Chapter Four
The next few days were quiet. Daniel picked me up the next day and we drove to get petrol. We had been texting each other a lot throughout the first three days and Jeremiah and Conrad were not happy about this.
"I don't get why you are going to see his sister and nieces. You aren't even going out!" Jere tells me. Conrad, Jeremiah and I are standing in the kitchen discussing me meeting Daniels sister and nieces. Actually Jeremiah is shouting at me, Conrad is giving me pointed looks and I'm sat there trying to defend myself.
"It doesn't even concern you Jere so stop persisting with knowing everything about my life. We have got close and who are you or anyone else to tell me that I can't go out to see someone's family. If it was a girl you would let me see her family with no worries." I huff out.
"Belly, we are just trying to help you. You don't know why he wants you to go to their house." Conrad decided to pitch in his thoughts as well. Great!
"I know him better than you two do! Both of you have to realise that it has nothing to do with you. Do you see Steven around here trying to tell me not to go out? No, because he realises that Daniel isn't out to hurt me." We all hear a car honking and I walk out the house and into Daniels car. "Heyya Danny." I greet, kissing his cheek.
"Morning. How are you?" He asks.
"Annoyed, thanks to the two idiots scowling out the window." We both turned around to look at them, and sure enough they were both scowling out the window even when we were staring right back at them. "Drive." I command. Daniel salutes me before turning the car on and driving to his house.
"So why have they caused such a bad mood from you?" He asks, turning down the radio music.
"I don't know. They are just annoyed that I'm spending time with you and they don't actually know you. They think that things could get romantic." I tell him easily. See that's the thing with Daniel. He has this presence that makes you feel like you can tell him everything and not judge it.
"No problem with that; not with you still in lurve with Conrad." He dragged out the 'love' in his Texas drawl.
"Shut up!" I slap his shoulder giggling.
"Not my fault you can't fess up to it." He jokes and we both just laugh easily with each other. As much as I think Daniel is hot I know there is nothing romantic about the two of us. We fit into an easy brother or sister bond. Which is weird because I don't usually get close to people so quickly. We reached his sister's house and two girls came running out of the house with chocolate covered their faces.
"Uncle Danny!" They screamed before jumping into his arms. It was a really sweet sight. All had brown wavy hair. The youngest girl probably looked 6 while the older girl looked 8. Both girls looked similar with the same colour hair, plump lips, well defined noses and striking hazel eyes. The three of them had the same faces that you could almost mistake him for the father and not the uncle. The little girl had a hair in bunchies, while the older left it down to the middle of her back.
"Hello girlies. Crystal, Alice meet my friend Isabel Conklin. Bella meet my adorable nieces Crystal and Alice." They both walk over to me and I bend down to hug them.
"Hello I'm Crystal and this is Alice." The little one introduced.
"Hello, call me Bella, okay?" I say before they nod their heads enthusiastically. We all walk into the house and I notice how small the house is. It's about the same size as the summer house which is fine for six weeks but any longer you would start to feel claustrophobic. It was a cute house though. The walls were painted bright yellow and oranges. Photos of the girls, Daniel, a woman who I can guess to be his sister and a man covered the walls and coffee table. Toys were all around the house, most of them pink or dolls. We travelled down the narrow hallway into the kitchen. A woman was bent over the table reading a book, guessing that this would probably one of the dew times she got to relax.
"Mummy, Uncle Danny brought a friend with him. And she's really pretty." Alice shouted, both girls running around the room. I blushed at the compliment but didn't say anything. Daniels sister looked up and she broke out into a smile.
"Hello, I've heard lots about you. Nice to meet you, I'm Luna and you must be Isabella." She pulls me into a light hug. This family must clearly be a hugging family.
"Just Bella if you want." I tell her with a smile
"Of course, sorry." She apologised. "Would either of you like ice tea; I was just going to make myself a cup." Daniel and I both nod our heads before heading into the garden.
"It's such a beautiful day." I comment, closing my eyes and relaxing in the sun rays.
