Luck & Intuition

LUGGING IN HER brief case full of prints and pictures and her Apple laptop, she pushed the door close with her heel and sighed loudly. Autumn heard chatting coming from the kitchen, figuring Joe was on the phone, she practically skipped into the kitchen. The door to the fridge was open and the chattering continued.

She peaked around the door and frowned. "You are not Joe..." Autumn blinked a few times, stepping back.

He laughed, hanging up the phone. "And you're not Joe either."

"Um, no, I'm Autumn..."

He laughed again. "Oh I know who you are, very well." Okay, now that isn't weird at all. "Joe's told me a lot about you. He's very fond of you to say the least. Although, not many people know if this is going to last long.”

"Um, who are you?" Autumn tipped her head to the side. He looked familiar to her; perhaps she had seen a photograph of him before. She wasn't too sure though.

"I'm Josh or Uncle Josh, whichever you prefer. But you'll probably here Uncle Josh the most coming from my nephews."

"Oh! You're Denise's brother!" It all made sense now. Uncle Josh smiled and nodded. "It's very nice to meet you. Are you here to talk to Joe?"

"Yeah. Well, I did a bit but his trainer was here. He actually just finished up but he's taking a shower. Oh, and don't worry about Ella Mae. She's up in Joe's room watching a movie and she has eaten dinner."

Autumn was impressed by Joe's actions and by Uncle Josh telling a rehearsed story from Joe. She smiled and laughed softly. "Good. If you don't mind me, I need to change out of these dressy clothes and I'll see if Joe is done in the shower."

"Alright. If he's not, just tell him to call me later so I can update him about tour. I have to leave in ten minutes or so. The wifey wants me home." He smirked wickedly, tapping his fingers rapidly on his touch phone. Autumn giggled like a child and hurried up the stairs to the master bedroom.

Autumn ran in and immediately jumped onto the bed. It was soft caused by the extra soft mattress completed with a thousand count sheets and the duvet covers made everything perfect. She returned her head to see an identical little girl munching silently on some regular chips. Her big brown eyes stared into Autumn's but she quickly got distracted by the Disney movie on the screen. Then another distraction brought Ella's eyes towards the bathroom door as it opened.

"Oh, you back." Joe smiled, dying his wet hair. Autumn began to stare at his body again but quickly snapped out of it. "How was work?"
Autumn groaned and rolled onto her back. "It was just fabulous. My mother flew all the way out from London to tell me not to date you and that she was going to take Ella away from me, and she asked why Storm was dating a poodle."

Joe stopped in mid-stepped on his way to his walk in closet and turned to face Autumn. "Ella, cover your ears." Ella giggled and covered her ears with her hands. "Is she on fucking crack? She doesn't have any right to do that!"

"That's exactly what I said, but then I told her that I adopted Ella so she can't do anything about it." Autumn removed Ella's hands from her ears, she giggled again.

Joe muttered and walked to the closet. Autumn's eyes followed him noticing a couple of duffle bags on the floor. "Joe... Are you going somewhere?"

"No. Why?" He called from the jungle of a closet.

"Why is there duffle bags packed then?"

He chuckled, pulling a plain black t-shirt over his head and appearing in pyjamas pants. "Storm stopped by and brought supposedly half of your closet and your entire make up or whatever. She told me—after telling me about her and Nick's past couple of romantic days which I didn't care about—that she figured that you wouldn't be back at the apartment anytime soon. Then something about Nick moving in... I don’t know.”

“Oh!” Autumn’s voice had a surprised tone to it. “I figured it was bound to happen someday that Nick and Storm would move in. I just thought I’d still be single and have to put up with hearing noises I really don’t want to hear coming from either of them.”

“A mental image was so uncalled for, A.” Joe laughed and kissed her forehead. “I have to go talk to Uncle Josh.” Autumn smiled and nodded, watching Joe exit the room and disappear around the corner.

Autumn stood up, leaving Ella on the bed with her eyes glued to the television. She unzipped the duffle bag and pulled out a set of pyjamas that would actually fit her. Autumn walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her, beginning to strip off her work clothes and appear in the comfy clothes. The cold water touched upon her face as she washed her makeup off. Autumn sighed as she patted her face dry with a towel.

“Not many people know if this is going to last long.”

Autumn didn’t understand what that meant exactly. She knew the past relationships Joe had been through. He knew that he had broken some girls’ hearts but he also got his heart broken too. Autumn was scared of all the possibilities of their relationship ending could be. She didn’t even want to consider her and Joe’s time together ending, she couldn’t bear because for once in her life she found something new and fresh. She brushed off the thought and proceeded to walk out of the bathroom with the opposite emotion of upset.

