Harry: 39
Camryn: 39
Darcy: 22
Lennon: 20
Nora: 20
Emryn: 23
Auggie: 19
Bowie: 17
Morgan: 17
Calum: 15
Bindi: 13
Grandkid
Penny: 4
September 2033
"Y-Y-Y-You're s-s-shaking,"Auggie chuckles, looking over at Emryn who's sitting on his bed with her legs folded in a pretzel, watching as Auggie changes his clothes.
"No sh**,"Emryn mumbles, fidgeting with the hem of her skirt and picking at her spider laced tights, making the fabric snap against her thighs.
"It's j-j-just m-m-my f-f-family, b-b-babe,"Auggie chuckles, pulling his green jumper over his head.
"Exactly!"Emryn dramatically exclaims, banging the back of her head against the wall repeatedly. "Exactly! Exactly why I'm nervous!"
"Y-Y-Y-You t-t-trying t-t-to g-g-get a ccc-concussion s-s-so y-y-you d-d-don't h-h-have t-t-to g-g-go?"Auggie cheekily smirks, glancing over at Emryn as she continues to bang the back of her head against the wall repeatedly with her eyes closed and her face pulled tight in a dramatic grimace.
"Maybe,"she whimpers, peeking her eyes open to look at him.
"B-B-B-Babe, t-t-they're s-s-so n-n-nice,"Auggie promises with a smile, buttoning his pants and then walking over to the bed that's raises a few feet above the ground, allowing him to stand beside it and lean over the top. It's so high that Emryn has to get a running start to jump on top of it.
He pats his hands on top of her knees as she pouts and looks at him with big puppy dog eyes, hoping that she'll be able to guilt him into not making her go. "I know they're nice it's just...scary. You're lucky you don't have to do this."
Auggie chuckles and shakes his head. She's right, he doesn't have to go through the nerves of meeting her family considering that the only family she has is her grandpa who he's already obviously met since he was their physics professor. "Y-Y-Y-You're s-s-s-so m-m-m-morbid."
"It's true, though,"Emryn smiles slightly and fights back, ruffling her fingers through Auggie's blonde hair. "I'm the one who has to do all the hard work in this relationship." She dramatically sighs and rolls her eyes with a smirk playing on her lips.
"O-O-Oh y-y-you a-are?"Auggie chuckles, smiling widely and massaging his fingers into her thighs against her tights. "W-W-What a s-s-saint y-y-you a-a-are."
"I really am a saint, I'm so glad you finally noticed,"Emryn jokes, pinching both of his baby soft cheeks in her hands as his big blue eyes look at her. "Your welcome for being born to druggie parents." She tilts her ear towards him and motions towards it. "Excuse me? I don't hear you thanking me."
"I-I'm n-n-not g-g-going t-t-to t-t-thank y-y-you for having d-d-druggie p-parents,"Auggie chuckles, kissing her cheek. "T-That w-w-would b-be terrible of m-m-me."
"You're too nice,"Emryn rolls her eyes, messing up his hair even more.
"I-I-It's g-g-gonna b-be f-fun,"Auggie promises. "C'mon p-p-put a s-smile o-o-on t-t-that f-face,"Auggie teases, tapping his index finger against her lips and smiling obnoxiously wide until Emryn finally gives in with a giggle and a shake of the head.
"Y-Y-Y-You've b-b-been c-c-casually a-a-avoiding m-meeting t-t-them f-for the 7 m-m-months that w-w-we've b-been d-dating and they r-r-really w-want to m-m-meet y-you."
"I haven't been avoiding them,"Emryn fights back, holding Auggie's face in her hands with a smirk. She has been. She knows she has been. She's just so incredibly nervous to meet them.
"O-O-Oh r-r-really?"Auggie chuckles, raising a blonde eyebrow as he looks at her with a face that's calling out her bullsh**. "H-H-How's that s-s-sprained a-a-ankle of y-y-yours d-d-doing t-t-that w-w-was y-y-you e-e-exuse f-f-for n-n-not g-g-going t-to t-t-the b-beach w-with u-us a f-f-few w-weeks a-a-ago?"
"It hurts very much thank you for asking,"Emryn says fake seriously, reaching down to tap her ankle that's folded across her calf. "It's still a bit sore."
"Mmhmmm,"Auggie hums, rolling his eyes and pushing his face closer to hers, resting his arms on top of her thighs as he completely leans over the bed and presses his lips against hers.
"I-I-It's j-j-just a f-f-four y-y-year o-o-old's b-b-birthday d-d-dinner,"Auggie whispers, his lips still against her lips.
"That makes it even more stressful!"Emryn groans dramatically, pulling Auggie's cheeks gently to make his face stretch out as he smiles softly. "I'm not good with kids. I never know what to say to them or what to do with them."
"T-T-This w-w-will h-h-help y-y-you,"Auggie offers. "P-P-Penny's l-l-like t-t-the e-e-easiest k-k-kid e-e-ever." He squeezes her thighs flirtatiously and presses his lips against hers once more, keeping them there as he talks. "B-B-Besides, y-y-you're g-g-gonna n-n-need t-t-to l-learn t-t-to b-b-be g-g-good w-w-with k-k-kids f-f-for w-when w-w-we h-h-have b-b-babies."
"Oh are we having babies, mister?"Emryn giggles, pressing quick pecks against his lips as her fingers continue to comb through his blonde hair.
"W-W-We a-a-are,"Auggie smiles cheekily, nodding his head with a huge smile, "w-w-we're g-g-going t-t-to h-h-have l-l-lots a-a-and l-l-lots o-of b-b-babies."
Emryn giggles and smushes his face in her palms, pressing her lips against his smushed ones. "I hope so."
Auggie taps Emryn's jumper that's just a tad lighter shade of green than his is. "W-W-We're m-m-matching."
Emryn tucks her chin to look down at her jumper and then looks over at Auggie, realizing for the first time that they are. "We're so gross."
Auggie breathily chuckles and leans closer to her, resting his forehead against hers as his lips brush hers. "W-We a-are." He kisses her lips, rubbing his nose against hers to make her giggle. "I l-love y-you."
"I kinda like you sometimes,"Emryn decides with a sly smile, tangling her fingers in his hair.
"O-O-Oh?"Auggie questions, pulling away from her lips and putting his hands on her hips and squeezing them to make her squeal. "J-J-Just l-l-like, h-h-hmmm?"
"Yeah, I loved you yesterday before you told me about this family dinner,"Emryn teases, tapping the back of his head with her fingers. "Now my love has turned into like because I'm angry with you."
"O-O-O, y-y-you're s-s-scary w-w-when y-y-you're a-a-angry, s-s-stinker,"Auggie teases, tapping her nose as she scrunches it at him playfully angry. "Y-Y-You r-ready t-t-to g-g-go?"
"You should probably comb your hair first,"Emryn laughs, messing up his blonde hair even more. It's sticking up crazily from the mid afternoon nap that they just took.
"Y-Y-You're r-r-right, c-c'mere,"Auggie says, turning around but continuing to stand by the bed as as crawls on her knees towards him, climbing onto his back for a piggy back ride.
"Carrying me, huh?"Emryn giggles cutely as she nuzzles her face into Auggie's cheek, wrapping her arms around his neck as his hands go to hold onto her thighs.
"W-We w-w-wouldn't w-w-want t-t-to r-r-risk t-t-that p-p-poor a-a-ankle o-of y-y-yours g-g-getting e-e-even m-more h-h-hurt, n-n-now w-w-would w-we?"Auggie teases, spinning their bodies around to make Emryn giggle even more before running out of his room and down the hall with Emryn bopping up and down on his back.
"W-W-We've a-a-arrived y-y-your m-m-majesty,"Auggie puts on a fake posh accent and motions towards the bathroom sink.
"Why thank you, kind sir,"Emryn plays along as Auggie sets her on the counter next to the sink. "I like riding you."
Auggie blushes profusely and bows his head shyly, smirking and shaking his head as Emryn giggles at his reaction. She loves making him flustered and does it at any chance she can get.
"I-I h-h-hate y-y-you,"Auggie pouts, his cheeks still blazing red as he looks over at her with a narrow glance.
"I hate you more, cutie,"Emryn chuckles, making grabbing hands towards him with a comb in her hand. "C'mere. Let's fix this blonde mop of yours."
"Y-Y-Y-ou l-like m-m-my b-b-blonde m-m-mop,"Auggie fights back, resting his hands on her knees as she sits up straighter on the counter and begins to comb through his hair, every so often wetting the comb in the sink.
"I do like your blonde mop,"Emryn concedes, her tongue in-between her teeth as she tries to focus on getting his hair just right. "You're so cute it's disgusting."
"How does my hair look,"Emryn asks, puckering her lips and turning her head from side to side to give him a good look.
