Flora was back home, and she was annoyed and guilty. She tried apologising to Amanda for a thousand times for not telling her she felt sick, but her mother replied with the same old thing, I'm not mad, I'm disappointed.
Meanwhile, Daniel didn't go to work at all since Thursday, to keep an eye on his daughter's health.
The debate was back on, whether and how to let Flora back into school.
And over that Flora couldn't find her phone or laptop, little did she knew Sam hid them, so she didn't have to see all those posts from School's anonymous gossip instagram page about her. There was even a rumour saying she was actually on drugs that day.
Demetri once came by, when she was asleep, so he left, leaving her a stack of comic books. She was way too confused on which one was the beginning. And there was also a note on the comic stack saying ,
" I'll strike first if you get any food on these."
And then she received so many cards, Moon gave her the cutest one, Johnny even sent a card, apparently there was a lot of scribbling and then crossing off.
Now she was on the living room couch, as she watched "Bridge to Terabithia" with Sam, and Anthony, all of them were still in their pyjamas, a typical Saturday morning. Anthony roasted the shit out of Jess, and turned the whole sad movie into a comedic one that Flora wanted to kick him out.
There was a plate of brownies in between her and Anthony. Which had only one piece left, and both the siblings reached for it at once, only for Anthony to get it first.
" Come on Ant, I came back from dead." She argued.
" You die like...8 times a year." Anthony said boredly.
" Mummy!" Flora called for Amanda, who could be anywhere in the house at the moment, " Anthony stole my brownie."
" Give your sister her brownie back, Anthony. " Amanda's shout came from the upstairs.
" Come on don't be a bitch now, Gorgon." Anthony told in annoyance to his sister.
" Mummy!" Flora called again, " Anthony called me a bitch."
" Wow, you're such a saint." Sam snickered rolling her eyes from her bean bag chair while she was the only one aweing over Jess's effort to build a bridge.
" Don't call your sister a bitch, Anthony. " Amanda called back, " Even though she has been acting like one," she added.
" But she taught me that word." Anthony called back before stuffing the brownie into his mouth while smirking.
" I also taught you how to not be an arse, dickwad." Flora glared at him.
" Mom!" Anthony yelled again, "Flora called me a dickwad."
" Mom!" Sam called out in annoyance, " No one is letting me watch the movie."
They heard a hard slam of door and Amanda's frustrated scream soon after. Only for the door to open again a few minutes later, as Amanda walked downstairs to her kids, looking as gorgeous as ever, in a silk shirt and wide leg pants.
" Are you going somewhere?" Sam asked frowning.
" We are going somewhere. " Amanda said, making the three of the them confused, " We are going to adopt, we are gonna be six from five. Oh yeah six from five." She singsang.
" Does dad know?"
" Oh no, it's a surprise. " Their mother replied, " Now go get ready,"
" Adopting? " Flora asked breaking her silence, " Precaution if I suddenly got crossed off of God's living beings list?" She grinned, " Sounds brilliant. "
" Please, you're a hard one to crack." Amanda said rolling her eyes, " Go get ready. "
Anthony was the first one to get up though, " I hope we are getting a brother though, equity bruh." As he went upstairs.
" Never thought I'll be my kid's bruh." Amanda said in utter shock.
.............
Amanda put the car in park, as one by one all of them climbed out of the car. Flora's hands were shoved into her baggy jeans' pockets as she was wearing her vintage Metallica shirt.
There was a man standing outside of a house with a kid beside him around the age of 5. He waved at Amanda as she waved back excitedly, " Archer!" She called out walking over there, as her kids boredly followed her.
" And what is your name?" Amanda asked the kid sweetly.
" Emily, " She replied softly.
" That is a lovely name," And then she looked up at Archer, " My kids and I are so excited to meet our new family member, are the others inside? "
" Yeah, come on in Mrs.Larusso," Archer replied guiding them inside only to take a turn and take them to the backyard.
