“You have two kids?!” Alex yells completely shocked.

“Yeah, we just talked about that,” Mesto-Presto replies.

Standing in the center of the closed Burrito Bistro is Mesto-Presto, who’s surrounded by Ronnie, Alex, Elizabeth, Marcus, & Cameron. However, those aren’t the only people there because he’s holding two 2-year-olds, one in his arms and the other in a baby carrier. Those two toddlers are his kids.

“Now can you stop yelling please, they both fell asleep,” Mesto sighs.

“Oh, sorry,” Alex replies before whispering, “But how come you have children?”

“I mean it's pretty obvious how he got kids but-” Ronnie jokes.

“How come you never mentioned it before?” Elizabeth asks

“Where are they when you work?” Marcus asks.

“What are their names?” Cameron asks.

“One question at a time please,” Mesto sighs, “And their names are Landon & Avery.”

Alex raises his hand and asks, “Is it too late to change their names?”

“No,” Mesto responds.

“Okay, but you might wanna reconsider, just saying,” Alex adds.

Mesto looks done with Alex’s questions as Marcus brings up, “So uh if you don’t mind telling us how did you become a dad?”

“You really wanna know?” Mesto asks.

“Well it’s not like we have anything more interesting to learn about,” Ronnie says.

“Alright, I’ll tell you how I got ‘em, but don’t be too upset if it's a bit boring,” Mesto-Presto begins.

Mesto stands up and works over to the front counter of the restaurant only to reach into a cabinet and pull out a yearbook for Seastar High 2 years back, he opens the page up to a section titled ‘September’ where there are several different pictures in there taken by students with their friends. One of them is between two people, one of them is a younger Mesto except he doesn’t have his earrings, and he has natural black hair in a mullet. The other person there is a girl around his age with short brunette hair, white skin, and shiny green eyes.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“For High School, my parents moved from the south side of the city to the east side, so I ended up attending Seastar my freshman year,” Mesto explains, “I didn’t really have a lot of friends at the time but I met this one girl, Ivory Dutchingson, and her & I clicked and got to know each other really fast.”

“Perhaps a bit too fast,” Ronnie jokes as he looks at the other side of the page that shows a homecoming dance with the two together.

“Yeah well, after that is when things didn’t go so well,” Mesto adds, “it wasn’t noticed for a while but once everyone realized she got pregnant….things got ugly.”

As Mesto flips through the pages, showing the passage of time that fateful year. And as the months pass with a flip of a page, the more tired and filthy Mesto begins to look while Ivory begins to look more and more distraught.

“When my parents heard the news, they kicked me out and left town. I had to stay at a friend’s house for the rest of the school year until the two kids were born, once that happened I was told they were going to be sent for adoption so I managed to take custody of them,” Mesto explains before adding, “Ivory’s dad was against the idea, he said I was too irresponsible and the east side was too dangerous. And he was right. So I dropped out and left.”

“What happened next?!” Ronnie asks.

“Well I moved out on the streets for a while, made some friends, learned a lot, but wandering about homeless with two kids wasn’t something I look too fondly back on,” Mesto explains, “I was just about to give up when I ran into Mister Garcia.”

The group looks at the picture he took down to see the old man Cedro Garcia & Mesto-Presto posing with a former employee Gabriel Griffon for a picture.

“He allowed me to stay at his house and even gave me this job, if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have been able to get back up off my feet,” Mesto sighs as he hangs the picture back up, “he’s been a bit busy with other stuff so I’ve had to take care of both the restaurant and the kids at the same time.”

As the group stands there, they all can’t help but think of how little they really knew about the guy. He was just a waiter to them, someone who they didn’t pay too much attention too yet enjoyed his company. But beneath all of that, he was someone that suffered through immense hardship. And yet, despite it all, he’s still here. Smiling and able to move forward.

“Y’know Mesto, I didn’t know you were this cool,” Marcus says.

“I don’t know if cool is the right word, after all, it was my fault for not being careful and getting to where I am today but,” Mesto says as he looks down to his two kids, “I’m just doing what I think is right. And being able to see these two smile and begin to speak. Well, it’s all I could have ever wanted.”

Despite his words, the group can tell that there’s a bit of sadness in his tone, that there’s still a bit of regret he’s been hiding. What that regret was, none of them could really tell, but to one of the people there, they thought it was something they could help get rid of.

“Hey Mesto,” Ronnie begins to say, “I heard that Starlight High & Seastar High are gonna have a basketball match soon.”

“Meaning?” Mesto asks.

“Ivory’s probably gonna be there, if you want then we could try and get her to visit you,” Ronnie asks.

Mesto is shocked at the offer and can’t help but ask, “Why?”

“It’s simple really, I’m just doing what I think is right,” Ronnie smirks.

Hearing his words be said back at him, Mesto can’t help but smile back as he says, “If that’s what you want to do, then go ahead.”

Ronnie smiles as he stands up, “The game’s tomorrow so hopefully you can wait that much. Because I think it’s time for a family reunion.”

Ronnie begins to walk out of the restaurant but stops when he sees the others aren’t following him.

“Where are you going?” Elizabeth asks.

“I…don’t know, I just figured that would make me sound cooler,” Ronnie admits.

“Okay but we came here to get food though,” Alex sighs.

Mesto laughs as he states. “I can go get some chips & salsa for you. It’ll be on the house.”

As Ronnie sat back down, the group began to just talk, not about anything in particular but just about whatever was on their mind. Whatever plan Ronnie had in mind for tomorrow was well tomorrow.

As for today, it was best for him to just enjoy a moment in time. A moment with his friends, at one of their favorite places, having a good time. Because who knows, like with Mesto those times could be stripped away before they even realize. So for now, Ronnie decides he’d rather appreciate what he has now rather than look back in regret.

See You Next Chapter!~