This is not a drill!!! This is not a drill!!! I promise this is real. Here is one of the final updates of They Don't Know about Us. Yes I broke it into 2 parts just to kinda break it up. But the second part will be updated later today I just wanted to break it up today but yes the end of tdkau will come today sadly. So sit down, get comfy, maybe some popcorn, and I hope you enjoy!!!
"Here"
I look at the 7 year old confused, "You brought me ice cream and chocolate?" Jules just nods, "Yeah". Trying to think of a reason as for why she would bring me these but finding nothing I ask her again, "Why?" She just tilts her head at me while she rocks on the balls of her feet, "Jessie and Dylan were saying you were a bit sad. And you always get me chocolate and ice cream when I'm sad. So I thought this would make you happy..."
I swear I can feel my heart melt at the young girl as I put the bowl on the table and take the girl into my lap kissing her cheek, "Thanks Jules". She smiles at me before she starts playing with my fingers, which is a habit Jessie says she picked up from me as she always sees me playing with mine or Jessie's fingers, "Why you sad?"
I give her a weak smile, "You remember when I had to go to the place and answer all those questions in front of everyone?" She nods still focused on my fingers, "Yeah..". I sigh, "Well we got some bad news. We didn't win and I'm a bit sad about it".
We heard today that we lost the lawsuit. They ended ruling against us and it sucked that after everything we had still lost. Although Christen, Becky and the others aren't discouraged, it was hard seeing as according to Payton my testimony was the riding factor and we lost.
It was complete bullshit but how do you tell that to a 7 year old?
"Oh" she says as she stops playing with my hands and looks up, "Ellie?" I hum playing with her small curls. "Why was that man being mean to you?" She asks. I pause trying to think of the best way to handle this.
How do you tell a kid, who only sees the good in others, that the world isn't perfect? And that sometimes it's a scary place with scary people who don't always have good intentions. That some people will judge you based on who you are, what you look like, who you love or even the colour of your skin.
How do you explain that?
"Jules...there are some people in this world that aren't very nice. And sadly he was just one of them" I answer. But she still frowns, "But why was he trying to make you sound like a bad guy? Aren't you the good guy?"
I quirk my head at her, "Well do you think I'm the good guy?" She nods her head rapidly, "The goodest!" I smile and boop her nose making her scrunch her face at me, "Well that's all that matters so. Jules there are some mean people in the world. But all that matters is what the people closest to you think. People like you and Dylan and Jessie and the team, your all who matter to me the most. I don't care what everyone else thinks because if I'm a good guy to you then I'm doing something right". She nods slowly before tilting her head at me again.
"Aren't the good guys the ones who win?"
I chuckle and lick my lips, "Heroes aren't always the ones that win. They're the ones who lose sometimes. But they keep fighting, they keep coming back. They don't give up. That's what makes them heroes". She nods before smiling widely, "Your my hero Ellie". I grin at the girl, "Really?" She nods, "Yeah! You and Dylan".
I smile and kiss her forehead tenderly before hugging her tightly, "I love you Jules". She wraps her arms around my neck hugging me back, "I love you too Mom". My eyes widen as I freeze before I hug her even tighter kissing her head, "Want to go see if Jessie and Dylan want to have some ice cream too?" She nods as I carry her to the other room to find the other two.
"Jessie! Jules says your my sidekick!"
"Did not!"
...........
"You ready for this?"
I shrug playing with the tape on my wrist, "Honestly....I don't know". An arm slings over my shoulders, "C'mon Tiny we all know you got this". I sigh and lean back into Tobin hoping some of her chill would flow into me if possible.
"Ellie breathe" Christen tells me. I do as she says but I pout at her, "Nope! Still feel like I'm about to vomit". Mal just crinkles her face at me, "Gross". "Now c'mon! We have a surprise for you" Kelley grins pulling me to my feet. I groan as she pulls me out to the tunnel, "I don't think anything could make me feel better right now". But the team just smirks at me and share a look. But before I could I could ask why I hear a shout from down the tunnel.
"Mommy!"
I don't even have to turn around to know who's coming. I hold back a giggle as I see the team's faces before nodding.
"I stand corrected"
I turn and jog toward the incoming 7 year old, "Jules!" I pick her up and spin her around before peppering her face with kisses making her giggle uncontrollably. I see Dylan and Jessie also walking up to us. "Munchies!" I shout motioning Dylan to join in the hug. Dylan blushes heavily while Rose chuckles, "Munchies?"