Flora's eyes widened to see the view infront of her, her lips turned into a smile when she saw dogs and puppies of different breeds playing around, some sleeping like absolute lazyheads.
" Go on," Amanda told with a smile and that's all it took for Flora and Anthony to run to the dogs, it was so unexpected, As a child she got scolded only cause of patting a dog. And she loved animals so much.
" What is it , Mom?" Sam asked in confusion, " When I wanted to adopt a dog you told me it's too dangerous for, Flo. Now you're the one getting her a dog?"
" I spoke with Marjorie...and Dr.Martin from Great Ormond Street and they said its okay for her to have a pet now." She replied, " Besides, dogs are stress warriors."
" They are." Sam grinned before going to join her siblings as well, who were playing with a black labrador puppy.
The little puppy was trying to climb up Flora's leg when Anthony picked him up to pat.
" Mummy!" Flora called out giggling at Amanda, Archer and Emily were smiling to see the joy as well, " He's my Fudge."
Anthony held Fudge closer to Flora's face as the puppy licked her hair, " FUDGE!" Flora shouted only for the mischievous puppy to bark in a kind of proud voice.
" I like Fudge." Anthony laughed, " He's my bro."
" He's so cute!" Sam giggled patting Fudge's head, " Fudge Larusso! "
" Go on kids, give him a middle name as well," Amanda encouraged.
"Fudge Anthony Larusso." Anthony announced.
" No, we can't name him after you, that's animal abuse." Flora told him moodily.
" Fudge Hothead Larusso. " Sam laughed.
"Okay middle name stays a work in progress" Flora sighed only to earn a laugh from Emily, " Thank you for letting us have him, Emily. " She sincerely told the kid.
" He loves you." Emily smiled, and there was a tooth missing in her mouth that made the kid look somehow adorable, " But he pees a lot."
" Fudge Leaky Larusso? " Anthony asked.
" Animal abuse, still." Sam laughed.
.................
" Did you rob a pet shop?" Flora asked Daniel blinking, apparently it looked like it. It turned out he found out about Amanda's surprise sooner and went shopping for Fudge's home coming.
" I paid," Daniel said awkwardly, maybe he did bought a little too much stuff.
Flora carefully laid Fudge on his mini bed, who was sleeping after playing with the Larusso siblings for the whole afternoon.
"I need to go and shower," Flora told her father before sniffing, " Yep, I do smell like a dog."
" We all do." Daniel laughed, when Flora left Fudge's tiny room and went to hers.
.............
Eli pressed the door bell and hoped Daniel won't be home at the moment. He sent Flora a couple texts to check on her but they weren't even seen. Apparently she wasn't active for the last two days. And he was not going to text Sam to ask about Flora, not an Alpha move.
The door opened and Sam amusedly looked at him raising an eyebrow, " You are using the front door!"
" I know," He gave her an awkward tight lipped smile, " Don't even start."
" Fine, come in." She replied moving from the doorway, as he stepped inside and realized how nice the house looked when a fight wasn't going on there.
" Who's here, Sa-" Amanda stopped mid-sentence when she saw Eli, " Eli, good to see you use the front door this time."
Eli let out a breathe, if every single person in the house mentioned that he was going to dig up a grave for himself and never come out of it, " Yeah, that's a nice door you got there, Mrs.Larusso." He said when Sam snorted going over to the fridge to get herself some ice cream.
" Oh, Eli!" Daniel walked into the place after finishing a online meeting, "It's good to see you, how did you like the door?"
" Fucking amazing door you got there. I'd marry the door if I could. " He replied in frustration as his cheeks turned a dark shade of red.
Daniel processed the words and let out a breath, " Thanks?"
" Flora's in her room, if you're here for her," Amanda said to Eli, " Upstairs and the last room in the left."
" Uh, thanks." He quickly said, slipping from there real quick as he went up the stairs.
"Did you just let a teenage boy go to our daughter's room? " Daniel asked in utter shock.
" You let Demetri go yesterday. " Amanda pointed out, as she grabbed a spoon and took a spoonful of chocolate ice cream from the tub Sam had in her hands.