"Hmmmm?"Auggie hums jokingly, pinching his eyebrows together as if he's really trying to decide on an answer. He tucks a red piece of hair that fell out of her ponytail behind her ear as she looks at him with her big brown eyes. "I-I g-g-guess y-y-you l-l-look o-okay."
Emryn giggles and scrunches her nose at him, slapping him playfully in the chest. "You're a wad."
"I g-g-gotta s-s-say,"Auggie chuckles, twisting a strand of Emryn's red hair around his finger. "I t-t-think I d-d-did a-a r-really good j-j-job a-a-at d-d-dyeing it."
"Eh,"Emryn shrugs. "You did okay."
"W-Who's t-the w-w-wad n-n-now, h-h-huh?"Auggie chuckles, shaking his head and admiring his handy work of dyeing her hair that he did a few days ago.
"Your glasses are fogged,"Emryn chuckles, taking his glasses off of his face and rubbing the lenses against her sweater paws that she made.
"I-It's c-c-cuz y-y-your s-s-so h-h-hot,"Auggie flirts, squeezing her knees.
"Stop trying to kiss up to me, I'm still very mad at you,"Emryn teases, placing his glasses back on the bridge of his nose.
***
"Y-Y-You're m-m-making m-m-me n-nervous,"Auggie teases, looking over at Emryn as she continues to fidget in the passenger seat of his car, rubbing her legs anxiously.
"I'm gonna puke,"Emryn groans, flinging her head back against the passenger seat headrest.
"I-I-I've n-n-never s-s-seen y-y-you t-t-this nervous,"Auggie chuckles, looking over at her as she pouts and looks straight ahead as they turn onto the street that the Styles' house is on.
Emryn remains completely silent as she looks at the houses on the street with big brown eyes. She almost can't believe it. She didn't know that houses like this actually existed. They're the biggest houses she's ever seen by a long shot.
"A-A-Alright,"Auggie smiles, parking on the street in front of a giant gorgeous white house. "T-T-This is h-h-home."
Emryn continues to stare out the window with big eyes. She wants to call him out that he's joking because surely no one could ever live in this house. "This is huge."
Auggie looks down at his lap, a bit embarrassed when he realizes just how different they grew up. It occurs to him in a lot of ways. He always gets little reminders of how different their childhoods were, especially with how they view money.
It really hit him the first time when he took her out for their first dinner date. He was trying to hide the check from her because he knew she would be shocked if she saw the amount, but eventually she fought it out of his hands and about fainted at the amount. It really hit him when he caught her crying on the way home, but she desperately tried to hide the tears from him. And then as he dropped her off at her apartment she apologized for the cost and promised that she'd pick up extra clients for her small photography business to pay him back.
He of course assured her that she did not need to do that at all and that the cost was completely fine. It was one of the first times he ever got to see how differently they viewed things, and there have definitely been moments since then where he's been reminded again.
"I-I-It's n-n-not t-t-that b-big,"Auggie replies humbly. But he knows it's a lie. The house is huge. It's nearly impossible to hide that fact.
"And I'm Beyoncé,"Emryn rolls her eyes as she continues to stare with a slacked jaw at the house. She finally turns away from looking at the house over at him with a don't lie to me. "August this is a mansion."
Auggie nods and looks down at his lap again, extremely embarrassed. If there's one thing Harry and Camryn taught their kids it's to be humble. They tried to raise their kids to not think any differently about themselves than their peers, and they did that fairly successfully. None of the kids realized how much money their parents had until they were old enough to do some research on the internet. Camryn and Harry never wanted them to know because they never wanted their kids to think that they were any better than anyone else because of the wealth they have.
Auggie, especially, has always been the humblest and never really invited his friends over from school because he didn't want them to know how wealthy his family was.
"W-W-Well, I g-guess,"Auggie whispers, looking at his house as if it's the first time he's seen it. He's so used to it by now that it doesn't faze him at all. They moved into the house when he was only a year old, so really this house is all he's ever known.
"Are there mints in the bathroom?"Emryn asks, smirking over at Auggie.
"W-What?"Auggie chuckles, peeking over at her and noticing her sly smirk.
"In movies there's always mints in the bathrooms of fancy hotels,"Emryn explains with a chuckle. "I assumed maybe your house has them. Or maybe some mini soaps?"
"I'm s-s-sorry, l-last I c-c-checked w-w-we d-d-don't h-have m-mints in t-the b-bathrooms,"Auggie laughs, reaching over to interlock his fingers through hers. "B-B-But I'll b-b-buy y-you s-some m-mints a-after d-d-dinner if y-you w-want."
"What a gentleman,"Emryn smiles, winking at Auggie.
"O-O-Okay, it l-l-looks l-like e-everyone's h-h-here,"Auggie murmurs as he leans over the steering wheel to check all of the cars around the house.
"Oh crap, I'm forgetting names,"Emryn groans, beginning to bang her head against the headrest again.
"G-G-Give m-me a-a list,"Auggie coaches, squeezing her hand with a soft chuckle as Emryn continues to groan.
"Ummm...okay so your parents I'm just gonna call Mr. Styles and Mrs. Styles—"
"T-They're g-g-gonna t-t-tell y-y-you t-t-to c-c-call t-t-them H-Harry and C-Camryn,"Auggie warns as Emryn groans again.
"But that's not polite,"she whines, throwing a dramatic forearm across her eyes. "I've looked up so many fu**ing websites to try and learn how to be polite. Did you know that you're supposed to hold your fork with your left hand and your knife in your right?! Apparently they don't teach you that in drug houses."
"B-B-Babe, t-trust m-me, m-my p-p-parents c-c-couldn't c-care l-less a-a-about w-w-which h-hand y-you hold y-your f-fork in,"Auggie laughs at her little innocent statements. He didn't realize she was putting that much consideration and time in planning all of this. "W-W-We're n-n-not p-p-p-posh."
She looks over at his house with an uh huh sureeee look.
"O-Okay w-well w-w-we're n-n-not p-posh i-in that w-way,"Auggie concedes with a grin as he watches the look appear on her face. He smirks over at Emryn and punches her arm gently to get her to look at him. "B-B-Besides, I t-t-think y-y-you're p-p-polite."
"Yeah, you think I'm polite when I let you put your dick in me,"Emryn rolls her eyes and then smiles as Auggie blushes.
"'K-Kay r-r-rule n-number o-one,"Auggie says holding up one finger. "D-D-Don't s-say s-s-stuff l-l-like t-that in f-f-front of m-m-my p-parents p-please."
"No talk about how nice their son's cock is,"Emryn pretends to have a pencil in her hand and pretends to write on her other hand. "Noted."
"M-M-My c-c-cock a-and a-a-any o-of m-m-my o-other b-b-body p-parts t-t-too,"Auggie continues watching as she pretends to lick the tip of the pencil and goes back to writing on her hand again.
"No talking...about...any of...August's...body parts..."she slowly says and she continues to pretend to write. "Including...his cock...his nipples...his really cute butt cheeks..." she peeks up at him with a furrowed brow "does this list include your cute face?"
"I-I-It d-d-does,"Auggie confirms with a nod and a small smile.
"Got it...and his face..."she bites the tip of her tongue as she pretends to tap the pencil against her chin and rolls her eyes up to the roof of the car "oh...and don't mention the cute little birth mark on his v line...because I'm not...supposed to have...seen that...yet. Because I...totally...didn't turn their super innocent...son...into a...really...horny and kinky...mother f**ker."
"A-A-Are y-y-you d-d-done y-y-yet?"Auggie chuckles, shaking his head as Emryn pretends to flip the imaginary paper to a blank side.
"Um, no,"Emryn rolls her eyes jokingly at him and goes back to writing on her fake notepad. "I will also...not tell August's parents...about the...super cute and really...amazing...tattoo...across his...butt cheeks..."
"D-D-Done y-y-yet?"Auggie checks with a smirk.
"Almost,"Emryn says, putting a hand up to silence him. "Sincerely signed...the future Mrs. Emryn Styles."
"I l-like t-t-the s-s-sound o-of t-t-that,"Auggie flirts, leaning over to press a kiss to her cheek which makes her grin. "O-Okay, d-d-do y-y-you w-want t-t-to g-g-go o-over t-the o-other n-names."
"Right right, don't get side tracked Emryn,"she instructs herself, slapping each of her cheeks gently and blowing out a breath. "Okay, Darcy, Lennon, Bowie, Calum and Bindi. And of course, Penny."
"B-B-Boom,"Auggie proudly exclaims, holding up his hand for Emryn to high five. "A-And t-t-the g-girlfriends?"
"Okay, so Lennon's girlfriend is named Nora and Bowie's girlfriend is named Morgan..."Emryn remembers, pretending like she didn't spend all of last night going over his family photo to try and memorize all of their names. She's never been good with names at all. "Okay, okay I can do this."
