At First Sight.
Five.
The week passed by as a normal week. Or more like, it was a new version of our normal week. We hung out with everyone on an almost daily basis. And today, Bill, Melinda and the kids are arriving. Harry was going with me to pick them up, while Arielle and Niall stayed with Sansa at home.
We arrived at the airport as they were exiting. We got out and helped them get their bags into the car after introducing them all to Harry.
"So uh," I said while we were driving home, "Joshua showed up last week. That day that we met Harry and everyone."
"What?!" Bill, Melinda, Rory, Phoebe and Jennifer all said at the same time.
"Whoa, bite my head off," I said.
"Why didn't you tell us? Where did he show up?" Bill asked.
"Because I was kind of worried you freak the fuck out, my mistake I should have known it'd go swimmingly. And at our house."
"How did he find out where you live?!" Melinda asked.
"Probably because of pictures on the internet. I don't know the details of how he found us. All I know is that he did."
"Well, what did he want?" Jennifer asked.
"Another chance," I said.
"Well, you're not giving him one are you?" Bill asked.
"No uncle Bill, I brought Harry for you to meet him but yes I'm giving Joshua another chance. Hello? How does that make any sense?"
"Okay yeah you're right sorry my brain kind of got all messed up from you telling us that."
"Well, you'll have to move," Melinda said.
"What?! Why? We like our house, our house is beautiful and in a great location and-"
"No I agree," Harry said.
"What?" I said, glancing over at him.
"He didn't want to leave, you had to threaten to call the cops multiple times before he would leave. And now he knows where you live and he could come back. He could come back when none of us are around to help if things go bad. You can protect yourself, I know that much, but it's always to a certain extent."
I sighed, "Well where do you want to relocate us to then?"
"We can talk about that later," Bill said.
I understood all of their concern, and I did agree. I just didn't want to up and move again after we finally got settled. We arrived at the house and went inside. Arielle hugged everyone and introduced Niall, then Sansa came and hugged everyone.
"Oh sweetie your hair is so beautiful," Melinda said to her.
"Thank you," she smiled.
"Rory, Phoebe, why don't you take Sansa into another room and play or watch TV?" Bill said.
"Alright," Rory nodded and the three of them left the room.
"Why don't we sit down?" Melinda asked.
"What's happening?" Arielle asked as we sat down.
I just shook my head and sighed.
"So, we think that it would be a good idea if the three of you move," Bill said.
"What? Why?" Arielle asked.
"Because Joshua knows where you live now," Melinda said.
"So we get some better locks and amp up the security system, we don't have to totally move."
"We can't have someone here 24/7 to protect you in case things get bad," Bill said.
"It could be a better house," Niall said.
"Wait a second when did you get involved in this?" Arielle asked as she clearly got angry, "What are you in agreement of this too Harry?"
"Yeah, I am," he said.
"What did you guys go off and call Bill and Melinda and make like an agreement for an intervention or something?" Arielle asked.
"Arielle," I said to her, slightly defensive when she snapped at harry.
"No, Samantha, don't try to defend everyone like this doesn't piss you off just as bad as it does me!" she said as she raised her voice at me.
I slammed my hand on the table, making everyone jump slightly.
"God damn it Arielle don't fucking raise your voice with me. You haven't thought this through all the way. And at first neither did I. But you have to see that if we stay in this house and Joshua continues to know where we are, there is no late night runs to the mini mart for chocolate while Sansa is asleep upstairs for us. Because if we leave her alone and he knows where to find her then he has every ability to take her from us. And if that happens then my life is over, Arielle, do you understand that? So we are fucking moving to a new house and we will take the precautions that we have to now that he knows we're in Los Angeles because if he gets a hold of that little girl in there then my life is fucking over. And if you don't like it then figure it out for yourself because no matter what you say, Sansa and I are not staying in this house," I said before getting up and walking out of the back door.
I walked through the back to the beach and sat down in the sand. I stared straight out into the ocean. I could tell Arielle sat next to me, but I didn't look over at her.
"I can't lose her, Arielle," I said.