The movie on the screen was rolling its credits. Ella sighed, clearly sad by the fact the movie had ended. Autumn laughed at the little miss mature and picked her up. Ella squirmed in Autumn’s arms, climbing back down towards the bed. She crawled towards her bunny and clutched onto it, burring her body under the blankets.

Autumn laughed. “So you finally get your own room but now you want to sleep in here? Oh fine.” Autumn rested on her side beside Ella. “We’ll just make sure JoeJoe doesn’t have any room to sleep.” Ella giggled and nodded.

“I am gone for five minutes and I come back to see my bed has been taken over?! Where am i suppose to sleep?” Joe walked in and threw his hands up in the air. Autumn smirked and whispered something into Ella’s ear.

“On the floor!” Ella shouted and pointed to the floor in front of the bed.

Joe gasped. “On the floor? But then the monsters under the bed might get me!”

“Nooo!” Ella sat up and reached out for Joe. Autumn smacked the palm of her hand to her forehead. Of course he would play the monsters card. So typical. Joe grabbed onto Ella’s hand as he began to pretend that the monsters had got his feet. “JoeJoe!”

“Help me!” Joe cried out.

“Momma, help! Help!” Autumn laughed and clutched onto Joe’s other hand. Ella stood on the bed and pulled with all her might to get Joe safely on the bed. Joe finally collapsed onto the bed with Ella falling onto his back. They both erupted into laughter with Joe starting to tickle her stomach and claim that he was the Tickle Monster.

Autumn examined from the far side of the king size bed the interaction between her daughter and her boyfriend. She couldn’t find any flaw in this scene at all. Where was a video camera when you needed it?

“Hmm, let’s see if mommy is ticklish?” Joe smirked and Ella nodded.

“Don’t you dare.” Autumn pointed at both of them but it was too late. The room was filled with laughter as Autumn was attacked.

-&&-

A cold tongue swept its way along the palm of Autumn’s hand. Her eyes peeled open to notice a Golden Retriever. She groaned and wiped her hand on the bed sheet, turning over to see the two spots that had occupied before to be completely empty. The dog barked and set its front paws up on the edge of the bed.

“Shhh, Elvis.” Autumn murmured. He barked again. “Alright. I’m up, okay? I’m up.” Autumn swung her feet over the side of the bed, rubbing her eyes. Elvis ran out of the room and clumsily down the stairs. She walked downstairs spotting Ella pet Elvis and babble talk to him.

“No, mom, this isn’t like the times before. She isn’t like any of the girls I’ve dated. I know I said that the last time but Autumn... Autumn’s just different.” Autumn stalled and stood behind the wall that conjoined to enter the kitchen from the living room. “I really want you and dad to meet her...”

“Eavesdropping, Autry?” Autumn jumped turned around, seeing Nick chewing on a piece of toast. She shook her head. “Right.” He had this wicked smile on his face that Autumn wanted to slap off.

“Okay, maybe, but it’s not like it’s anything serious. He’s just talking to your mom.” She shrugged, watching Ella chase after Elvis into the backyard.

“I suppose so.”

“Anyways... What are you doing here?”

“We have an interview in an hour so I came to pick up Joe. And since Storm and I can’t leave Elvis unattended in the apartment we brought him here.”

“And Storm is where?” Autumn raised an eyebrow with her hands on her hips. Nick pointed with his thumb over his shoulder towards the backyard. “Tanning. Gotcha.” He nodded.

“Nick! Nick let’s g—Hey!” Joe smiled. Autumn smiled lightly back at Joe and waved. “I have an interview I have to go to.”

“I know. Nick told me. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Okay. We gotta get going. I’ll call you when we’re done.” Joe pressed his lips firmly to Autumn. “By the way, dinner tonight with my parents.”

And then he was out the door.

“Question: What is one to wear to a dinner when meeting the parents of your boyfriend for the first time?” Autumn asked bluntly as she walked outside to occupy the free longue chair next to Storm.

“Answer: A nice solid colour dress. Preferably black.” Storm placed her sunglasses on the top of her head. “Meeting them tonight?”

“Yes! Like, I would at least like to know a week in advance so I can prepare myself. Not ‘Oh hey, I’m leaving for an interview and babe, we’re having dinner tonight with my parents!’”

“Is that what Joe said?”

“Well, no, that those exact words but it was definitely implied.” Autumn groaned. “I’m so screwed. I’m not good at this whole meeting parents thing.”

“Dude, it’s just Mama and Papa J. They are the most chill parents out there. They’ll just make sure that you aren’t going to screw around with Joe’s emotions like Camilla did.” Storm shrugged and tapped her fingers along the arm of the chair.

“Because that gives me hope...”