"Y-Y-Yeah, y-y-you'll p-p-probably n-never s-see N-Nora's f-f-face b-b-because L-L-Lennon's a-a-always t-t-trying t-t-to s-s-swallow h-h-her,"Auggie teases, warning Emryn of something that is a long standing joke in the Styles' household. For how deathly shy Nora is, her and Lennon as a couple definitely aren't shy about public displays of affection.
Emryn chuckles. "Really? And they don't have a kid yet, right?"
"N-N-No, n-no, it's a m-m-miracle t-they d-don't at t-t-this p-p-point for h-h-how a-all o-over h-her L-Lennon i-is,"Auggie smirks, running a hand through his white blonde hair. "T-They h-had a p-pretty b-bad s-scare in Y-Year 13, t-though." He quickly looks over at Emryn and sits up straighter, throwing a hand out to halt her. "B-B-But don't m-mention it, m-mum and d-d-dad s-still d-d-don't k-know about t-that. O-Only us k-kids k-know."
"So she wasn't pregnant?"Emryn clarifies, raising a filled in eyebrow over at Auggie.
Auggie shakes his head and goes on to explain the situation. It all happened winter of their Year 13. Nora had been feeling pretty ill for the past couple of days and she had a few other symptoms, so she took a test with Lennon in a gas station. And it was positive. Lennon and her of course started freaking out, and they both came home in tears. Luckily Harry and Camryn were out of the house, but all of the kids weren't, so after some prodding, the kids eventually got it out of Lennon and Nora that she was pregnant. Darcy immediately took her to the midwifery clinic that she works in and did an ultrasound. However, when she did the ultrasound there wasn't a baby. A bit puzzled, Darcy did a quick blood test on Nora and figured out that she was never pregnant. It was a false positive. If there's one thing Lennon and Nora can agree on, it's that that was the scariest day of their relationship ever.
"That was a trip,"Emryn says with wide eyes after Auggie explains the whole story to her.
"I-I-It w-w-was,"Auggie nods with a small laugh. "I-I've n-never s-s-seen L-Lennon s-s-so s-stressed."
Auggie looks at the clock and realizes that they were supposed to be in the house 6 minutes ago, so he opens up his car door and walks around to open up Emryn's.
"C-C'mon,"Auggie chuckles, reaching for both of Emryn's hands and trying to pull her up to her feet.
"I don't wanna,"Emryn whines with a dramatic pout up at Auggie.
"B-B-Babe, I d-d-don't g-g-get w-w-what y-y-you're s-s-so s-scared a-about,"Auggie chuckles as he shakes his head, pulling her arms up more to try and get her to stand which is quite hard because she's fighting it pretty hard.
And then, she lets him in on why she's so terrified. She's been making up all of these little excuses for the past 7 months about why she couldn't meet his parents, but she decides that she might as well tell him now. So, with a sigh, she admits it. "I'm not exactly the kind of person that parents look at and go, 'wow, yeah I want my son or daughter to date her'."
"B-B-Babe—"
"I-It's t-true,"Emryn insists, letting go of Auggie's hands to motion towards her body. "Like— I don't know. I just don't look like your brothers' girlfriends do. They're all like sweet and nice and pretty and...they don't have tattoos and piercings and...they don't look like me..."
She wore the most conservative outfit she owns for two reasons. One, she assumed that a more revealing outfit could probably be saved for when his parents know her better and she's more comfortable around the family. And second, it was the first time she's ever felt insecure about her tattoos and piercings. She's always loved the less-than-normal look she has about her, but when getting ready to go to meet his parents, she suddenly go this wave of self consciousness that she couldn't put down. She picked the olive jumper she's wearing because it covered up all of her arm tattoos and she wore tights because it masks her tattoos on her legs. She even thought about covering up the snake tattoo on her hand with makeup.
She didn't cover it up, mainly because she ran out of time before they had to come, but the snake tattoo and the small eye tattoo behind her ear remain as the two lone tattoos, out of many on her body, that are not covered up.
Her piercings, on the other hand, are nearly impossible to cover up. Her black lip ring, her septum piercing along with a stud on the left side of her nose, and of course, Auggie's favorite, her black eyebrow piercing.
"H-H-Hey,"Auggie shakes his head, squatting down in front of the car to be on her level as she continues to grip onto her seat. "I-I d-d-don't w-want you t-t-to l-l-look l-like or b-be l-like N-Nora a-and M-Morgan. T-They're a-a-awesome, b-b-but t-there's a r-r-reason w-w-why it's m-my b-b-brothers w-w-who a-are d-dating t-them a-and n-n-not m-me, o-okay?"
"Okay,"Emryn nods, looking into his blue eyes that are piercing into her.
"A-And f-f-for t-the r-r-record I t-think y-you're b-b-beautiful,"Auggie hums, nuzzling his nose against hers with a grin and then pressing his lips against hers.
"Do your siblings have piercings?"Emryn fearfully asks.
"Y-Y-Yeah,"Auggie assures her, rubbing his hands up and down her arms. "D-Darcy h-h-has a t-ton of p-piercings a-all o-o-over her e-ears and m-m-my m-mum h-has a n-nose p-piercing s-so d-d-does M-M-Morgan."
"What about tattoos?"Emryn checks, flicking her brown eyes up to Auggie.
"M-M-My d-d-dad's whole b-b-body is c-c-covered in t-them, n-now c'mon,"Auggie smiles widely, helping her out of the car and hugging her to soothe her a bit as they stand in the street by the car. "E-E-Everyone w-will love y-y-you and t-think y-you're b-beautiful j-just like I d-do"
***
"D-D-Do y-you w-w-want t-t-to d-do t-the h-honors?"Auggie asks, motioning his head towards the silver door knob on the front door of the house.
"Not really,"Emryn laughs gently as she puts nonetheless puts her hand on the door knob and turns it, pushing the door open.
"H-H-Hi!"Auggie calls as he shuts the door. "Y-Y-Your f-f-favorite s-s-son is h-h-home!"
"Auggie!" Penny's little voice can be heard at the end of the house and next her little feet are heard pattering down the hardwood floor as she runs into the main entry way.
Her long hazel wavey hair reaches her shoulder blades and has a little plastic tiara on top of her head that reads Birthday Girl on it. She's wearing a cute little pink tutu with a white undershirt tucked into it.
"P-P-Penny!"Auggie matches her excitement, throwing his arms out wide to match hers as she crashes into him, hugging her little arms around his legs.
"C-C-C'mere, c-cutie,"Auggie chuckles, picking her up and hugging her tightly to his chest, swaying their bodies around as he squeezes her as tight as he can.
"L-L-Look a-at y-you, P-Princess!"Auggie exclaims, looking at her as she wraps her legs around his hips. "Y-You l-look s-s-so p-pretty!"
"O-Oh t-t-thanks,"Penny shyly responds with a cheeky smile, dropping her blushing cheek to her shoulder. "D-D-Do y-y-you l-like m-m-my d-d-diara?"
Auggie chuckles gently at her pronunciation of the word "tiara" and kisses her forehead. "I l-l-love y-y-your 'd-d-diara'. I-It's s-s-so n-n-nice o-o-of y-you t-t-to g-g-get d-dressed u-up a-all f-fancy f-for m-my b-birthday!"
"Auggie,"Penny drawls, rolling her eyes as she giggles at her uncle. "It's not your birthday! It's my birthday!"
"O-Oh i-is i-it?"Auggie asks, furrowing his brows playfully. "I-I f-f-forgot a-a-about t-that!"
"You silly Auggie,"Penny giggles, placing her small palms on Auggie's cheeks as she nuzzles their noses together, scrunching hers as Auggie does. She turns her head to the side and notices the girl standing by Auggie for the first time. "Who's that?"
Auggie looks over at Emryn who's smiling shyly as she watches Auggie with Penny and grips onto her bag that's slung across her chest.
"O-Oh, t-t-that's m-my g-girlfriend,"Auggie introduces, turning his body slightly so that Penny can get a better look at Emryn who's now waving at the little girl in her boyfriend's arms. "H-Her n-n-name is E-E-Emryn."
"Emryn?"Penny tries out on her lips, studying the girl quickly and taking special note of her bright red hair. "I like your hair."
"Thanks, girlfriend,"Emryn giggles, continuing to tightly grip the long strap of her bag. "I love your tutu! Do you think they make those in my size?"
"Maybe,"Penny hums, putting her finger against her chin as she thinks thoughtfully. "I can ask mummy!"
"Awesome, thanks,"Emryn chuckles, nodding her head with a big smile as she feels Auggie smile over at her with a proud grin.
"She's pretty,"Penny whispers in Auggie's ear, although she's still too little to really know how to whisper, so it's loud enough for Emryn to hear.
Auggie widens his eyes at the little girl in his arms and does an exaggerated nod. He presses his lips against Penny's ear and does a mock whisper. "I t-t-think s-s-so t-t-too."