"I know you can't. And I can't either. So we'll move, and we'll get a better security system and we'll get better locks. Or we'll build a moat."
"Thank you."
"And I'm sorry I raised me voice with you."
"It's okay."
"Can we go back inside?"
"Yeah," I said before getting back up and walking inside.
"Are you okay now?" Bill asked.
"Yeah," we both said as we sat down again.
"Now, we will find a new house before you guys leave to London. Then, while you are gone, we will put together everything in the new house so you don't have to do it. We will extend our trip to do so."
"Alright," I nodded.
"Can we all just go have a nice dinner now?"
"Yes," Arielle and I said.
We all stood up and told the other kids to get their shoes on. Bill drove one car with Melinda, Sansa, Rory and Phoebe while I drove the other car with Harry, Niall, Arielle and Jennifer.
"My God that was fucked up," Arielle said.
"We got fucking passively roasted in there and we did it to ourselves," I said.
"It's just, when Bill gets mad, he gets that look ya know? And he had that look but it was like multiplied by 1000."
"I know that look," Jennifer nodded, "It's the I wish I could make you an orphan right now so I can then provide you a charity face."
"Yeah that look started with me, he literally gave an orphan a charity," I said, "I helped me invent that look."
"Yup I remember that," she said.
"Let's just get through the dinner so that tomorrow it can be less weird," I said.
"Good plan," Arielle said.
We let Sansa do all of the talking during dinner and when we went home and Bill, Melinda and the kids went to their hotel. Harry and Niall were going to be staying the night with us that night.
Harry and I got ready for bed in silence, and then laid down.
"Are you going to keep being mad at me?" he asked finally.
"I'm not mad at you," I said.
"Then what's wrong? You haven't said anything to me in hours."
"Harry, what's wrong is that I feel like you undermined me. I feel like you went behind my back to do something rather than just talking to me about it yourself. You have no idea how I would've reacted if you had just come to me yourself and told me you were concerned. It could have been a lot different, but instead you went to Bill and Melinda and didn't tell me about it at all. And that hurts, that you didn't feel comfortable enough to just come to me in the first place."
"I know... I'm sorry. I won't do it again."
I sighed and rolled towards him, resting my head on his chest and putting my arm around his waist. He put his arms around me and kissed the top of my head.
"I love you Harry," I said.
"I love you Sam."
The next day, Jennifer woke us up when they got there.
"We're gonna go out for breakfast and then Mom and Dad are going to go to the realtor and they were hoping you guys would hang out with us kids," she said as I sat up.
"Jen you're 19, you're not a kid. We can hang out with you guys. We'll go shopping or something," I said.
"Alright, I'll see you downstairs."
Harry and I both got up. I got dressed and then turned towards him.
"Yeah?" he said as he put his arms around my waist.
I put my arms around his neck and kissed him.
"I'm sorry I was so upset yesterday, I know you were just trying to help," I said.
"It's okay, I went about it in the wrong way, I'm sorry too."
I kissed him again, "Alright, let's go have breakfast."
He smiled and nodded, "I love you."
"I love you too Harry," I smiled.
We walked downstairs and Arielle and Niall were already up, as well as Sansa.
"Good morning mom, good morning Harry," she smiled.
"Good morning baby girl," we both said in unison.
We all got into the cars and drove to the breakfast place of Bill and Melinda's choice.
Rory seemed off today, he hadn't said much. But neither had Phoebe. I whispered to Harry about it and decided to sit in between them at breakfast. As we sat in the booth, I put my arms around their shoulders.
"How are you kids doing today?" I asked.
"Fine," they both nodded.
I looked over at Bill and Melinda and they gave me back the same suspicious look.
"Rory, how's Lily?" Bill asked.
"I wouldn't know. We broke up yesterday."
"Aww buddy," I said to him, "What happened?"
"It became more about her wanting to meet One Direction than her wanting to be with me."
"Well, you know what? Don't even stress about it then," Arielle said, "There are going to be a lot of people in your life, as you already know, that want something from you and it isn't always going to be love. You have to find the person who wants you for you, not for your money or the people your family knows, or how you look or anything like that. You'll find them one day, but you're going to go through a lot of shitty people to get there."