I nod pulling the two into me, "Yeah these two are much munchkins. Together their my Munchies!" "Mom..." Dylan whines as the team laughs, "stop embarrassing me". I pout at the older sibling, "But it's one of my favourite pastimes".
Dylan scoffs as everyone laughs at our interaction as I turn to Jessie. I bite my lip as my eyes scan over the jersey she's donning, "You always did look good in my jersey". Jessie smiles before giving me a fake shudder, "Don't remind me I almost forgot I was wearing a US jersey". I chuckle before leaning in and pecking her lips, "Thank you for coming". Jessie rolls her eyes at me, "As if we would miss this".
Jules pats my shoulder letting me know she wants down. And the second she's down she runs over to the youngsters and starts talking Sonnet's ear off while Dylan talks to some of the older ones. I turn to Jessie wrapping my arms around her waist while her arms slip around my neck dragging her nails down the nape of my neck.
"Do you really think I can do this?" I murmur into her neck. She hums kissing my temple, "I know you can". "How can you be so sure?" I ask inhaling the soothing scent of vanilla and coffee.
She pulls back only to take my face in her hands, "Because I know how hard you've been working Lee. You've been getting minutes at Arsenal and even in those short few minutes you always make an impact. Your an incredible player Lee. Even when your not at a hundred percent, you still outmatch people in their top form. Your unstoppable Elliot Griffin and everyone knows it". She kisses my forehead lovingly, "Besides what do I always tell you?"
I scrunch my face at her, "To stop giving Jules chocolate?" She giggles, "I do say that but no". I grin and shrug, "Stop leaving messes around the house?" She snorts, "That too. But no".
She just stares into my eyes giving me the perfect view of all the small freckles scattered around her face with her big doe eyes sparkling at me. "Like I said Lee. You have a thing for proving people wrong. Just go out there and do what you do best" she whispers quietly to me. I take a second to just grain this into memory. Every feature and and every freckle before I lean in and capture her lips in a slow and passionate kiss.
While doesn't last long because my teammates are children
"Ewwwwwwwwww" Jules, Dylan, Kelley, Pinoe and all the other youngsters gags. I go to give them the finger but almost as if she reads my mind Jessie immediately stops my hand and entwines our fingers slapping my arm, "Not in front of Jules!" I grumble and glare at my teammates who all snicker and start imitating the sound of a whip cracking as I take Jules back in my arms
"C'mon Jules. Let's go tell Daan and the other dutchies that they owe us ice cream after they lose".
............
"Looking for something?"
I stop my searching and look over my shoulder to see Jessie holding my top hat. I grin and walk towards her as she puts the top hat on. "How you do you make wearing a top hat look sexy?" I ask playful as I wrap my arms around her. I can see the pink tint coming to her face as she scoffs, "You should see my view".
Today was the day of our production of The Greatest Showman. We have been working on this for a long time. The idea originally started as all the music kids in the future stars project singing the songs from the movie but it then grew so we got all the musically talented and all the dancers and we got them all together for the production.
And the kids somehow talked me into playing P.T Barnum as part of my rehab for my knee.
"You think I make a good ringleader?" I quirk an eyebrow at her. She smooths out my red jacket, "Most definitely". I gave her a quick kiss, "Are the others ready?" She shrugs, "I don't know".
"Okay we better go see how they are doing" I say as I take her hand as move to the massive room where everyone is getting set up. When we walk in we can see people running around doing their last minute preps, others are running lines and dances and some are just trying to stay calm.
There was one in particular who caught my eye.
"Eric? You okay?" I ask as I walk up to the boy who's off to the side by himself. He just shrugs as he knocks his fists together. "Eric?" I sigh. Eric was an amazing dancer who we gave the part of Philip Carlyle. He was a bit hesitant seeing as he's never done acting but I was able to talk him into it.
It didn't hurt that there was definitely chemistry between him and the girl playing Anne Wheeler.
"Y-yeah I'm good" he stutters shaking his hands out. I chuckle seeing his obvious signs of nerves, "Buddy? I need you to breathe". He nods and takes a few deep breaths before visibly calming down. I smile at him clapping him on the shoulder, "Feeling better?" He nods bit still shuffles on his feet. I shake my head and playful tap on his head, "Ah ah ah. Nope! Don't do that. Don't start getting into your head now". He looks at me as I smile at him, "Remember our deal? I help you with the lines and you teach me to dance". He snorts probably remembering all the practices we had together and him teaching me dance moves which usually ended up with me tripping over my feet more often than not.
