𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐍
"This was a mistake. I'm sorry," Athena said, more tears falling as she looked at Haley's face. She grabbed her bag and made her way to the hotel room door but a hand on her wrist stopped her.
"Wait," Haley said, her hand still holding tight to Athena's wrist. "I love you. I always have. I'm sorry I didn't let it show more often but every time I'm just around you, i get, like, a million butterflies. I genuinely thought I liked Dylan, and for a while I did, but recently I just couldn't get you out of my head. I really do love you and I want you. I'll break up with Dylan, I swear, just...let us make this work." Haley's face was now stained with tear streaks but she didn't care, she only cared about stopping the girl she loved from leaving too quickly.
Athena walked forward, placing her hands of either side of Haley's face. She could feel Haley's breath fanning over her face as her eyes flickered down to Athena's lips.
"Can I kiss you?" Athena whispered. Haley nodded and Athena pushed forward, her lips brushing against Haley's. She thought nothing would ever compare to this moment. Haley's hands snaked up around Athena's neck as Thea's slowly moved down to her waist.
Moments later, they broke apart, both panting and blushing like maniacs.
𝐍𝐎𝐖
Haley had kept her promise and broke up with Dylan and her and Athena were now finally trying out a relationship. Neither of their families knew cause they were still trying to figure it out themselves so they were waiting before involving anyone but them in their relationship.
When Athena pulled into the Dunphy driveway, she saw they cleaning out their old station wagon.
"What are you guys up to?" She asked, walking up to Haley, her hand discreetly brushing the small of Haley's back.
"Selling the station wagon," Claire responded simply.
"Hey, Mom, when was this from?" Luke asked, holding up a photo.
"Oh, that's the year your dad and I went to the Rose Bowl."
"Incredible game," Phil added.
"Mom, you look really pretty," Luke said.
"Thank you, sweetheart," Claire smiled.
"So what happened?"
"Well, Lukey, everyone gets older, just cause parts of your mom aren't what they used to be--" Phil said before Athena cut him off.
"Don't say anything more or she's gonna make you sleep on the couch," Athena whispered to him.
"I mean what happened in the game," Luke said.
"We got our butts kicked by Penn State. The parade was awesome though. Angela Lansbury was the grand marshal. Good time, she wrote."
"Okay. Guys, let's get back to it," Claire shouted. "No one's gonna buy this heap looking this way."
"Ew. Mom, which one is the garbage can?" Haley asked, holding up a blanket.
"Um, it -- Honey, you can't throw that away. It's Blankety."
"It's disgusting."
"No, sweetie. You loved Blankety. You wouldn't go anywhere without him," Claire told her daughter.
"That's adorable," Athena smiled at her girlfriend causing Haley to push her lightly.
"Yeah, Until Luke threw up on him," Phil spoke up from where he was cleaning the car.
"Yeah. I used to throw up all the time," Luke chuckled. "Remember Buckety?"
"Oh," Claire exclaimed, grabbing a jar from the car. "look at this."
"What is that?" Athena asked, confused with the sentimental values of it.
"We went to the beach one day, and Luke had such a good time that he wanted to bring home a jar of sunshine so he could always remember. Do you remember, sweetie?"
"Oh, no, no, don't -- don't open it," Luke said, grabbing the jar from Claire.
"You really think you trapped sunshine in there?" Alex asked before turning to her mother, "I'm just letting you know now, I'm not taking care of him when you guys die."
"Stop. It's sweet," Claire told her.
"Hey, it's that guy that came by earlier who was really interested," Phil said, pulling is phone out of his pocket. "What was his name?"
"You can do it, Dad," Luke told him.
"Okay. He looked like the drummer from Foreigner," Phil said, starting to use his mnemonic device for figuring out names. "A foreigner's from France. France rhymes with ants. Ants ruin a picnic. What's up, Nick?" He answered the phone and his face morphed into a happy shock. "Really? Really? Well, that's great. Yeah, no, swing by anytime. We're here all day. Thanks. Guess what? You said I couldn't sell this? Well, you're gonna be eating humble pie stuffed with crow and a big side of sorry, cause I just did. In your face, girl with the negative tattoo."
Claire set down what she was holding and stomped off, tears in her eyes.
"Whoa. Someone doesn't like to lose," Luke said, watching Claire stomp by him. Athena hit his arm.
"Just a few more steps," Phil said, leading a blindfolded Claire out the front door. He obviously wasn't great at it since she ended up tripping walking off the front porch. "Oh, sorry. Step. Step."
"Phil!"
"Sorry. Sorry. It's gonna be worth it."
"No it's not," Alex spoke up.
"Don't listen to her," Phil told his wife. He tried to lift off the blindfold, hurting Claire slightly in the process causing Athena to lift an eyebrow at the man. "Ta-da!"
"Great, it's our car," Claire said, looking at her kids and Athena leaning against the car.
"Not a car," Phil said. "Kids." The group moved over so she could see the poster taped to the door that said 'time machine'.
"Time -- what?"
"Tonight, Claire Dunphy, we are turning back the clock to a simpler time when families piled into their station wagons, picked up some burgers and went on a picnic up to Grainger Point," Phil informed her.
