Life of Luxury

“Girls, everything was wonderful, you did a great job,” Henry, Freddy’s father said as he let out a sigh of relief and leaned back in his chair, “I’m stuffed, nothing else will fit,” he chuckled and patted his stomach.

“Not even pie?” I giggled and he smirked and sat up.

“Maybe a little pie,” he said and we all laughed.

I stood up from my seat and picked up my empty plate, grabbing Tyler’s and went to reach for Jackie’s, but she smiled and said that she would help me. The two of us stood up and moved into the kitchen, I cleaned off everyone’s plate, which was left with much on it, and then placed everything in the dish washer.

“I want to thank you, Haley,” Jackie said and I looked up at her, “I’m glad that my son is happy and you’re taking so good care of him-“

“We’re taking care of each other, ya’ll have a wonderful family and I’m happy that he can share that with me,” I said and she smiled and gave me a side hugged and kissed my head.

“You’re an amazing young woman, it’s a shame your family doesn’t see that,” Jackie said and I nodded my head and looked down.

I looked up and towards the long table where nine people sat, my dinner table only sat ten, so my sister and her friend, Eric, decided to eat on the balcony. I looked outside to see them both laughing at something and couldn’t help but smile at the sight of her happy.

“Whatchya lookin’ at?” I heard and then jumped a little when I felt arms around my waist.

I smiled and leaned back into Tyler’s body and he kissed my ear, “They look happy out there,” I said and Tyler chuckled.

“Everything was great, Hales,” Tyler said and I smiled and turned around in his arms.

“I’m glad you liked everything.”

“Seriously though,” he said and looked down at me, “Thanks for bringing them here.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I just leaned up and kissed him quick, “Help me with the pie?”

“Sure, where is it?”

“Keeping warm in the oven,” I said and Tyler smiled and nodded his head.

“I’m definitely going to need to work out after this,” he said and I laughed.

Tyler helped me with cutting and serving the pie, while Freddy came over and served the ice cream, not letting me forget that it was in the freezer. Brittany grabbed another beer from the cooler, bringing in a few extra for those who were out and I smiled and looked around at everyone, happy to be having a family filled Thanksgiving.

-Tyler-
After Thanksgiving dinner, everyone scattered, Freddy, his father and I were watching a football game on Haley’s giant TV, he appreciated the size and was excited to see that it was bigger than mine, or even his. Haley’s sister and her friend still sat on the one balcony and talked, while the others sat at the dinner table, newspapers spread to the eye could see. They were planning on going Black Friday shopping, leaving early in the morning to try and get those great deals.

Haley, Brittany, my mom and sisters, along with Freddy’s mom, were all going to pile in Haley’s SUV and shop until they dropped. I heard the girls laughing and looked over to see Haley’s brightly smile and my mom was hugging her, I smiled and made a mental note to thank my mom for taking Haley in like she was one of her own.

The land line rang and I watched Haley walk over towards the couch, the phone on the little end table next to me. She smiled towards me, her fingers ran through my hair as she grabbed the phone and looked down at it, “Happy Thanksgiving, Drake,” she said and I looked back at the game. After a little while she hangs up the phone and I look at her, “Drake’s coming over with Derek and Colin.”

“Derek?” I asked and she nodded her head, “Little weirdo, Derek?”

“Stop it,” she said and we both smirked, “Just make sure his seat isn’t taken.”

“Got it,” I chuckled and winked towards her, watching her walk back towards the table.

A little over a half hour later, three boys walked into the condo and everyone greeted them with a smile. Haley introduced everyone and the boys sat down with us and watched the game, Derek, of course, sitting in the spot he always sat.

-Haley-
A week had gone by and everyone was home, my house wasn’t filled with happy guests and Tyler seemed to like that. He was away in California, playing two away games, but he would be back tonight. I was sitting on the couch, Laya and Marshall lying on the big bed in the corner of the room, when the door opened and in walked my sister, just getting home from work.

“How was work?”

“I hate people,” she said and I chuckled, “My back is killing me.”

“Go take a bath in my tub,” I said and she nodded her head and walked towards the kitchen, I couldn’t help but notice the bump on her stomach as she walked.

“Hey Hales,” Heather called and I looked up at her, “Do you think that later you can give me a ride to the bank? I want to deposit my paycheck, oh, and I have your rent.”

“Uh, yeah sure, just- Do you want to go now, or relax first?” I asked and she looked like she had to think about it, but decided to go now, “All right,” I said and then stood up, grabbed my keys from the bowl next to the door and followed her out.

“Thanks,” she said and I nodded my head.

Heather and I headed down to my car and I drove her to the edge of the city to her bank. We decided to go in and I waited in line with her, she dug through her purse for her paycheck and then did everything she needed to do. I was standing next to her leaning against the counter as Heather spoke with the teller and I happen to see that my little sister had almost three thousand in her bank account, I was pretty proud of her for saving that much up. I knew that she got about nine an hour at the grocery store and basically worked full time, and then my boss at the coffee shop, paid her under the table on the weekends to clean the bathroom and such. I was proud of my sister for working hard.

Every week, Heather gave me one hundred cash as her rent, she thought that I put it towards expenses, but what she didn’t know, was that I had a bank account set up at my bank, where I was putting all of the money, for her to use in the future, when she had her child.

‘…Right now her only expenses are her phone bill, rent and gas money for her friend or when she takes the bus…’ I thought as we started to walk out of the bank, ‘…She probably spends about one-fifty a week on bills- Hmmm, that’s not even including- Well, she’s still on our parents health insurance, at least until they take her off…”

“Here’s the rent, Haley,” Heather said and then handed me a hundred dollar bill.

“Thanks,” I said and then shoved it in my purse and took a deep breath.

“You all right, you’ve got that face,” she said and I looked at her confused.

“What face?”

“Like you’re deep in thought,” she said and I smirked and shook my head.

“It’s nothing- Hey, when’s your next doctor’s appointment?” I asked and she pulled out her little calendar book.

“Um two weeks,” she said and I nodded my head, “It’s in the morning, I’ll have to make sure I’m off, or at least scheduled in the afternoon.”

“All right, remind me so I can take you,” I said and she looked at me shyly, “What?”

“Um, actually Eric said that he would take me, and uh, um, he said he would come with me and help me,” she said shyly, her face turning red.

I smiled towards her and saw that she was happy by what she was telling me, “Connor’s the one from Thanksgiving- Right?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you know him again?”

“We work together, he goes to school here,” she said and I nodded my head.

“He should come over for dinner one night,” I said and she smiled and nodded her head.

The way home was nice, we stopped at the coffee shop and I got a latte, while she got a decaf tea, talked a little while about baby things and then headed home where Heather practically ran to my room and relaxed in a bubble bath in my tub.

We weren’t home an hour before Tyler walked through my doors and I ran over towards him and wrapped my arms around him.

“I missed you,” I said and Tyler chuckled and pulled back to press his lips against mine.

“Oh, don’t you worry, I missed you too,” he groaned as he started to push me back towards my room.

“Heather’s take a bath in there,” I breathed, getting the hint as to what he wanted.

“Freddy’s not home,” Tyler said and we both smiled and ran out the door and across the hall, leaving a trail of clothes as soon as Tyler’s door closed.