2247 words
EMERY.
Auden leaves with a frown, and dad and mom trail inside my small ass room and sit on my bed. "What is this? A fucking party now?"
Dad chuckles as mom frowns. This is a great example of two different people. "We just wanted to talk to you, honey." Mom says.
I take a deep breath to stop my nerves. I hold both my hands over my knees, tucked up against my chest, so I don't shake. "Yeah, you've been distant lately and we want to know what's up." Dad adds.
I let out my breath, relieved that they don't actually know anything. Fuck, but they are suspicious... "what are you talking about?"
Dad opens his mouth to speak but mom beats him, "most parents don't know what their child is feeling. They aren't involved enough, or they're too busy to sit down and request a mental check. We don't want to be those parents, so if you aren't going to come to us then we are going to come to you." She says, ending her long ass speech. "What's wrong?"
I roll my eyes. They are so fucking annoying. Can't they stay out of my fucking business? Don't they understand that I don't want them to be involved!? The last time they were involved in my shit, it didn't end fucking well! "I said, nothing is fucking wrong." I say slowly, and I look at my dads tattoo on his arm to avoid eye contact.
Mom sighs and dad looks up at her. God, why can't they stop being so fucking secretive. Just tell me what you're thinking, damnit! They don't need to fucking sugar coat their words in front of me as if I'm a ticking time bomb about to explode. Jokes on them, I've already fucking exploded a long time ago.
"Well..." my dad trails off as he pulls a book out of his bag that I just now realize he's holding. "In that case..." He trails off again. Get your fucking words out! He reaches out, showing me a medium size book. "I want you to read this. You don't have to, but we'd really like it if you did."
In his hands is his first After book. After by Hardin Scott. God, that's... why would they want me to read this? "Why?" I whisper, my eyes glued to the cover.
Dad, seeing I have no attempt to grab ahold of it, lays it down onto the blanket in front of me. "Well, at first I was going to give you the last book, Before, because it has a little bit of my experiences before I met your mum, but then I'd feel bad for not giving you the first book. Once you are done reading this one, I'll get you the entire series if you want it."
That makes sense... I guess. But why does he want me to know his past experiences? Why doesn't he just fucking speak to me about them? And why the hell would I want to read his books? "Why would I want to read your books?" I speak my mind, and when I look up at him a see his hurt expression. Damn it...
"Like I said, you don't have to." He replies, and I look up to see mom smiling softly.
"All of those are true events too. There are some things we want you to skip-" mom begins. Here we fucking go...
"Yeah, yeah. There's sex." Dad interrupts, shaking his head at mom. "But you don't have to skip them if you don't want to. This is your book now." He says looking at mom. Why the fuck would I want to read about them fucking? "Also, I knew you probably wouldn't want to read them so I highlighted the sex scenes so you can easily skip them."
"I also put a small little note at the front of your book!" Mom chimes in with a huge smile. Did I tell you I'm fucking speechless? Because I am.
I slowly open the cover to, indeed, see a handwritten note in pen on the back of the front cover.
Dear Emery,
I hope you enjoy this book and don't find it odd that we want you to read about us.
Love, mom + dad xoxo
I huff slightly, a half amused smile covering my lips. "Wow." I say, and they both lean in expecting me to say something else. But I don't have anything else. I don't know if I even want to read this piece of shit. I don't want to know about my parent's past. That's not fictional and I can't put myself into one of their bodies because they're too fucking perfect. So why read? "I'll think about it." I say simply, leaning my head back against my headboard.
They both slouch but nod. "Alright. That's all." Dad says.
"We're going to watch a movie in the living room if you want to join?" Mom suggests, and I roll my eyes. If Auden is going to be down there then they are definitely watching either Shrek or Cars and I'm not going down there for that shit.
"I'm good."
"Okay." She replies as dad says, "goodnight, baby."
"'Night." And they shut the door. My eyes immediately go to the After book. Should I just read it and get it over with to make my parents happy? I could say I've read it, but what if they ask questions I don't know? Fuck. I grab the After book and throw it inside my nightstand drawer so I don't have to look at it.
Back to my real book, Jane Eyre.
◉‿◉
HARDIN.
"I'm surprised she said she'll think about it..." Tessa trails off, and I nod.
"I thought she was going to say no too." I reply, going in for a kiss.
She kisses back but pulls away too soon. "I want to have movie night."
I sigh, "well, I don't." she rolls her eyes as she passes me into our room. I follow her and she is getting changed out of her clothes. Damn it... I want to fuck like I did a few hours ago in our basement. I miss when we could fuck whenever we pleased. "Why don't we just fuck a little bit?" I ask as she is removing her pants.
She chuckles, "because we had sex not even six hours ago."
"That's a long time."
"Not for us! We have kids now, Hardin. They are more important than our needs and right now we are having movie night and Auden is picking the movie." She demands, and I roll my eyes.
"I don't want to watch Shrek again."
She frowns, walking over to me and wrapping her arms around my neck. All she has on is a bra and panties. God, she wants to kill me. "Why are you so moody all of the sudden?"
I wrap my hands around her waist, rubbing up and down slowly. Maybe I can turn her on. I lean down and whisper in her ear "I'm not, I'm just horny." I kiss her neck and she pushes away. Damnit, Tessa! Ever since Auden was born she has gotten more stronger against my actions. Although I admire that she can do what she wants and isn't wrapped around my finger like everyone said she was, I still fucking miss fucking her whenever I fucking please!