"Honey, we don't have to do this," Claire said, shaking her head, a ghost of a smile on her face.
"Listen to her," Alex muttered.
"No. It's gonna be great. I talked to, uh -- France, ants, picnic -- Nick, and he's not picking the car up till tomorrow. We have one more night of family fun."
"What's gonna be fun about it," Luke asked.
Athena groaned, putting her head into Haley's shoulder and shielding her eyes from the sun glaring in the face. Haley smiled slightly and subtlety wrapped her arm around Athena's waist.
"Only everything," Phil told Luke.
"Only nothing," Haley told him.
"Okay, kids, you know what? Your father is trying to do something nice. So I would appreciate if you would stop your whining and just get in the car," Claire said, pushing Alex and Luke to the side and tried to open the back door.
Haley pushed Athena ahead of her to get in the car. She groaned and crawled over the seat to flop down in the back.
"Am I legally allowed to ride back here?" Athena asked Phil.
"Maybe," He shrugged. She nodded with a tight lipped smile and sat back down.
"Wow, this place has really changed. Time marches on, huh?" Phil said as they sat in the station wagon at Grainger Point, eating their food. Haley had crawled over the seat to sit with Athena and the two decided to share their fries. "See that Starbucks down there? You know what that used to be?"
"An orange grove?" Alex guessed.
"No, a Burger King. You can still see some of the architecture."
"My stomach hurts," Luke interrupted Claire and Phil kissing after she had thanked him for doing all this.
"Luke, honey, I told you not to eat so fast," Claire told him, pushing his head back. "Just sit back, relax, you're gonna be fine."
"Ew! A spider!" Haley exclaimed. She had crawled back to her seat after finishing her food. Athena's chin was now propped on the seat as they talked.
"Haley, honey, you're standing on the back of Daddy's seat belt."
"Wait, where'd the spider go?" Athena asked.
"I really need some air," Luke spoke up.
"Okay, Alex, lower your window."
"I can't. It's stuck," She said, trying to roll it down.
"I forgot about that."
"Don't you throw up on me," Alex said, pushing Luke.
"Don't point him at me!" Haley told her.
"Guys, stop! You're gonna make it worse," Athena said, not wanting to witness Luke vomit all over the car.
"Here, I'll turn on --" Phil started to say before Haley stepped on his seat belt again. Phil tried turning on the AC but all they got was a bunch of dust.
"It's happening!" Luke said.
"Okay, grab a bag," Claire told him.
Luke reached down, grabbing the fast food bag.
"This smells like onions."
"My seatbelt is stuck," Alex said.
"I'll help you," Claire said turning in her seat but the seat fell back onto Alex. Phil spit out his drink as Haley once again stepped on the seatbelt.
"Okay, everybody out of the car!" Claire shouted.
"Our doors don't open!"
Claire got out and opened up Alex's door while Luke crawled over Phil's seat and got out the front and Athena opened the trunk from the inside and crawled out, Haley climbing over and following her. They were all paying attention to Luke as he ran to the trees to throw up when the car started rolling away.
"I got it!" Phil shouted, jumping onto the hood.
"What's the plan, Phil?" Athena asked, concerned and confused. They all the encouraged Phil to get off and watched as the car rolled down the hill.
"I'm just being realistic, but we're gonna need to lower the asking price."
"How are we getting home?" Athena asked.
"I hope your legs are strong," Phil told her, patting her shoulder as he started to walk away. Athena groaned but reached for Haley's hand and walked off with her.
"Hey, Mom?" Haley said, walking into the kitchen a few days later.
"Yeah?" Claire asked, barely looking up from the apples she was slicing.
"Thea and I are gonna go out and get some lunch. She's waiting in the car for me. We'll be back later."
"Okay. Have fun!" Claire shouted as Haley jogged out of the kitchen towards the front door.
"Hey!" Athena smiled as Haley sat down in the front seat. She reached over, placing her hand on Haley's cheek as she gave her a quick peck on the lips before she put the car in reverse and started their drive to their lunch date. The girls finally had a chance to go on a proper date since their kiss in Hawaii so they opted for a small café lunch date.
"Can I have a sip?" Athena asked, pointing towards the coffee in Haley's hand. She nodded and the two girls traded cups as Athena took a sip of Haley's Iced Mocha as they sat by a pond.
They left the café after finishing their food and decided to finish their coffees by the pond in the park.
"We should've had a picnic here," Haley said, resting her head on Athena's shoulder as they held hands.
"I think we've had enough picnic disasters for the week," Thea told her causing a giggle to fall past Haley's lips. Athena smiled, finally content with her relationship. She had thought of this moment for months and still couldn't believe it was really. They were no longer just friends. They were so much more than that.
GAY YAY! they're finally together you're welcome. They're together now but there will be ups and downs because a healthy relationship is not all sunshine and rainbows. but they're adorable and i'm so excited for more cute couple stuff. if theres something you wanna see in this book let me know.
after this chapter i won't have anymore chapters in my drafts so please have patience cause i'll probably write more to keep in my drafts before i start to upload again.