"Mmm." Danny replies not wanting to talk. We both just lapse into a comforting silence. After 5mintues Danny sits up and looks at me like he suddenly just had a thought.
"What?" I ask chucking.
"I was just wondering how it must feel to live with your two ex-boyfriends; who are brothers, while your own brother is still with you. Like how can you even get yourself into that situation?" It's not a surprise that he asked me this. I often wonder it myself.
"One word: Awkward. I don't think it helps that I have a guy best friend out here. I never used to and so I would often go to Jere and Con for advice. It really doesn't help that I'm still in love with Conrad and Jere cheated on me after promising that he will do me right. I don't know. I came down here so that I could change. But it hasn't happened. All that has happened is unnecessary drama is occurring and I don't want it to be there." I honestly tell him. Danny just looks at me but doesn't say anything. There wasn't anything to say afterwards so neither of us did. Luna came out carrying all three ice teas.
"There you go." She tells me handing one of them to me. I give her a smile and a thank you before relaxing back in my seat. "So Dan was telling me that you are living with three boys for the whole summer. That must be hard." She comments.
"Yeah, not to mention when two out of the three act like my older brothers and they aren't even related." I mumble angrily.
"Bella, it's not brotherly they just don't like the competition." He jokingly tells me and I growl at him.
"Will you just give it a rest with them liking me! One cheated on me and the other gave me to his brother; in my book that tells me they don't like me. So just drop the subject because if I wanted to talk about the Fisher brothers I would be at the house getting yelled at for even talking to you." I hiss at him.
"Bella, Bella, Bella." He drawls out. "You need to calm down and stop getting so defensive. We will drop the subject." I let out a sigh and just nod my head.
"So Luna, why do you live here? I love it here but I couldn't imagine being able to live here all year round; as much as I would like to." I ask.
"The girls' father left about two years ago, we ended up having this huge fight and he just left, he was still living around Texas and I just wanted a fresh start. I remember one of my friends telling me about how peaceful it is round here so I just decided to pack all of our stuff and move here. Surprising thing is, is that it has been one of my best decisions of my life. I just love it here, the people are so friendly and you get new people who come up for the day to enjoy the place. It feels so fresh and calm that I always feel happy around here. The girls' love it as well which always is a good thing." Luna confesses and I can see how happy she is with her life. It doesn't matter that she has to raise her children on her own, she is just happy that she gets to have the joy of having the two little girls. Luna is what I want to be when I'm older. Happy and confident; that even though I don't have the best life I still have a life that I wouldn't trade anything for. With or without a man. Before any of us could say anything else Crystal and Alice come bounding outside with a cooking box.
"Mummy can we please bake a cake?" Alice asks, batting her eyelids.
"Can we all make a cake together?" Crystal asks again making sure that we all understand that it will be a group effort. Luna looks at me asking through her eyes whether or not I want to.
"Well I could do with some chocolate so I am up for a bit of baking." I announce and we all make our way over to the kitchen.
XOXO
The rest of the day was so much fun. We all made a chocolate cake and ended up losing half the mixture on people's faces as Danny started a chocolate war. All the girls ended up ganging up on him so he finally submitted. After baking the cake we spent the day eating the cake and playing board games. It felt so natural. Like something I would have done in the summer house when I was the girls' age. I got a call from Steven around 5 o'clock saying that we were having dinner together and I could invite Danny and his family over. They all agreed although it did take Alice, Crystal and I a lot of convincing for Luna to agree to it. But eventually we were all driving back to the summer house.
When we arrived at the house I opened the door and called out so the boys knew I was there.
"Steve, Con, Jere! I'm back!" I shout, knowing that at least one of them will be in their room. I hear movement from upstairs and then the stairs start creaking so I know at least one person is coming down to meet us.
"I'm in the kitchen." Steven calls from the kitchen and I make my way over to the kitchen, Danny, Luna and the girls following. We walk into the kitchen and I kiss Steven on the cheek.
"How was your day?" I asked him before sitting on top of the counter.
"Fine, considering I have been slaving away in the kitchen." He jokes.