"I know," he nodded, "It just sucks because I really did like her."
"It'll be alright buddy, just give yourself some time to deal with it. But don't let it kill your mood," I said.
He nodded again and I looked at Phoebe.
"So what about you? What's up with your mood today?"
"Nothing, uh. My anxiety has just been acting up a bit today," she said, "You know, moths in the chest."
"Yeah," I nodded, "I understand."
I kissed her temple, and when Bill and Melinda went back to their menus, I leaned over to her.
"Will you tell me what's going on later when they aren't around?" I whispered.
She nodded, "Yeah."
"Okay," I said.
We went to the mall after breakfast while Bill and Melinda took Sansa to the realtor.
"So," I said, linking arms with Phoebe while holding Harry's hand on my other side, "What's up?"
"Uh, well, Jen and Rory already know this. But I've been kind of dealing with something that's kind of been giving me some conflict and I haven't told mom and dad about it because I don't know how they're going to react. But just some days are worse than others with it."
"Well, what's going on?" Arielle asked as she linked arms with her on the other side with Niall beside her.
"Well uh... I'm gay," she said.
I stopped walking and looked at her, "Wait, is this giving you conflict because of Catholicism?"
"Well... yeah."
"Oh Phoebe honey, Arielle and I have always advocated that you can't change who you were born to be. I don't want you to have a conflict about this. If God created each and every one of us exactly the way that we are, then he loves us the way he created us. There should be no conflict in that."
"But the Bible-"
"But the Bible was interpreted by some messed up assholes, sweetheart," Niall said, "Just because the Bible said that being gay is wrong doesn't mean that that's how God meant it to be."
"God said love thy neighbor. God did not say love thy neighbor unless they layth with thy wife on girls night," I said, "You were supposed to be this way. That's okay. You can still be gay and religious. It's all about interpretation. And mom and dad aren't going to be angry and they won't love you any less. They always agreed with Arielle and I on our advocacy. They know that this isn't something you choose to be. This is biology."
"Thank you guys, it makes me feel better that you know."
"Of course baby girl," I said, kissing her forehead.
We arrived at the airport as they were exiting. We got out and helped them get their bags into the car after introducing them all to Harry.
"So uh," I said while we were driving home, "Joshua showed up last week. That day that we met Harry and everyone."
"What?!" Bill, Melinda, Rory, Phoebe and Jennifer all said at the same time.
"Whoa, bite my head off," I said.
"Why didn't you tell us? Where did he show up?" Bill asked.
"Because I was kind of worried you freak the fuck out, my mistake I should have known it'd go swimmingly. And at our house."
"How did he find out where you live?!" Melinda asked.
"Probably because of pictures on the internet. I don't know the details of how he found us. All I know is that he did."
"Well, what did he want?" Jennifer asked.
"Another chance," I said.
"Well, you're not giving him one are you?" Bill asked.
"No uncle Bill, I brought Harry for you to meet him but yes I'm giving Joshua another chance. Hello? How does that make any sense?"
"Okay yeah you're right sorry my brain kind of got all messed up from you telling us that."
"Well, you'll have to move," Melinda said.
"What?! Why? We like our house, our house is beautiful and in a great location and-"
"No I agree," Harry said.
"What?" I said, glancing over at him.
"He didn't want to leave, you had to threaten to call the cops multiple times before he would leave. And now he knows where you live and he could come back. He could come back when none of us are around to help if things go bad. You can protect yourself, I know that much, but it's always to a certain extent."
I sighed, "Well where do you want to relocate us to then?"
"We can talk about that later," Bill said.
I understood all of their concern, and I did agree. I just didn't want to up and move again after we finally got settled. We arrived at the house and went inside. Arielle hugged everyone and introduced Niall, then Sansa came and hugged everyone.
"Oh sweetie your hair is so beautiful," Melinda said to her.
"Thank you," she smiled.
"Rory, Phoebe, why don't you take Sansa into another room and play or watch TV?" Bill said.