"Excuse me, is my lovely daughter hogging all of my Auggie time?"
He chuckles immediately when he hears Darcy's voice bouncing off of the walls as she walks through the hall, her eyes immediately falling to her little brother holding her daughter.
"Hey bubba,"Darcy smiles widely as she rushes over to him and tightly hugs him, smooshing Penny in between their bodies. "I've missed you."
"I m-m-missed y-you t-too,"Auggie replies, kissing Darcy's cheek. They've only been apart for two weeks, but since all of the kids grew up so close, it's still weird for them to realize that they have to spend a few days alone without each other now that they have grown up lives.
She lets go of Auggie and immediately realizes that there's another person in the room who's fiddling with the pins on her bag as she softly grins and looks at Auggie and Darcy greet each other.
"Hi! You must be Emryn!"Darcy smiles widely, holding her arms out towards Emryn. "I've heard so much about you!" She wraps her arms around Emryn who freezes for a bit in shock, she wasn't expecting anyone to hug her, but she quickly wraps her arms around Darcy too, smiling widely. "Sorry, I'm a hugger."
"That's okay,"Emryn giggles as Darcy pulls away from Emryn and studies her.
"Oh I love your lip ring! I always wanted one, but I didn't think it would look very good on me,"Darcy bubbles, motioning for everyone to follow her down the hallway. "C'mon, let's go introduce you to everyone!"
Auggie sets Penny down as she runs through the hall and he looks over at Emryn who's walking right next to him. He reaches out to interlock his fingers through hers and gives her hand a comforting squeeze as she smiles over at him nervously.
"Augustimooooo!"Lennon loudly announces, leaning back in his chair at the kitchen table as he sets down the cards that were in his hand and smiles widely at Auggie with his arms out wide. Nora smiles and waves, sitting next to Lennon at the table.
"Augs!"Calum exclaims, looking behind his shoulder as he places down a card and smile with Bindi sitting next to him and exclaiming "Gussy!" right after.
"H-Hey g-g-guys!"Auggie greets with a huge smile, picking up his speed as he grips Emryn's hand tighter, suddenly getting a little wave of nervousness as he realizes that he's about to introduce his girlfriend, the girl he loves more than anything, to his entire family.
Auggie walks into the dining room that leads into the kitchen with Emryn squeezing his hand until it's completely white as Harry and Camryn turn around from the stove to see her.
"Hi,"Harry immediately greets with a big smile. "You must be Emryn!" He wipes his hands off with a dish towel and sticks his hand out towards Emryn. "I'm Harry, it's so nice to meet you.'
"It's nice to meet you too,"Emryn politely responds, shaking Harry's hand with a cautious smile. She nervously tucks a strand of her red hair behind her ear before turning to Camryn who has also made her way towards her.
"I'm Camryn, Auggie's mum, we've heard so much about you,"she quickly hugs Emryn and then pulls away, smiling widely at her. "We've been wanting to meet you! I'm so glad you could finally make it!"
"Me too,"Emryn responds, glancing around the kitchen. It's bigger than her whole apartment was when she lived with her grandpa. "It's so nice to finally meet you all."
"Alright, introduce yourself guys,"Harry says, motioning towards his kids at the table.
"I'm Lennon and this is my girlfriend Nora,"Lennon starts off, wrapping his arm around Nora who smiles at Emryn and waves shyly.
"I'm Calum,"the blonde curly headed boy waves, his smile reaching his eyes.
"I'm Bindi,"the little girl smirks, waving her hand and glancing towards Emryn's face to study her piercings. "I love your piercings, those are so cool!"
"Thanks!"Emryn smiles widely, becoming a lot less self conscious about her piercings now that Darcy and Bindi have both complimented them. "I've heard a lot about you Bindi."
"I'm sure you have,"Bowie chuckles, turning Emryn's attention over to him. Morgan is sitting on the counter of the kitchen with Bowie in between her legs, his back facing her with her arms around Bowie's neck. "Everyone knows the famous Bindi Belle. I'm Bowie by the way."
"And I'm Morgan,"Morgan waves briefly with a smile, her long black hair nearly reaching the counter.
"It's nice to meet you all,"Emryn says again. She mentally punches herself as she realizes that she's said that sentence like 5 times already. She's like a broken record. It's hard to leave Emryn Morrison speechless, but this situation has succeeded in doing it.
"Well sit down sit down,"Harry offers, motioning towards the table where most of the kids are sitting.
"We're having Penny's favorite tonight since it's her birthday,"Camryn winks over at her little granddaughter who's now sitting on Lennon's lap as he lets her look at the cards in his hand as he plays one that makes Calum yell out and slap his cards down on the table.
"Let me guess,"Bowie chuckles, placing his hands on top of Morgan's that are right under his neck. "Chicken tenders and chips?"
"Ding ding ding, we have a winner,"Darcy calls with a smile as she pulls out the pan of chicken tenders from the oven and setting them on the counter top.
"My lil' lady lovessssss chicken tenders,"Lennon drawls in a cooing voice, tucking his face into Penny's neck and tickling her sides as she squirms in his lap with giggles.
"Would you like some wine, Emryn?"Harry offers, popping open a bottle of red wine and pouring a glass for Camryn.
"Oh, I'm okay, thanks,"Emryn declines, shaking her head as she feels Auggie tense beside her.
"Are you sure, lovey?"Camryn asks, looking up from helping Darcy scoop the chicken tenders onto a plate for everyone. "You're not just being polite right?"
She feels Auggie tense bedside her body, his arm brushing against hers. He's never seen her be faced with having to turn down her previous addiction, and he has no idea what to do. He has no idea that she's spent the past 3 years of her life figuring out how to combat her temptations and has become fairly good at being able to deny alcohol without a second thought. Auggie, however, has never realized how accustomed to turning down her temptations Emryn is.
"S-S-She's f-fine m-m-mum, r-r-really,"Auggie says a bit coldly, putting a protective hand on the small of Emryn's back.
Emryn watches as Harry and Camryn look over cautiously at Auggie. He never snaps, so it catches them a bit off guard. Especially since they have absolutely no previous knowledge of Emryn's past. Literally all Auggie has told his family is that his girlfriend's name is Emryn, she's 23 and does freelance photography.
"It's okay,"she looks at Auggie to assure him that she's fine and she's no stranger to having to turn down drinks. "I just don't drink, but thank you for offering."
"Oh no problem,"Harry responds with a small smile, handing the glass to Camryn.
They all walk over to the big dinner table, Auggie sitting next to Bindi and Emryn sitting on his other side at the end of the table as Bowie and Morgan sit down at the head of the table and Camryn and Harry walk over to sit by Lennon and Nora.
"Alright, birthday girl gets first dibs,"Harry chuckles, handing the large plate of 50 chicken tenders over to Darcy who's sitting next to Penny.
"What do you say to nana and papa for cooking these?"Darcy asks Penny, looking down at her as she places two chicken tenders on her little girl's plate and a handful of chips.
"Thank you nana and papa!"Penny exclaims, taking a chip off of her plate and dipping it in ketchup.
Everyone passes the plates of food around the table and Camryn covers her mouth as she asks Emryn her first question. "So Emryn, tell us about yourself!"
"Okay, um,"Emryn chuckles nervously, taking a bit of her chip and chewing thoughtfully. "Well I'm Emryn, obviously...I uh...I graduated from University in June, so I'm a full time photographer now..."
"S-S-She p-p-plays t-the b-b-bass,"Auggie adds, looking over at Emryn and wiggling his eyebrows.
"You do?"Bindi exclaims, leaning forward to look over Auggie and make eye contact with Emryn who's nodding and smiling. "I do too! I wanna start a band!"
"I was in a band in when I was like 15,"Emryn replies, wiping her mouth with a napkin. "We were called the..." she peeks over at Penny who's giggling at Lennon balancing a chip between his lip and his nose to make it resemble a mustache "...never mind."
The Pink Pussies
Her band name in high school was literally The Pink Pussies.
And she realizes now that there is a four year old in the room and immediately blushes in embarrassment.
Harry smirks at her as he chews his food because he just knows. And he has a feeling he's going to like this girl.
"We were a pop punk band. Me and 3 other girls,"Emryn continues to explain quickly, trying to recover from her previous embarrassment. "It was lots of fun."
"And remind me how you guys met?"Harry asks, looking between Auggie and Emryn.
Auggie looks over at Emryn and nods, telling her to speak. He knows they want to hear her talk, they've lived with Auggie his whole life, she's a new person and they want to get to know her.
"Well, um, we met on the first day of class,"Emryn begins, sitting back on her chair and smiling a bit. "I saw him at the back of the class and I was like 'huh, he seems smart, I want him to be my partner on projects'."
"S-S-She d-d-d-didn't w-w-want m-me, s-she j-just w-w-wanted m-m-my b-brain,"Auggie jokingly rolls his eyes at her as she grins over at him.