"You don't have to go downstairs if you don't want to, but Auden has been asking for a movie night and I really think we need one. Emery or not."
I sigh in defeat, and look down at the floor. "Fine..." I trail off and she passes me, now fully dressed in one of my t-shirts and her cloud pants. Fuck those cloud pants, they actually look sexy on her right now.
◉‿◉
Just as I predicted, the intro of Shrek plays across the screen. I have to restrain myself from groaning and rolling my eyes in front of my kid for his stupid choice of a movie. I hate cartoons and animations. Why watch that shit when you could be watching mission impossible or some shit. Honestly, I don't like anything related to tv. Movies, and tv shows are so stupid. If you want to live in a different reality then pick up a fucking book! You can understand the storyline better for one, and you can fucking picture whatever you please while you read.
Auden doesn't like to read though. That's the one thing that sets him a part from the family. It's shocking really. Everyone in this family loves to read. I'd like to assume it's only because he's eleven and can't keep his mind on one thing for too long, therefore making reading boring. One can only hope he'll learn to love it some day.
I feel a poke on my shoulder and I furrow my eyebrows at the culprit, Tessa. "Don't forget to talk to Auden about the... situation at school." She whispers and my eyebrows furrow deeper together. What the fuck is she talking about?
"What?"
She smacks my arm and I jump. She looks over to see Auden fully invested in the shitty cartoon he has seen over a million times. She turns her gaze back to me. "The girl situation? Please don't tell me you forgot already?" She glares at me. But not just glare... she gives me the deadly glare. I sink further into the couch and gulp. The deadly glare is the worst kind of glare Tessa Young-Scott can give. This glare holds more than death... this glare holds the power to withdraw sex for a period of time. God, the worst possible punishment you could give a man.
"No, I remember. I was just..." I trail off, not having a real excuse and I watch her remove the deadly expression from her face and replace it with a soft smile. Fuck yes, I survived.
"Do it soon okay? I don't want to cause anymore trouble or drama at the school. I haven't heard anything from the moms so far but if it continues I have a feeling I'm going to get some calls about him breaking their daughter's hearts." She whispers, looking over at Auden. We are a bit of distance from him. He's right in front of the tv as usual, and we are actually on the comfortable couch. I don't know why he insists on sitting on the fucking cold floor. Something about not being able to see the tv good from the couch, whatever that means. I can see it perfectly fine from where I am.
Once Tessa looks back over to me I quickly peck her lips. "I will, Tess. I promise, but not tonight. Maybe in the morning before he goes to school."
"That's perfect, because we have to go to Landon's right after they get home." She says, and I nod. Suddenly I hear a phone go off and Tessa is quick to dash towards the dining room table to pick it up.
I listen closely as she answers. It's better than some fucking Shrek movie. I can recite each line perfectly from how many times we've watch the fucking shit. "Tessa Young!"
I roll my eyes at her refusal to say Young-Scott. She said it had something to do with the way it sounds, well that's fucking insulting! I think it sounds so fucking hot. Tessa Young-Scott. It rolls perfectly off my tongue, and I wish I could hear her say it because damn it's sexy.
I almost forget that I'm eavesdropping on her, and miss a couple things she says. "No, of course not! We'd love to come... Yeah, of course!"
What the fuck is she agreeing to? Doesn't she know that I don't agree to anything? Fuck, she better not be agreeing to go out with one of her weird friends on some shitty double date...
"Alright, bye! I'll see you next week!" She says before hanging up.
Fuck no you won't. I'm not going. I already know what it is. A stupid fucking double date. "Hardin?" Tessa brings me out of my angry thoughts and I stand up and walk into the kitchen for a small bit of privacy. "What's wrong?" She asks as she follows me.
"We've talked about talking to me before agreeing to things, Tessa!" I say, and she sighs.
"I'm sorry! I was caught off guard." She admits.
"Who were you talking to?" I ask, and she sighs again.
"Kendal. She invited us to her wedding. The whole family, and we're free next Friday, so I thought it would be fine." She explains and I groan, running my fingers through my hair.
"This is why we talk about things, Tess." I whine, "I don't want to go."
"Well we don't all get what we want, Hardin! We all need this. You know we do. We have been stuck in this house with nothing to do for far too long." I sigh. She is right. We haven't had many events this week or even last week. Maybe we should take the kids somewhere, fun or not.
"Fine, but I still don't like it." I murmur, and I feel Tessa wrap her arms around me roughly and squeal.
"Thank you! I love you so so much." She kisses my cheek and lingers her lips there. Okay, maybe this is a good idea. Time for Hardin Scott to earn some brownie points with the wife.
◉‿◉
𝙰𝚞𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛'𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎
I'm pretty sure the After book written by Hardin Scott is actually a different After book than Anna's... but for the sake of this story they are completely the same. Odd, I know. Especially since it shifts through POVs, but it's fan fiction... I hope you guys are okay with it!
Also! It really motivates me when you comment what you thought of the chapter! Please let me know which relationship you like the most. What would you like to see more of??
Chapter sixteen: Nov. 7, 2020