The Good Hair Family Sitcom

S1 E5.1: Toddler Tamer

A/N: For anyone who doesn't know the relationships between the characters, Amber and TJ are siblings. However, none of the other 8 parent characters are related at all. They are just childhood friends who consider each other like family.

TJ's POV

The show plays on the television in the living room while Cyrus leans against my chest, my arm holding him close. His eyes gleam the image of the screen as I look at them, but they're glued to the motion picture. Eventually, he realizes I'm staring at him and turns his sight to me with a smile.

"Have I ever told you how attractive you are?" I say.

"Yes," he responds. "I believe you've said something like that before."

"Well, then this is a reminder."

He grins and raises his lips as I lower my chin, but right when we're about to kiss, our daughter's groan of annoyance makes us split, and we both spin around on the couch to see Jayda with her arms crossed. She tends to do this exact thing where she doesn't explain her anger to us, instead just making it clear that she's upset, while waiting for us to ask about it.

"What's wrong?" Cyrus says, taking the bait.

"I'm trying to work with Andreas on our group project, and he's doing nothing!" she complains.

"Oh, no. That's your job," I reply jokingly.

But Jayda completely agrees. "I know!"

"Honey, he can probably hear you," Cyrus says.

There's only a wall that divides the living room from the dining room where Andreas is sitting, and neither rooms have doors to block the sound. Considering she's shouting, I think you could be anywhere on the main floor and be able to hear her, except maybe in the washroom.

"I doubt it," Jayda counters. "He has his headphones in, and he's watching videos on his phone. I'm supposed to be the one who sits around on my phone! Now I'm being forced to take control, and I can't do that!"

"Well, why didn't you choose a different partner?" Cyrus asks.

"Because," she replies, "it was either him or the kid who thinks that, because I'm Asian, I should be able to recommend good Chinese food places."

"Didn't any of your friends want to do it with you?" I question.

"None of my friends are in that class, and all the nerds were taken, so now I'm stuck with Andreas, and the only idea for our presentation topic that he's come up with in an hour is the evolution of girls' swimsuit models."

Both Cyrus and I just look confused.

"What is your project supposed to be about?" Cyrus questions.

"Human rights," Jayda answers. "We have to pick an issue from the past and present on it."

"What do women's swimsuit models have to do with human rights?" Cyrus wonders.

"He says it's a human right to have them."

"Okay, well," I say," if you need a topic, there's a pretty good human rights issue that your dad and I know well."

She only looks lost at that, furrowing her brows as she says, "Like what? Unions?"

"Um...well, that's a good one too," I respond, "but not what I was gonna say."

"Then what?"

Cyrus and I share a glance, but Jayda just gets impatient and shakes her head.

"Whatever," she says. "I have to get back to my homework." She spins around to leave but looks back once more to whine, "Homework! What has my life come to?"