My stepbrothers and I (#1) - Editing

Chapter eleven - family bonding

"Vic?"
"Yeah... It's me. I was in the neighbourhood I guess"
She dropped her bag on the floor as I stood and came to give me a hug "I knew you would come around eventually"
I pushed her back for a second "me coming here today doesn't make me forgive you for what you did... I came for closure I guess. This doesn't mean anything."
"I know honey, I know... I don't expect you to forgive me. I'm just glad you are here... Why are you here anyway?"
"I came with Julian and Christian... To see their brother and niece as they live down here and I hadn't got to meet them yet. I only met Lily last night at a party and found out you were here... It was a funny story actually" I giggled "I mean, how I met Lily... Let's just say Jake is a complete asshole"
She turned to Lily "so you finally realised it?"
"Yeah" Lily replied
"So, how long have you been with..."
"Tony?" Mom finished my sentence "yeah, we've been together for a couple of months now"
"Anymore children I should know about?"
"Yeah, my thirteen year old brother Jeremy" Lily said "just me and Jer"
I nodded "okay"
We sat there and talked for a long time and Tony came back from work.
"Hey honey, this is Victoria, my daughter... Who I've been talking about recently"
"Ah yes... Lovely to finally meet you" he extended his hand for me to shake and I did just that, smiling at him
"You want me to go fetch Jer from school?" Lily asked
"No need, he has soccer practice until late. I'll get Margaret to pick him up"
"No, we will pick him up on our way to dinner" Mary-Anne smiled
"We're going to dinner?" I asked
"Is that okay Tony?"
"Sure... Anything for my baby" he kissed her cheek and Lily gaged, I almost did too

We hovered around for a while and I talked to Lily, finding out some things about her

"So, these stepbrothers of yours... Are you close to them?" Lily asked me
"I guess you could say that we are... I guess they wouldn't have asked me to come with them if I weren't"
"Yeah, you seemed close to... Christian, Is it?"
"Yeah, I'm close to both of them I guess. I have known them all of my life, but we only started talking properly after my dad married their mom and they moved in"
"So is he happy...? Your dad I mean" Mary-Anne asked... She still wasn't my mother at this moment, but things could change
"Uh... Yeah, he seems to be. He's been a lot happier since he started dating Maddie."
She looked down at the floor "oh... I see" then she looked at me "are you happy? Living with your dad and his new family?"
I'd never really thought about it... Am I truly happy with the situation? "Yeah, I guess I am... If dad is happy then I am too. And the boys are great fun... They've brought me out of my shell and I'm glad they have... I wouldn't be here if they hadn't"
"Well, that's good" she smiled at me.

We eventually head out to pick up Jeremy in their limo and when he got in, he looked at me sceptically, pushing his glasses up his nose.
"Who is this?" He asked his father
"This is Victoria, Mary-Anne's daughter" Tony said
"But you can call me Tori" I said
He shook my extended hand and said "as you probably know, I'm Jeremy"
"And it's nice to meet you" I smiled at him
"It's nice to meet you too. Your mother has been talking about you a lot lately, but now I get to meet the infamous Victoria" he said, wow! This kid was smart and very polite.

We finally arrived at a five star restaurant... The kind you go to that serves mini portions of food and we didn't need a booking because they were well-known at the restaurant.
We then ordered and sat there, talking while we waited.
"So, you're from California?" Tony asked
"Yeah, I am"
"How did you know Lily? You said you met her last night?" Mary-Anne asked
"Well, it was kind of an awkward way to meet your stepsister actually..." I replied
"You said it involved Jake?"
I put my hands up in mock surrender "hey, in my defence I didn't even know he had a girlfriend. I'm just glad nothing major happened cause I would have felt more guilty about doing it"
"Yeah, I caught Jake kissing her and then she came to me to apologise to me and we just instantly hit it off I guess. Maybe he is a jerk after all and he hasn't even talked to me today to apologise himself so I take it he doesn't want to be with me anymore." Lily said
"Good... Well I didn't like that boy anyway" Tony said
"Dad! You never like any boy I've dated" Lily whined "can't you like just one of the guys I date?"
"I think he was gross anyway" Jeremy said "the way he was all over you like that..." He shuddered at the thought