after you left |ai|

40

"Lauren and Harry, meet Jackson, Mel, Max, Tom and Natalie." I said to introduce them and Harry was quickly interested by the game they were playing and it didn't take Lauren longer than a few seconds to sit down with Mel and Natalie too. We had invited Jackie too as in a way, she belongs with their family but she went back to London to celebrate with her mom and family. She has been living here for 6 months now and she was terribly homesick. So she decided to go home for a month to see her mom and family. "If you guys need anything else, you know where to find it in the kitchen right?" I asked and Jackson gave me a thumbs up before talking to Lauren again. They both seemed happy so I went back inside and found Ashton and Anne still talking with my grandparents and my two aunts.

We were with 3 kids, 7 teenagers, 10 young adults, 7 adults and 4 grandparents and not everyone even managed to come. That's 31 people inside the house.

"I brought Lauren and Harry outside so they can sit with the other teenagers." I said to Ashton and he thanked me before placing his arm around my waist.

"Are you sure I don't have to take Olivia from you?" He asked softly while looking at me

"It's fine, she's not that heavy yet." I replied and he chuckled softly before smiling. I looked infront of me again and saw both my grandmothers looking at me. They were always waiting until the day I would give them great-grandchildren too and when I told them Thomas and I broke up, they really did fear they might not get to meet them. But even if this is so different, I know they're going to love and spoil Olivia just as much as my brother's kids.

—

"So Ashton, did you know Christopher used to be in a band too?" My uncle, my mom's brother, said with a grin and my dad started laughing loudly, "He was the drummer and starter of the band, that's how he and Melodie met."

"I did not know that yet." Ashton said with a soft chuckle before looking across the table at my dad. We had just finished dinner, Ashton beside me with his hand placed on my thigh and a smile on his face at all times. "How long ago was it?"

"We started when I was about 20, ended when Ben was born so in 1995. It's been a long time." He said with a chuckle and Ashton smiled.

"If you would want to play again someday, you're always welcome to have a go on the drumset I have at home." He offered and my dad got such a bright smile on his face.

"That would be lovely, thank you Ashton. I will remember that for sure."

"We always expected Elle to grow up playing music and singing, all of her brothers used to play instruments but somehow she never got the hang of it." Pops said and Ashton laughed softly

"Yeah I've noticed that she isn't the most talented musician. I'm trying to teach her how to play the piano and it's not going that well."

"Elle and I just didn't get the music gene." Amber said and the whole table laughed, we were the only two that had absolutely no talent to play.

"I had my own talents, they just didn't include making music sadly enough." I tried to defend myself and everyone seemed to find it a lot funnier than it was.

"Melodie, do you still have those videos of Elle dancing in our living room? When you still lived in San Fransisco?" Pops asked her and she suddenly remembered she was still going to look for them.

"I found all the old DVDs back when I was getting out the christmas decorations. I placed the box in her room so we could watch them later, to think back of all the memories." She said so happily and I felt my cheeks turn red.

"This is going to become so embarassing." I said while shaking my head softly. "I was a highly energetic child and I did not have the best sense of clothing style."