"Why are you in the kitchen cooking? Mummy's always do the cooking." Crystal asked and Steven laughed.
"Well if you ever see Belly cook then you will understand why we do all the cooking." Conrad tells her while he strolls into the room. I just stick my tongue out at him and he flashes me one of his smiles.
"Shut up! It's not my fault that the kitchen hates me." I defend even though I know I really do suck at cooking.
"When's dinner ready; I'm starved." Jere asks as he too comes into the kitchen.
"About 10minutes. It would have been sooner but you and Con and just so damn lazy." Steven informs and I let out a laugh.
"Anyways, before we have an argument or how much, or how little, work Jere does I think we should do introductions." I announce. "So this is Steven, my brother. That over there, who is now stuffing his face in the fridge, is Jeremiah although we call here Jere. And that it Conrad, although we call him Con." I point to all three boys and they all smile or say hello. "All three of you know Danny, obviously. This is his sister Luna, and these are her two daughters Crystal and Alice." Before I can say anything else Crystal starts talking.
"I'm Crystal and this is my older sister Alice. I'm 6 and three quarters and she is 8." Crystal pronounces her 'three' as a 'free'.
"Did you have fun with Belly today, Crystal?" Steven asks bending down to her level.
"Yeah, we made chocolate cake and we had a chocolate war. And we all were getting Uncle Danny because he is a boy and they smell." She tells Steven and Luna and I start laughing.
"I'm a boy as well." He chuckles lightly.
"Yeah I know, I can smell." She cheekily answers and I roar with laughter. I jump down from the counter and wrap Crystal in my arms before swinging her about in my arms. "That has to be the best thing I have ever heard someone say in my life!" I announce still laughing.
"Crystal, that wasn't nice to say." Luna scolds although you can see she is trying to smile.
"Don't worry Luna, Steven doesn't care and anything that makes Belly laugh that much is completely worth any abuse." Conrad enlightens, still looking at me with a grin on his face.
"Speak for yourself." Steven mummers and I dissolve into more laughter. "Dinners ready." Steven announces and that makes everybody forget about what Crystal just said. We all take our seats around the table and I sit next to Conrad and Danny. I'm sure this has purposely been set up because Jeremiah is directly in front of me. Luna and Steven are at the two end of the table and Crystal and Alice are sitting on the two sides of Jere.
"Everyone grab your food before Belly steals it all. It's her favourite." Steven jokes but I don't even try to deny it. We are having Stevens's famous burgers and chips. I don't even know how he makes them; he forbids telling me, but all I know is they are darn good. Everyone grabs their burgers and I grab mine before quickly taking a bite of my first burger of the summer. I close my eyes and savour the taste. It is actually ridiculous how good they taste. Conrad chuckles at the expression on my face and I just give him a small smile before taking another bite.
"These are really good. What's in them?" Luna asks.
"Don't bother, he won't tell you. I have been trying for years and I have never got it out of him. He just wants to keep the recipe to himself because he is selfish." I inform her, half joking half telling the truth.
"Yeah I'm the selfish one. If I gave you that recipe you would make it every day and not give any burgers to anyone. You would then complain about how fat you get because you would be eating like 5 burgers a day. So my darling little sister; I am in fact helping you." Steven declares but I know he is right I just don't want to admit it. So I ignore what he has just said and carry on eating my burger.
"Don't have anything to say?" Conrad taunts and I just shake my head refusing to tell them I was wrong. Of course I know that the boys will gang up on me until I admit that I was wrong but I still like to keep my resistance for as long as possible. Steven gets an evil glint in his eyes and races upstairs before I can get out of my seat. I quickly stand up but position myself where I can see what he is bringing downstairs before everyone else will see. Danny, Luna and the girls look confused by what is happening but Con and Jere are just leaning back in there seat waiting for there to be a sibling fight. Whereas Con and Jere fight because they are angry with each other, Steven and I just fight for fun; and we mainly just tickle each other. He walks down the stairs and in his hand are some photo albums. My eyes widen and I can't believe that he is actually going to threaten me with that.
