ideas

If life Were Simple

Bryson O'Connor has never really cared about much in life. His dad already had a family and didn't want to ruin his marriage because of him, and his mother left him with his aunt when he was ten and never came back. He's now twenty-four, bartending at a bar he co- owns with his best friends, Cameron and Diego. At the moment all he does care about is having fun, making money and sleeping with as many girls as he can.

His life for once was going great, and he couldn't find a way to make it better. But then life decides to throw him a curve ball he gets a phone call telling him that he just received custody of Kylie, his fourteen year old sister, and that he needed to get to the hospital immediately.

Now that he's a brand new parent, he has to grow up. He can't speed the first half of his night bartending and the second half partying. He can't sleep till noon, have a parade of girls coming in and out of his apartment. He has to learn how to take care of a fourteen year old. He has to help her with her homework, Chase guys off that remind him a lot of himself. Make dinner, and go to parent teacher conferences.

At first he was mad that he was put in this situation, but he soon begins to realize that maybe his life was missing something all along. Especially after meeting Anna Harper, Kylie's art teacher. From the first moment he meets her, he can't help but fall for her. From the way she smiles to the look in her eyes as she talks about art, He's obsessed. The fact that she's seems to be the only woman to ever turn down his charms hasn't passed him over. He's determined to get her to fall as hard for him as he has for her.

~•~

Bryson was wiping down the counter of. The bar while simletaniously talking to the twenty-two year old who had stayed behind at her friends bachelorette party. Bryson was used to getting girls easy, and he could tell that this one thought she was playing him. The moment his shift ended, and he was going to offer for her to go back to his place was like a science to him. Almost like clockwork, he would look at the clock, say something about how unfortunate it was that they couldn't talk anymore due to his shift being over and him having to leave. Then she would suggest that just because he was done working didn't mean they had to stop talking. Then he would ask if she wanted to continue their conversation back at his place.

Tonight was no different, the conversation went the same as usual, but then his phone range, at the same moment she had agreed to go home with him. He declined the call the first two times it had rang, but the third time from the same number had to be something important. So he answered.

"Hello, is this Bryson O'Connor?" A woman on the other side of the phone asks.

He was a little confused as to why someone was calling for him at one in the morning. "Uh, yes, this is him." The girl who he had planned to spend the rest of the evening with watching impatiently.

"I'm sorry to have to be the one to inform you of this, but your father and step mother have just passed away, they were in an accident." The woman says, a hint of concern in her other wise all business voice. She was used to giving phone calls like these, she couldn't allow her self to get emotional over it.

Bryson pauses for a moment, he had never really had a good relationship with his father. The man had deemed him unimportant the day he found bout about his existence. His Father had been cheating bon his wife with Bryson's mother and didn't want to ruin his marriage and break up his family because of Bryson. "Uh, okay, thank you for calling," he told the woman, not really feeling any kind of emotional response.

The woman on the other line sensed that he was about to hang up, but she wasn't finished. "No, Mr O'Connor wait," he stopped his actions of hanging up the phone. "There one more thing, it's about your sister." He hadn't been aware he had a sister, he knew about his older brother, but that was only because the guy had saught him out. His brother was three years older than him, with a serious drug problem. Not once had his brother ever mentioned having a sister.

The woman continues, feeling safe in the fact that she now has his attention. "She was in the accident too" she informs him.

"Is she okay?" He didn't really understand why she was telling him this, or where they had found his number.

"She's fine, just a few bumps and scratches. Nothing too major, but the reason im calling is that your listed as her guardian if anything were to happen to her parents." The woman informs him, he pulls the phone away from him for a moment.

In complete shock that his father would leave a child of his to him, the son he had refused to see any worth in. He slowly puts the phone back to his ear, "I'm sorry, there must be some mistake, I've never even met my father. Why would I be her guardian."

The woman sighs impatiently, she has two more calls just like this to make and she didn't have time to waste. "Look I don't know why, but that's what the paper work says, now if you would like to come to the hospital, We're at the River City County Hospital." She then hung up.

Bryson stood there a moment longer, still in shock. The girl, whose name he hadn't bothered to learn looks at him. "Is everything okay?"

He shakes his head "no, I have to leave." He then grabs his jacket on the way out.
The entire drive to the hospital he's trying to figure out or gain some understanding in his father's decision.

What he didn't know was that despite his father never taking the time to meet him. He was very proud of his son, he had even gone to both his high school graduation and college graduation. He had been to a few of his son's college baseball games, and even the opening night of his bar. With his eldest sons issues of drug use, and all of his and his wife relatives being dead. Bryson was not the only the best, but also the only choice.

Bryson arrived at the hospital, and it was the moment after he had asked for directions to where he needed to go, and right before he entered Kylie's room di he even consider if this was something he wanted to do. Not knowing that he was he only living relative that was capable to take her in, he thought, just for one moment about finding someone else who would want to.

That thought quickly passed when a nurse approached him. "Excuse me sir, can I ask who you are?" Visiting hours had ended and the nurse was highly suspicious of a man standing out side a fourteen year olds door at one-thirty in the morning.

"Oh, uh hi" he held his hand out for her to shake. "I'm Bryson O'Connor, is this Kylie O'Connor's room?"

The nurse smiles at him, her suspicion gone at realizing that they were related. "Yes, but they've sidated her, she was hysterical when she learned about her parents. Follow me, there's some paperwork for you to fill out."

He nods uncomfortable, not sure he'd be any good at filling out paperwork for a girl he didn't know existed half an hour ago. She leads him to a nurses station located on the floor and pulls out a clip board with the before mentioned paper work. After handing it to him, she points to a waiting area for him to sit while he fills them out.

He waits until after she leaves before dialing the number of his brother, who only contacts him when he needs money. It goes to voicemail a couple time before he gives up and decides to take a nap, hoping Kylie might be able to fill out her own paper work when she wakes up.