" Amanda, Flo has a crush on Eli!" Daniel whispered-yelled, " And I'm pretty sure that tattooed monster likes her too."
" I know, that's why I sent him up there." She replied licking her spoon.
" What th-" Daniel's eyes widened.
" How do you know that?" Sam asked, her eyes wide as well, " Are you checking our phones now?" She inquired.
" I still haven't checked yours." Amanda shrugged elegantly making Sam shut up.
Daniel walked towards the stairs and yelled, " Listen you two, keep the door at least 3 inches open."
........
Eli stopped in front of Flora's bedroom door that was slightly open, he knocked once, but no response came, so he did again coughing awkwardly, " Alright, I'm coming in."
And then he entered the room, before keeping the door open just how Daniel instructed to. The room was how he expected it to be, minus the wheelchair. He wondered what that was for.
There was a huge One Direction poster, and many Harry Styles posters around, over her double bed, she also had all the album covers of Taylor Swift on her wall and the Reputation snake, there was a Free Rein poster and a black horse's photo attached to it, written Raven, under it with a blue marker.
The lighting of her room was a mix of dark purple and pink, her bed was an absolute mess like it hasn't been made in a couple thousand years.
He walked over to her desk, and over it, on the wall were some absolutely fascinating art work, complicated to make out as well, and then a painting caught his eyes, a really plain and simple one, old even. It was a sunset in the light purple sky, no it was lavender or maybe it was just the lighting of her room that made the sky look like it.
" Who's there?" Flora's voice came from the attached bathroom, the sound of running water hit his ears then.
" It's me." He replied casually.
" Eli?" She yelled again.
" Yep," He replied walking towards the closed bathroom door, " Oh! Hot shower!" He paused, "By the way I'm also bored of showering alone, should I join you?"
Flora turned off the water, closing her eyes shut, blushing, he was an idiot, she should've never started that flirting game.
" Does your silence mean yes?" He asked this time smirking to himself.
" My parents are home." She shouted back.
" I know," He replied, " Shame." He chuckled before walking back to the desk again to see her arts. She was talented, anyone could tell, and then his eyes fell on her sketch book, the one she always used to have with herself at the dojo.
She wouldn't get mad for seeing her art, right?
So he flipped the page, of course, Harry Styles facial structure was drawn on the first page.
He flipped the page again and this time his heart stopped. It was a sketch of him, a beautiful sketch, she even got the scar, and it didn't look ugly. He flipped the page again, it was him as well. Everytime he flipped the page his heartskipped, and he felt butterflies in his stomach and his smile just kept getting bigger.
The bathroom door unlocked and Flora stepped out in her my little ponies bathrobe, her blonde hair was damp.
" What are you up to?" She casually asked and then she saw him with her sketchbook, " Fuck! " She didn't destroy her sketches, but let's be honest both the art and model were too pretty to be destroyed.
" You like me, like me." He teasingly smiled.
Jesus! Fuck!
Flora made her way towards him quietly, she was caught, " I might fancy you." She quietly said.
He turned to her, their faces close, " Yeah?" He asked with a smirk.
" You boys are so stupid. " She sighed with a silly smile.
" Really?" He asked closing the gap a little bit more, " So you're saying you knew I like you?"
" I'm a Larusso, Birdie," She whispered, her heart was beating so loudly in her chest she could hear it, or was it his heartbeat, " I might be a little slow," She shrugged.
It was physically hurting him to not kiss her, under the pink and purple lights and having Taylor Swift and the One Direction as the witnesses. Her eyes golden ray was a soft pink in the light, and she was not wearing anything under that bathrobe probably and that thought drove him mad. So he leaned in, only to step back.
" What's wrong? " Flora asked with concern.
" Your health, kissing contains..." He went to answer but was cut off when she kissed him hot and hard getting on her tiptoes, and he kissed her back with the same kind of passion. It was a kiss of utter certainty. The kind of kiss where continents drown, and zombie apocalypse happens, and satellites get set on fire without you noticing.
