Everyone looked forward to meeting Ashton and his family, his family looked forward to meeting mine and Ashton and I, well we were nervous train wrecks. Every time the bell rang, I rushed over and hoped it was him. But I got disappointed every time until everyone had arrived and the bell rang again. He was finally here and my heart started racing. I ran over to the door and I saw my dad look at me with a grin.
I pulled the door open and the four of them were standing there, smiles on three faces and a nervous look on the fourth. Olivia was holding onto Ashton's hand while standing and as soon as she saw me, she giggled loudly "Elle!" She said before coming over to me and wrapping her arms around my leg, I chuckled before bending down and picking her up.
I placed her on my hip before looking at the other three.
"Welcome to the Miller home" I said and they all smiled a little.
"Thank you for the invitation, Elle. You have a beautiful home." Anne said before hugging me.
"Thank you, everyone has already arrived so I will introduce you." I said before Lauren came up to hug me too. "It's going to be fine" I whispered to Ashton but I didn't know who I was trying to convince to be honest.
"You look beautiful tonight." He said and a grin appeared on my face before he placed a soft peck on my lips.
"You look handsome too" I said to him and he smiled before placing his hand on the small of my back. I closed the door before taking them to the crowded living room. He had come over yesterday to help move the furniture to my old downstairs bedroom and place the table instead, but everyone was still standing around with glasses in their hands and talking to each other. My heart was beating so hard and fast when the conversation seemed to stop and everyone looked at us with a smile.
"Welcome to the family Ashton" my grandpa said as he lifted his glass of champagne, "We've been told a lot of things about you." He said when he walked over to him and held out his hand to shake.
"You don't have to believe everything she says." He said jokingly and I chuckled softly.
"My dear Elle didn't say anything, it was my son who did. He spoke very loving words about you." He said with a smile and I looked at them with the biggest smile. "You can all just call me pops, I'm Christopher's dad and over here is my beautiful wife, Granny." He said introducing them with the names I've been calling them since I was born. He pulled Ashton after him and gestured his family to follow, giving them no time to introduce themself. "The beautiful people over here are Melodie's parents."
"And we're just grandma and grandpa for you as long as you treat our granddaughter right." My grandma said with a smile while looking at him before looking at me.
"It's a pleasure to meet all of you." Ashton said before looking at his family behind him. "This is my mum, Anne Marie but Anne is fine. And my siblings, Lauren and Harry. And lastly my daughter, Olivia." He said as he looked at me and the girl I was holding.
"You're all from Australia right?" Pops asked Anne.
"We are, we're so thankfull to be here tonight with our son and your family." Anne replied with a smile.
"I'll be right back" I said to Ashton before gesturing Lauren and Harry to follow me. "The younger ones are outside." I said to them and they both laughed softly. "My oldest nephew is 20 so we're clearly the old part of the family, I think you're gonna have more fun with them." I moved Olivia to my other hip and she giggled softly before starting to play with my hair again.
"Hey Elle!" My nephew said as soon as we walked out, "So you weren't lying when you said there would be more youth today" he said with a smile before getting up from his seat.
"Lauren and Harry, meet Jackson, Mel, Max, Tom and Natalie." I said to introduce them and Harry was quickly interested by the game they were playing and it didn't take Lauren longer than a few seconds to sit down with Mel and Natalie too. We had invited Jackie too as in a way, she belongs with their family but she went back to London to celebrate with her mom and family. She has been living here for 6 months now and she was terribly homesick. So she decided to go home for a month to see her mom and family. "If you guys need anything else, you know where to find it in the kitchen right?" I asked and Jackson gave me a thumbs up before talking to Lauren again. They both seemed happy so I went back inside and found Ashton and Anne still talking with my grandparents and my two aunts.
We were with 3 kids, 7 teenagers, 10 young adults, 7 adults and 4 grandparents and not everyone even managed to come. That's 31 people inside the house.
"I brought Lauren and Harry outside so they can sit with the other teenagers." I said to Ashton and he thanked me before placing his arm around my waist.
"Are you sure I don't have to take Olivia from you?" He asked softly while looking at me
"It's fine, she's not that heavy yet." I replied and he chuckled softly before smiling. I looked infront of me again and saw both my grandmothers looking at me. They were always waiting until the day I would give them great-grandchildren too and when I told them Thomas and I broke up, they really did fear they might not get to meet them. But even if this is so different, I know they're going to love and spoil Olivia just as much as my brother's kids.
—
"So Ashton, did you know Christopher used to be in a band too?" My uncle, my mom's brother, said with a grin and my dad started laughing loudly, "He was the drummer and starter of the band, that's how he and Melodie met."
"I did not know that yet." Ashton said with a soft chuckle before looking across the table at my dad. We had just finished dinner, Ashton beside me with his hand placed on my thigh and a smile on his face at all times. "How long ago was it?"
"We started when I was about 20, ended when Ben was born so in 1995. It's been a long time." He said with a chuckle and Ashton smiled.
"If you would want to play again someday, you're always welcome to have a go on the drumset I have at home." He offered and my dad got such a bright smile on his face.
