^Sean Palmer.
Chapter Nineteen.
"The fuck are you doing here, Seany!" Em hollered excitedly as she sprinted towards the door, where we were standing and jumped onto a very cheery Sean who wrapped his arms around Em. She kissed his cheek and ruffled his short hair. "I can't believe you're here." Em beamed, showcasing her perfectly aligned and white teeth.
Sean laughed as he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his tracks, "I can't believe I'm here either. Damn, I missed you girls." Sean said, as his eyes flickered over the three of us.
"Time for our group hug!" Maya said, excitedly as we giggled slightly and wrapped our arms around each other. Our little perfect moment was ruined by someone who cleared their throat.
I let out a humorless laugh as we composed ourselves and turned towards Blake and Damon, who were eyeing us suspiciously. "Guys, this is Sean, Sean this is," I said pointing at Blake, "Blake Evans and that is," I said pointing towards a confused Damon, "Damon Martins."
"Emily's fantasy." Damon interjected in, wiggling his brows and smirking teasingly at Em, whose face could now be mistaken for a ripe red tomato. Excluding Blake and Em, we all guffawed at Damon's snide comment.
"No, you're not!" Em reprimanded, as she grumpily crossed her arms across her chest. I put my hand around her shoulder and pulled her into my side, and rubbed her arm slightly, signaling her to calm her nerves.
"Nice to see you, man." Sean said with a friendly smile as he did some bro handshake with Damon.
"Mutual, dude." Damon said. His eyes lingered onto Sean's muscular arms for a moment before he looked at him with amusing and impressed look, "You got some good muscles there, man. You into WWE or something?" He asked curiously.
Ah, only Damon Martins' brain is capable of such an elevated level of thinking.
"Oh, no. I'm in the army." Sean said, with a hint of pride in his voice. Maya smiled at her brother with admiration floating in her eyes, as he continued conversing with Sean about his military activities. Em asked us to settle in the living room since we had been standing at the door step for quite some time. Sean, Maya and Emily settled onto one sofa while the rest of us settled onto the other.
"So, Sean, have you ever had an encounter with the Osama Bin Laden?" Damon asked expressively. The room fell dead silent as all of us gaped at Damon with disbelief, whilst Damon who was completely oblivious to our ridiculed gaze towards him, looked up at Sean with eager eyes.
Sean cleared his throat uncomfortably and looked at Damon with 'are you kidding me' look. "Um, he's been dead for a while." Sean said.
Damon's eyes became the size of a golf ball as he covered his mouth with astonishment, "And when the fuck did that happen?" Damon gasped. I could feel Blake mutter some words under his breath while Maya and Sean were at a loss of words.
"Have you been living under the rock, Damon? Laden's news of death was something as grand as one of the Kardashians' scandals. How can you not know that?" Emily asked cynically while a clueless Damon just sat still in his place, looking puzzled as ever.
"Just out of curiosity, who is Kardashian, like is it a new football team?" Damon asked, to which Emily let out a frustrated groan.
"Can we continue with the movie?" Em asked, trying to hide her annoyance under her smile.
~•~
Sean and I walked towards the kitchen in order to make some more popcorn for the gang. Since he stood at an excellent height, he stretched his hand up and pulled out some packets of microwave-popcorn. We stood by the refrigerator, waiting for the popcorn which were yet in the microwave.
"It feels so surreal to be home." Sean said with a sigh as he rested his head against the metallic surface of the refrigerator, by which we stood. I hummed in response as I closed my eyes. Since morning, I've been having those extravagant cravings that I've been successful at controlling, but right now, I could think about nothing but a large bowl of chocolate ice-cream with some tomato ketchup. Pregnancy cravings suck. "Grace, do you mind if I come over to yours, in the evening? I haven't met up with your parents. It's been a long time." Sean grinned.
My smile fell as he mentioned about my parents. My silence might have evoked Sean's curiosity as he looked at me with questioning eyes. When mom and dad got into an accident, I had asked Maya to keep this news from Sean because as far my knowledge is accurate, he'd return at the very instant, staking his post. Maya and Sean considered my parents as their own, since we've been spent a lot of time together, ever since the young days.
"Um, they're not really here." I whispered, as I looked away from him. Tears had begun forming in my eyes as the day of their accident began surfacing up, in my mind.
"Grace, there's a cop at the door." Cass hollered, as she stood at the entrance, holding her football in her hand, while she gaped bewilderedly at the tall cop, standing at our doorstep. I wiped my hands with a clean towel since and placed the freshly baked cookies on the table.
"Grace Johnson?" The cop asked. I nodded my head in affirmation. The cop spoke up, "Hi, Officer Reynolds. I'm here to report an accident." He said, with pity floating in his eyes. I looked up at him with confusion.
"What accident?" I asked.
The cop shot me a sympathetic smile, "Your parents, they had an accident a little away from the highway. They're being taken to the hospital."
I covered my mouth with my hands, in order to prevent the shocking gasp from escaping my mouth. Cass stood shocked in her place, before Officer Reynolds spoke up again, "Do you want me to drive you?" He asked.
Without a bit of hesitation, I nodded my head and grabbed my purse as we followed him towards his car. Streams of tears were flowing by my cheeks which I violently wiped off, as the officer ignited the engine. I felt Cass shift towards me and rested her head on my shoulders. I tenderly patted her head as she sobbed quietly, "Grace, are they gonna be alright?"
