28 Tommy Parker

I don’t know when she found the time to do it, but in between cooking, cleaning, hosting Angela’s birthday party, and entertaining us, mum invited a whole bunch of people to the reception/get together.

Topher and I had snuck out after the whole emotional thing to get a couple button-down shirts and nice trousers. I got a tie as well since the sales lady said it would pull everything together; whatever that means. Toph hates wearing ties, but said it looked nice on me.

We’re getting ready in my old room now to prepare for the day ahead of us when my fingers decide they don’t want to work. Chris sees me struggling with my tie and decides to put me of out my misery.

“What’s wrong, babe?” He asks as he unties the monstrosity all together.

Sighing, I run a hand through my hair, “I’m just not looking forward to this whole thing.”

“Why not?” He starts to retie the neckwear without a second pause.

“My whole family from my mum’s side is going to be here. Even gran and granddad are coming. Gran is pretty much senile, so she’ll be seated quietly. She doesn’t talk anymore at all, but granddad is very opinionated,” I admit looking into his eyes.

“You’re afraid he won’t like that you married a man?” He guesses as he finishes the knot. I nod, looking away from him, until he puts a hand on either side of my face. Gently, he moves my face back to look at him, “I’ll still be here either way.”

“I know,” I smile as I lean forward and press our lips together quickly. “We should probably go see if mum needs any help setting up.”

After slipping on our shoes, my husband and I go try to find the woman that gave birth to me twenty three years ago. She ends up being in the kitchen.

“Hey mum, you need any help?” I ask as we walk in.

She turns and brushes her hands on her apron as she looks us over. Holding her hands out, her face morphs into adoration, “Look at you two.” She grabs one of my hands and one of Toph’s, squeezing lightly, “You both look so handsome.”

“Thanks, mom,” Chris says with a huge smile on his face. His elation with the simple compliment makes me happier than I would like to admit.

I tear my eyes away from his face to look at mum as she lets go of us, “Do you need our help?”

Taking off her apron, she runs her hands down the front of the dress she’s wearing, “No thank you, Ducky. I have everything in order. All we need now is the people.”

“Who’s coming today?” Toph ask before taking my hand and leading me to sit down at the kitchen table.

“Well,” mum thinks about it for a second, “I know mum and dad are coming. I think my sister Eliza is coming. I know for a fact Charlie is coming.”

“Uncle Charlie is coming?” I interrupt a bit excited.

Mum smiles, sitting down across from me, “Yes, your Uncle Charlie will be here. He got a day off to come see you. Said he couldn’t wait.” Then her thinking face appears, “I also invited a couple neighbors and told Marcy to invite whatever close friends are still in town. Should be quite a gathering.”

“At least Uncle Charlie will be here,” I sit back against my chair. “You did tell them this was a wedding party, yea?”

“Well,” she looks away, “not exactly.”

“Mum!” I shout at her, “What did you tell them?”

“I said it was because you were in town and wanted to see everyone. I didn’t think it was my business to announce your wedding. You can do that when everyone gets here,” she explains as she stands from the table. “Now, go make sure your sister is ready.”

“I’m not a teenager anymore, mother,” I remind her even though she knows I’m going to do it anyway.

“Duly noted.”

“Did you want to come with me?” I look over at Chris as I smooth out my trousers.

“No,” my mother answers for him. “You can do it. He’ll be right here when you get back.” I stare at her from a second with a not-so-pleasant look on my face, but she just brushes me off, “Go on. People are going to start arriving soon. She needs to get off the phone with her boyfriend and come down here.”

“She has a boyfriend?” I raise an eyebrow, new interests arising.

She looks at me as if I’ve grown a horn, “You didn’t see her with the boy she was with yesterday? They hardly left each other’s side.”

It’s odd that I didn’t notice, but I don’t say so. I just shake my head, “No.”

“That’s not surprising actually,” a coy smile plays at her lips. “You were a little sided yourself.”

Chuckling, I wave my hand at her as I walk out of the room. I don’t need to answer her. She loves that Chris is here and I know she was just trying to get me out of the room so that she could talk to him. Which in all reality is just fine; I practically haven’t left his side since we arrived.