"Buddy I know you know your lines. You killed it in rehearsal and you could do the dances blindfolded" I tell him honestly. He knaws on his bottom lip as his eyes dart around everywhere but on me, "I know". I drown, "Then why are you so nervous?" He mumbles something but it's so low I can't hear. "Buddy?"
He sighs and runs his hand through his hair, "I'm worried about the kissing scenes". He sees the smile spreading across my face and smacks my arm groaning at me, "Elliot! Stop it!" I grin, "Can you blame me? I've been shipping you and Cat since day 1!" Catherine was the girl chosen to play Anne Wheeler, in other words Eric's love interest.
She was the complete opposite of Eric. While he is more quiet and reserved, Cat was more talkative and open with people. While she wasn't always buzzing around, she was kind to everyone and never judged anyone. While she did have a family which was more than some of these kids could say, they had been in such financial difficulty that they could barely keep afloat. Thankfully one of her teachers reached out once they heard about the project and sent our videos of her dancing and acting.
The girl was too good to let her talent go to waste
"Shut up" he mutters cautiously looking around in fear of the girl in question hearing us. I sigh, "Look my advice would be just talk to her. For all you know she's just as nervous as you about it. Maybe talking about it will help you both out". I smirk and wink at him, "And who knows? Maybe you'll find out she's excited for it". His face turns bright red which reminds me of my lovely fiancee. I kiss his forehead, "You got this buddy. And remember I'll be right there with you. And if you mess up, I'll be right beside you and will probably make an even bigger fool of myself".
He laughs before hugging me, "Thanks Ellie". I smile as I hug him back, "No problem. Now go find your girl". He mumbles something at me before going to find the girl on question disappearing among the sea of kids.
I spend the next hour making sure everyone is ready in costume and all the last minute preparations were set. Right before I was set to start the show, out of the corner of my eye I see Cat who seems spaced out. Deciding that the show can wait another few minutes I change my direction and head for the teenager. "Hey what's wrong?" I ask making her jump slightly. But she instead just gives me an obviously fake smile, "Nothing. Just nervous".
I raise an eyebrow at her, "A kid with talent like your shouldn't be this nervous". I place my hand on her shoulder, "Now do you want to tell me what's really up?" She starts to fiddle with her charm bracelet before she sighs, "It's about Eric..."
I frown, "Did something happened between the two of you?" She plays with one of her charms, "Sort of..." She sighs once she sees that I'm waiting for her to continue, "He told me that when the kissing scene comes up, he going to kiss me on the cheek instead". My frown deepens, "He said that?" She nods but I can see a small blush take over her face, "He said that he didn't want me to be uncomfortable. He didn't want me to feel like I had to kiss him...it was really sweet actually".
My frown soon drops as I see her smile lightly still playing her her bracelet. But her frown quickly reappears, "Do you think he's just saying that cause he doesn't want to kiss me?" I smile lightly as I put my hand on her shoulder, "Do you think that maybe the reason he said he would kiss you on the cheek is because when he does finally kiss you, he wants it to be because your kissing him and not Philip Carlyle?"
At that she pursued her lips as the thoughtful look comes back to her face. I squeeze her shoulder, "Your going to kill it tonight. I just know it. I believe in you Cat". And with that I leave her to her thoughts as I go to start the show. One thing for damn sure.
My ship will sail if it's the last thing I do
...........
Everything was brilliant. Sure we had a few small mistakes. With me contributing to a lot of those. But everyone seemed to love it so far. And right now we were getting to one of my favourite parts. We were about to sing, "From Now On". It was one of my favourite songs. But it held a deeper meaning to us as we sang it. It held as a promise that no matter what I'm doing this kids will always be my top priority no matter what commitments I may have. These kids mean everything to me. And for the kids it shows that they will always have a home here. They will always have a home with me from now on.
So we decided to do it our own way and judging by the standing ovation we received the crowd must have loved it. It also came as a surprise when after Eric kissed Cat on the cheek, she pulled him back in for a proper kiss.
No one cheered as loud as me I can guarantee
It was nearing the end of the show which I was silently thankful for because I was shattered. Honestly I don't know how these kids so it. All we had left was the final number and my personal favourite, "The Greatest Show".
It was truly amazing. Of course we didn't have the lion or the other animals but all the kids were amazing. All the tricks and stunts left everyone amazed. I was surprisingly able to keep up with the choreography which was all because of Eric I suspect. Then passing it over to Eric who seemed to come completely alive after Cat kissed him. Everything was perfect. Jessie, Dylan and Julianna even met me at the side for the ending. The only thing left was roll call.