"They will be." I said, with an uncertain smile. During the fifteen minutes drive to the hospital, I texted Maya and Emily about the accident. They assured me that everything's gonna be fine and that they're gonna reach to the hospital as soon as they can. As the car stopped, Officer Reynolds escorted us towards the surgery room where my parents were being operated. I heard him talking on the phone about the culprit, who was drunk driving.
"Grace?" I heard Maya call out my name. I turned my head towards her as she let out a low cry and ran towards me. A worried Emily followed her trail as both of them pulled Cass and I into a hug. It was an assuring one, but the tension wasn't exactly helping. We sat together for almost an hour before a doctor came out of the surgery room, talking quietly with his colleague.
"Is Mr and Mrs Johnson's family here?" The doctor asked. I quickly walked up to the doctor.
"I'm their daughter. How are they?" I asked, with a spark of hope. From what I heard from Officer Reynolds, they had a very bad crash which was twisting knots in my stomach.
The doc let out a sigh as he patted my shoulder, "Um, your parents were hit their heads hard during the accident. Because of a very severe blow on your mother's head, it caused a brain hemorrhage, due to which she slipped into the coma."
Cass hugged me tightly and bitterly sobbed as I patted her head with one hand, and wiped my own tears with the other. "Wha..what about my dad?" I stuttered.
The doc looked down at the floor before looking up at me, "Unfortunately, we couldn't save Mr Johnson. I'm very sorry for your losses." The doc said. A bitter sob escaped my mouth as I fell onto my knees and covered my face with my hands, as I cried out in the grief of losing my father. Emily held a miserable Cassidy close to her, who was crying bitterly whist Maya pulled me into a hug, but said nothing as she grieved for my father.
He's gone.
"Grace?" Sean asked, as I was pulled out from my reverie. My eyes were full of tears which were threatening to flow out any minute. Sean looked at me worriedly as I took a deep breath in, to compose myself. "Where are your parents?" Sean asked.
I stayed silent for a minute before I looked up at him, "Dad's dead and mom has been in coma for six months." A tear drop escaped my eye as I noticed Sean's body stiffen.
"Wh..I mean, how?" Sean stuttered as he looked at me with teary eyes. I narrated the night of the accident, as he silently stood in his place and listened attentively. He wiped his tears and pulled me into a hug. As I buried my head in his chest, I whimpered vehemently as I mourned for my parents.
"Why did they have to go?" I sobbed. "They were the best, they never meddled into anyone's business, nor did they do anything to harm someone. Then why, Sean? Why?" I cried. Sean's grip around me tightened as he rested his head on top of mine.
"Honestly, Grace, I have no answer to your question." He kissed my forehead and lifted my head with his finger, "Why didn't you tell me?" He asked, as creases formed on his forehead.
I looked away from him, "I didn't want you to worry, about me or Cass." I confessed. Sean let out a sigh and roamed his hands through his extremely short hair.
"Grace, we're family, you kept something this big from me?" He asked, with a hint of resent and disappointment.
"I didn't want you to come home, by risking your job." I whispered. Sean put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his side. I rested my head on his shoulder as we stood there in comfortable silence. "There's something else that I need to tell you too." I muttered.
"What is it?" He asked. I pulled my shirt a little up, in order to show my swollen belly. His gaze widened when his eyes landed on my stomach. "What the fuck Grace?" He asked disbelievingly.
I let out a humorless laugh as I rubbed my belly lightly, "Guess a new Johnson is on the way." But Sean didn't utter a word, as his gaze was fixated on my stomach. Sean was like my older brother and we never kept anything from each other, so I revealed everything about Xavier's party and how Blake and I ended up doing the deed together. However, I didn't tell him about how Blake was unaware that the baby was his and how we've been religiously searching for Blakes's girl. It was Sean's presumably first day home and I didn't want him to get tangled into my mess already.
"You know where to come when he does something that he shouldn't." Sean deadpanned as he looked at me with those serious eyes of his. I nodded my head in affirmation. Sean shot me a small smile before he spoke up again, "You need to take care of my sister and nephew or niece." He said playfully as he pointed his finger towards me. I laughed lightly and nodded my head as Sean pulled me into a hug, again. He patted my back lightly as he spoke up, "You are not alone, Grace. We all are gonna be there for you. I hope you know that." Sean said.
I pulled away from him and smiled, "I know, Seany. I know." Sean kissed my forehead when someone cleared their throat. My gaze travelled towards the source to see a fuming Blake staring at us with an irate look.
"Is the popcorn taking long?" Blake asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Sean who was completely oblivious to Blake's hostility face palmed himself.
"Damn, we forgot about the popcorn." He said, as he pulled the bowl out of the microwave and walked towards the living room. Before leaving the room, he looked at me and shot a wink, considering Blake and I were the only ones in the kitchen now.
There was silence for a couple of minutes before Blake gnashed at me, "So you and Sean, huh?"
~•~
A/N: This chapter is dedicated to @Sweetlover48 for suggesting what she wanted in this chapter. I'd like to thank everyone who's reading this story, even though it's crap. You guys are awesome :)
Love,
Sanjana X