Dedicated to a username I've seen very often @greymeraki thank you for the cover above💞

I had to split this in half so go to next chapter after this one.

Chapter Fifty One: "What's A Peter? I Don't Know What That Is."

"JUST LOOK AT it." Justin said.

I leaned forward, squinting my eyes to see his mark that the teacher had written at the top of his paper. I pulled back, rubbing my eyes like that would fix my vision. "Okay, Ms. Bushwhack still has the worst handwriting of all time. What does that even say?"

"Emma, Emma," Justin pulled her up from where she was sitting on the ground, reading one of the books from my room. She had come straight here after her school year had ended but Justin's was still going on as we rolled into the beginning of the month of June. She was so into the story that her glasses almost fell off her face without her knowing. Emma looked different, personality wise. She seemed more open, she didn't wear bands on her wrists anymore and she wasn't as quiet as the first time I met her.

"Look." He urged her to look at the paper in my hands, a smile on his face. 

Emma took the paper from my hand and her eyebrows rose in surprise. "Wow, J."

"I know," He took the mini basketball that was on the ground and tossed it into the small net hooked onto his door. "I have the highest mark. I don't get it."

Highest mark? How dumb was his class? 

I took the paper from Emma's hands and stared at the number. "What does that say?"

"It says 96," Emma told me. "Justin's entering his exam with a 96."

"Congrats bro but honest to God that looks like a very ugly 38." I took the paper from Emma's hand, giving the number a closer look. 

Justin leaned against his desk. "I'm pretty sure I'm only getting that mark because I can understand her writing and half the class doesn't."

"Does Christian?"

Justin rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. "Chris copies my homework. He's barely passing."

"Why don't you help him?" Emma asked Justin.

"Because he's Chris. You've met him. You've talked to him. The guy hates asking for help."

I chuckled. "Yeah, Cahill pride."

"That's a thing?" Justin asked me and Emma with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Yes." We said at the same time.

"Wow," Justin moved over to the door of his room, reaching his hand up to touch the top of the threshold before looking back. "I'm going to get a drink, Em you want anything?"

"Nah, I'm good."

Justin shot her a small smile, nodding and I cleared my throat. "You wanna get me something?"

He gave me a look like i just asked the dumbest question in the world. "No." 

"Justin," I sighed. "Get me water."

"Say please." He said, crossing his arms. 

"Justin," I plastered a fake smile on my face. "Get me water before I wack you in the face."

"You can't do shit with your leg like that."

"Guess what you little bugger," I was already hobbling towards him. "My fists still work."

Justin was already out the door. "I'm going to get it, I'm going to get it."

I glanced at Emma and she had gone over to sit on the floor of Justin's bedroom where she previously was, picking up the book. "So, what's happening with you two?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, confused, putting the book at her feet.

"You two. Are you're still..." I trailed off, placing the paper back on his desk.

"Dating? Together? Yeah, Macy."

"Even though the distance?"

"Even though the distance. I care about him."

"But wasn't he the one that was worried?"

"About us? Yeah. But he wants this. I want it to. I just didn't want to stop him from anything or anyone."

"I know."

"But we'll see how this goes."

"Yeah. You have the rest of summer to figure it all out."

Emma cleared her throat. "Um, about what happened with you, Sam and my sister..."

"Yeah," I muttered, a bad taste suddenly getting in my mouth. "That was interesting."

Emma bit her bottom lip. "That's not going to affect anything is it?"

"What do you mean?"

"With us being friends? Just because my sister was in love with your boyfriend, that's not going to affect us, is it?"

I shook my head, wondering why she would ever think that. "Emma, your sister and I have completely disliked one another since we met. But I've always liked you. Trust me, nothing is going to impact our friendship."

"Okay." She looked really relieved. 

"Were you really worried about that?"

"Kind of...I mean Sam's like my older brother and he cares about you and I'm kind of dating your brother so it would be weird if I wasn't friends with you. Plus whenever I usually see Sam he brings up Alexis and asks how she's doing and now he doesn't anymore and it felt different."

"What kind of different?"

"Good almost." She admitted. "It's a good thing she's not in the country or else us coming over here would have been really weird and awkward."

"Yeah, I know."

Justin walked back in the room, handing me my glass filled with water. "When's Sam leaving?"

"In a couple of days."

"Aren't you guys having that dinner tomorrow?" Emma asked Justin and me.

"Yeah," Justin said. "Are you coming?"

