Fated (Escape Spin-Off)

Chapter 5: A Little Convincing

“Absolutely not.” My dad deadpanned while looking at the smiling faces we possessed. I felt my heart break a little as my eyes widened in disbelief. I mean, we worked so hard to make this presentable and they won’t even listen to us.

It was a Friday and everyone was at my house for dinner. It was a little tradition that I enjoyed with everyone. We decided that it would be best to wait since we were all together anyway and we could work on our presentation skill. Our parents, plus my dad’s friends were all sitting there watching us and shaking their heads. I looked to Lauren who was almost in tears at being rejected so bluntly.

“Where on earth would you get the idea to road trip across the nation?” Jake’s dad Will asked making us all feel even worse.

“We met Regan, you know the columnist, when we were at the café the other day and she suggested it when we were trying to find something to spice up our lives. It was the perfect idea.” I told them all while looking in each of their faces. I was determined to go on this trip and they were going to say yes.

“Regan? I know for a fact she did that when she was eighteen. Sorry to break it to you, but you are not of age and more importantly, not responsible enough to travel across the country by yourselves.” The triplets’ mom, Cassidy said while her husband Cole nodded in agreement. I looked to my dad’s friend Gabe for help. He was always going on wild adventures when he was young and would help us.

“Guys! You know I’m all for adventure but that’s a big deal and even I didn’t try that when I was your age. Maybe postpone this until you’re a little older?” He suggested which had me rolling my eyes and making a noise of disgust leave my throat. These adults had no faith in anything we did.

“Not responsible?” I said going back to the comment Cassidy made. “How could you even say that. For years we have all shown that we can handle responsibility in multiple situations and now when we want to do something that’s a little outside of the box, you say this? It’s like you’re personally ignoring all of our great qualities and choosing to dwell on what we messed up on to make your point more valid which is definitely more than unfair to us.” I said taking a huff at the end and flipping my hair out of exasperation.

“Sweetheart. You know that we all support whatever you want to do but this seems a little too out there for five seventeen year olds.” David said while leaning against his wife. I scowled at the pair of them before looking to my mom who had remained quiet during the entire process. She looked at me and looked away and I knew that I had at least one person on my team.

“Mom?” I called out to her making her cheeks turn red and her head snap up to me. I smirked at my friends and cocked an eyebrow in her direction, urging her to say something.

“I actually don’t think it’s that bad of an idea. They are all so responsible and I feel like we’ve put them through so much recently with all the paparazzi coming from nowhere to get a peek at us again that they deserve a break.” She said with her voice squeaking at the end while my dad looked at her shocked.

“Are you serious? They’re seventeen for Christ’s sake! They barely know the fifty states why would we let them travel across them.” My dad said angrily, making my mom nod her head.

“And I understand that you’re worried but we live in another time where it is so easy to contact us. We’ll call everyday, every hour if you want us to but we need this chance to find ourselves. Our whole life has been spent on us living in the shadow of you all. Not that there’s anything wrong with that but I- we all need to be able to find our own passions and I think that’ll only happen if you let us off this stupid leash that we’re on.” I said while breathing heavily at the end. Everyone had gone quiet and I could see the gears in everyone’s heads turning at what I’d said. All my emotions came rushing toward me at once and I could no longer contain it as I ran up the steps.

I had made it to my room and stood next to the bed as I waited for him to come comfort me. I knew it was Jake’s footsteps following me as I hurried from that environment.

“I’m sorry. I just-“ I started, not being able to contain my tears.

“I know. They’re being really unfair about this whole thing but we’ll work something out okay? You know I hate to see you cry and it’s good that you got all that out there but how about we calm down?” He offered and I nodded my head. I was enveloped in his warm embrace and placed my head on his chest. He leaned down and lifted me up to place me on the bed. I snuggled closer into him while he grabbed my throw blanket and placed it on top of us.

We were sat like that for about ten minutes before I finally made some form of movement. Immediately he looked at me, checking to see if I was okay. I managed a small smile, looking into his familiar brown eyes and feeling my heartbeat rapidly increase. I didn’t want to move in that moment as an unreadable emotion crossed his features.

He let out a sigh that had me even more confused as he placed me so I was standing in between his legs, him sitting on the bed. I smiled at the height difference that was still prominent and leaned into him. I just loved the way he could make me feel better with a simple hug. He pressed my body into his and put his head on top of my own. I closed my eyes, reveling in the sensation while inhaling his signature scent.

Much too quickly, he pulled away and got off the bed making me step backwards.

“Want to go back down there now?” He asked looking into my eyes. I didn’t really want to go down there and face them again after that but I figured it would be better than hiding in my room. I nodded my head and he placed his hands on my waist before guiding me.

All eyes turned to me and Jake as we came into view of the living room where the little kids had finally found their way to.

“Kay-Kay!” I heard as I felt little arms wrap around my legs. I looked up and saw that my little cousin, Lisa, had arrived and was holding for dear life onto me. Bending, I picked her up and smiled at her beaming face. If there was one thing that could make me happy it was children. Her and Laula were already the best of friends even with their age difference. Lau is always trying to help her out and their interactions always capture my attention.

I took her with me while we made our way to the couch where the triplets were not situated. I smiled at them and they returned while sitting next to Charlie. I had avoided the gaze of the adults, waiting until I was finally situated before chancing it.

I watched as the guilt was featured amongst everyone’s faces and smiled a little at my dad to let him know that I was alright now.

“J-Dog!” I said to my uncle who let out a chuckle, coming over and hugging me before taking his daughter out of my grasp. I pouted slightly but felt better as Jake’s hand trailed my waist, tugging me closer and making me blush. I saw all the women do a little smirk, Lauren included, which made me turn even brighter.

“Listen here. You boys take care of the girls. We’re all going to call you every day and everyone better answer the phone or your all on the plane back to California from wherever you are. No funny business and the longest you can be gone is two weeks so plan accordingly. You will have to take extra classes and I expect no funny business to happen.” My dad said sternly making me smile bright.

“Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!” I screamed while hugging him, everyone else doing the same with their parents. Deep down, I knew they would let us, it was just the idea of them immediately turning us down and doubting us that had me emotional.

“Okay now go! We have to all talk to the guys and your mother has something to say I think.” He said to me. I looked toward Jake and he shrugged before I made my way out, following the crowd of women as they headed to the Library.

************************************************************************************************************

Little chappie before I watch One Direction on the television. Sigh. Swoon. Another update really soon!

Side Note: While I was writing this my family was talking about me not knowing I could hear them and we all ended up cracking up.

Fact of the Chapter: I have two brothers and they both watch YouTubers like me! :) #familygoals lol

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEE YYYYYYYYYYYYYYOUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSS .XXXXXXXXXXXXX