The Silent Partner (Mature themed)

Christmas Day Part II

Colter pulls the car into the driveway of my parents place. He drives to the front of the house and parks the car. He steps out of the car and moves over to my side. He opens the door for me.

I step out of the car and I place my hand in his. We walk up the stairs that leads to the front door of the two story mansion that my parents own. I open the front door and we enter the house.

As soon as Colter and I step into the living room the room goes quiet. Everyone stares at us. I smile at my family. "Hey,"

Mom walks over to me and she asks. "Are you two back together?"

Colter looks at her. "We're going to take things slow. Which means right now we're not going to put a tag on what we are. When we're ready for the next step we'll let you all know." He looks at me and I mouth. "Thank you." He smiles and mouths. "You're welcome."

Mom clears her throat. "You can all get back to what you were doing. Nothing to see here." she turns to me. "Do you want to help me get lunch ready? I want to talk to you."

I stand on my tippy toes and I whisper in Colter's ear. "I'm going to leave you with the animals. Just tell them what you told Mom." I kiss his cheek and follow Mom into the kitchen.

Mom has three bags of prawns sitting on the table. She gives me a full bag. "I want you to peel all those. Then I want to hear about last night." She opens her bag and starts to peel the prawns.

I open my bag and I peel off the head, then the tail and then pull the rest of the shell off. A few times guts splutters across the table and it hits Mom in the face. I start laughing.

Mom shakes her head. "I don't like peeling prawns with you."

I smile. "I could go to the living room and save Colter from the vultures out there."

She laughs. "I'll let everyone know you said that."

I walk over to the door and I look for Colter. He's standing between my Uncle and Dad. Dad has a serious look on his face. He uses that face when he's threatening people about me. Colter gulps. I enter the living room. I place my hand on his arm. "I need help in the kitchen." I pull him into the kitchen.

Mom looks at Colter. She throws him a bag of prawns. "Wash your hands and then help us peel these prawns."

Colter shakes his head. "I'd rather be out there getting harasses by your father and uncle instead of peeling those things."

I laugh. "Do you remember what he said to you when you dated me all those years ago?"
He nods.

I walk over to him and whisper. "It will be worse now. As we were married for a few years." I cross my arms. "Are you ready to face them?"

Colter walks over to the sink and washes his hands. He stands next to me and peels the prawns. He squeezes a prawn too hard and guts comes out of it and sprays me in the face.

I throw some of the lemon water mom has on the table for us to wash our hands in it. Colter sticks his fingers in the bowl and he throws some at me. I see some flour sitting on the counter from the dessert that Mom was cooking. I put my hand in it and throw it at him. The flour makes a mess all over the table, on the prawns, I even managed to get my Mom a little bit. I hit my target spot on with the rest of the flour.

Colter walks over to the flour and he puts his hands in it. He throws it at me. At that moment someone enters the kitchen and it hits them instead. I turn around and see Dad covered in flour.

Mom shakes her head and then starts laughing. She walks over to him. "They got me too, honey."

He kisses her.

I stick my hand in the flour and throw it at my parents.

Dad pulls away from Mom. He looks at Colter and I. "You're going to pay for that." He sticks his hand in the flour and he throws it at us.

The rest of the family move into the kitchen and they watch us have a flour fight.

This has been one of the best days since I came back to LA.

I smile.

Dad moves towards me. "You seem happy, Angel. I missed this smile." He hugs me. "It's good to have you back." He pulls away from me. "You need to clean the kitchen. "I hope it was worth it?"

I laugh. "It was worth it, Dad." I kiss his cheek. Then I move toward the cupboard and I pull out the broom. I start sweeping the floor.

Benson enters the kitchen. He looks at the mess. "What did I miss?"

I point to Colter. "He sprayed prawn guts all over me." I stick my tongue out at him. "So, I flicked water at him. He did it back to me. Then I came up with the brilliant idea to throw flour at him. Mom got caught in the crossfire."

Colter moves next to me. "When I was going to throw the flour at Lexi, she moved out of the way and I hit your Dad. He was caught in the crossfire."

Benson arches his eyebrows. "Why does Mom and Dad look as bad as you two?"

I look at my parents. "They were kissing, while I was in the same room as them it's disgusting."

Everyone laughs.

Benson shakes his head. "Now, you have to clean the mess you caused?" I nod. He looks at Mom. "Do you need some help while Lexi cleans up the mess?"

Mom moves over to the sink. "Yes, peel the prawns. I bet the entire family wants to have lunch now." She looks at Colter and I. "When you're done cleaning up the kitchen. Get cleaned up and then meet us on the decking."

"Yes, Mom."

She smiles. "I want you two to look great for the photos."

Dad enters the kitchen with the camera. He looks at Colter. "Wrap your arms around Lexi. I want a photo of the two of you after your flour fight. Say 'Flour,' he counts and we say "Flour." Dad takes the photo. "That's great. I'm going to e-mail this to Colter's family."

I walk over to Dad. "Can you send it later tonight? We want to surprise his family."

Dad smiles. "Fine," he walks back to the living and joins the family.

I finish cleaning the kitchen and then I go upstairs to get changed. Colter holds my hand as we walk up to my old room. I still have a few of his clothes in my room. I enter my bedroom with him. I open the draw and pull out a shirt and jeans.

He looks at the clothes. "You kept this?"

I nod. "I knew you would need it one day, Colter." I search through my draw for a jeans, t-shirt and jumper. I find them in the bottom drawer. I take my clothes to the bathroom and lock the door. I clean my hair and face removing the flour. I get changed and then exit the bathroom.

Colter is only in the jeans when I enter the bedroom. My cheeks turn red as I look at his six pack. He puts on his t-shirt and then he walks into the bathroom.

When he returns from the bathroom his face is flour free and his hair is wet. He takes my hand and we walk outside. I sit on the decking with my family.

I scoop some prawns onto my plate and take a bread roll. I put some salad on my plate. My family start to eat the food. I look across the table at my cousin and she smiles. Then she mouths. "I'm glad we did this." I mouth back. "So am I."