"I-I don't want to intrude. Plus I know Gigi is going out with Liz that night and-"

"Emma just come," Justin said and if one could see the look on my little brother's face it was so obvious that he really wanted her there. "Dad loves you and I'm sure he'll be happy to have you tomorrow."

Tomorrow was the day that my dad could bring his girlfriend home. It felt weird to say that my dad was dating. Very. It wasn't a problem. It was just weird. 

Emma seemed to notice that because she quickly changed to topic to Christian and Justin. And so did Sam a day later as we were standing on the balcony of his room looking down at Greg and Phillip who were passing a tennis ball to one another in the garden. "It's just a dinner." Sam told me. "And it's not like you're going out. It's at your house." 

"It's not just a dinner, Sam." I told him, putting all my weight on one foot so I could lean against him. 

"What is happening?" Liz Cahill walked over to us, peering over the balcony at Peter, Phillip and Greg. I spotted Lucas walking outside towards them. Greg tossed him the ball and Lucas attempted to catch it only for it to slip out of his hands. Yeah, he wasn't the most coordinated.

"Hazel's telling me that her dad is making his family have dinner with his girlfriend's family."

"Girlfriend?" Liz looked confused for a second before realization lit up in her eyes. "Oh, Danielle."

"You know her well?" I asked, looking down at the family cat, Junior as he purred against my feet. Putting Junior and Soccer in the same room didn't result in a good thing. They were the definition of hatred between cats and dogs and couldn't stand the sight of one another. The first time we brought them together they almost clawed each other's eyes out. Never again, I thought a Sam picked Junior up into his arms.

"Very. We're good friends. So you're going to see Sydney, her daughter? You met Sydney at the wedding and the Christmas party."

"And Sydney is dating Lucas. Yeah, I met her." I finished off, looking down at Lucas. I yelled out his name to catch his attention and he looked up at me with what was probably squinted eyes from behind his glasses. "What is Sydney really like?"

"She's different." Lucas yelled, cupping his mouth with his hands. 

Sam rolled his eyes and shouted, "Of course she's different you dumbass, every girl is different. Elaborate."

"She's a good person. She's funny, she can be rude as hell but in a sarcastic way. She's quiet at first but once you get to know her she can be really outgoing and knows how to hold a conversation. But when you're talking to her bring up things she likes like movies. She loves movies. If you make her watch a movie she'll most likely have watched it already and will still act shocked if there are any plot twist and-"

"Hey," Sam cut him off a grin on his face. "You really love her, huh?"

"Shut up." Lucas told him.

"It was a yes or no question." Sam told him as Lucas was making his way inside the house.

Lucas looked up at us. "Yes I love her, happy?"

Sam turned to me with a wicked smile on his face and I patted his cheek. He held my hand there, bringing the topic back with his question. "Why are you so worried?"

"I'm not exactly worried. It's just weird. It's always going to be weird that my dad is moving on."

"It's not like he's letting go of your mom, Hazel."

"I know, I know, I just didn't realize now that I'm back home it's going to take a while to get used to," At the mention of mom, I smiled at Sam's mother. "I really missed you Liz."

"And I, you." She said, gesturing for me to follow her.

"How's Vince?"

"You can ask him yourself."

"Ask who what?" Vince Cahill questioned, coming down the hallway. After a year of dating Sam, I had spent a lot of time in the Cahill house when we weren't in Manchester. So when Vince Cahill wasn't wearing a suit but an actual pair of jeans and a grey t-shirt I wasn't really fazed on the outside but on the inside I always asked myself who the person in front of me was.

"Hey Mr. Cahill." I greeted him.

"Hello Macy. How's the leg?"

"It could be doing better."

"I see that."

"How's the business? And Ivan?"

Vince pursed his lips and I held in a laugh at the mention of his second eldest son. He paused, trying to find the right words to use before coming to a conclusion."Ivan's Ivan." 

"We already knew that, sir."

He cracked a smile, looking at his wife. "Are we going?"

"Where you headed?" I asked the couple.

"We're going out."

"They decided to start their dates." Joey Cahill said from behind me, leaning against the railing with his headphones around his neck. "You're going to leave like twenty teenagers in one house?" Joey asked them.

Vince looked around and I could hear the yelling of what was probably an argument between Phillip and Greg downstairs. "Toby's here."

"And no parties." Liz warned Joey who put his hands up in fake surrender.

