She's A Riot - The Jungle Giants

IMPORTANT NOTE AT THE END PLEASE READ.

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Shit.

That was literally the only word in my head as I clutched onto the bottle of pinot and shut my fridge. Okay, Olivia. No need to panic.

I jumped at the loud knock on my door. And he somehow got in. Still no need to panic. I slipped on my shoes and took a deep breath before swinging my door open. My eyes drifted over his crease free pin striped shirt, fresh jeans and then to the little girl at his side in a pretty yellow dress and pumps.

"She insisted we come and get you. Your neighbour was coming in so he let us in." He was smiling but by the look in his eye, I could tell she'd put up quite a fight.

Chelsea's doe like eyes widened at me. "Wow! Liv, you look pretty! Dad, doesn't she look pretty?"

"Yes, she does." He smirked.

"But not as pretty as you, you look beautiful." I said with a grin and a slight blush. "Did you pick out the dress?"

She flashed a smug smile and lifted her chin. "Yep! It's my favourite dress. This one time I wore it to my best friend's birthday party and she said she loved my dress more than hers and that her mommy would buy her the same one and..."

All the way down to the car she talked about her different array of dresses for different occasions. I was almost coaxed into sitting in the back with her with her giant blue eyes but Eddie swiftly interjected and helped into the passenger seat.

Just as I passed him, he skimmed a kiss over my cheek and I paused with my foot on the step. "You do look really pretty." He whispered.

I ignored the flood of warmth in my chest and sent him a smile. I'm not even panicking. I mean why should I be? As I thought earlier, I've met some of his family and they were wonderful. The twins seemed fun, especially Phoebe. This barbecue will be fun, I can see it now! You know, unless I fall flat on my face when I step into the house or drop a shit load of ketchup on my dress... or if I go to the bathroom-

"I can see the cogs turning in your head, Liv. Relax a little." He interrupted my thoughts. "It's going to be fun. My aunt and uncle, my cousin, sisters, nieces and nephews... are you breathing?"

"In long shallow breaths, yeah."

He patted my knee with a laugh. "Trust me; it's going to be fine. Plus Chase is cooking so you know the burgers will be great."

"I didn't eat much today in preparation for Chase's burgers."

Eddie chuckled but didn't get much of a word in after that when Chelsea carried on with her stories about her dresses and school and the new toy she was sweet-talking her daddy to buy her. To be honest neither of us got a word in, not even when we parked in a nice neighbourhood half hour later.

"It may be Grace's barbecue but this is my parent's house. Chase loves my father's barbecue." Eddie said as we exited his car.

"It's lovely." I let my eyes wander over the two-storey home. It was a house you just knew held a lot of memories. It was definitely a family home with cedar siding, a porch just perfect for a movie "first kiss" and a roof just beneath one half of the window perfect for sneaking out after "curfew". Did he really grow up here?

I once again clutched onto my chilled bottle of pinot as he led me with a hand on the small of my back behind the house where laughter and children's voices emanated from. Straight through the gate, Chelsea was running toward three kids, two boys and a girl.

I darted my eyes over the adults; Chase at the barbecue along with another tall man almost identical to him except for his small greying beard and grey eyes. Eddie's dad. I could just tell. One of Eddie's sister's - Jill - standing by a very tall however surprisingly muscled red headed male with glasses. Stereotyping is mean but I imagined her with a geeky looking guy. Two men sat at the table with beers in their hands laughing and drinking.

As Eddie waved at the group he led me away and straight toward the house. I could feel some of their lingering stares and I started to wonder where he could be leading me to instead of well, introducing me.

He helped me step into the house and I looked between Phoebe, Grace and a woman an inch smaller than them with short dark hair. I thanked God at the similar styled dress Phoebe was wearing. I was so worried I'd be over dressed.

"Ladies," Eddie stepped around me when they turned around and kissed his sister on the cheek, embracing the other woman - clearly his mother - and picking her up. Grace gave me a hug and a quick kiss and winked.

"Alright, enough get off me I told you to stop doing that." His mother clipped him on the head with the tea towel she was using to clean a dish. Her smile was Eddie's. It was literally Eddie's smile on her face it actually made me to rub my eyes a little.