"Alright," Rory nodded and the three of them left the room.
"Why don't we sit down?" Melinda asked.
"What's happening?" Arielle asked as we sat down.
I just shook my head and sighed.
"So, we think that it would be a good idea if the three of you move," Bill said.
"What? Why?" Arielle asked.
"Because Joshua knows where you live now," Melinda said.
"So we get some better locks and amp up the security system, we don't have to totally move."
"We can't have someone here 24/7 to protect you in case things get bad," Bill said.
"It could be a better house," Niall said.
"Wait a second when did you get involved in this?" Arielle asked as she clearly got angry, "What are you in agreement of this too Harry?"
"Yeah, I am," he said.
"What did you guys go off and call Bill and Melinda and make like an agreement for an intervention or something?" Arielle asked.
"Arielle," I said to her, slightly defensive when she snapped at harry.
"No, Samantha, don't try to defend everyone like this doesn't piss you off just as bad as it does me!" she said as she raised her voice at me.
I slammed my hand on the table, making everyone jump slightly.
"God damn it Arielle don't fucking raise your voice with me. You haven't thought this through all the way. And at first neither did I. But you have to see that if we stay in this house and Joshua continues to know where we are, there is no late night runs to the mini mart for chocolate while Sansa is asleep upstairs for us. Because if we leave her alone and he knows where to find her then he has every ability to take her from us. And if that happens then my life is over, Arielle, do you understand that? So we are fucking moving to a new house and we will take the precautions that we have to now that he knows we're in Los Angeles because if he gets a hold of that little girl in there then my life is fucking over. And if you don't like it then figure it out for yourself because no matter what you say, Sansa and I are not staying in this house," I said before getting up and walking out of the back door.
I walked through the back to the beach and sat down in the sand. I stared straight out into the ocean. I could tell Arielle sat next to me, but I didn't look over at her.
"I can't lose her, Arielle," I said.
"I know you can't. And I can't either. So we'll move, and we'll get a better security system and we'll get better locks. Or we'll build a moat."
"Thank you."
"And I'm sorry I raised me voice with you."
"It's okay."
"Can we go back inside?"
"Yeah," I said before getting back up and walking inside.
"Are you okay now?" Bill asked.
"Yeah," we both said as we sat down again.
"Now, we will find a new house before you guys leave to London. Then, while you are gone, we will put together everything in the new house so you don't have to do it. We will extend our trip to do so."
"Alright," I nodded.
"Can we all just go have a nice dinner now?"
"Yes," Arielle and I said.
We all stood up and told the other kids to get their shoes on. Bill drove one car with Melinda, Sansa, Rory and Phoebe while I drove the other car with Harry, Niall, Arielle and Jennifer.
"My God that was fucked up," Arielle said.
"We got fucking passively roasted in there and we did it to ourselves," I said.
"It's just, when Bill gets mad, he gets that look ya know? And he had that look but it was like multiplied by 1000."
"I know that look," Jennifer nodded, "It's the I wish I could make you an orphan right now so I can then provide you a charity face."
"Yeah that look started with me, he literally gave an orphan a charity," I said, "I helped me invent that look."
"Yup I remember that," she said.
"Let's just get through the dinner so that tomorrow it can be less weird," I said.
"Good plan," Arielle said.
We let Sansa do all of the talking during dinner and when we went home and Bill, Melinda and the kids went to their hotel. Harry and Niall were going to be staying the night with us that night.
Harry and I got ready for bed in silence, and then laid down.
"Are you going to keep being mad at me?" he asked finally.
"I'm not mad at you," I said.
"Then what's wrong? You haven't said anything to me in hours."
"Harry, what's wrong is that I feel like you undermined me. I feel like you went behind my back to do something rather than just talking to me about it yourself. You have no idea how I would've reacted if you had just come to me yourself and told me you were concerned. It could have been a lot different, but instead you went to Bill and Melinda and didn't tell me about it at all. And that hurts, that you didn't feel comfortable enough to just come to me in the first place."
"I know... I'm sorry. I won't do it again."