" Looks like I'm completely immune, " Flora grinned when she pulled away being out of breath.
" Good," He grinned back, " Cause I might need more of that," He said before kissing her without any warning this time. His hands snuck up around her waist, as she got on her tiptoes again. Their skins were burning to get more of eachother. Flora grabbed Eli's hands, placing them away from her waist to her hips. And oh boy, she was not wearing an underwear he could tell and that sent firecrackers through his mind. And it was a mystery how the electricity running through their veins hadn't burned them yet.
" Oh my god!" Daniel walked into the room with a horrified expression on his face, Amanda tried her best to hold him downstairs but he had his way up as soon as he had a chance, when Lucille Larusso pulled up in front of the house and Amanda went to greet her in, " What do you think you two are doing?"
The two jolted away from each other, how many times would he embarrass himself infront of Daniel, Eli thought. While Flora was rather annoyed.
" Banging? " She told in an obvious tone making Eli choke on his own saliva, " Well almost."
" Yeah I'm sure that's a great choice of words." Daniel nodded in frustration.
" Showing affection through saliva?" She asked,
oh my god! Eli horrifiedly thought.
" Not funny, Flora Lavender Larusso." Daniel told.
" It is, you're just old." She told him, " And don't middle name me," she snapped.
" Oh, I can do a lot worse than just middle name you." He said in anger, " Where are your manners?"
" Oh, are we really talking of manners now?" She asked , pretending to wonder, " Cause one of them is knocking before entering your sixteen year old daughter's room, in it?"
" Eli, I think it's time for you to go," Daniel said, and if looks could kill this was it.
" Bu-" Flora went to protest.
" It's alright, Flora." Eli said in an assuring voice, " I will see you, later?"
She huffed, " Okay."
So Eli left the room, Daniel's presence made that room's air a thousand times heavier. He rushed down the stairs only to come across Anthony.
" Dude! You used the door!" He said in shock.
" And going to use it again," Eli said, running for his life before he got crane kicked. But oh boy, maybe he was willing to get crane kicked if that meant getting to kiss Flora Larusso. When he decided to come check on her, he didn't think he'd be blushing all the way home. But life was rather unpredictable, wasn't it?
Meanwhile in Flora's room Daniel was disappointedly looking at his daughter, " Get dressed first, "
"I like this bathrobe, " She moodily said.
" Why are you so mad?" He asked.
" Really? " She scoffed, " You never tell Sam anything about Miguel. "
" Well," He sighed, " Sam knows how it goes, we never really talked to you about this."
" Sex?" She asked frowning.
" Please, I know you and Amanda literally discuss that topic," He said scoffing, " I meant relationships. "
Flora chuckled, yeah she did, once she asked Amanda how can you be that intimate with someone, don't your armpits smell?
" It's because you guys never thought that I'd live up to the age to fall in love." She muttered pressing her lips together, she missed the feeling of Eli's lips on them. He was an amazing kisser.
" Hey, that's not true," He comforthingly said, he loved her way too much to be either mad at her or see her sad" Look all I want to say is be smart, stupidly fall in love, but still be smart. And I don't think it was smart doing that in my house, it was stupid. "
" Be what?" She asked in confusion, " Be stupid or smart?"
" He means be fearless, " Lucille walked into the room, " But don't get pregnant, fear that."
" Grandma!" Flora beamed seeing her grandmother as she went to hug her, " Thank god, you are here."
" Of course, sweetheart. " Her grandmother replied laughing, " Now who wants to rewatch Free Rein? "
So that day Daniel couldn't confuse her anymore, and it ended up being the most amazing day of Flora's life and she was smiling the whole day like a mad person. Even when Pin got his heart broken in Free Rein, and Zoe broke Marcus' heart and Mia got lost in the woods and Zoe lost Raven's trust she was smiling. Smiling so much that it almost hurt her cheeks, but oh that kiss replayed in her mind like her favourite music.