Eddie released her with a hearty chuckle and she smacked him with the towel again. "Just like your father. Now," Her startling green eyes drifted over to me. "You must be the girl my daughters have been talking about."

Daughters?

"Gossip mongers, both of them." She waved her hand toward a sheepish Phoebe when I raised a questioning brow. "Eddie says he's bringing someone here and they're in my ear yak-yakking away. Anyway, I'm Jessica."

"Olivia," I stepped forward and took her soft hand. "It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Marsh-"

"Jessica, please I'm not that old." Her smile was welcoming and warm and it made me feel ten times better. "Is that for me?"

I followed her stare to the bottle I'd been using as a life supporter. "Uh- yeah...?" The hell do you say when you give a bottle at a barbecue? I jolted the bottle toward her. Weird, I felt naked without it.

"Thank you dear. Eddie go give these buns to your father, he's been shouting me to get them since before you got here."

"Do you need any help?" I offered.

Phoebe answered before her mother could. "Nope, go mingle around. My husband's one of the idiots sitting on the table."

Eddie replaced his hand on the small of my back and led me back outside. I sent a shy smile to the women in the kitchen and gave a quick wave to Jill outside when she grinned at me.

"Perfect." He murmured in my ear.

"It was barely eighty words, Eddie."

"Yeah, but it wasn't so bad was it? You'll get fewer words from my dad; he and Chase are almost the same-"

"Olivia, how lovely to see you." Chase said when we approached and before I could react he was... good lord, he was hugging me.

We're hugging. This is happening. Even Eddie was looking at us with wide eyes and a smirk. I patted his back with a fierce blush and squeaked a laugh. "Oh, hey Chase. Good to see you too. Burgers smell good."

He chuckled and the bearded man beside him was smiling beneath all that hair. He kind of resembled a giant friendly bear. What is it with the men in the Marshall family? He held out a hand - or paw - and said, "I'm Scott, Eddie's father; you must be Olivia."

He engulfed my hand with a light shake. "Yeah, lovely to meet you."

"Lovely to meet you, Olivia." He gave my hand a light squeeze. "Edward, are those my buns?"

Eddie chortled and handed off the buns to his father before steering me away and introducing me to Jill's husband Graham, the kids - Phoebe's boys and Jill's little girl - and then over to the two men at the table. The blonde angular faced male was Phoebe's husband, Justin whilst the dark haired male was Chase's son, Ben.

"He's the one I covered for at Chase's on Miranda's bachelorette party."

I groaned a little at the reminder and Ben grinned crookedly. "Oh, you're Olivia!"

I narrowed my eyes at Eddie and he took a small step away from me. "All I said to him was that I worked with you-"

"Doesn't even matter." I tried to nudge his arm sliding around my shoulders off but he pulled me into him. "I'm still embarrassed."

"You shouldn't be, I would have thought the same." His hand slid down to my waist and I cursed my overly active cheeks for blushing once again. I'm going to have to bring up a chart for the amount of times I'm blushing tonight.

Phoebe saved the day by pulling me and her sister away from the men and indoors with the rest of the women. I smiled my thanks at Grace for the glass of wine and helped Eddie's mother with the silverware.

"It's terrible, all of us women in the kitchen whilst the men cook and mosey around outdoors with their beers." She said, picking up too many plates to count.

"A tale as old as time." I joked shaking my head at Eddie laughing away with his dad and uncle at the barbecue with a beer in his hand. "At least the kids are helping."

"Oh, they're always helping their mothers and me out; all of them are good kids."

Just as she said this, Chelsea ran in and yanked half the plates from my hands with a giant innocent smile on her face. Jessica sent me a knowing motherly smile and followed Chelsea outside. Nope, no need to panic. This is just a nice family get together, no assumptions from the parents as of yet. I hadn't heard anyone title me, 'Eddie's girlfriend'... not that I would have minded anyway. Oh god, did I just-?

"What is it you do again?" Phoebe's voice brought me out of my thoughts.