I sighed and rolled towards him, resting my head on his chest and putting my arm around his waist. He put his arms around me and kissed the top of my head.
"I love you Harry," I said.
"I love you Sam."
The next day, Jennifer woke us up when they got there.
"We're gonna go out for breakfast and then Mom and Dad are going to go to the realtor and they were hoping you guys would hang out with us kids," she said as I sat up.
"Jen you're 19, you're not a kid. We can hang out with you guys. We'll go shopping or something," I said.
"Alright, I'll see you downstairs."
Harry and I both got up. I got dressed and then turned towards him.
"Yeah?" he said as he put his arms around my waist.
I put my arms around his neck and kissed him.
"I'm sorry I was so upset yesterday, I know you were just trying to help," I said.
"It's okay, I went about it in the wrong way, I'm sorry too."
I kissed him again, "Alright, let's go have breakfast."
He smiled and nodded, "I love you."
"I love you too Harry," I smiled.
We walked downstairs and Arielle and Niall were already up, as well as Sansa.
"Good morning mom, good morning Harry," she smiled.
"Good morning baby girl," we both said in unison.
We all got into the cars and drove to the breakfast place of Bill and Melinda's choice.
Rory seemed off today, he hadn't said much. But neither had Phoebe. I whispered to Harry about it and decided to sit in between them at breakfast. As we sat in the booth, I put my arms around their shoulders.
"How are you kids doing today?" I asked.
"Fine," they both nodded.
I looked over at Bill and Melinda and they gave me back the same suspicious look.
"Rory, how's Lily?" Bill asked.
"I wouldn't know. We broke up yesterday."
"Aww buddy," I said to him, "What happened?"
"It became more about her wanting to meet One Direction than her wanting to be with me."
"Well, you know what? Don't even stress about it then," Arielle said, "There are going to be a lot of people in your life, as you already know, that want something from you and it isn't always going to be love. You have to find the person who wants you for you, not for your money or the people your family knows, or how you look or anything like that. You'll find them one day, but you're going to go through a lot of shitty people to get there."
"I know," he nodded, "It just sucks because I really did like her."
"It'll be alright buddy, just give yourself some time to deal with it. But don't let it kill your mood," I said.
He nodded again and I looked at Phoebe.
"So what about you? What's up with your mood today?"
"Nothing, uh. My anxiety has just been acting up a bit today," she said, "You know, moths in the chest."
"Yeah," I nodded, "I understand."
I kissed her temple, and when Bill and Melinda went back to their menus, I leaned over to her.
"Will you tell me what's going on later when they aren't around?" I whispered.
She nodded, "Yeah."
"Okay," I said.
We went to the mall after breakfast while Bill and Melinda took Sansa to the realtor.
"So," I said, linking arms with Phoebe while holding Harry's hand on my other side, "What's up?"
"Uh, well, Jen and Rory already know this. But I've been kind of dealing with something that's kind of been giving me some conflict and I haven't told mom and dad about it because I don't know how they're going to react. But just some days are worse than others with it."
"Well, what's going on?" Arielle asked as she linked arms with her on the other side with Niall beside her.
"Well uh... I'm gay," she said.
I stopped walking and looked at her, "Wait, is this giving you conflict because of Catholicism?"
"Well... yeah."
"Oh Phoebe honey, Arielle and I have always advocated that you can't change who you were born to be. I don't want you to have a conflict about this. If God created each and every one of us exactly the way that we are, then he loves us the way he created us. There should be no conflict in that."
"But the Bible-"
"But the Bible was interpreted by some messed up assholes, sweetheart," Niall said, "Just because the Bible said that being gay is wrong doesn't mean that that's how God meant it to be."
"God said love thy neighbor. God did not say love thy neighbor unless they layth with thy wife on girls night," I said, "You were supposed to be this way. That's okay. You can still be gay and religious. It's all about interpretation. And mom and dad aren't going to be angry and they won't love you any less. They always agreed with Arielle and I on our advocacy. They know that this isn't something you choose to be. This is biology."
"Thank you guys, it makes me feel better that you know."
"Of course baby girl," I said, kissing her forehead.