If I Was Your Boyfriend

An hour later the GPS says we have concluded our journey and the destination was on the right. Justin turns into the smooth driveway and behind a black BMW. The house was huge, pretty red bricks covered it. The grass was perfectly cut and impressively green.

‘This is it.’ Justin was the first to get out of the car.

I hold his hand as we walk to the front of the house and ring the doorbell. Justin swings our hands back and forth patiently waiting.

‘Breathe, baby.’ He laughs, ‘you’re going to be fine. I’m right here.’

‘Okay.’ I breathe out deeply right as the front door opens.

Dad is standing there in a red polo and a pair of khaki slacks. His feet were in a soft-looking pair of slippers. His smile was warm and inviting as he moves back to let us in.

‘So glad you came!’ he explains, ‘and you must be Justin.’ He directs his eyes onto Justin.

‘That would be me. Thank you for inviting me, sir.’ Justin firmly shakes his hand, leaving my side for a second.

‘Call me, Tom.’ Dad insists closing the door behind us, ‘come on into the den. Everyone’s waiting.’

Justin and I follow behind dad as he walks through a large dining room area and larger kitchen. The kitchen had a mixture of something sweet and baked chicken in the air.

‘Just a head’s up- they didn’t quite believe the news. They’re a bit shocked that Chrissy Thorton is somehow their big sister who happened to be coming over for the weekend.’ He whispers just before stepping down into another room. I reach from Justin’s hand holding it in my mine securely. ‘Guys, we have guests.’ He announces moving aside revealing three kids sitting down on a beige sofa. A dark haired woman sat in the small chair beside the sofa. She stands with a smile before walking over to us.

‘Hello, I’m Isabelle. So lovely to finally meet you. It’s all I’ve thought about for the last few days.’

‘Same here.’ I politely reply returning her smile.

‘Kids, this is Chrissy.’ Isabelle states, ‘come say hello.’

One by one each of the kids stand, silently walking over to us. They stare from Justin and I as if they’d seen a ghost, making it slightly awkward and uncomfortable.

‘Nice to meet you.’ I peep out.

A moment of silence brushing through the room before Justin clears his throat and nods at the little boy, Dustin, I believe dad told me a week ago.

‘Cool jersey.’ He steps closer to the boy. ‘Lebron James is a great player.’

‘Great?’ the little boy finally speaks with a laugh, ‘try amazing!’

‘He’s amazing but he’s not Kobe Bryant.’ Justin challenges with a smile.

The tension in the room slowly starts to fade away the more and more Justin and Dustin went back and forth about Lebron James and Kobe Bryant.

‘Who’s Audrey and who’s Alyssa?’ I wonder curiously kneeling down to eye-level with the twins.

‘I’m Audrey.’ The girl on the right announces, dressed in a pink shirt.

‘And I’m Alyssa.’ the one in the purple shirt follows.

‘Hi, I’m Chrissy. It’s great to meet you guys.’

‘It’s great to meet you too.’ They shyly stand before me.

‘They want your autograph.’ Dustin announces loudly, ‘it’s all they’ve been talking about for days.’

‘Oh!’ I turn my attention to the girls, ‘all you have to do is ask.’

‘Can we have your autograph?’ They ask in perfect unison.

‘Sure. Do you have pen and paper?’

I watch as they scurry off out of the room together.

‘They usually are talkative.’ Isabelle speaks up, ‘I guess they’re star-struck.’

‘Please,’ I laugh, ‘I’m just Chrissy. He’s Justin.’

‘They’ll get used to it. I’m going to go check on dinner.’ Isabelle excuses herself politely before heading out of the den.

Justin and Dustin were already on the floor behind the sofa playing with Dustin’s vast amount of cars. Audrey and Alyssa came back with posters from the movie with different crayons in their hands. I sign each of their papers before they drug me upstairs to their bedroom. The room was completely pink on one side and completely purple on the other. In the middle of the room was one of the largest dollhouses I’ve ever laid eyes on. In both corners were cardboard cutouts of Justin. Stuffed animals sat on top of every item possible. Audrey and Alyssa were spelled out along each wall. Posters were stuck on the wall.

‘Look! We’re going to put this up!’ Audrey beams jumping on her tall bed.

She rips into a pack of command strips before throwing them to her sister. They hang up the freshly signed poster on both sides of the room with smiles.

‘Daddy says you’re our sister.’ Alyssa plops down on the bed staring at me. ‘But your mommy’s not our mommy.’

‘Yeah.’ I sit down beside her on the bed, ‘we’re sisters.’ I confirm.

‘But you don’t live with us.’ Audrey points out, with the slightest frown.