That gets a little chuckle from the table and Emryn laughs and nods with a shrug. "Well, I mean at first, yeah. Then I went over to his apartment later that day to work on a project and...what can I say? I just rocked his world." That courses another collective chuckle from the table as she looks over at Auggie with this pride written across her face. Okay. She made them laugh. She can do this. Auggie winks at her and places a comforting hand on her knee, squeezing it soothingly.
"When did you guys start like officially dating?"Morgan asks, Bowie scratching his fingers up and down her back as he eats with his other hand.
"Valentine's Day,"Emryn replies with a smile, taking a bite of chicken tender and chewing it before responding. "We spent the day together and then that night I kinda forced him to ask me to be his girlfriend."
"I-It w-w-was k-kind of s-s-straightforward,"Auggie chuckles, squeezing her knee again. "B-B-But I w-w-would've n-n-never g-g-got t-t-the c-c-courage to ask her, s-s-so it's p-probably g-g-good t-t-that s-she a-asked m-m-me."
"So what about your family, Emryn?"Camryn asks, smiling softly over at the girl who freezes a bit. "Do you have any siblings?"
Emryn's very grateful that she just took a bite of chicken tender because it gives her an excuse to take a minute and think of a response. "I had a brother,"Emryn decides to just tell the truth. It's better to just rip the bandaid off. "He passed away when I was 19, but he was amazing. We were like best friends."
"Oh I'm so sorry to hear that,"Camryn quietly responds, stopping her eating and looking at the young girl with the most sympathetic eyes.
"It's okay,"Emryn quickly assures Camryn as a slight tension raises in the air. "Really..." she's looking for anything to start a new and less awkward conversation "so, Penny, I heard you had a big birthday party on Saturday! Did you get lots of cool presents?"
"Yeah,"Penny enthusiastically nods, smiling widely as she looks across the table at Emryn. "Gwen bought me a pony!"
"A pony?!"Emryn exclaims with a giggle, making wide eyes at the little girl.
"A plastic one,"Darcy clarifies with a chuckle, using a napkin to wipe a bit of smeared ketchup off of Penny's cheek.
They continue to talk about Penny's birthday party for the rest of the dinner, everyone adding their input about things that happened since they were all there except Emryn. Auggie's hand travels from Emryn's knee to her hand, interlocking his fingers with hers under the table as he glances over at her.
The look on her face makes his heart speed up a bit. She seems—uncomfortable?...and maybe a bit sad. He squeezes her hand once to get her to look at him and furrows his brows slightly, tilting his head to the side to silently ask what's wrong? while everyone else is too focused on Penny talking about what she learned at her daycare this morning to realize the silent encounter.
Emryn shakes her head to assure him that it's nothing and smiles softly, trying her best to convince him that she's fine.
But, she's not fine. And it just gets worse.
***
Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Pennyyyyy! Happy birthday to you!
Harry sets a massive pink frosted birthday cake in front of Penny with at least 20 candles all along the rim of it. She's sitting on her knees on the kitchen chair and her eyes go wide as she looks at the cake and sucks in a big breath, blowing out all of the candles.
"Ayeeee!"everyone cheers as she smiles up proudly, her tiara tipping down a bit as Darcy quickly fixes it.
"Alright PenPen,"Lennon chuckles, using a big knife to cut a piece of the cake and placing it in front of Penny. "Take a bite! How is it?"
Penny takes a mouthful of the chocolate cake and hums in bliss as she takes another mouthful of the cake and exclaims through a full chocolatey mouth that "it's good!"
They all eat their cake for a minute before Emryn quickly reaches in her bag, making Auggie look at her questioningly.
"Um, I just remembered,"Emryn says making everyone look over at her. "I brought a little present for Penny." She pulls out the present that's wrapped in newspaper wrapping because she couldn't afford real wrapping paper and hands it across the table to Penny who smiles widely.
"Oh Emryn, you didn't have to do that,"Darcy smiles gratefully, nodding at her baby girl who looks at her with big eyes and an excited smile.
"I know, but I wanted to,"Emryn smiles, watching as Penny rips through the newspaper and gets to the small box inside.
"MY OWN CAMERA?!"Penny exclaims, looking down at the picture of the pink toy camera printed on the box to show what's contained inside.
"Yep,"Emryn nods with a big smile. "I thought maybe we could take photos together sometime. I can teach you some things."
"Oh baby, look at that!"Darcy gushes, opening up the box for Penny. "What do you say to Emryn? That was so nice of her!"
"Thank you!"Penny gushes, jumping off of her chair and running towards Emryn to give her a big hug which Emryn accepts gratefully, wrapping her arms around the little girl's middle and smiling at the feeling of her little arms around her neck.
"Of course, girlfriend,"Emryn smirks, letting go of the little girl as she runs over to Darcy and takes the camera out of her hands.
"What are you gonna take a picture of, Nellie?"Bowie asks, watching with a wide grin as Penny marvels at the pink camera in her hands.
"I dunno,"Penny shrugs with a huge smile, handing it to Lennon so he can help her turn it on.
"Maybe you should take a picture of Emryn first since she gave it to you,"Bindi suggests, squishing the crumbs of chocolate cake on her plate with her finger.
"Y-Y-You d-d-didn't t-t-tell m-me about t-that,"Auggie whispers with a big smile watching as Emryn's face continues to glow as she watches the little girl's excitement.
"I know,"Emryn smirks, squeezing Auggie's hand under the table. "I wanted it to be a surprise."
"'cuse me,"Penny lisps, holding up her pink camera in her hand as she stands behind Auggie and Emryn's chairs. "Can I take your picture?"
"W-W-Why s-s-sure M-Miss P-P-Penelope,"Auggie chuckles at her polite little voice, scooting his chair out from the table to face Penny as Emryn follows his lead. He puts his arm around Emryn's shoulder as she tilts her head a bit to be closer to him and they both give big exaggerated smiles at the little girl.
"One...two...freeeee,"Penny lisps, squinting both of her eyes to try and see through the little hole that shows the image. There's a bright flash that matches the light on Penny's face as she smiles proudly thinking that she's already a professional photographer.
"I think your finger was in front of the lens, little lady,"Lennon chuckles gently, looking at his niece with the biggest heart eyes as he hugs Nora closer to his side, her cheek resting on his chest as she hugs her arms around his waist and smiles over at Penny.
Penny frowns and looks down at the camera in her hands as Emryn reaches towards it, leaning away from Auggie slightly. "Lemme see." She takes the camera out of Penny's hands and clicks a few buttons to see the previous image and sure enough, Penny's index finger is covering all of Auggie's head and half of Emryn's.
"Hey that's okay,"Emryn assures the little girl. "I'll help you." She gets out of her seat and kneels down slightly behind Penny to be able to look behind her shoulder. "'Kay, hold your arms up like this...perfect! Now you're going to hit the button up top with this finger, 'kay?" She positions Penny's index finger on top of the button. "And make sure this hand holds the camera but that none of your fingers go flying out because we don't want them in the photos, right?"
"Yeah, it's silly when they're in the photos,"Penny giggles with a nod, glancing sideways at Emryn who's smiling and biting down softly on her lip piercing.
"It is silly,"Emryn confirms with a snicker. "Okay now stay there while I get back into position, 'kay?" Penny nods and stays extremely still, not even blinking because she's afraid that will mess it up.
"Peaches, you're allowed to breathe,"Morgan chuckles, watching as the little girl holds her breath in an attempt to stay completely still.
"Look at her little furrowed brows,"Harry whispers with a smile into Camryn's ear.
"I know,"Camryn whispers back with a tiny giggle. "That's a serious look of concentration."
"'Kay Penny, you can take it now,"Emryn nods with a smile as Auggie wraps his arm around her shoulders again and they go back to their original position.
"Better?"Penny asks after the flash, looking towards Emryn.
"Let's see,"Emryn chuckles, holding her hand out towards the camera as Penny puts it in her hands. "Oh it looks great, girlfriend! You shaved 10 pounds off of my face, good job!"
Everyone laughs at Emryn's statement as Penny smiles proudly and takes the camera back, admiring her work.
Throughout the rest of the night, she ends up taking pictures of everyone in the family.
First, of course, she takes a picture of her mumma. Darcy is laying on the couch with her cheek against a pillow as she sticks out her tongue and scrunches her nose at Penny.
Next, she went to her nana and papa. Harry wrapped his arm around Camryn's shoulder and used his other hand to cup her cheek as he pressed a big kiss to her cheek.
Lennon and Nora were next. Nora was sitting sideways on Lennon's lap at the kitchen table when Penny came up to them. So, the picture is of Nora sitting on Lennon's lap with her arms around Lennon's neck, their cheeks smushed together with one of Lennon's hands on Nora's hip and the other hand on her knees.
