katie said, pouting again. Katie was clearly a lot smarter than Parker was, and he couldn't just tell her a simple white lie to get her to forget about what she had been sad over.

"But they love you, they're your parents." Michael assured her, patting Katie on the back a few times. He was surprised that she was letting him speak to her, much less touch her as well.

"If they really loved me they would be nicer." Katie countered back, blinking back at Michael. "They'd be nice to me, like how you're nice to Park."

"I guess." Michael shrugged.

"I don't like them." Katie sighed, then stood up, brushing herself off before walking out from under the slide and to where Parker was standing.

"Yeah, Katie, your parents suck." Michael shrugged, standing up again. Only he didn't really stand up, he hit his head on the slide that they were sitting under.

Parker and Katie erupted into a huge fit of giggles, both of them turning into each other and covering their mouths with their hands, like they were trying to hide the fact that they were laughing at Michael from him. Michael just groaned and rolled his eyes, rubbing the spot on his head that he'd hit on the slide.

"God, can we just go now?" Michael whined, feeling stupid about the fact that a couple of four year olds were laughing at him.

Parker and Katie continued to laugh, walking hand in hand over to the bench that Melissa was still sitting on, scrolling through her phone. She started laughing when they all reached her, because she could obviously tell that Michael had hurt himself in some way.

"Stop laughing at me." Michael hissed at the kids, shoving them both out of his way so he could sit down next to Melissa.

"Aw, what happened?" Melissa pouted. She put her arm around the back of the bench and rubbed Michael's back a little, which instantly made him feel better.

"I hit my head on the slide." Michael whined, still glaring at Parker and Katie, who were giggling with each other and trying not to make eye contact with Michael.

"Poor baby." Melissa pouted teasingly again, leaning her head on Michael's shoulder once more.

"Oh, shut up." Michael scoffed, pushing her away from him as well.

"This is why grown men shouldn't sit under slides." Melissa laughed, giving Michael a playful shove back.

"Shut up!" He groaned, "I was trying to make Katie feel better."

"By bumping your head on the slide?" Melissa questioned, raising an eyebrow at him.

"No, I was talking to her, trying to figure out what's wrong." Michael explained.

"She's depressed." Parker spoke up, turning and smiling at Katie for a second before looking back at Melissa.

"Katie," Melissa said quickly, rubbing her hands over her face. "You're not depressed!"

"Yes I am!" Katie argued back, finally not afraid to talk in front of Michael. He felt very accomplished with himself, because apparently getting a four year old girl to talk to you was a big accomplishment.

"No, Katie, you're just a little upset. You don't - you don't even know what depression means." Melissa sighed.

"It means sad." Katie said, folding her arms across her chest. "You told me."

"Not exactly." Michael said, trying to help Melissa out a little.

"Daddy, you said we were going to get mac n' cheese." Parker pouted, ignoring the conversation going on around him. He walked over to the bench and sat down on the other side of Michael, who was too busy staring at Melissa to even notice. "Daddy!"

"What, Parker?" Michael snapped, turning to face him. "What do you want?"

"Mac n' cheese!" Parker yelled back. He then stood up on the bench and crossed his arms over his chest, glaring down at Michael.

"Hey, don't get mad at me." Michael said softly, poking Parker in the stomach, where he knew he was ticklish. Parker didn't giggle like he normally would.

"I'm hungry."

"I know, Parker, geez. A few more minutes." Michael sighed, rolling his eyes at his son before turning back to Melissa and Katie, who were still arguing over the definition of depression.

"Katie, sweetie, you can't just walk around telling the world that you're - "

"Yes I can!" Katie said as she stomped one foot on the ground.

"No you can't." Melissa said slowly, shaking her head, already seeming like she was done with this conversation.

"Hey," Michael said softly after a couple minutes, almost in a whisper, nudging Melissa in the side with his elbow. "Do you guys want to come back to our place for lunch?"

"Uh... Sure." Melissa said hesitantly, looking at Katie for permission before she finally agreed.

"We're having mac n' cheese, I guess." Michael said, laughing nervously. "At least that's what Parker wants."

"Yes." Parker said from his spot beside Michael. He was still pouting, with his arms folded over his chest. "I asked for mac n' cheese, like, a million hours ago."

"Parker!" Michael snapped again, trying to ignore Parker, who didn't seem to be in a very good mood anymore. He looked towards Melissa again. "So, what do you say?"

"Katie, is that alright?" Melissa asked her. Katie looked between Michael and Melissa for a few seconds before finally nodding.

"Okay then, let's go." Michael said, quickly standing up and pulling Parker with him. The park was only a few blocks away from their apartment, so they could walk back there.

"I'm going to walk with Kitty." Parker huffed, clearly mad at Michael for whatever reason, before making his way over to Katie and walking with her.

"Is he always like this?" Melissa asked, walking beside Michael.

"No, not really." Michael sighed, giving Melissa as small shrug. "He's probably just tired, I bet Beth let him stay up late and watch a movie again."

"Right." Melissa nodded to herself, looking down at the ground.

Michael took this as another opportunity to grab Melissa's hand, and he hoped that she wouldn't be caught off guard by it. He liked holding her hand, he liked her.

"You know," Melissa said, leaning in to Michael for a second before backing up again, "I have this friend who works in a music shop downtown, I can call him and see if they have any openings for you."

"Oh, yeah, that'd be cool." Michael smiled, already imagining how much he'd like working in a music shop. He loved music, it'd be easy. Like he wasn't even working.

"Do you want me to?" Melissa asked.

"Yeah, if that's alright with you." Michael said softly, feeling a little nervous again.

"I was just thinking... I can't really picture you working in Target. I think you'd be much happier working in a music shop or something like that, right?" Melissa said, letting out a small laugh again as she gave Michael's hand another squeeze.

"Yeah." Michael nodded.

"Okay, cool." Melissa said awkwardly, nodding to herself as she looked at the ground again.

"I was feeling a little off today but you definitely turned me on." Michael blurted out (sounding just a little seductive) before he could really stop himself. It was another pick up line, a bad one, but he wasn't really sure why he'd decided to say it right then and there. He and Melissa usually did the pickup likes during texts, when they were actually going back and forth, but Michael was trying to fill the awkward silence and that was the first thing that came to mind.

He wanted to punch himself.

Melissa just laughed again, a big smile spreading across her face before saying, "Are you a campfire? Because you're hot and I want s'more."

Holy shit, Michael really liked her.

-

tbh idk what this whole chapter even was I guess you could call it a filler idk I just want them to fuck already