But I should have known something was up when my teammates were in the crowd.
Before I even knew what was happening Pinoe and Ash were both standing on stage with a mic. We all laugh as our roll call was being hijacked by my teammates as they started calling out all the cast and crew. My favourite had to be when they both started teasing Eric and Cat leaving her to blush and hide into Eric's side.
"And last but certainly not least! Please give it up the lady behind all this. Our wonderful ringmaster, please give a hand for Elliot Griffin!" Pinoe announces making me laugh as I come up and take a bow. I smile as everyone claps. But I was shocked when Julianna and Dylan come up and hand me a boutique of flowers. I kiss both of their heads giving them a quick hug. I pull out a few flowers and hand them out to Eric, Cat and a few others. Right before we left the stage we all link hands and take a bow together. I watch as all the kids run off and celebrate the show. Some running to their parents, others running to their mentors who came today to watch them.
I got to meet some parents who came to watch their children perform and I talked to come of the kids who were ecstatic with the success of the show. We had a surprise for the kids as Zendaya and Zac Efron both came to watch the show and Zendaya who was apart of the mentorship program for Future Stars talked to some do the kids she was mentoring. It was hilarious watching Eric stutter and stumble over his words in front of the two celebrities while Cat laughed at him before kissing his cheek.
After meeting a load of people I found Jessie, Dylan and Julianna with the rest of the team who came to watch the show today. Once they spot me they all grin. "There she is! There's our favourite ringleader! Bravo! Bravo!" Sonnett teases. They all hoot and holler while I take a mock bow before smiling as Julianna hands me a Rose. I kiss her head, "Thank you Sweetheart". She smiles brightly before motioning for me to pick her up as she wraps her arms around my neck.
Jessie kisses my cheek, "Well done Lee. I thought you were amazing". Kelley snorts, "Did you see the part where she almost fell off the bar stool?" Mal grins, "Or when she tripped over her own feet?" Sonnet cackles, "Or! When she-"
I roll my eyes, "Oh hardy har har. Sorry now I would like to see you try and keep up with some of these kids. It's no joke!" They all laugh as they recount all the parts I messed up in but I knew it was all in good fun. "Well" I speak up loudly gaining all their attention, "I think my performance warrants some celebratory ice cream". But I shrug, "But if you think I wasn't that good I guess not. Shame I was going to buy for everyone too!"
All the youngsters look between themselves.
"Greatest show I ever seen"
"Absolute perfection. Couldn't name a single thing wrong with it"
"Hugh Jackman Hugh?" (*Eye roll* Sonnet)
"At least we know you have acting to fall back on after soccer"
"I want ice cream!"
I chuckle, "That's what I thought". Jessie giggles wrapping her arm around me, "We'll meet you at the ice cream parlour?" "Race ya!" Sonnet shouts as she is already jogging towards the car. While the team laughs, this of course sets off Jules who rapidly taps my shoulder, "C'mon! C'mon! We got to go!" Jessie and I share a smile before we start walking to the car. I call over my shoulder, "We'll see you at the parlor!"
Much to Jules dismay we got a brief pause for me to change out of my costume but luckily all I had to change was my jacket for a hoodie. Jules was practically bouncing in the back seat behind me. Not wanting to keep her waiting any longer I start the car and start driving towards the ice cream parlour.
"So did you like the show Jules?" I ask glancing at the girl in the mirror before looking back at the road. I catch a brief glimpse of her nodding happily, "Yeah!" Jessie turns slightly in her seat she so can see Jules, "What was your favourite part?" "When Cat did all the cool tricks with Eric!" She exclaims and then starts babbling about all the flips and cartwheels Cat was going in the show.
I move my hand to interlock with Jessie's as I glance at her out of the corner of my eye, "What was your favourite part?" She rubs her thumb over my knuckles before grinning.
"The part where you nearly fell off the bar stool"
I groan as the other passengers in the car all burst out laughing. "Definitely my favourite as well" Dylan agrees from behind Jessie. I roll my eyes as I see the two fist bump, "Yeah okay. I see how it is. That's fine". Jessie rolls her eyes and leans over the console to kiss my cheek, "Seriously I really liked your version of "From Now On"". Dylan nods, "Yeah I thought that was really well done". I smile and squeeze her hand before raising it up and pressing a kiss to the back of her hand, "I love you Freckles". I could feel her eyes on me as she lets out a soft whisper, "I lo- LEE LOOK OUT!"
And then everything turned to black
Yeah I know.....I'll see you later for the final update later!!!!