Next was Bowie and Morgan. Bowie decided that they'd do a piggy back ride for the photo, so Morgan jumped onto his back, grabbing both of his cheeks into her hands and pulling them out wide to make his face funny as she stuck her tongue out at the camera.
Then, Calum was next who got real close to the camera so that it was just his eyes and nose that could be seen in the photo which Penny got a real kick out of and reduced her to blissed giggles for a good 2 minutes.
And lastly was Bindi who was laying on her back on the floor, so Penny came over and stood over her, snapping a candid photo of Bindi laughing that was slightly blurry because Penny was also laughing.
***
"W-W-We're g-g-going t-t-to g-g-go o-outside f-f-for a b-bit,"Auggie announces to the family who are all sitting around and watching a movie as Penny moves around the livingroom and takes pictures of random objects.
"Can I come?!"Penny asks, anxious to take photos of some of the trees and flowers outside in their big backyard.
"Baby, let Auggie and Emryn have some time alone, I'll take you outside tomorrow so you can take photos,"Darcy says with her feet on top of Calum's lap as she lays on the couch.
"I-It's o-okay, s-s-she c-c-can c-c-come,"Auggie assures Darcy, holding out his hand for Penny to grab as he looks down at Emryn to get confirmation that it was alright. Emryn nods and looks down at Penny with a soft smile as the three of them venture outside into the chilly air.
"I want pictures of the treessss,"Penny exclaims, looking upwards to the sky and pointing at some of the tall trees in the Styles' backyard.
"O-O-O-Okay, c-c-c'mere,"Auggie chuckles, holding his arms out for his little niece and lifting her to sit on top of his shoulders.
"The leaves are wet Auggie!"Penny squeals, reaching out to touch one of the ranch branches hanging above her head.
"Y-Y-Yeah c-cuz it r-rained e-e-earlier t-today." He purposely walks towards a branch of the tree so that some of the wet leaves hit her face, glancing his eyes up at her so he can see her funny reaction
"Yucky!"Penny spits, trying to get the dirty water out of her mouth, rubbing her palms against her mouth to try and get the gross stuff out of her mouth. "It's so wet!"
He looks over at Emryn with a pointed gaze because he just knows her. "D-D-Don't d-do it."
He's right. She's practically bursting at the seams. "I just—"
"E-E-Emmy,"Auggie warns with a mock pointed gaze as he smirks at her.
"But—"
"B-Babe—"
"THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!"Emryn finally exclaims, covering her mouth with her palms immediately after and looking at Auggie with wide brown eyes.
"Y-Y-You r-really a-are 12 y-years old a-aren't y-y-you?"Auggie chuckles, shaking his head at her as she scoots closer to wrap her arms around his middle, snuggling into his side as an apology. "J-J-Just c-c-c-couldn't c-contain y-y-yourself could y-you."
"I'm sorry I've held back from saying like 100 of those at dinner,"Emryn congratulates herself, very proud at how much she's been able to hold back during the dinner. She's never had to bite her tongue as hard as before. Does he know how many sexual innuendos his family makes because it's a lot. "Your dad totally caught on too. When Bowie was teasing Morgan about not being able to finish her chips and was like 'c'mon, you have to eat a bit more' I snickered and looked down at my plate and your dad totally smirked too."
"O-O-Oh g-g-great, n-n-now m-m-my d-d-dad h-has t-t-the d-d-dirty m-m-minded p-p-partner in crime h-h-he w-w-was a-always h-h-hoping f-f-for,"Auggie rolls his eyes, reaching out to grab Emryn's hands and interlock his fingers through hers.
"I'm so high!"Penny giggles holding onto Auggie's blonde hair and looking up at the trees that she's now much closer to.
"Awwww she sounds like baby Emryn now,"Emryn teases, nudging Auggie's shoulder as he stands caught off guard for a second at her statement and then laughs as he shakes his head.
He's missed that. He's missed her spunk. It seems that she was trying to tone down her true personality in front of his family and it made him really sad to see. "Y-You're u-u-unbelievable."
"Unbelievably gorgeous?"Emryn checks with a cheesy grin, looking up at him and holding onto his bicep.
"O-Of c-course,"Auggie cheekily winks at her and leans his head down to press a quick kiss to her lips.
"Ewwww kissies,"Penny groans, slapping the top of Auggie's head gently to get him to stop.
"E-E-Ew k-k-k-kisses? E-E-Ew k-k-kisses, h-h-hmmm?"Auggie playfully growls, reaching up to take Penny off of his shoulders as she squeals, knowing exactly what's going to happen. "I-It s-s-sounds l-like s-s-someone's a l-little j-j-jealous!" He lays her down on the grass as she giggles and he straddles her hips, hovering above her. "I-It s-s-seems l-l-like s-s-someone w-w-wants A-A-Auggie k-k-kisses."
"No Auggie!"Penny squeals with a blissful giggle as she tries to push away Auggie's face, but she's not strong enough, so he successfully blows raspberries against her neck as she continues to giggle and squeal.
Emryn giggles and sits down next to the two on the grass, just taking everything in. He's so good with Penny. It makes her heart warm because she was never really around kids growing up besides her brother. She doesn't really feel comfortable around kids or babies, but Penny has been so easy to be around and is just such a fun little girl.
It makes her sad a bit, however. Seeing Auggie with Penny reminds her of all of the things she missed out on. She never got people to love on her or blow raspberries on her neck until she was giggling so hard she was crying. She never got a birthday cake or presents.
But, there is something even more painful about looking at Penny. She never got Drew. She never got to see him turn four or blow out candles. She never got to watch him open presents or know what his smile looked like. She doesn't know what color eyes he has or if his hair is still black like it was when he was born. She doesn't know if he would've liked chocolate cake like Penny or preferred vanilla. She doesn't know if he would've liked snuggles like Penny does or if he would've preferred to keep to himself. She doesn't know what his favorite food is. She knows more about this little girl that she just met 4 hours ago than she knows about her own son and that fact alone creates a pit in her stomach.
"Hey Nellie,"Darcy calls, opening the screen door and bringing Emryn out of her overthinking haze. "It's bed time, sweetheart. Actually it's way past your bed time, c'mon. We get to have a sleepover at nana and papas tonight and papa said he'd make his special banana chocolate chip pancakes for you!"
"Bye bye Penny Lenny,"Auggie coos, pressing two big and loud kisses to her squish cheeks. "I love you."
"Love you too,"Penny responds as Auggie climbs off of her and helps her onto her feet.
"Bye, girlfriend,"Emryn waves, smiling softly, but it doesn't come close to reaching her eyes. She may be able to fool Penny with the smile, but she can't fool Auggie.
"Bye bye!"Penny waves as she runs into Darcy's arms, who picks her up and snuggles her tightly, pressing little kisses to her pink lips.
And it stabs Emryn in the heart even more. She'll never get to hug or kiss her little boy.
***
She's been uncharacteristically quiet and it's really scaring Auggie. They're huddled by the burning fire pit in the corner of the backyard. She has a blanket tucked around her shoulders and his arm is around her shoulders with her leaning into him and resting her cheek on his chest, but she's as stiff as a board.
Normally she's not a very deep thinker. She doesn't like to think too much into things because it always makes her sad, and she either ends up psyching herself out unecisarrily or creating problems in her head that aren't even really there.
"O-O-Okay, a-are y-y-you g-going t-to t-t-tell m-me w-what's w-w-wrong o-or a-a-are y-y-you g-g-going t-t-to m-m-make me freeze m-my a-a-arse o-off o-out h-h-here all n-night w-w-waiting f-f-for y-y-you t-t-to t-talk?"Auggie asks, squeezing her tighter to his side.
"I'm fine,"Emryn lies, staring straight ahead at the fire. The heat and smoke and her lack of looking away is starting to make her eyes burn, but she couldn't care less at this point.
"A-A-Are y-you s-sure?"Auggie asks, not believing a single word she's saying. He knows her, and he know's that this is not nearly the normal fun and spunky Emryn he decided to date 7 months ago. "Y-Y-You w-were p-pretty s-s-shy at d-d-dinner a-a-and y-you're s-s-still a-a-acting k-kinda w-weird."
"It's nothing,"Emryn murmurs, pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders.
"T-T-That's n-n-never t-true,"Auggie replies with a sly smirk, pressing light kisses to the top of her head as she snuggles her cheek in deeper to his chest.
"Your family is just really nice,"Emryn whispers.
"A-And t-t-that's a b-b-bad t-t-thing?"Auggie asks with a chuckle, raising his eyebrows down at Emryn even though she can't see him since she's still staring straight ahead.
"No, it's not..."she murmurs, beginning to inch away from Auggie. "...I mean maybe it is." She sits up straight and turns her body to look at Auggie who looks completely confused about what's going on, one of his arms resting against the back of the couch their sitting on.
"Your family is just...too nice. I don't fit in and...I don't think I can fit in,"Emryn explains, fitting with her closing throat to keep her emotions at bay.