"No parties. Besides you're going to be back in a couple hours, what's the point of throwing a party? You have my word."

When they disappeared, I turned to Joey and he was already on his phone texting. "What are you doing?"

"Asking someone to come over."

"A girl?"

He flashed me a smile, walking down the stairs when the other twin slid over to me, handing me a book. "Here."

"You finished it?" I asked him, holding it in my hands.

"Yeah. It was pretty good. You have any others? I'm running out of things to read."

"There's a library in this house Lucas, go read something from there."

"Yeah but some of the books there are too dusty and that affects my lungs." To add for good measure, Lucas coughed hitting his chest a couple of times. I knew he had asthma but even that was dramatic for him.

"Oh my God. Anyway, Joey's has a girlfriend?"

"Joey's had a girlfriend before but uh, she wasn't a favorite of anyone to be honest and now he's with this girl named Hailey. He really likes her."

"But doesn't say that outloud, right?"

Lucas scoffed, making his way down the stairs. "Never."

Another person was walking down the hallway with a bottle of Gatorade in his hand. I couldn't help but laugh at how expected it still was of him. He looked up from his phone, giving me a smile. "Hey Mace-Chase."

"Hey Ced. Going somewhere?"

"Oh yeah, me and Stevie are going for a run."

"With the classic Gatorade."

"You know it. I'll catch you later?"

"Yeah, probably."

"Cool." Just when I thought that the Cahill's had all disappeared from upstairs besides Sam another came in down the hall, along with Natasha. She was practically pushing him down the hallway. 

"Nat, but what if-"

"Ivan," Natasha stopped him with her hand. "Your dad trusts you to represent him at this meeting. Go."

But the worry didn't leave Ivan's eyes, his eyes glancing from his wife's stomach to her eyes. "But-"

"Go. You don't want me to be stressed? Well don't make me stressed. The baby isn't going to arrive the second you leave, you know?"

He ran a hand over the stubble on his face before sighing. "I know."

"Good, now go."

I could see Ivan grumble under his breath as he made his way towards the stairs but not before seeing that I was there. He grinned, walking over and pressing a kiss to my cheek. "Hello, sister-in-law."

"Stop." I laughed. "Nice suit, where are you going?"

"Vancouver."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'll be back in a couple of days anyway."

"Yeah, so go." Natasha ushered him towards the stairs.

Ivan laughed, kissing her. "And when I'm back we're officially gone. I love you."

"I love you too." 

He hurried down the stairs, disappearing out of the house and I turned to Natasha. "You guys finally permanently moving to New York?"

"Yeah. The house is finished."

"It's gonna be weird not seeing you as often but it's good."

"Yeah, I mean we're always gonna visit anyway."

"With little Elena." I added.

"You're certain it's going to be a girl too?"

"For some reason I believe Ivan."

"That's a first for most people." I heard Natasha mutter and I burst out laughing.

The door downstairs opened and I watched Peter come through with Soccer on his heels, letting out a loud bark. I made my way down to them slowly, watching as Phillip came over to pet Soccer.

"How was he?" I asked Peter. Because of this certain Cahill and another I barely get the chance to see my dog as it is.

"Pretty good," Peter had a smile on his face I wanted to wipe off on the inside. "He was really energetic today."

"Yeah, we're taking him to the vet tomorrow."

"I see," Peter eyes flickered round the house before he came back to giving me his attention. "I could take him."

Oh my God.

"Peter. You remember he's my dog, right?"

"I know."

"So..."

"So I don't see the problem here." He said innocently and I sighed.

"You can take him."

"Good, Simon and I will drop by your house at 10 AM." I had introduced Simon and Peter to one another weeks ago and they became inseparable. I don't know what they had in common but they instantly clicked. Not only did they click with other but they also clicked over their love over Soccer. Let's just say that Simon now has a new bowling buddy.

"His appointment is at 2:30." I informed Peter.

"We'll still be there at 10, c'mon boy." Peter snapped his fingers multiple times to gain Soccer attention as he went towards the living room.

Phillip looked up at me. "Peter's weird."

"He's your cousin."

"What?" Phillip faked his confusion. "Cousin? I-What's a Peter? I don't know what that is."

I grinned, ruffling his hair. "You're funny."

Behind us, Christian and Justin stormed in, drowned in sweat and a basketball in Chris' hand. Justin looked frantic. "Where's Emma?"

"Not here. She's with Gigi at the mall." I answered.