‘That doesn’t mean we’re not sisters.’ I attempt to explain in the simplest form. ‘You just live here and I live somewhere else.’

I mean they are only six years old. This is probably very confusing for them.

‘Where’s the little dog?’ Alyssa points at the picture she had in the bedroom.

‘That’s Rocky, he’s at home with Justin’s mom.’

‘Can we see him?’

‘Sure. One day I’ll bring him over and you can play with him. He just loves attention.’

‘Does he bite?’

‘No, Rocky doesn’t bite. He’s a good, kind dog.’ I assure them.

After a while we went downstairs for dinner with the rest of the family. Justin slides into the wooden chair beside me holding my hand underneath the table. I feel his thumb lightly brush the back of my hand.

‘Are you going to need a room?’ Isabelle wonders curiously, focusing her eyes on me.

‘No, thank you. We have a hotel not too far away from here.’ Justin speaks up before I could.

‘We didn’t want to intrude.’

‘Oh, please. You’re my daughter.’ Dad chews on the piece of chicken.

‘Really, it’s fine. We could just come back tomorrow morning.’ I shrug, ‘I think everyone would be more comfortable this way.’

‘Suit yourself.’ Dad chuckles sipping on the glass of wine, ‘but if you change your mind, say the word.’

‘Will do, sir.’ Justin responds.

‘Do you not like the dessert?’ Isabelle nods her head at the plate of evenly cut piece of pie. It was something she called a caramelized nut tart. She even topped it with whip cream.

‘What kind of nuts are these?’ I wonder poking it with my fork.

‘They’re walnuts, why?’

‘She’s allergic to walnuts.’ Justin and dad say before I had the opportunity to open my mouth.

Justin had already finished his and snuck a piece of mine with his fork. I slide my plate over to him with a small smile.

‘Oh.’ Isabelle clears her throat, ‘I asked if she was allergic to anything and you said no, dear.’

‘It slipped my mind earlier. I didn’t realize you were making nut tart.’

‘I’m sorry. It looks really good though.’ I attempt to lighten the mood.

‘My mistake.’ Isabelle takes the empty plates from the table and walks into the kitchen. Justin gives my hand a tight squeeze as he finishes off his second helping of dessert.

‘It’s okay.’ Dad murmurs across the table with an apologetic smile.

We sat there and talked more to the kids and dad. Turns out he is a personal consultant at some high bank here in Arizona. I’m guessing that’s the reason he showed up to our meeting in that suit. Justin is drug back to the den with the kids while they show off their toys. I was glad that they have started to warm up to us. I see why Isabelle insisted how talkative they were.

‘This was nice.’ Dad smiles from across the table. ‘I had a great time. I’m glad we decided to do this.’

‘So am I.’

‘Girls! Dustin! It’s time for bed!’ Isabelle calls to them from the other room.

‘No! We want to stay with Chrissy and Justin.’ Audrey runs to him, standing between my legs. Alyssa was holding onto Justin’s arm.

‘Guys, go upstairs and get ready for bed. Justin and Chrissy will be back tomorrow, right?’ dad attempts to reason with the kids.

‘We will.’ I nod patting Audrey’s back.

‘Come on,’ Justin leans down looking at Alyssa. ‘Let’s see who can get in their pajamas first.’ He rushes up the stairs after them and dad follows behind.

I take my glass of water and finish it off. When I step into the kitchen Isabelle was loading the shiny clean dishwasher.

‘Here’s a glass.’ I place it upside down into the dishwasher.

‘How long are planning to stay?’ she asked, slightly annoyed I’m guessing.

‘Well, he invited me down for the weekend.’

‘Why don’t you just go home?’

‘Excuse me?’

‘You have fame, money, love- why would you go snooping around for daddy?’

I couldn’t be hearing her correctly right now. This cannot be the warm, friendly woman from earlier this afternoon. Her attitude has changed tremendously. The smile was gone. Her eyes were dark.

‘I have love, yes. But fame and money do not provide the love that a father would.’

‘You were doing just fine without him before.’ Isabelle closes the dishwasher with a slam.

‘You don’t know me.’ I feel my jaw clench through a hiss.

‘No, you don’t know me.’ Isabelle repeats placing her bony hand on her hip. ‘You are not going to come in here and ruin everything we have worked for. We are happy. We were happy without you. I am not going to let you ruin my family. I will not.’

I walk out of the kitchen before Isabelle could say anything else. As I’m making my way into the living room Justin was trotting down the stairs. He wraps his arm around me kissing my forehead.

‘Today was fun, wasn’t it?’ he wonders running his fingers through my hair.

‘Tons.’ I look back into the kitchen where dad had just returned to pull Isabelle into a tight embrace.