Family Portrait (Fam Series #1)

Chapter 81 - Bathrooms, Whitten Oval

Adeline -

'Babe, can you help me with something?'

I habitually ignore the sound of Charlie's voice calling me as I focus intensely on my online school assessment, while rocking our youngest daughter in her cradle on the floor with my foot, trying not to let anything distract me.

'ADELINE!'

I quickly sneak my other earphone in as I pretend that I never heard him, as I quickly type in another response for another pointless question on the assessment. Man, I can't wait to be done with this course.

I suddenly hear a loud crash coming from the other end of the house as Charlie comes running down, looking for me. When he finds me, he glares and folds his arms.

'Adeline' he says.

I look up, pretending to notice him for the first time as I remove an earphone.

'It's not even connected, stop acting' Charlie says, grabbing the end of my earphone cable, which remains loose and not plugged into anything. I roll my eyes.

'I really like this song though' I say, lying as I pretend to nod my head to the music that isn't even playing.

Charlie studies me for a minute, before shaking his head in disbelief and leaving the room.

I smirk as I pull my other earphone out and go down to the other end of the house to see what my fiancé has accidentally (although, sometimes I reckon deliberately) destroyed this time.

'How on earth did you smash the bathroom mirror?' I ask, somewhat amused. At least it's not me who'll suffer from 7 years bad luck. I hope.

'I accidentally tipped the bookcase over when trying to move it, and bang' Charlie says, sounding annoyed.

'Why'd you even have the bookcase in here?' I ask, confused.

'Because Brigan was harassing me in the other room, so I thought I'd construct it in here. Yeah, the ensuite may just so happen to be too small for a giant bookcase that's taller than me' Charlie says.

I roll my eyes as I turn around and try to head back to the lounge, when I suddenly scream.

'FUCKING HELL, ASHLEIGH' I say, as I try to catch my breath.

Templeton stands in front of me staring boredly, as she looks over my shoulder and into the mess that is now the ensuite. She pulls a face.

'Do you regret giving Ashleigh the spare pair of keys now?' Charlie asks me.

'I'm definitely starting to!' I exclaim, folding my arms.

'I came over to see you, Adeline. What happened to the mirror?' Ashleigh asks.

'Poor judgment happened, and so did lack of common sense' I say, as I glare at Charlie.

'I did ask for your help like 500 times' Charlie says, rolling his eyes as he tries to lift up the bookcase.

'ED!' Ashleigh suddenly yells as loud as possible. Her red headed boyfriend suddenly runs into the room, looking around the place like he's going to buy it.

'Yes?' He asks.

'Help the idiot lift the bookcase up' Ashleigh orders. Ed walks into the ensuite.

'Woah-oh! That was a mistake!' Ed exclaims, as he looks at the mirror, laughing. He grabs the side of the bookcase as he tries to lift it up with Charlie.

'I can do it by myself' Charlie says arrogantly.

'Really? Because even with me helping, we're not getting anywhere' Ed says.