"Fuck." Christian said, bending over so his hands were on his knees so he could catch his breath.

"Why?"

"It's okay, we can ask Macy." Justin said, taking a phone out of Christian's pocket. "We were at the Rec center right? And Christian well, this idiot has been talking to this girl for a long time, basically just leading her on."

I glared at Christian. "Why?"

"She knows I don't want to be in a relationship yet she continues to try to persuade me." He explained. 

"Persuade you how?" I urged.

"She sends him pictures." Phillip said with a smirk on his face.

I blinked. "Christian, what kind of pictures?" And if it was the kind I was certain about how the heck Phillip know about it? Never mind, there really are no secrets in this family.

"You know what kind of pictures, Macy. Let's not act dumb here. She's even tried like buying me stuff like I couldn't get them myself."

"Stuff like what?"

"Like clothes, a bracelet, alcohol." His voice got quiet at the last part and my eyebrows shot to the sky. It was no secret that Christian had been drinking but that was usually when he got the chance to at parties or something. Not when a girl randomly gives him a bottle for his own fun use.

"She gave him weed a couple times." Justin added.

"Really? You smoke?" I asked him. 

"No," Christian exclaimed. "I don't!"

"Then why did I find a bag of it around the time of the wedding?" Sam asked, hearing the conversation from the railing. He had been there for a while now and the expression on his face reminded me a bit of his dad's.

"Because she came over one time and we were in the pool house and she started doing it but I didn't. So when she left I hid the stash and threw it out after the wedding because I didn't get the chance to dispose it. Now when we were at the center, she was there and it's funny how you mentioned the weed because that was her brother's and now that she finally understands that I don't like her in that way, she wants me to pay her brother back for weed I didn't even smoke. And when I refused, her brother- he's like 20 something kind of chased me and Justin and we lost him and ran back home."

"How much money?" Sam asked his brother, his tone serious and I heard an 'uh oh' come from Phillip.

Christian let out a nervous laugh at Sam, stalling for a couple moments until Sam took a step down the stairs."Okay, okay, I'll tell you. It's only like $800."

$800? I didn't buy or have anything to do with weed but even I knew that that brother was asking for more than the girl gave Christian. Way more.

I glanced down at Phillip's whose lips parted and then he grinned in a way where he knew Christian was going to get in trouble. This kid was so sneaky. I lightly nudged him and he covered his mouth to hide his growing smile at Christian's problem.

Sam took another step down the stairs and I didn't miss how Christian took his own step backwards. "How much weed was in that bag, Christian?"

"Enough." He mumbled.

Sam walked over and Christian stayed still, not meeting his eyes. Sam let out a sigh. "I'll give you the money."

"No-"

"Listen," Sam's tone indicted that no opposition from Chris was up for discussion. "It's either mum and dad get involved or you get beat up to the point where you probably won't be functioning for at least a week. So don't argue with me. I'm giving you the money and the next time you do something like this I'm going to beat the shit out you myself, you got that?"

Christian's eyes went down at Sam's words and he nodded. "Yeah." He mumbled.

"Good," Sam got off the stairs and walked down the other hallway. "Follow me."

Christian and Sam disappeared when another person who had been hiding came out of the living room and walked towards us. Greg let out a dramatic breath. "Wow. Sam got in dad mode."

"Dad mode?" Phillip asked.

"Yeah, you know? When he starts sounding like dad when we do something wrong. Usually it's Toby but now it's more Sam than anything. Remember last year, when you broke one of Joey's fencing trophies by throwing a ball and it shattered."

Phillip sucked in air through his teeth. "That was scary."

"Ya think? And we thought Joey would get mad but it was Sam that was even scarier?"

"Yeah."

Greg reached into his pocket, taking out a strip of gum before unwrapping it and plopping it into his mouth. He turned to Justin."What did you need Emma for then?"

"Advice on how to deal with the girl in general."

"Justin." I said.

"Don't look at me. I told him to cut that girl off for months now and he didn't listen." Justin retreated to the living room.

Phillip looked up at me. "Does this much drama happen in high school cause if it does I don't wanna go?"

"You're gonna have to get there someday bud."

Phillip let out a heavy sigh. "Stupid school."

"You only say that 'cause of Amanda, your girlfriend." Greg teased and Phillip was already chasing after his brother.

