Fifty Shades After

Chapter 18: A Happy Family

I stretch and yawn. Jesus, what time is it? I pull out my flashy new iphone and realize I've been passed out for three hours. A message surges. Mom's wondering where I am. I reply with "At the meadow. On my way inside." I look up at the sky and stretch once more before struggling onto my feet. With once lazy sigh, I stroll to the big house where my family is inhabited. I still kind of find it hard to believe.

Its been over a week. Mom and Dad have been getting along just fine. In fact they're getting a little too friendly these past days.

I've started my guitar lessons and Phoebe her piano lessons.

Ava likes stopping by daily now. Every time she comes over, she's pestering me. She sometimes purposely bumps her rear or her chest onto me, and the only thing I can really do is ignore it.

Taylor is less hostile with me now, and says he'll teach me how to use a gun- without Dad's knowledge of it, of course. Grandpa Ray has somewhat taught me. Just the basics.

I met all of Dad's vehicles, including the oh-so famous Charlie Tango. I'll never forget that day. What a rush! I couldn't stop wooing over the head set. I was ruining Dad's already-bad hearing. The glider was even more adrenaline bumping. When he spun towards the ground, I thought we were gonners. I even called him dad just in case. My favorite was driver's ed on the Audi. I only drove it around the driveway, but then again, we have a pretty big driveway. Progress has been the key word these past days. They flew by faster than an upbeat montage.

All of this has happened in a blink of an eye. And oh yes. Speaking of eyes.

I've not seen high nor low of Sophie.

I step inside and close the sliding door behind me. It's pretty warm outside, because the cool of our air conditioning system leaves a chill where my sweat is scurrying. My forehead, sideburns and especially my armpits. I exaggeratedly sigh in relief and raise my arms a little higher.

Oh, lord almighty in heaven, that is the best feeling ever.

"Christian, for the billionth time, I'm not accepting that." I hear Mom in the other room. "I'm not asking you to accept it, I'm telling you to take it." I walk past the dining room and halt in my steps. There they are. Mom's turning the other cheek with her arms crossed and Dad's extending his hand towards her. What's he holding out?

"Anastasia, quit being so stubborn."

- "Stop trying to gift me. I'm not a trophy wife."

- "You're not my wife at all- though that could be arranged." I roll my eyes. "What's going on? Again, guys?" I step in. "Your father is trying to give me a debit card with direct access to his bank account." Mom sneers in disgust. "It's for an emergency." He shrugs. "An emergency would be the loose change in my car!"

- "Speaking of which, we're going to sell it. Your saab is arriving tomorrow."

- "Oh, no you're not, Grey!" I watch them argue back and forth. This topic is always a problem, isn't it? Dad leaks money and Mom's too proud to accept any of it.

Although it's very annoying at times and gets old really fast, I actually enjoy seeing them fight. Underneath all those grunts and exhales, they're happy. Which in turn makes me happy. "You two were so meant for eachother." I mumble and walk out, leaving them to their less than friendly conversation. And just like all the other ones, they never last.

"Teddy!" Phoebe's calling out for me in the distance. She's probably in the music room. Huh!" I lazily yell back and throw myself on the nearest chair. I pull out my phone and check my messages. My friends back home are going insane. They have no idea where I am, I'm missing out on some camping trips, and even weirder, Kurt is asking for me. I snort when I remember his face as I apologized to him. Maybe I should send him a friend request.

"Ted?" Phoebe's voice is melodic. "Just a second!" I say loudly before proceeding to check my news feed and spot four notifications. Inbox from my friend Bobby. I reply to his rather exaggerate message, and emphasize that I'm still alive and well. The next notification is an invitation to a house party. I've always hated those. The third is a friend request from Melissa Jansen, Kurt's ex, and quickly deny it. The fourth is a message from Kurt.

"Hiya Steele. Listen u were rite. Melissa wuz a lying bitch. And srry for starting beef with u and gettin u suspended. Tho I paid 4 it pretty fast. Lets hang some time."

Jesus, this meat head's grammar is unbearable. It almost makes me want to fly back to Denver to just tutor him. However, he seems sincere-ish. I reply back and agree to his invitation. Well, that's if I ever return. With the way things are going, I have a feeling I'll be enrolling into a nifty private school after summer's over. Hmm. I'm surprisingly okay with that.

"Ted!!" I'm startled when Phoebe's ear pinching demands travel the house. "Coming!" I quickly scramble out of the couch and run to the music room. It's never a good idea ignoring Phoebe, I hope I get out of this alive!

I skid through the polished floor and arrive at the entrance of the music room. She's sitting in front of the grand piano, patiently waiting for my arrival. "Teddy! Come here, come here! I want you to hear the song Mr. Gamboa taught me! I've been practicing!" She says excitedly. Jesus, she sounded mad not twenty seconds ago.

While shes frantically searching for her music sheets, I turn my phone off. These things are the death of me, I think tossing my flashy new device to the nearby couch. "Okay! Here it is! Prelude Number one in C major!" She waves it and then puts it in front of it. I stifle a laugh when she pretends to crack her fingers and clears her throat loudly, as if she'll be singing as well.

And slowly, she begins to play. Oh, wow...

She stopped playing with just her index fingers and is now using all her fingers. The song is very slow, but very breath taking. Her beautiful face concentrating hard on the black and white keys in front of her. There's a few mistakes here and there, but other than that, the music is heavenly. Jesus. I can't even strum the guitar properly yet. She truly is a prodigy. Or maybe it's because she actually practices. After my lessons I run off to the meadow and snooze for some hours. It's my favorite place in the whole house.

I hear the doors behind me creak and I turn to see Mom and Dad peeking through. Mom has the proudest most joyful face on, while Dad has the cliché thats-my-girl grin. I put my index finger against my lips and wave them to come in. They both ridiculously tip toe in. They're holding hands. The fight must've finished a while ago.

Mom sits on my left and Dad on my right. They push against me and I'm being uncomfortably squashed, but I refuse to interrupt the concert and embrace the smothering by wrapping an arm around Mom.

I don't know how long we've been listening to Phoebe, but her piece gracefully comes to an end.

At the same exact moment, Mom, Dad and I stand and begin to whistle and applaud. "Beautiful, baby girl!"

- "That was awesome, you go, little lady!"

- "Amazing job, sweetheart!" We cheer simultaneously. Phoebe stands and curt seats with the whitest of smiles. This familiar and lately, constant feeling swells up inside me. This overwhelming joy that circulates through every vein in my system. The kind of glee that almost makes you want to cry. Never in my entire life did I ever imagine this.

I've programmed it in my head that my entire world consisted of Mom and Phoebe. And amazingly enough, fifteen days ago it all drastically changed. Phoebe is happy, Mom and Dad are happy. And like I said, that makes me happy too. I look up at Dad. I've now memorized his face. His gestures, his likes and dislikes- all the little things. Like the fact that he despises food going to waste. A shared pet peeve of ours. He wants to share his empire with me. And in turn, I share the girls of my life, Mom and Phoebe, with him, along me, of course.

It's still mind boggling to tell my friends that I'm with my dad. My dad. This one peculiar, confusing, stinking rich old guy that I now proudly call my father.

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