Better on our own - English

Continue to confess

"Sam, stop it!" Penny scolded him and I cautiously glanced back at them from the door, only to see that she had gotten in Sam's way. He actually paused, but still glared menacingly at me past Penny. "Sit down! Both of you!" she then told us and I hesitantly went back to my seat and adjusted my chair to a safe distance from the table and sitting back down, like Sam does, all the time aware of Sam's glare on me, while Sarah couldn't get the amused grin off her face.

"Did something happen?" we heard Cody and we all looked at the door through which he now poked his head to look at us curiously.

"It's okay, darling. Your Dad and Sarah are just being a little childish," Penny answered him as he walked over to her. Both Sam and Sarah commented on Penny's statement with a snort. Were they also offended now? Really! He couldn't handle the fact that his niece was growing up and she couldn't handle the fact that her uncle only wanted to protect her. They urgently needed to speak out!

"Why do you have the door closed?" Cody then asked, looking at each of us in turn. Apparently he wasn't used to having a door closed in this house - except mine...when Sarah stayed over night.

"We didn't want to disturb you while you were watching TV with our boring adult talk!" Sam now objected and I looked at Cody and saw that the answer somehow made him suspicious.

"Is anyone getting into trouble here?" he then asked, looking at each of us again.

"What makes you think that?" Penny objected and he looked up at his mother.

"Ben and Jodie always close the door when they argue, so Sebastian says, and they always come out happily afterwards," Cody answered her with a shrug. "But they usually only argue in the evenings, when he's already in bed." Sarah and I both couldn't help but grin at the childlike innocence Cody displayed.

"Too much information!" Sam groaned annoyed and Penny also grimaced briefly. It seemed like neither of them really wanted to know that of their friends. But who would want too much insight into other people's love lives? Certainly not me! That's why I could understand Sam a bit when he exploded when Sarah rubbed hers in his face like that.

"Um, no, darling. Nobody gets in trouble here. I'm... just having an employee qualification interview with Niall... and Dad and Sarah wanted to listen," Penny explained to him haltingly and I listened.

"Oh, really?!" I interjected and promptly received a warning look from Penny. Oh, okay. So it was just an excuse?

"Oh, Mum. That's so boring! Do you really have to bother Niall with this on a Sunday? You're free today! Why can't you take a break from work for once?" Cody complained to his mother and all of our eyes looked up in amusement at Penny. Apparently even her son had already realized what a workaholic his mother could be. Penny shook her head in annoyance and shot me a look as she pulled Cody close.

"I have to decide whether Niall will stay here forever or not. That's important because I have to see how important it is to him to want to stay here," she answered her son, but didn't even take her eyes off me and even though I saw the smile at the corner of her mouth, I couldn't tell whether her tone was warning or teasing. I involuntarily swallowed hard as Cody looked at his mother in confusion before turning to me.

"Do you want to stay here, Niall?" he asked me bluntly.

"Absolutely, buddy!" I replied, smiling and with all the conviction I could muster in my voice. I didn't want anything as much as that.

"You see, it's that easy and I want him to stay too!" Cody said, turning to his mother again. Oh, if only everything were that simple! Even Sam was grinning broadly again thanks to his son. "What was that noise before in here?" Cody then asked and we all lost our grins as we looked at Penny for help. She always had a saving excuse, didn't she?