“Shrimp,” I knock on her bedroom door a few times. No answer, but this is a bit of shuffling, “Angela, open the door.”

She peeks the door open an inch or so after a few seconds. Her hair is in a million places and she’s wearing an over-sized tee shirt, “What do you want?”

“You’re not awake yet?” I ask, a little baffled by her appearance.

She wiped the back of her hand over her eye, “No, what time is it?”

“It’s noon. Everyone’s going to be here soon,” I give her a stern look and try to look into the bedroom that she’s cutting me off from.

She holds the door tighter to her, “Okay, I’ll get ready.”

“What’s in there, Angela?”

She shifts a little uncomfortable, “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb with me,” I point at her. “I was a teenager not too long ago. It’s a ‘who’, isn’t it?”

“No,” she tries to play it off, but let’s be honest; I’m an actor and her brother. No way is she getting away with this one.

Blinking at her a few times, I shake my head before putting my right hand to her door and pushing. She tries to grab the handle with two hands, but she doesn’t have enough strength to match me. Once I get the door entirely open, I see a suspicious looking bump in her covers.

“Is this the boyfriend mum was telling me you had?” I raise an eyebrow at her.

She looks absolutely panicked; biting her nails and scrunching her eyebrows, “I can explain.”

“Go on,” I prompt as I fold my arms over my chest before looking at the pile on the bed, “and your boyfriend should probably show his face too.”

“You can come out, Tom,” she says toward her bed and then turning back to me. “Don’t tell mum please.”

“Tom as in little Tommy Parker?” I ask as I see him for the first time. “Does your mum know you’re here? I was friends with Terrence in secondary school and I can say he was very over-protected.”

“She doesn’t know,” he looks down at the covers around his waist. That’s when I realize he’s not wearing a shirt.

Looking at Angela and raising an eyebrow to show her that I’m not exactly happy, “Is that his shirt?”

Her entire face flames red and she ducks her head, “Yes.”

“Don’t you think he should be wearing it?”

“Well,” she looks up at me with sad eyes.

I laugh out right, “This is your plan? You’re going to try and use the pouty face? I invented that pouty face and it hasn’t worked since I was three. It’s not working for you either.”

She sighs dramatically and walks over to sit on the edge of her bed, “Whatever, Damian. You did far worse when you were a teenager.”

“I never had girls stay the night here,” I shook my head at her with a smug smirk. I would never bring them here; I would stay at their place.

“Isn’t that because you’re gay?” ‘Tom’ asks from where he’s sitting next to my little sister.

I give him a mean look, “No, Tommy. That’s actually a new discovery, but thanks for your input.”

“Okay,” my sister interrupts our staring contest, “what do you want to not tell mum?”

Shaking my head, I point at her ‘boyfriend,’ “Oh no, I’m not letting this slip by. This is not okay. You’re not supposed to sleep with boys.”

“You sleep with Topher,” she points out a little arrogantly.

“He’s my husband.”

A knock sounds through the room. “Hey babe,” said husband’s voice floats in.

I didn’t even notice her close the door.

“You can open the door, love,” I call to him and watch as he comes in and closes the door behind him.

“Your mom sent me up to come get you. People are arriving,” he looks at me with a smirk. Then he sees the situation around us, “What’s going on?”

“Angela had her little boyfriend spend the night and thought she wasn’t going to get caught,” I tilt my head to look at my sister.

“And he said he’s going to tell mum,” Angela adds crossing her own arms and tilting her own head.

He laughs and takes my hand, “Come on. Leave them alone; we have a reception to attend to.”

Pulling my hand away, I cross my arms over my chest again, “No, she’s not allowed to have boys spend the night.”

Shaking his head, he faces me and crosses his arms like mine. The smirk doesn’t fall from his face as he says, “If you can tell me honestly that you didn’t sneak out and stay at a girls house when you were a teenager then by all means; proceed.”

“That’s not the point,” I shake my head.

He rolls his eyes and drops his arms. Walking over to me, he takes each one of my arms and pulls them around his body, “That’s exactly the point. She’s a teenager.” Looking over to my sister and her boyfriend, he says, “Are you being safe?”

Tommy’s entire face lights red and my sister giggles.

“Are you?” My best friend stares right at the frightened boy in my baby sister’s bed.