"You can't be serious?" I ask my jaw near the floor by the thought of what he could show Danny and the girls.
"What, it's just a couple of photos." He comments like he is innocent.
"Steven Matthew Conklin! If you even think about showing them any of those baby photos you are thoroughly dead! I swear on every person's life in this house that if you show one of those pictures I will get you so bad that you will be crying for weeks." I threaten, trying to grab the book. I can hear Con and Jere laughing and I glare at them. "I will get both of you as well so shut it!" I growl before diving for the book again.
"Belly, all you had to do was say I was right; nothing too harmful about that." Steven grins making sure to keep the book firmly out of my reach.
"You were right." I mumble. "Sorry I can't hear you." He tells me and I glare at him before saying it louder. "Nope sorry, still can't hear you." He taunts. "You were right. Steven was right, and I was wrong. You happy now?" I shout and my idiotic brother and the stupid Fishers laugh at my red face. Crystal and Alice start giggling and soon the whole table is now laughing at me. "You guys are so annoying." I mutter but end up laughing anyway.
"We know Bells." Conrad grins at me before giving me a quick one-arm hug.
XOXO
The rest of dinner was filled with questions and laughter. I was glad that Conrad and Jere were actually nice towards Danny and didn't just freeze him out. After dinner Danny and I went to walk along the beach. It wasn't cold and the sun was still out although no one else was on the beach.
"Your brother makes the best burgers; even though I am so full I could burst." He comments holding his stomach.
"Yeah they are just too good." I respond, content just walking with him.
"Bella, I need to tell you something." He sounds worried so I face him and show him that he has my full concentration. "I'm... I'm... actually it doesn't matter." He announces and I look at him confused.
"What is it Danny?" I ask softly, hoping he will take comfort in how soft my voice is.
"It doesn't matter. Just forget I ever said anything." He walks quickly and I decided to just leave the topic alone and talk to him normally.
Danny, Luna and the girls had to leave at 8 for the girl's bedtime.
"Thank you for having us over. I had a lovely time and I'm glad to meet you." Luna tells us all hugging us. The little girls all hug us and tell us thank you for having them. Danny hugs me and kisses my cheek, while the boys just shake his hand. They all leave and the four of us walk into the lounge and just sit down on the lounge. Steven and I take one sofa and the Fisher brothers take the other. I lay my head on Stevens shoulder.
"I liked them. The girls are just so cute and I thought Luna was really nice. Danny isn't too bad either." Steven tells me and I'm glad that someone thinks the same thing as me. Conrad and Jere both grunt which means that they agree but don't want to say it.
"So you all find Danny okay? You don't think he is evil or any other stupid proposal that you thought he was going to do to me." I gloat and Con chucks a pillow at my head.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we find him alright doesn't mean we like him. He still could be evil. It might just want to put us into a false sense of security." Jere tells me half heartedly.
"Please, you all know he won't do anything to me but you don't want to admit it." I laugh and Con and Jere grumble under their breath. Steven and I just chuckle and we all fall into silence.
"I love you guys." I announce. I don't know why I do because after everything that has happened between us all I really should be annoyed at, at least one of them but I can't be. We have been through so much together that I could never truly stay mad at one of them for the rest of my life time.
"We love you too." Con told me and I knew even if Steven and Jere didn't say it they all do. I went up to bed with a smile on my face. The four of us are back to normal. Even if it will be for just a little while.
A.N: So I hope you liked the chapter. I'm sorry about how long it takes me to update chapters but there is just problems going wrong around me and to do with me personally. I have told a few people who have asked but it just means that I can't write as often as I would like because this story deserves to be a happy story, I don't want to tell everyone what is wrong around me on this story because it would take a lot of time but I just ask that you be patient with me... because I just like to give you a good quality story. I'm glad you are still loyal to the story and I do try to make it as quick as possible. Thank you for reading this little message. AND PLEASE REVIEW! They make me feel better and I actually start writing when I get reviews!
Dreamworldstorymaker :D