"Oh," I turned to the twins. "I teach fine art at Pace and I'm currently selling some of my work."

"Really?" Jill's eyes widened.

"Can we see some, Eddie says you're amazing."

I held my tongue for the time being, pulling out my phone and leaning again the counter as they swiped through. I tugged at the corner of my mouth for a second before my curiosity got the better of me. "So... did Eddie talk about me a lot before I well, met you both at his house? Sorry about that by the way."

Identical Cheshire cat smiles lit their faces. "Hm, when was it Jill?"

"He started talking about you last month in passing."

"Yeah, but then it got more frequent. You know Eddie doesn't bring any women here, especially with Chelsea to our family gatherings." Phoebe added. I contemplated that for all of five seconds before she clicked her fingers and said, "He kept saying he was meeting you instead of us."

Jill nudged her sister and I darted my eyes between them. They were definitely a tag team. "Just recently he ditched us to go out with you."

I shook my head with a sigh. "I told him if he was busy-"

"No, he wasn't trust me." Jill interrupted. "All we do is force him to dinner, he rarely comes anyway. We'd love to have you over for one of our dinners."

Phoebe's smile widened. "Yeah, maybe with you there he'd actually come. It's usually once a month, we'll tell him to invite you and if he doesn't then we're going to steal your number off his phone and give you a call." She winked.

I stood talking with the twins a little longer, asking them both what they did for a living. Jill worked in real estate and Phoebe was a paediatric nurse. Before long, we were being called out for food. I almost died at the selection of burgers, ribs and hot dogs on the table. Of course there were three different bowls of salads, potatoes, corn and all in all the perfect display for a picture perfect barbecue.

The children had a small table of their own on the grass whilst we all sat on the long picnic table. As we ate, I had a small glance around at Eddie's family. They just seemed too perfect to be real. They were all so lovely. Despite Eddie saying his dad wasn't much of a talker whenever he did talk he was cracking a joke or two and laughing almost uncontrollably with Chase rolling his eyes at him or Ben and Justin laughing along with him.

I jolted away from my evaluation when Eddie's hand skimmed along my leg. I rested my gaze onto him and he gave me a smile. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." I smiled back.

"Liv!"

Most of the table turned to the high voice rounding the benches and stopping beside me. I smiled at Chelsea, ignoring the curious eyes and turned my body around to face her. Behind her barbecue sauced cheeks her mouth pointed downward in a pout.

"Ashley won't believe that you and me did a new drawing for my story." Her pout lowered even further which must have been a trick she perfected. "'Cos I said it was the best drawing ever, that's why and she said it was a lie."

There was still conversation around us and I could see Jill frowning at what her daughter said but I could tell most of them were probably listening. Waiting for me to either succeed or choke at talking to Eddie's daughter most likely.

I spun and grabbed the napkin from the table, wiping off the sauce from her mouth and shined a giant smile. Her mouth twitched but she stubbornly held onto her pout. "Well, it just so happens I took a few pictures of your prince and princess's," I pulled my phone out and couldn't help but smile wider when she gasped and grinned. "Remember at Uncle Chase's restaurant?"

"Yeah! I do!" She jumped a little. "Can I show Ashley? Can I? Dad? Liv?"

I glanced at Eddie and he looked at me first to say, "Go with her in case she drops your phone in the pool of sauce on her plate. It's known to happen."

And before I could open my mouth to reply I was being pulled off the bench and dragged over to the other side of the yard to the kids table. Chelsea's hand clutched onto my as she showed her cousin her creations with a smug jolt to the chin and I smiled a little when Ashley oo'ed and awh'ed when she swiped to the next pictures.

"See? Liv's a famous artist."

Ashley being six gave me a questioning frown but I shook my head. "I'm a teacher."

I glanced at the adults on the table and released a relieved sigh at the look of approval on his mother's face. The look seemed to lift a weight off my shoulders and it wasn't until then that I realised I'd been secretly hoping for that little glimmer in her eye.

Here's me thinking his mother would think I'm a little slutty.

**

"I want to see."