"E-E-Emmy, y-you're n-nice,"Auggie says, his brows pinching together harder as he looks at her completely confused.
"Not like you guys,"Emryn shakes her head. It's the overwhelming fear that was preventing her from meeting his family for so long and now after she's met them, the fear was confirmed. They grew up too differently to ever really be able to understand each other and connect. They just wouldn't work. She's been fearing this since the moment she started dating, but this dinner gave her confirmation and it makes her stomach churn. "We're too different, August." She looks down at her hands in her lap because she doesn't think she can bare to look at Auggie as she says the next few words. "I'm breaking up with you. We have to break up."
"E-E-Emryn, w-w-what?"Auggie asks, completely shocked and leaning his body forward a little as if he thinks he heard her wrong and sitting closer to her would help clear up his mistakes. This is not at all how he foresaw tonight going. "W-W-What a-a-are y-y-you d-d-doing?"
"I'm doing what's best for you, August,"Emryn says tearfully, looking into his eyes. He deserves better. He deserves so much better. "You're a much better person than I am. You deserve someone who I can never be for you."
"E-E-Emryn, t-this d-d-doesn't m-make s-sense,"Auggie fights back, completely flustered about what's going on. He can't even really understand what she's saying because he's just so confused. This isn't adding up in his brain and it's not often that things don't add up in his brain which confuses and stresses him out even more.
"You don't get it, but I'm doing what's best for you,"Emryn responds, looking towards the house and motioning towards this. "All of this? That's so overwhelming to me. I could never get used to that. It would always make me uncomfortable. I just— I didn't grow up like you. I grew up on the streets without parents and you grew up like this and—
"J-J-Just b-b-because you g-g-grew up l-l-like t-t-that d-d-doesn't m-m-mean y-you h-h-have to k-keep living l-like t-t-that,"Auggie interrupts her. Not seeing at all what how they grew up differently has to do with any of this.
But to her: it's everything. Living a posh life like this makes her so uncomfortable because...she doesn't feel worthy to have a life like that. She puts on a big show of being this really confident and outgoing girl who's spunky and fairly happy all the time, but really, she's no where near as confident as she makes herself out to be. She views herself as a pretty horrendous person actually because of all of the past mistakes and wrong choices she's made. She doesn't deserve this kind of life, or so she thinks.
And she loves him. She loves that blonde boy sitting in front of her so much that she's willing to realize that he deserves better. Someone she could never be. Someone who comes from even remotely the same background. Not an ex-druggie and ex-alcoholic who can't be around kids without having a mental breakdown because she was stupid and got pregnant at 14, messing her up forever.
"I'm sorry, August,"she whispers, standing up from the couch and setting the blanket on top of it as she looks at him right in his blue eyes that are blazing in the reflection of the fire. "I really am."
"E-E-Emryn, w-w-wait,"Auggie calls as she begins to walk towards the sliding glass door. "I l-l-love y-y-you s-s-so m-much!"
"I love you too, August,"she shakily replies. It's the first time that Auggie realizes how red her eyes have become and how there's a few single tears rolling down her cheeks. "I love you enough to know that you deserve so much better."
"Hey! Are you heading out?"Harry asks in confusion as he watches her walk over to the kitchen counter where her bag is placed, his brows furrowing in the exact way Auggie's do and it makes her heart clench.
"I am, yeah,"Emryn nods, putting her bag across her chest and then looking at the family, except Penny and Darcy who are both going to sleep, that are all snuggling up on the couch. The family she could never be good enough to be apart of. "Thank you so so much for letting me come over and thank you for dinner. I had a really fun time."
"Oh don't thank us, sweetheart,"Camryn smiles softly, her heart dropping slightly as she notices Emryn's red rimmed and puffy eyes. "We loved having you. You'll come back soon, right?"
"Uh, yeah,"Emryn stutters flusterdly, looking down at her feet and tucking a piece of red hair behind her ear. "Yeah. Thank you again. I better be heading out if I want to catch the 10 o'clock train."
"Auggie isn't driving you home?"Harry asks, his furrowed brows deepening. He doesn't like the sound of that. The son he raised would never make his girlfriend ride the train alone in the dark. Especially when they live almost two hours away.
"No, no it's okay,"Emryn assures him quickly, hurriedly walking across the room. "Thank you again. You guys were so sweet."
"Bye sweetheart,"Camryn says, still huddled against Harry on the couch as her mumma senses catch onto a bit of what's going on.
"It was nice meeting you Emryn,"Lennon waves, a sleeping Nora with her head in his lap.
"You too,"Emryn nods with a polite smile, rushing out the front door before anyone else can talk to her.
***
"Hi sweetheart,"Camryn greets as Auggie opens the sliding glass door a few minutes later and walks inside, holding the discarded blanket in his hand. "I'm glad you came in, it's starting to get really cold out there."
Auggie nods and remains silent, wiping at his wet eyes a bit as he keeps his head down and heads straight up the stairs to his old bedroom, not making eye contact with a single person.
"I don't like the look of that,"Harry frowns, watching the empty stairs that Auggie just used.
"Sh**,"Lennon mutters as he also stares at the same spot that his father is staring at. He was so glad that his little brother finally found someone that he loved and someone who genuinely loved him back. He'd been waiting 19 years for that.
"Did they break up?"Bindi asks, lifting her head slightly from where it was resting on Camryn's lap.
"Looks like it,"Bowie frowns with Morgan huddled into his side on the couch, her eyes also trained on the empty stairs with a pout on her face.
"I'll go talk to him,"Lennon offers, gently lifting Nora's head off of his lap and setting it down carefully on the couch before running up the stairs and knocking on Auggie's door.
"W-W-What?"Auggie calls, sniffling a few times.
"It's me,"Lennon calls back, knowing that his little brother will recognize his voice immediately.
"C-Come in,"Auggie sighs, glancing over at the door as it opens to his older brother walking in. He walks straight to Auggie's bed where he's sitting and sits across from him with his legs in a pretzel. Auggie sighs again and rests his head back against the headboard of the bed. "W-What d-do y-you w-w-want?"
He looks at his brother's red rimmed eyes and splotchy face and he just knows. It's extremely easy to tell when Auggie's upset of crying because his face turns an extreme color of red, and sure enough his face is blazing already. "What happened?"
"W-W-W-W b-b-broke u-u-up,"Auggie sniffles, looking at the covers a few feet in front of him at the end of the bed instead of looking at his big brother. He hugs the pillow that he's holding tighter to his chest.
"What?"Lennon asks completely confused. They looked so happy and in love at dinner tonight. He'd never seen Auggie that happy before and that made him extremely happy. "What happened?"
"S-S-She g-g-g-got r-r-really o-overwhelmed, I g-g-guess?"Auggie replies. He's been playing through the breakup conversation in his mind ever since Emryn left which means he's gotten through it about 25 times and he still doesn't really understand what happened or her reasoning. "S-S-She g-g-grew u-u-up r-r-really..." How does he put this into words without telling his family too much that Emryn doesn't want them to know about her just yet. Well now she doesn't ever want them to know. "...p-p-poor. A-A-And I t-t-think t-t-the h-house j-just o-overwhelmed h-her. It's h-happened b-b-before..."
Auggie goes on to explain the whole first ever dinner date situation to Lennon who seems to be able to make a bit more sense of how Emryn is feeling now that he knows just the slightest bit about her past.
"S-S-She s-s-said I d-d-deserved b-b-better,"Auggie tearfully admits, staring down at the pillow hugged against his chest as a tear drips down his cheek that he quickly brushes away.
"Do you think you deserve better?"Lennon checks, watching as his little brother shakes his head rapidly.
"S-S-She's t-t-the b-best p-person I've e-e-ever k-known." And he means it. She is. The fact that she went through so many traumatic things at such a young age and can still manage to be one of the happiest and spunkiest people he's ever known. The fact that she had a son who she loved more than anything but was willing to give him up because she knew he'd have a better life without her. That's pure selflessness in a way that Auggie has never seen before. To him she's the definition of a good person.
"Auggie,"Lennon asks, watching as his little brother looks up to meet his eyes.
"Y-Yeah?"
"Do you love her?"Lennon simply asks.
"Y-Yeah,"Auggie nods firmly with a light that Lennon has never seen in his eyes.
Lennon shakes his head and smiles widely at his brother, knowing he's telling the truth. He loves her. He loves her so much. "Then what the hell are you still doing here?"
***
He's never been so nervous on a drive in his whole life. His hands are physically shaking as he grips onto the steering wheel and turns onto the street that her little apartment is on.
The nearly two hour car ride did not do well for his nerves. It gave him more time to sit and think about what he was going to say to her which lead to him going through all of the possibilities of what her reactions could be which made him want to vomit out of the side of the car.
He needs to prove to her that she's the one he wants.
Because he's never been more sure of something in his entire life than he is of her.
