𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒, 𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒

~Family Barbecue Pt.1~

(Grandparents house up top^)
We arrived at the house within ten minutes... and let me say... holy shit! It was a three story brick house, two stairways at the front of the house with a big pool in front of them.

And I thought Harrison's house was big!

We got out and made our way inside, Harrison led us straight to the backyard, everyone was back there. By everyone I mean Harrison's two brothers and one sister, who have their kids here which is a total of about... eleven kids. Plus the eight adults... and my four step brothers and myself... twenty four people.

I awkwardly followed mom, that was until she started to have a conversation about 'adult stuff'. I walked away, finding a seat to sit in. As I sat down, Xavier and two of his cousins, two boys, walked over. "Hey Cooper! You look a bit lonely there, why don't we chill with you!" Xavier said with a mischievous look in his eye, I just rolled my eyes as he sat down.

I don't know what I expected, him to be nice? Ha. Not even minutes after he had sat down, I felt something down the back of my shirt.

Ice.

I shot up from my seat, gasping as I could feel the cold liquid rolling down my back. I turned to glare at Xavier, he and his two cousins only laughed. "I think you need to chill out Cooper!" He said, causing his cousins to laugh louder. "Why are you such a jackass?! Can't you just be nice to your step brother?!" I said, Xavier stopped laughing, his face turning serious as he stood up.

He stepped towards me, getting right up in my face. "You will never be apart of our family, I don't care if your mother married my father, you'll never be a Hartley." Xavier growled out, I just nodded my head, biting my lip. "Good to know, I'll add that to the list of people who don't want me." I said in a low voice before walking off, I went through the house, careful not to get any water on the floor as I went out the front of the house.

I pulled my jacket, plaid shirt and Metallica shirt off. My Metallica shirt was the only one that got wet, thank god. I placed it on the ground before putting the plaid shirt back on, buttoning it up this time. I placed my jacket on before walking down the driveway, lying down in the middle of the road.

It was a back road, so no one really drove by here, meaning I was fine to lay in the middle of the road. I rested my arm over my arms, letting my jacket soak up the tears that threatened to fall.

I don't know how long I had been lying there until I felt a hand on my shoulder, causing me to jump in fright. I opened my eyes to see a girl around the age of seven, she was wearing some cute denim overalls with a pick long sleeve shirt underneath.

"Why are you lying in the middle of the road?" She asked, I just shrugged my shoulders. "I just needed to take a minute." I said, sitting up properly. The girl looked at me for a minute, she stuck her hand out. "I'm Autumn, My momma is my Uncle Harrison's sister." She said with a smile, I took her hand in mine, giving it a small shake.

"Cooper, I'm Harrison's stepson."

"Are you Grace's son?" She asked, I nodded my head. A smile broke onto her face, a small giggle escaping her lips. "You look like Flynn Ryder from Tangled! That's my favourite movie!"

"Do I? Tangled is my favourite movie too, you know... Flynn is my favourite character too..." I whispered in her ear, she let out a little squeal, earning a chuckle from me. "What are you really doing out here though? I saw mean Xavier laughing at you along with my stinky brothers!" She said, pouting as she mentioned her brothers.

"Xavier was just a bit mean to me... and quite rude. But, I'm used to it. What are your brothers names?"

"Quinton and Zach. There's buttheads!" I couldn't help the chuckle that escaped me, it caused Autumn to smile brightly.

"Can I give you a nickname?" She asked, I nodded my head. She thought for a moment before her eyes seemed to light up. "CC! I'll call you CC!" She said, I smiled down at her. "And I think I'll call you... Spring!" I said, naming one of the four seasons. She let out a small giggle, nodding her head. "I like that nickname. Do you want to go back inside? They're starting to make dinner! There's gonna be burgers!"

I stood up, lifting Autumn into my arms. She crawled around onto my back, wrapping her arms loosely around my neck, her legs sitting around my waist. I held onto her, making sure she wouldn't fall as we started to walk back. I quickly threw my wet shirt into the car before making my way back to the house.

We went into the backyard, Autumn pointed to a small tree, we walked over and sat down. Autumn sat in my lap as she started to tell me stories about her 'butthead brothers' and her cute little dog.

"You know, my friend is a lot like you... she's very excitable and positive." I said, bopping Autumn's nose. "Really? What's her name? What does she look like?" She asked, I let out a chuckle as I pulled my phone out. I turned the home screen on, showing my wallpaper as a picture of Felicity, Damian and I at the beach. We had gone there one weekend and Felicity took my phone to take a 'group selfie'.

"That's Felicity, she's the one in the middle. The one on the right is my other friend, Damian. He's from England but between you and me... he has a funny accent." I whispered in her ear, smiling as she let out a giggle. "Felicity is really pretty, I like her a lot!"

"I like her too... she's really sweet and kind to me, just like you!" I said, poking Autumn's side. As we were talking, Xavier, Quinton and Zach walked over. "Why are you hanging with our sister? We don't let her go near anyone who isn't family." Zach said with a smirk, I just rolled my eyes and went back to talking to Autumn. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" Zach shouted, smashing my head against the tree.

"Hey!!" Autumn shouted at her brother, punching him in the stomach. He just pushed her aside. I felt my head start to ache, liquid rolling down the back of my head. I looked up at Xavier, he had a snarl on his face. "You aren't family Cooper, we don't want you hanging around our family. We don't want you here." Xavier said.

I stood up letting a dry laugh fall from my lips as I looked at Xavier. "Why don't we just do a rerun of what happened last time Hey? I'll just run off for... what four hours? Then I'll wait for James to come find me. Because out of everyone, excuse my language Autumn but James is the only one that seems to actually fucking care about me."

"I get that mom doesn't want me, I get that I'm not your brother, but would it kill you to at least be nice to me? James is the only one that treats me right, Blake sure as hell tries! Carlos couldn't care but at least he doesn't bother me but you! You persist on making my life hell! So why don't we do a rerun of last time hey? Except why don't we add a car to hit me, or a psychopath to kidnap me?! Or why don't I just I don't know... not come back?"

"I'm so sick of your shit! I'm so sick of you constantly putting me down because you don't like me! News flash! Doesn't mean you can be complete ass about it! Just tell me you don't like me and leave it at that!" I ranted, I was full well pissed by now.

Xavier took a step towards me, a mad frown on his face. I stood my ground though, knowing not to back down. "The truth is..."

I wonder what he'll say...