I circled around Eddie and jogged up the stairs. I could hear him telling his mom off for even suggesting I have a small "peak" into Eddie's childhood room an hour after dinner. Now everyone was drinking and I'm glad to admit I've loosened up a lot after two glasses of wine. Ben and Justin were hilarious and so was Eddie's father. I was practically snorting with laughter with the things they were all coming out with. Chelsea had roped me into playing tag with her and the kids and let's just say after two glasses of wine even Phoebe joined in.

I made a left and followed the rooms down the hall until Eddie passed me and held a hand to the door on the end.

"You'll hate it."

I smirked. "I'm sure I'll love it." I tried for the door but he blocked me. "Stop being a pansy."

"Pansy? How much have you had to drink?"

"Enough to know that you're a pansy now move your body. I'm not drunk, Eddie how stupid would I be?"

I could see he was trying to hide his smile. "Very stupid."

"There you go. Let me have just a small look, I swear I won't judge you."

There was a truly pained look on his face and I rolled my eyes and turned the door knob. Except when I went in and flicked the switch on I wasn't really prepared. Okay. This is where I should panic.

I didn't utter a word as I stared at the posters and the wallpaper. Behind me I could hear Eddie holding his breath.

And then I just couldn't take it anymore. I started laughing.

I clutched onto my stomach for dear life and just died laughing then and there. "Oh god," I wheezed. "I need an inhaler."

"I was sixteen and I went through a phase." He was actually burning red.

I stared at the Star Trek pictures of Spoc on the wall, his death star wallpaper and the various images of him dressed up clearly for some sort of contest as one of those Klingon things.

"I didn't bother changing my wallpaper because by the time I actually cared enough I was moving to go to college."

I recovered for a second to wipe my eyes and inhaled a few deep breaths. "How did you bring girls here?"

"I didn't, I went to their house. I'm not an idiot."

It only made me laugh a little harder.

He gripped onto my forearms and nudged me toward him. "You judge me now, but you're the one sleeping with me."

I glanced around the room. "Not anymore. I don't think I can get over this one, Edward Trekky Marshall."

"So you're saying if I started undressing you right now, you'd say no to me?"

"After this, I'm going to need a few weeks to recover." I ran my palms over his chest. "Thirteen days, tops."

"You'd say no." He clarified. But as he said it, his hand was sliding beneath my dress and along my bottom right around the front. Always the tease.

I glanced at his door suddenly aware it was closed and tried to ignore the sudden pool of warmth in my lower belly. "Your family is downstairs, Eddie."

"For everything, there is a first time. That's a Spoc quote."

"And you've ruined it." I laughed again stepping out of his hold and wandering around the room. "Your family are wonderful."

"I'm glad you think so. They love you."

I touched the picture of him at his high school graduation and smiled. "Really?"

"Trust me." He spun me around, holding me to him by my hips. "Are you really okay with this?"

I smiled as I skimmed my hand over his cheek. Weird, but all afternoon and all night I hadn't really had the panic attack I'd been standing at the edge of all day; not even a little one when Phoebe said he didn't bring women home. I didn't know what it was but I was relaxed; couldn't be the drink because I hadn't had much. Maybe this time it was a one off.

And I was kind of happy. Happy. What an emotion. Who really knows what happy is?

I pressed a long lingering kiss to his mouth, even sliding my tongue between his lips for a quick taste - felt like drinking water after a ten mile run - and leaning back before he could deepen it further. He pouted a little, the exact same pout as Chelsea's and I gave his cheek a light pat. "I'm great." I said. "Except... I don't know if I can deal with a trekky."

I slipped from his hold when he made a grab for me with a laugh but failed when he gripped the edge of my dress. "Oh, you'll learn to deal with it."

And for twenty-twenty-five minutes I learnt to deal with it. Oh, did I learn. Having sex on Star Trek sheets? There was definitely a first time for everything.

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IMPORTANT: 31.07.14 - Tomorrow, I'm going on holiday for 3 weeks so no updates until I return (21.08.14) I will be writing whilst I'm out there (Jamaica WOO) but I guarentee there will be no updates. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!! The Star Trek thing made me laugh LOL.