I stood in the corridor, nodding to myself. Cahills. No matter how dysfunctional, you have to love them.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey Sydney," I said to her and she gave me a small smile, her eyes flickering around nervously. I knew she had met my dad and Justin before but it was probably the unknown environment that made her look around like that. "This is Emma, Justin's girlfriend. She's visiting from America."

Sydney gave Emma a small smile in acknowledgement. Emma and Justin continued their conversation as they went to the table. I tapped my fingers against my side when our eyes caught to where our parents were laughing at something. "It's kind of weird, isn't it?"

Sydney let out a breath. "Okay, good it's not just me who is thinking about this."

I laughed. "I've been thinking about this for a while."

"Same," Sydney said, her posture becoming more relaxed. "Lucas has been trying to calm me down for days."

"How long have you guys been together now?"

"Since November so about seven months now."

"You've been dating Lucas 'the bookworm' Cahill for seven months." Damn.

Sydney smiled. "Yeah, he's a lot more open when his head isn't stuck inside a book or painting or drawing." Her dark eyes glanced down to my leg before she looked up at me. "Do you mind me asking what happened?"

I licked my lips. She even noticed despite the absence of crutches. The moving with just the brace was getting better day by day but the soccer thing was still going to be held back for months.

In a sense I related to Sam since he had to go to therapy certain times a week. He hated therapy and I hated physiotherapy.

"I tore my ACL and MCL in April. Soccer game."

Sydney's eyebrows rose. "Well, fuck."

I didn't expect her to swear so I let out a loud laugh and she held a hand to her face. "Sorry, I should have warned you I kind of swear more than I should."

"It's okay. You dance right?"

"Yeah."

"Lucas told me that you have the Worlds competition coming up."

"Yeah, in Argentina."

"Nervous?"

"I'm always nervous for any competition."

"I'm always nervous for any soccer game," I admitted. "Wait, wait I know you're dating Lucas but the question I want to ask you next is serious."

She knitted her eyebrows."What is it?"

"Who's the best Cahill?"

Sydney didn't even think about it. "Phillip."

I slung an arm around her as we made our way to the dining table. "Sydney, we're going to be really good friends. I hear you like movies." 

That night, dinner went pretty smoothly except for the fact that because Justin was seated beside me and Emma was across from him, they decided to play footsie and Justin came in contact with my good leg, knocking me a couple times in the shin. I almost kicked him back had it not been for Danielle, Sydney's mom, who asked me to pass the rice.

She was nice. Also, really short so it got me guessing that Sydney must have got her height from her dad if anything. She was funny too. I don't think I've heard my dad laugh this much in a long time and they weren't fake laughs either. 

When they had left along with Emma who had been picked up by Toby, Justin and I were in the kitchen. Justin was seated on the counter and I was leaning against it, answering messages from Simon when dad came in.

"So what did you think of her?" Dad asked Justin and I, leaning against the fridge. 

Justin and I looked at each other and I spoke first, putting my phone in my pocket. "I like her and Sydney. Love Sydney. "

"Same. She makes good food." Justin rubbed his stomach for emphasis.

"You guys mean that?"

"Of course we do," Justin said, swinging his legs back and forth. "Plus, she kind of keeps you in check."

"That's true," I agreed with Justin. "You're kind of more liberating and she's stricter in a way. We could kind of just tell."

"You're talking about our parenting skills?" Dad crossed his arms.

"Yeah but I like her."

"Just warn us or give us hints when you'll propose." Justin patted dad on the back before leaving the room and we could hear his footsteps as he ran up the stairs to probably call Emma.

"So you're true opinion?" Dad asked me.

"I like her dad. I honestly do. She makes you happy doesn't she?"

"That's not the point Macy. I take in my kids words."

"Well your kids approve." I told him. "But like Justin said just warn us before you propose."

"What makes you think I will?"

"She makes amazing food," I joked. "Why wouldn't you?"

That night I laid in bed, watching a show on my laptop when my phone buzzed from where it was charging on my nightstand.

Jerk❤:

How did it go?

Me:

Pretty good.

Jerk❤:

See I told you you had nothing to worry about.

Me:

She's nice and everything but I don't know why it's still weird.

Jerk❤:

I don't think you've accepted your dad moving on completely Mace.

Me:

Yeah I don't think I have.

Jerk❤:

At first it'll be weird because you've come face to face with the reality of it. But eventually you'll accept it.

It takes time, I remember myself telling Sam. For several reasons, I fell asleep with my hand on the cord of my necklace, my thumb against the soccer pendant.