Blended Family

Lin

A/N: I'm in New Yoooooork! Til April 6th! Think I'll see Lin?! 😂😂😂

I knew my daughter didn't tell me everything, but I'm pretty sure Elliott was Joey's first boyfriend.  It was the first time she'd had feelings for a boy.  With her wave of new feelings she was getting caught up in it.  It was typical teenage romance.  They were being kept apart and all of a sudden they were Rose and Jack on Titanic.  Total dramatics.

On Sunday morning, the house was up and Joey wallowed in her own self-pity, staying in bed.  At 11:00, I decided enough was enough.  I pushed open her door and she was still curled up in bed.  Awake, but not wanting to go anywhere.  She was still so mad at me.

"This is not the end of the world," I told her, walking over to her bed.

"It is to me," she grumbled, pulling her covers tight up to her neck.

"You'll survive," I assured her.  "I made pancakes.  I can heat them back up for you."

She responded by turning over to face the wall.  Pancakes usually did the trick.  I rolled my eyes a little at her dramatics.  Without warning, I pulled off her covers and she screeched in protest.

"Up," I told her, tossing her covers on the floor.  "Let's go for a walk.  Get you out in the sunshine."

She growled in protest as I left the room.  My sweet teenage daughter.

Fifteen minutes later, she had brushed her teeth and changed into some jeans and a t-shirt, her hair pulled up in a messy bun.  I set a stack of pancakes in front of her and she sat down.  Begrudgingly, she began to eat.

Pippa came out with a basket of laundry, letting it drop to the floor.  "Any other darks to add?"

I shook my head as I rinsed out the frying pan.

"Joey?" she asked my daughter, and she shook her head.

Pippa looked at me, as if checking if it was true – was Joey still being this dramatic?  I shrugged my shoulders as I added some dish soap in the sink.

"Did you want to go shopping today?" Pippa asked Joey as she tossed in the clothes.

"No," Joey replied shortly.

"You sure?" Pippa asked, going through some pockets.  The kids had a tendency to leave stuff in there.  A few coins and gum wrappers were tossed out.  "Metro Card."

She handed Joey's Metro Card over and she winced a little at her carelessness.  Pippa came to a pair of Elliott's jeans, turning the pockets out.  She stopped when her fingers found something.  She pulled out and examined it.  A condom.

Neither of us said anything and Joey gaped.  "What the hell is that?!" she demanded, standing up.  She rushed over to Pippa and took it, immediately looking pissed.  Joey stormed off to her room, slamming the door.  Moments later, we heard her terse voice as she apparently called up Elliott.

"Is Elliott...sexually active?" I asked Pippa.  She gave me a look.

"You think he would tell me, Lin?" she asked incredulously, tossing the jeans in the wash.

"Good point," I said, rinsing off the pan and setting it on the rack.  "Well, from Joey's reaction, apparently she didn't know either."

"Do you think he was...pressuring her?" she asked me.  I shrugged sheepishly.  Elliott seemed like a good kid all around, but then again he and Joey had been caught cheating at school.  Pippa scoffed as she threw in the last of the clothes.  "I thought Steven had talked to him."