Always...

Chapter 7: Boy to Man

We both heard the sound of the front door closing before a booming voice rang through the halls "smells good in here! Where are my favorite girls at?" I smiled recognizing the more than familiar voice. My dad peeked his head around the kitchen wall. He spotted me first and then smiled widely before his eyes landed on Drew. “Good to see you again my man." He exclaimed while walking over to grasp Drew’s shoulder lovingly. He was wearing his usual military clothing. Looking as spiffy as ever.

"My man?" Drew questioned contemplating it in his head "I definitely like the sound of that much better than my boy." Drew acknowledged smiling back.

"Yea well you definitely weren't this tall two years ago,” my dad bellowed holding Drew out by his shoulders to get a good look at him. "However, you are definitely still a little twig!" He laughed grasping Drew’s small arm, "look at these chicken wings, there's no meat on these suckers." he cried jokingly before pinning Drew in a police hold. I laughed watching Drew struggling in my dad’s arms. I swear they were like father and son when they were together. It was hilarious for me to watch them always competing with each other.

 "Yeah well just wait sir, one of these days I'll be stronger than you. Then we’ll see who can pin who down." Drew replied, still struggling.

My dad released him chuckling, "don't worry son I'll teach you some moves that'll help you get out of any hold no matter your size, however just the littlest bit of muscle does help." He teased. "Hell, I bet even Phelia over here could take ya!" he mocked, winking at me.

 I raised my eyebrow questioningly. "I appreciate your confidence there pops but he still has a good couple of pounds over me." More than pounds actually, he’s also a lot taller than me and probably much better at fighting than I am.

 "Ehh you can take him." my dad replied shrugging. I looked at him questioningly. Is he trying to get me killed? I mean yeah he has taught me a couple of self-defense techniques but I wouldn’t be able win against Drew on my own.

 Drew looked at me with an evil glint in his eyes, "how bout it Bo, you wanna go?"

 "Uhm… yes?” I looked to my dad who was still encouraging me to go ahead. I’m pretty sure this is the opposite of what a dad is supposed to do. Isn’t it bad to encourage your child to fight?

 They both chuckled at me, "living room wrestling match! Ember, Mark you want to watch?" my dad hollered to the rest of the house. Almost instantly we heard little footsteps running out of Embers room above us to come downstairs.

 I turned to look at him, "excuse me? This is actually happening?" I asked, "What did I just get myself into? And how'd you know Mark was here?" I asked perplexed.

 He came up and whispered in my ear, "don't worry just go with it and I saw Mark’s shoes and heard them upstairs, I'm an observant guy Phelia... it comes with the job." He replied chuckling. He grasped my shoulders and began massaging them as if I was about to go boxing. We slowly made our way into the living room, following behind Drew.

“So what's this astounding plan of yours?" I whispered behind me, as we made our way.

"Just wrestle with him, you'll be fine trust me," he resolved, patting my back.

"Always." I replied smiling up at him. His smile grew ten fold, his chocolate eyes filled with a loving admiration.

Turning back to look at Drew I noticed he was looking at us with sad eyes making me feel guilty for our display of affection. Noticing my changed facial expression he quickly shook his head as if dismissing my apology and smiled. "You ready BoBo?" he asked getting in a fighting stance. I chuckled as he jumped from leg to leg with his fists in the air.