He nods, but can’t seem to find his voice.

He point right at Tom, “You better be. Day and I are financially capable of coming back here anytime we want to kick a little punk’s ass for getting our little sister pregnant.”

Angela laughs out right and little Tommy’s eyes get huge.

Toph turns back to me and smiles, “See they’re being safe. I trust Angie. Now,” he kisses my nose and takes my hand, “let’s let Angela get dressed.” He looks over to her and raises an eyebrow, “And she need to get rid of her little problem.” Pulling me to the door, he pushes me out and peeks his head back in to say to my little sister, “You don’t worry about Damian. I’ll take care of him, but people are starting to arrive, you may want to think about how you’re going to get Tom out.” I hear her say ‘thank you’ like he’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened before he says, “Anytime. But seriously do it fast. Everyone’s getting here and people are expecting you to be at the party. Tom can come back when he’s dressed appropriately.” I can’t hear what she says, but I see him smile, “I love you too. Now hurry up.”

Pulling him a couple doors down to my old bedroom, I bring him in and shut the door. Looking him straight in the eye, I walk him backward until the back of his knees hit my bed. A smirk appears on my face as I push him backward and climb on top of him. His hands graze up and down on my sides as he smiles up at me. My hands plant on either side of his head.

Moving in fast, I stop my descent as my lips just brush his, “Who said you could boss me around like that?”

Chuckling lightly, he looks into my eyes lovingly, “You know you weren’t going to tell on her. You just wanted to watch her squirm.”

“She didn’t need to know that,” I narrow my eyes playfully.

Picking his head up slightly, he drags his bottom lip up mine before nipping at my top lip, “What are you going to do about it?”

“You don’t even want to know,” I whisper into his mouth.

Moving his hands down to cup my ass, he sucks my bottom lip in between his teeth; gently biting it before letting go. “I very much want to know.”

“Mm,” I agree. “I very much want to show you.”

Capturing my lips with his, he kisses and nips. His hands rub down my back and grabbing on my sides and bum. When I feel myself start to rock against him, I stop and disconnect.

Moving back and pressing my forehead to his chest, I try and calm my heart, “Our reception is going on downstairs. We should probably be there.”

“I would rather be here,” he says paying with my hair.

I know that if I let him continue, I won’t stop him at all. And as much as I agree with him, we really need to go downstairs with my family. So instead, I reluctantly pick myself up off him all together.

“Come back,” he whines trying to reach for me. “We’re going to have to wait a few minutes anyway.”

“And why is that?” I raise an eyebrow from across the room.

He gestures to his pant before pointing to mine, “Don’t want the family to see the goods.”

I can’t help the laugh that burst from my lips. “The goods, yea?” I ask once I can.

“Definitely,” his smirk is devilish as he stands up and stalks toward me.

Holding out my hand, I press it to his chest to stop him from advancing anymore, “No, don’t touch me.”

“And why is that?” He mocks my accent and hitches a brow.

“You know just as well as I do that if we continue to touch, ‘the goods’ won’t go down anytime soon,” I accuse and take a step back.

He folds his arms over his chest and captures my hand with them, “And what are we supposed to do in the meantime?”

“I don’t know,” I admit trying not to think about how I can feel his heart pounding under my hand. Quickly, I put on a smile and look up, “We could look at that book of you and your 90’s haircuts.”

As I laugh, he scowls at me and raises an eyebrow, “Or we could go and see how Angie and Tom are doing.”

“Oi, come off it,” my brows scrunch together and I snatch my hand away.

He smiles at me before kissing me softly, “There, now we got rid of both our goods.”

Chuckling, I shake my head and start for the door. Turning back one last time, I point at my husband, “This isn’t over.”

“Not for the next 70 years,” he promises as we walk out of my childhood bedroom to introduce him to the rest of my family.

~A/N~

Oh my gosh guys! I went to lay down for bed and realized it's Sunday!

If you didn't know already, I work from home. So, a lot of days I don't leave the house. Well it's been a few days since I've been out. (The last time was when I went to the doctors the Monday for them to check on the think they put in my elbow.)

I apologize like times a million. When I figured it out, I jumped out of bed and my wife was pretty confused.

In conclusion: I love you.