Chapter 19: Family Council
"I can't believe you let me play soccer while Jake was meeting his father," Manny complained to everyone, then turned to me. "Are you well, Jake?"
"I'm fine, Manny, don't worry," I reassured him with a smile.
"You can always talk to me," he said trying to sound more grown-up.
I couldn't help but laugh. "Sure thing, buddy."
"Malibu…" Haley murmured as she stared at the address. If we weren't in 2003, she would probably be checking Google Maps to see exactly where it was.
"You think he gave the right address?" Jay commented grumpily.
"Jay!" Gloria promptly scolded, giving his arm a light slap
"He did," I interjected. "Alan would have reacted if Charlie had given the wrong one."
I noticed Alan's expression hadn't shifted at all when Charlie mentioned the address. And despite the few interactions we had today, he didn't seem like someone who would fail to react.
We chatted a little more until we arrived at Phil and Claire's house.
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When we stepped inside, Mitchell and Cam were already there with Lily. But before we could start talking about what had happened, the doorbell rang.
"Hi, Bren," I waved to her, seeing her standing at the door when Claire opened it
She rushed in and hugged me tightly. I noticed she was slightly out of breath.
After catching it, she asked, "Are you okay?"
"I'm alright," I replied, kissing her softly.
"Don't worry, I brushed my teeth," I joked, "but I used Haley's toothbrush."
"Ewww!" Haley turned to me with disgust.
"I don't like it either, cousin. But if I used Alex's, she'd be truly mad. And no way I'd touch Luke's. Yours was the least bad option, since I couldn't find a new one," I reasoned, but she was still pouting.
"Brenda, you can't just leave your bike lying outside like that," Claire lightly scolded as she pulled it inside.
"Mom, Jake met his dad," Haley revealed.
Claire dropped the bike against the corner of the entrance. "What?? He did what?", she approached us
"Come on, let's all talk in the kitchen. I'm hungry," I suggested, but then we heard an "ouuuuch!"
Phil had accidentally kicked Brenda's bike.
"Claire, you can't just leave a bike lying like that, someone might get hurt," I scolded her, mimicking her tone.
Her eyes twitched at me; she was probably holding back a retort.
Haley stifled a laugh, Brenda doing the same, burying her face in my chest.
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Then everyone gathered in the living room (which was also connected to the kitchen), discussing who would go that afternoon to Charlie's house after hearing the story.
"I obviously will go, I'm his second mother," Gloria affirmed with her usual accent.
"And I'm his brother," Manny agreed.
"I will go," Jay said succinctly, with a look that made it clear he wasn't open to negotiation.
"I'm his cool uncle-" Phil started, but was cut off by his wife.
"I think I should go, I'm better at handling cases like this," Claire declared.
"That is very true, Claire is an expert in daddy issues," Mitchell muttered a bit too loudly.
Claire snapped her head in his direction and mocked, "You are one to talk," then did an imitation of Mitchell, "'Claire, do you think Mommy will be okay?'"
"I did not say that," Mitchell retorted and began bickering with Claire.
"Okay, you two," Jay stepped in exasperatedly to separate them.
Cam raised his hand dramatically while holding Lily with the other, "And what about me? Nobody even considers me! I can totally help."
"Shouldn't we all ask the one who is actually the most involved?" Alex commented sarcastically, making everyone finally turn to me.
"Pass me more scallions, Bren," I said first. I was calmly making scrambled eggs with bacon while listening to the discussion.
Then I spoke to everyone who was staring at me, "I'm okay with whatever you all decide."
I turned my focus back to the stove, finally pouring the whiskey into the pan filled with bananas. I was making bananas flambé for dessert.
The pan caught fire for a few brief seconds and quickly extinguished, just before Claire got closer (she was the only one who had approached), but Phil was already shouting, "I'll get the extinguisher! The extinguisher!"
"What? I'm hungry," I explained to everyone who was still staring at me in disbelief.
And little by little everyone began to laugh, breaking the serious mood from just a moment ago
Claire, who was already inspecting everything, looked at me in surprise. "I didn't know you could cook."
"I do," I replied. Having a photographic memory helps a lot, but I still had to train the manual part quite a bit. It's a pleasant hobby (literally), plus it impresses the girls.
"Jake is a good cooker," Gloria revealed. "Sometimes he makes things at our house."
"Cook, Gloria. He is not a cooking appliance," Jay corrected
"Bananas flambé," Manny smiled excitedly
"Serve yourself, Manny. But I couldn't find any ice cream in the fridge," I spoke, already handing some things to Claire, who was ready to help make more portions.
"I don't know if I want something with alcohol right now," Haley said conflicted, staring at the banana.
"Don't worry, almost all the alcohol is burned off in the flambé process," I clarified, putting a portion on a plate and sprinkling some cinnamon on top. "Try it," I offered it to her.
"It is very good!" Brenda, next to me, was already eating her portion.
"Oh yeah, that reminds me, young lady, you are grounded," Claire announced to Haley.
"Moom!" Haley exclaimed, outraged, "that is not fair! I went to that stupid game, and I even drank that horrible thing you offered me."
Brenda was feeding me while I prepared more with Claire's help. In this family, if you weren't careful, you could easily end up without breakfast – even (or specially) if you were the one making it
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Author's Note: Francis/Jake can cook a few fancy and regular dishes. He's not a MasterChef or anything like that.
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