He parks his car next to hers in the parking lot, stepping out into the snowing air—oh yes it's snowing now and beyond freezing.
He shivers in his big coat as his breath fogs up in the air and he stands on the sidewalk outside of the window of her apartment. It's on the second floor and on the right corner of the building.
He pulls out his phone and calls her number but it goes straight to voicemail. Just like his other five calls that he made to warn her that he was coming over.
He dares to take his bare hand out of his pocket and bends down to find a tiny pebble on the ground. He winds up his arm and prays that this throw is better than any of his throws at the duck pond were.
It works and it hits the window with a little clank! He picks up another pebble and continues to do so for about a minute before he finally watches the window be pushed open.
"What're you doing here, Romeo?"Emryn rolls her eyes, folding her arms around the big sweatshirt that she's wearing like a dress. Her hair is pulled back into the same ponytail, but she's wiped off all of her thick eyeliner and mascara.
"I'll t-t-tell y-y-you t-t-that in a s-s-second,"Auggie says through chattering teeth, his whole body shivering uncontrollably. She really had to break up with him on one of the coldest days projected to happen in the winter? "B-But it's r-r-really cold a-and m-m-my s-s-stutter g-g-gets worse w-when I'm c-c-cold so c-can I p-please c-c-come i-in?"
Emryn looks down at him with her arms still crossed as she watches him shiver and his teeth chatter in the bitter cold night. His hood is pulled all the way down on his forehead and his hands are shoved into the pockets of his coat as his feet fidget to try and stay warm. "Fine,"she sighs. "I'll buzz you in."
Auggie quickly nods and runs into the lobby of the apartment complex, waiting for her to buzz the door open and then sprinting to the elevator as soon as she does. He can't stop fidgeting on the way up to the second floor. He can't remember a time where he was ever this nervous.
The elevator arrives and he practically sprints down the hall, but he slows down a few feet before he gets to the corner where he has to turn to get to her hallway because he wants to appear clam cool and collected. And he certainly doesn't want her to know that he was just sprinting to try and find her.
"You should sign up for a marathon,"Emryn jokes as she appears at the corner of her hallway, nearly scaring Auggie enough to piss his pants as he jumps and tries to catch his breath now from the scare and the running.
"I'll a-a-add it t-t-to t-t-the l-list o-of 't-things I w-w-want t-t-to d-d-do b-b-before I d-d-die',"Auggie tries to reply cooly as he pretends to act like he wasn't just pissing his pants on the elevator ride up here.
"You're welcome for helping you mark my name off of that list,"Emryn snarkily replies, her humor returning to her now that she's on her home turf. She can be herself now.
"V-Very f-f-funny,"Auggie rolls his eyes.
"I thought it was,"Emryn bluntly responds, pushing herself off of the wall she was leaning against with her shoulder. She begins to walk down the hall and then turns around to see Auggie not following her, he's still in the spot she left him.
"What are you doing?"Emryn asks with a bit of attitude in her voice, clearly already fed up with this conversation before it even started. She doesn't want to be apart of this at all. "Are you gonna follow me or not? Because if not I have a very interesting Criminal Minds episode to finish watching."
Auggie nods and follows her down the hall and into her small one bedroom apartment that's about the size of his bathroom at home. It's so Emryn, though. All of the walls are covered from floor to ceiling with band posters or art she's done or collected and photos she's taken. It's every artsy person's dream apartment, besides the fact that the toilet only works half the time.
"What do you want, August?"Emryn asks, standing by her counter as Auggie stands in the hall, a few feet across from her.
"T-This b-break u-u-u-up i-is s-s-s-stupid, E-Emryn,"Auggie blurts out. He was expecting to give a bit of background or a few more watered down feeling, but apparently his mouth had a different plan.
"August—"
"N-N-No, l-listen t-to m-m-me,"Auggie shakes his head, taking a step closer to her and pointing at her with his index finger. "Y-Y-You s-said I c-could b-b-be w-w-with a b-b-better p-person, but I d-don't want t-t-that. I w-w-want you. B-Because y-you're m-my p-person."
"August I'm not—"
"Y-Y-Yes y-y-you a-a-are,"Auggie rolls his eyes and sighs in exasperation at Emryn's lame excuses that they both know are an outright life. "Y-Y-You k-know y-y-you're m-my p-person. I k-k-knew y-you w-w-were m-my p-person on the s-second date w-w-when w-we m-made s-s-spaghetti b-b-because y-y-you d-d-didn't w-want t-t-to e-e-eat o-out w-with m-me a-a-again b-b-because of how b-badly o-our f-f-first d-dinner d-d-ate e-ended."
She watches him carefully as his blue eyes pierce into hers and she can't drag her's away. She tries to act nonchalant by leaning her hip against her small kitchen counter and continuing to fold her arms across her chest, but really she's in one of the biggest internal conflicts with herself that she's ever had.
"A-A-And w-w-we s-s-spilt t-the s-spaghetti o-on t-t-the floor a-and y-y-you j-j-just s-sat o-on t-t-the f-f-floor a-a-and a-a-ate it because y-y-you u-used t-to e-e-eat o-out of d-dumpsters." She bites on her lip ring as she starts to realize where he's going with this. Keep the tears down. Keep the tears down. She needs to keep the tears down.
"I d-d-don't w-w-want s-s-some p-proper p-posh g-g-girl w-w-who k-k-knows t-t-that y-y-you use your k-knife in y-y-your r-r-right h-hand a-and y-y-your f-f-fork i-in y-y-your l-left."
"It's the other way around,"Emryn whispers with a small smile twitching the corners of her lips upwards.
"S-S-See,"Auggie throws his arms out to demonstrate that she just proved his point. "E-Even I d-d-don't k-know w-w-what h-hand y-y-you're s-s-supposed t-t-to u-u-use."
He takes a few steps closer to her as she still refuses to take steps closer to him and meet him in the middle.
"I w-w-want t-t-the g-g-girl w-w-who s-s-spends h-h-her p-paycheck, t-t-that I k-k-know y-you n-needed, t-t-to b-b-buy a-a l-l-little g-g-girl t-t-that s-s-she's n-never m-m-met a c-c-camera." He shakes his head at her as he realizes just how good of a person she is. She thought him and his whole family were good? No, no. She's a different level. "I w-w-want h-her b-because I k-know s-s-she d-did t-t-that b-because s-s-she d-didn't h-h-have a p-p-person g-g-growing u-u-up w-who c-cared a-a-about h-her e-e-enough t-to b-buy a c-camera f-f-for h-her."
He takes a few steps closer to her and reaches out his hand. She looks down at it and warily places her hand in it.
"I w-w-want h-h-her b-b-because I know s-she d-doesn't think she d-d-deserves b-better than w-w-what she w-was b-b-born into,"Auggie whispers, looking down into her brown eyes as they blink up at him. "B-But I w-w-will a-always t-t-think s-s-she d-d-does."
"You're a cheeseball, August Styles,"Emryn whispers, cupping his freshly shaven and soft face in her palms. "And you deserve everything."
He smiles down at her softly and presses his lips against hers. "Y-Y-You a-a-are e-e-everything."
------
Hi um yeah uh yeah uh THAT LAST LINE KILLS ME
I FLIPPIN LOVE THEM I LOVE THEM I LOVE THEM I LOVE EMRYN AND AHHHHHH
Okay how do we feel about everything so far in this book???? Let me just tell you it gets uh...real sad for a little bit BUT IT ENDS HAPPY I PROMISE
I hope you guys enjoyed the Penny content that we got in this chapter!!! I freakin love that kid so I love to include her in as much as possible
Also major sidetone that is literally not needed at all BUT: I want to name one of my daughters Penelope and have her nickname be Nellie because I just think that's the cutest nickname for a little girl ever
NEXT CHAPTER IN THE TIMELINE: CALUM'S FIRST CHAPTER!!! It's a happy day for all of you Calum lovers lol!!! I love his book because it's so different than the others and I'm excited for you to all find out why!!!
I'm going out of state for two weeks to visit my cousins, but I'm still going to be trying to write and upload things as frequently as I can because I freakin love you guys so much.
Okay I feel like I don't say it enough so I'm going to say it right now: thank you for loving my characters. they're like my babies and to think that you guys genuinely care about them so much just...it makes me so happy. Like so so happy.
Also I just saw that Darcy's book is almost at 2k reads like EXCUSE ME WHAT??? I did not expect anyone to want to read these little novellas, but I have so much fun writing them so I'm glad you guys seem to enjoy them!!
also!! my one year anniversary of starting "family forever" is coming up soon which is FREAKIN INSANE!!! Can you guys believe it's been a whole year??? It feels way longer and way shorter all at the same time hahahaha
okay okay it's like 2 am so I need to get to bed BUT I LOVE YOU ALL SO FREAKIN MUCH
MWAH
-Mel ❤️