"That would be lovely, thank you Ashton. I will remember that for sure."
"We always expected Elle to grow up playing music and singing, all of her brothers used to play instruments but somehow she never got the hang of it." Pops said and Ashton laughed softly
"Yeah I've noticed that she isn't the most talented musician. I'm trying to teach her how to play the piano and it's not going that well."
"Elle and I just didn't get the music gene." Amber said and the whole table laughed, we were the only two that had absolutely no talent to play.
"I had my own talents, they just didn't include making music sadly enough." I tried to defend myself and everyone seemed to find it a lot funnier than it was.
"Melodie, do you still have those videos of Elle dancing in our living room? When you still lived in San Fransisco?" Pops asked her and she suddenly remembered she was still going to look for them.
"I found all the old DVDs back when I was getting out the christmas decorations. I placed the box in her room so we could watch them later, to think back of all the memories." She said so happily and I felt my cheeks turn red.
"This is going to become so embarassing." I said while shaking my head softly. "I was a highly energetic child and I did not have the best sense of clothing style."
"I look forward to seeing them anyway." Ashton said and he looked at me with a small smile before kissing the side of my head softly.
"Atleast you're dressed on all of them. There are a few videos of me running around close to naked." Chris said with a laugh and soon the table was filled with embarrasing stories being shared around and even Ashton and Anne joined with sharing some of their childhood. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Ashton watching me every time I told a story and he always had this big bright smile on his face.
When we were finally done telling stories, my mom went to get the big box with DVDs and put it down beside the tv. We all took our chairs to sit around the tv and Ashton placed his arm around my shoulders until we got interrupted by a 5 yr old high on sugar.
"Can I sit with you auntie Elle?" He asked with the biggest grin
"Ofcourse Tyler" I replied before lifting him up so he could sit on my lap, he was so happy and excited that we were going to watch movies. I looked at Ashton who seemed a bit upset that another guy was getting all my attention but he smiled anyway.
"Okay so out of this box, this is my favourite one." My mom said and the image of me came on the screen, standing right beside the piano where Pops was sitting. I was around 9 here, so we had already moved to Los Angelos and judging by the decorations, this was a christmas visit.
"Are you filming mom?" 9yr old me asked before walking over to her, giving the camera my best smile while doing so. I probably got a thumbs up from her because my smile grew so much bigger. "Hi, my name is Elle Miller and this is my audition for the California Dance Academy. I will be dancing ballet to a piece by Beethoven, which my pops will play." I said before pointing at him. I walked away from the camera and went to the corner of the big living room, all the furniture removed. When he started playing, I went into full dancing mode and focused so hard on what I was doing.
"Is that you auntie Elle?" Tyler asked while looking at me and I nodded before looking back at the video.
"I didn't know you could actually dance." Ashton whispered and I chuckled softly before looking at him.
"It's a long time ago, I haven't done it in forever."
"So did you end up getting in?" Anne asked when the video ended.
"I did, I danced there for several years before I had to quit because of school." I replied with a smile while looking at her.
"One day I want to see those dance moves." Ashton said with a slight grin
"Yes! Auntie Elle has to dance for us!" Tyler said as he had heard Ashton who felt instant regret when everyone looked at us.
"It's been a while but they say it's like cycling, you never forget." My grandpa said and suddenly everyone was against me and wanted me to do it.
"Alright but it's been 10 years so I might be a little rusty." I helped Tyler off my lap before looking at Ashton, "This is all your fault." I said to him and he laughed before Tyler made his way on his lap. They all moved back so I had room while I kicked off my heels. "I only did duets at the end so I'm just gonna do the routine of the video for as far as I remember."
"Anything is fine" Pops said before he made his way to the record player and put my favourite song on. I looked at him with a smile before starting my small routine, leaving out the parts I knew I couldn't do anymore. It was simple and it was indeed like riding a bike, you never forget it.
I made a little bow when the routine was over before all of them gave me an applause.
"Thank you" I laughed softly before going back to my place and when my mom was about to get a new dvd, Tyler ran over to choose one instead.
"Why did you stop?"
"Because Thomas never really allowed me to be me. I don't think I ever realised he was the reason I quit. Because the way it felt now, tells me I didn't quit because I didn't like it anymore. He just got into my head to convince me I didn't." I admitted and he looked at me with a sad smile.
"It's not too late to start again, you could always do some dance classes and see if you still like it. I would always allow you to be most Elle that you can be. I'd never stop you from doing something you love and I'd support you all the way."
"Thank you" I said to him and he placed a soft peck on my lips before we looked at the videos again. I could see 3 sets of eyes on us, his mom, my dad and Ben. The people that are the most protective over us but each of them had a smile on their face.
—
AshtonIrwin: My second christmas that I get to celebrate with this beautiful little girl for who I would jump infront of a bullet. When she was born, I knew I would do anything to keep her safe, which includes out of the spotlight. But know that she is doing well and extremly cheerfull and happy like her mother and I'm madly in love with her.
Merry christmas from Olivia, Piper, Bella and I x
578.917 likes
- comments turned off -
——————————————
10