The Hamptons' House

1988 - Part 3

Your dress was hanging on the door when you and Tony got out of the shower. You put it on and decided to forego putting your now ruined underwear back on with it, and just hoped that there wouldn't be any issue getting your things back from Grant. Tony pulled on jeans and a t-shirt with Pi on it created out of the number to ten thousand digits.

You followed him back outside. There was a woman in the kitchen cooking that Tony greeted warmly as he passed through. The house looked completely different than the state you had last seen it in. Last night it looked like it had been hit by a tornado that had flung bodies and bottles of alcohol all over the place. Now it could be featured in an interior design magazine.

Tony led you out to the patio where a table had been laid out with coffee, juice, fresh fruit, and pastries. Tony's friend, Rhodey, was sitting at the table nursing a mug of coffee, while Jarvis fussed around him.

"He lives!" Rhodey teased.

"Just barely," Tony said, pouring himself a coffee. He introduced you to Jarvis and Rhodey, grabbed a danish and shoved it in his mouth, and got into the hammock that hung near the table.

Rhodey offered you his hand and you shook it. "Most people call me, Jim."

"Don't listen to him," Tony said as you took a seat and poured yourself a coffee. "He's my Rhodey. He's always gonna be my Rhodey."

"What the hell happened last night? It looked like a bomb went off in there," Rhodey asked. "And since when do you have people stay over after?"

"She's homeless now," Tony said.

"I'm not homeless," you interrupted.

Tony waved his hand dismissively. "She was a damsel in distress. What else could I do?"

"Found my boyfriend cheating on me and then he got all aggressive and angry at me when he found out Tony had been flirting with me," you clarified. "Now I'm stuck out here until my clothes show up."

"But I said she could stay the week," Tony added.

"Well, it's nice to know chivalry isn't dead at least," Jarvis said. "Even if it is a little unconventional."

The phone started ringing inside and Jarvis went in to answer it. He passed the woman who had been cooking on the way in as she brought out a platter of hot food.

"Thank you, Daniella," Tony said as she handed him a plate of waffles.

She ruffled his hair and headed back inside. This time, passing Jarvis as he carried a phone outside. "It's for you. Mrs. Peterson?"

"Oh," you said and took the phone, pressing the receiver to your ear. "Hello?"

"There is a man here who says he works for the Starks and he's here to collect your things?" he said forgoing the usual greeting.

You then had to explain to her how her son had cheated on you. How he'd threatened you. And how you were now staying here with Tony. There was a lot of pleading and false accusations, and by the time she'd agreed to let Tony's security guy take your things everyone had finished eating, you were openly weeping and Rhodey had moved to the same side of the table and was rubbing your back.

You hung up the phone and Jarvis gave you a pitying look as he took it back inside. You wiped your eyes with one of the napkins. "Sorry," you said, hiccuping a little. "I told myself I wasn't going to cry about that asshole."

"Come here, dummy," Tony said, patting his thigh.

You got up and awkwardly climbed into the hammock with him. He wrapped you in his arm and rested his cheek on the top of your head. "You're gonna cry about him. That's how this shit works," he said gently.