Airplanes | Spruceworth 6.1 | Wattys2019

Chapter 40: Step-Family

       Okay, so it didn't sound like she wanted me to go to boarding school.

       I was still a bit worried about what she wanted to talk to me about.

       "Deserve to know what?" I asked.

       "Would you be okay with me getting married?" Mom asked.

       Married.

       Mom wanted to get married.

       "To Jaime?" I asked.

       "Yeah," Mom said slowly. "I wanted to know how you felt about it because you're my son. It would affect you a lot."

       I didn't even know how I felt about it. I wanted my mom to be happy, of course, and I did think Jaime made her happy. Ever since she started seeing him, she was also less controlling to me. She stopped with the whole music school ordeal. She tried to support me with my alcoholism.

       It was a good thing for my mom to be with Jaime.

       But it was still going to be a bit difficult for me to see my mom marry someone else. For fifteen years of my life, she had been with my and. It was going to take some getting used to.

       However, just because it was going to be hard for me, it didn't mean I should immediately tell my mom I didn't want it to happen.

       There was at least one very bright side to Mom marrying Jaime.

       "Well..." I said slowly. "I still don't know Jaime that well but it's not like I hate him or anything that would make me mad that you'll marry him. And it's not like I hate his children. In fact, I'd be happy for Shaw to officially be my older brother."

       "I feel a but coming," Mom said.

       "What? No, there isn't one," I said. "I'm not going to lie, it's going to be hard for me to get used to the idea of you being married to someone else and me having a step-dad but if he makes you happy, I can't be mad. Like I said, it's not like I hate Jaime or anything. He seemed good enough when I met him."

       Mom smiled. "I know you will get to like him the more you get to know him. He's a great guy."

       "He does seem like it," I said. After all, he was the one who was able to convince my mom to support me with my drinking problem. Without him, I didn't know if Mom would ever try to support me through it. "When are you going to tell Dad?"

       "Soon," Mom said. "I just wanted to tell you first. I still have to figure out how to tell your father without an argument breaking out. That's part of the reason I wanted to know how you felt. If you're okay with it, then your father should be."

       "I think he will," I said. "He was okay with you seeing Jaime. It will probably be weird for him but I don't think he's going to be mad at it. And if I were you, I'd just rip the band-aid off and tell him as soon as you can."

       "Yeah, you're probably right," Mom said. "I'll do that now while I'm here."

       Mom and I went inside and I went back to the piano while Mom told Dad she wanted to talk to him so they then headed outside.

       "So what was that about?" Grant asked as he he sat down beside me. "Is she back on the music school thing?"

       "That's what I thought it was going to be about but no, she's not," I said. "I think she's finally over it, thankfully."

       "What's this music school thing?" Vikram asked.

       "I was supposed to go to the LM Conservatory or Music," I said. "But I did something stupid so they wouldn't let me attend the school. My mom was mad and was very keen on trying to get me to go to a music school so she was constantly hounding me to choose a school, no matter how many times I told her I was happy here. She finally realized that I'm really happy here."

       "So if it's not the music school, then why did it seem like such a serious thing to talk to you about?" Grant asked. "She's not... She doesn't want you to go live with her, do you? Because if you don't live here then I don't--"

       "Grant, you have nothing to worry about," I interrupted. "She doesn't. She knows it's better for me to live here with my dad and she knows you live with us. She just... Wanted to know how I feel about her getting married."

       "Really?" Grant asked. "And how do you feel about it?"

       "I've got mixed emotions," I said before looking at Vikram. "When did your mom marry your step-dad?"

       "When I was five," Vikram said. "And I don't even remember my actual dad since he left when I was one so sorry I can't give you any advice."

       "It's okay," I said. "I'm not upset about it or anything. It's just going to be weird."

       "Wait a second," Grant said. "Unless she got another boyfriend, isn't it Shaw's dad?"

       "It is," I said. "So that's a bright side. A very bright side. Shaw has always been like an older brother to me so he's actually going to be my brother. And like I told my mom, I don't hate Jaime or anything. I just don't know him well enough yet."

       "Want my advice?" Grant asked. "Because you do remember that I have a step-dad too, right?"

       I furrowed my eyebrows. "You do?"

       "Uh, yeah," Grant said. "Lawrence." I was still confused. "Holden's dad, you dummy."

       "Oh, right," I said. "So what's your advice?"

       "That step-parents are willing to be bribed," Grant said. "If they want your trust and respect, they'll do anything since you're their spouse's child. So you can get Jaime to buy you a bunch of things, especially if you tell him you don't trust him yet."

       "That's horrible advice," I said. "Don't tell me you do that to Lawrence."

       "I've only done it once," Grant said. "But he was smart and caught onto what I was doing. Mainly because Shaw told him. So then it probably won't be best to do it to Jaime because Shaw will catch on..."

       "Even if Shaw wouldn't catch up, I'm not doing that," I said. 

       Grant shrugged. "Your loss."

__________________

oof ollie and shaw will actually be brothers soon 

and that moment when you realize shaw's (soon to be) step-brother and brother-in-law are dating OOF

i use oof too much but it's my favourite sound effect lol.

ANYWAY the book is ending soon BUT FEAR NOT, there will be a Spruceworth 6.2, meaning it's after this book. i'm still deciding who gets it though. it will either be ollie or grant. i really want to give grant a pov but i don't want to let go of my baby ollie's pov. should i just do dual pov so they alternate every chapter?