It was around 3:00 in the afternoon when they arrived in New Jersey. Getting off of the plane was troubling, but once they were off, Eddie and his mother went to find his mothers boyfriend Peter, who was waiting patiently in the lobby with a smile on his face, catching a glimpse of the woman's gorgeous blonde hair. When they were close enough, he got up to help them with the giant amount of bags that they had, and that wasn't even all of them. The woman had asked another gentlemen if he could help her just bring the bags to where Peter was, and he agreed politely. He trailed behind her with the rest of the bags that she had brought and she payed him five dollars for his assistance. "Well hello, stranger," Peter said sarcastically, a smile playing on his face. She sighed, dropping the bags.
"Reunited and it feels so good," she flirted, kissing him quickly on the lips. Eddie made a face at the two. Peter looked at Eddie with a chuckle.
"Hey big guy, look at you. You've gotten bigger, but I bet you still can't take me down." Smirking at the challenge, the little boy, taking a running start, charged at the man, jumping on him. Peter, pretending to be hurt, cried out in false agony. "Argh! Oh no, you got me!" Satisfied, the boy laughed, still having that cocky little smirk. Laughing, Peter put Eddie back on the floor and looked at all of the bags. "I don't even know if this will all fit in my car," he sighed. "Well, we'll see when we get there."
Wanting to prove that he was a tough guy, Eddie insisted that he take his bags. One of which was a backpack, one a duffle bag, and the other, a rolling tote. He slung the backpack on and grabbed the other two bags, surprisingly able to handle it. His mother offered to help but he refused. They had too many bags themselves, and little did the boy know, some of those were his also. Eddie's mother ended up taking about three bags, and Peter took probably four. When you move to a different country, you're bound to have a lot of baggage. There would have been more had they not shipped some of the stuff to the house ahead of time. Making their way to Peter's car, the three of them trudged along the seemingly endless journey until the reached their destination. Shoving everything in, they were surprisingly able to fit it all, and got in the much bigger car than his mother had had. The car stayed behind in England unfortunately, but it was going to be sold so that his mother could buy a new one.
The drive from their airport to the new house seemed to take forever. Although, Eddie managed to pass the time by playing the alphabet game in the car, where you had to find every letter of the alphabet in order on signs, or car licensees, or anything like that, and you couldn't use the same thing twice. He played it a lot with his mother, but it could be played on your own. The next thing he knew, they were pulling into the driveway of a house twice the size as the one back in England. His jaw dropped slightly and that dropped jaw soon turned into a smile. "We're actually gonna live here?" Eddie exclaimed excitedly. Peter chuckled.
"Yep, and wait til you see your room, bud." Not able to wait, the anxious boy sprinted out of the car and over to the doorway, making a beeline for the house. Peter unlocked it for him before smiling and calling to Eddie's mom. "Hey Nat, pop the trunk for me will ya?" She did so and he thanked her, grabbing some bags out of the car and lugging them inside. Natalie helped as well, grabbing as many as she could. Eddie stood in the middle of the living room, gawking in awe at how large the house seemed on the inside compared to the outside. Putting the bags down, Peter went over to him, crouching to his level. "What do you think, bud? Will it do?"
"This place is like a palace!" his imagination over exaggerated a bit. Peter ruffled the boy's blonde hair.
"I'll be right back and then I'll show you your room, okay?" Eddie nodded, jumping onto the couch in the mean time. Peter finished helping Natalie with the bags and came back as he promised Eddie, showing him his room. The bedrooms where upstairs. His mother and Peter's was to the left of the staircase going up, and his was a little off to the right. Not knowing what was behind the door was killing him. Peter opened it slowly as Eddie tried to peek around him. If his jaw had dropped earlier, this time it may as well have fallen off. His room was huge, with a full size bed, desk, his own computer, a few plants for decoration, shelves to put personal belongings, a dresser, TV, and a decently big closet. The walls were blue with white trim at the bottom, and there was a fan on the ceiling in the middle of the roughly square shaped room.
"I love it!" Eddie shouted, running and jumping on his bed as any kid would do, to test it out. Peter was happy that Eddie liked his new room. He even went over and sat on the bed with him, which was a mistake on his part, because Eddie seized the opportunity to pounce on him.
"Oof!" Peter gasped. "You're getting tougher, little guy." Eddie, proud of himself, smirked.
"I want to do sports when I get old enough. I think I'd be good at it." The man chuckled, getting up on his feet.
"You'd be real good at it," he encouraged. Peter waved to Eddie, leaving him to his room, and found Natalie in the living room on the couch. He sat beside her, throwing an arm around her. She smiled at him, and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Tired?" he asked, smiling. She mumbled a yes answer, picking her head back up.
"It's been a long week, trying to get down here."
"I can imagine. Why don't you rest then?" She sighed thankfully, kissing Peter on the cheek before going upstairs to their room to lay down and hopefully sleep. Peter looked around at all the stuff that the two had brought, smiling slightly. He was more than glad to have them down here living with them. The love he had for not only Natalie but Eddie as well was stronger than anything he's ever felt. This could be a new beginning for all of them.
