Blended Family

Joey

"Don't eat too much," he said. "Dinner's in half an hour. How was mock trial?"

"Great," I said, sitting down at one of the stools. "I'm so glad Mom suggested it."

He smirked as he shook some salt into the pot he was stirring. "Like mother, like daughter."

My mom and I were definitely alike, both physically and personality-wise. Sometimes I hated that, but in this case I didn't. Mom was an amazing lawyer. She won tons of cases. I already had my sights set on going to law school and following in her footsteps.

After dinner and after the kids had been put to bed, Dad called Elliott and me out to the kitchen table. He and Pippa sat at opposite ends of the table. I honestly didn't know what they would say. Were they going to tell us we couldn't date? Because screw that - we'd find a way. Hopefully they were smart enough to realize that.

"We wanted to talk to you because obviously now you're interested in dating each other," Dad began, looking between us. "Is that right?"

"Yes," we both answered quietly.

"Pippa happened to walk in on you guys...doing things yesterday. I don't want to speak for you, Pip, but I'm pretty sure it made you uncomfortable," he said, looking towards her.

"Yes," she said, sitting back and crossing her arms. "I don't think it's appropriate to be behind closed doors making out and doing who knows what else."

Dad nodded in agreement. "We know we can't forbid you from being interested in each other," he went on. "If you truly like each other and want to date, great. But there needs to be some ground rules. We have a pretty unique situation here, living together."

Elliott and I were both quiet, but I felt encouraged. They weren't outright going to forbid it.

"First of all," Pippa jumped in. "You are to never be in the same room together with the door closed. If you're together, we need to be able to see what you're doing. That's the same it'd be if you were dating anyone else."

That could put a damper on things, but sounded fair.

"Secondly, you may absolutely not have sex," she said, staring us down. "You're both too young to deal with the consequences. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," we both said politely.

"Good," she said, looking a bit calmer now.

Dad jumped back in. "Have you two thought about what will happen if this goes south?"

Elliott and I looked at each other and shrugged. I honestly hadn't. I was too caught up in the excitement.

"If you decide you don't like each other anymore you'll still have to live together," he pointed out. Yes, that could be awkward. I'd never even had a boyfriend before so I'd never been through a break-up. It would be brutal seeing him every day and if he brought other girls home.

"If either of you breaks those rules," Pippa said. "You'll go to your other parent's house for a week. Got it?"

We both said, "Yes, ma'am," again. Dad said that was all we needed to discuss. We were all glad to have that out of the way. Elliott and I grinned at each other as we walked down the hallway to our own bedrooms.

I could the sense that Pippa wasn't 100% happy with this arrangement. Did she disapprove of me? All adults loved me. She'd never been anything but nice to me. It bothered me a little that she didn't seem to want us together.

With our parents' semi-approval, we decided to let it be known we were together. We held hands at school and posted pictures together on social media. My friends were a bit surprised I was dating a jock, but happy for me. I think Elliott come some cred with the guys because everyone else was terrified of me.

Before the last period of the day, I exchanged my last set of books out, smiling to myself. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a couple of Elliott's douchebag teammates nearby snickering and pointing at me. They were talking, making each other laugh. I've never been one to shy away from a confrontation, so I walked right up to them confidently.

"Problem?" I asked them, looking between them. They laughed some more.

"We just think it's kind of nasty that you're doing your stepbrother," one of them spurted. "Kind of incestuous, isn't it?"

"First of all, I'm not doing him. Second of all, we're not stepsiblings. And even if we were, we're not biologically related. Apparently you're too idiotic to know the correct definition."

"Still it's nasty," the other brought his fist up to his mouth, as if trying to stifle a laugh. "Everyone thinks you're a slut now."

"Excuse me?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I didn't stutter. S-L-U-T. Slut!"

I saw red, and even though my parents had taught me to walk away or count to ten or whatever, I couldn't stand the smug grin on his face. So, I did it. I kneed him straight in the balls.