Chapter 27: Grandma Dorothy
Mid-way through SB:
"Party at my place tonight." Reid mimicked the words as he put them into a text on his cell phone.
Aubrey walked out of the bathroom putting in her dragonfly earrings. "I don't know how you plan to get away with this." She giggled. "Brunch with your parents before they fly right back out to New York. And a party tonight."
Reid smirked. "I'm just that incredible. Besides they don't have to know anything as long as we keep the party...minimal."
"Oh he learned a knew word for small." Aubrey smirked at him teasingly.
Standing from the end of his bed Reid walked over grabbing her around the waist and pulled her closer to him. "Don't mock me." He threatened in a playful manor.
Aubrey rolled her eyes resting her open palms against his designer clothed chest. Reid wore a Calvin Klein dark gray button up, the sleeves rolled to his elbows and the top three and bottom two buttons undone casually. He paired it with a simple dark distressed wash baggy jean and his black steel toed boots, that looked like they'd been through hell and back. "So who are you inviting?" She asked.
"Most of the Swim team, the guys and their leading ladies, some publics I know..."
"Reid you know that everyone is going to bring someone or more and it's Spring break I seriously think this is a bad idea." Aubrey tried to reason. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't spring break, but it was close to the end of the school year and rowdy rich senior Spencer brats were looking for any excuse to party hard before they had to go off to college.
Reid lifted his left fingerless gloved hand and tilted her chin up to look at him. "I promise if it gets out of control the guys and I will throw everyone out."
Aubrey made a face but nodded all the same. "Ok." She felt his lips press lightly to hers and she returned the soft gesture moving her arms around his neck. Reid's hand slide through her straightened brown hair until he was cradling the back of her skull gently still holding her firmly around the waist as close to him as he could manage.
A soft hiss escaped Aubrey's lips as she broke away, putting some space between them. "Damn it." She whispered.
Reid kissed her forehead. "Did you take some pain medication?" Reid asked.
"I took three Advil. I'm trying to not use those pain meds for everything." Aubrey told him resting her forehead against his left shoulder. "I'll take one before bed tonight though."
"Want me to remind you?" Reid asked kissing the top of her head.
"Sure. Hey I told Val and Kat they could stay in a guest room upstairs tonight is that ok?"
Reid smirked down at her as she lifted her head he rested his forehead against hers his eyes looking down into brown irises. "No." He teased her.
Aubrey giggled and pecked his lips. "Ok I get it."
"You don't even have to ask anymore." Reid told her firmly as they pulled out of their embrace. Aubrey went over to his closet in search of her jean jacket.
"Well I do ask because it's not my house." Aubrey told him, slipping her jean jacket from the hanger that dangled from a supported rod in the walk in closet. She turned in the doorway slipping it on and Reid admired her from his place close to his bed.
She wore a jean skirt that wasn't too short, a black t-shirt that read 'CASH' on the front, black low top converse and her jean jacket. The shirt she'd found in a box of her mothers things when they'd sorted through everything some of the stuff going to charity and the rest of it to a small storage for safe keeping for Aubrey.
"Why are you staring at me?" Aubrey asked as she ran her fingers through her hair, pulling it casually around her shoulders.
Reid smirked. "Cause you have no idea how hot you look just standing there." He told her.
Aubrey didn't blush, but grinned and walked out of the closet entryway and over to her boyfriend. "I'll take that as a compliment." She said playfully.
"Take it however you like." He said smugly.
"Can you see that hickey you left of my neck last night?" She asked turning her head to the right.
Reid laughed."No." He assured her.
"Good. Get your coat we gotta go." She said and turned on her heel and left his room.
"You want to drive?" Reid asked as he grabbed his coat in the closet and then came out to see Aubrey's head peeking around the door
frame of his room.
"The camaro?" She asked hopefully.
He smirked and nodded. "Yeah, I figured I'd give you a lesson on how to drive it." Reid grabbed his keys cell phone and wallet from his atop his dresser and walked towards the door following Aubrey in to the living room.
"This isn't a cruel joke is it?" Aubrey questioned skeptically.
He chuckled. "No."
Aubrey turned around and tiptoed up kissing him. "Good." Then snatched his keys which were the only thing left in his hand since he'd put his wallet in his back pocket and his cell in his jacket pocket.
After grabbing the keys she ran from him laughing excitedly. Reid always asked to drive her car, but he was very particular about her driving his cars. She couldn't drive the porsche cause she couldn't drive manual. But the Camaro was automatic, so she could, but Reid was worried that she'd never handled a car like it before. But she'd asked Sweetly several times this week and he just decided to give in.
Smiling to himself with a shake of his head he followed after shutting his basement door behind him and going upstairs. He walked through the house to the front door, through it and locked the door behind him. When he turned towards the Camaro Aubrey was already waiting in the car. He laughed minimally and headed down the stairs to the Camaro for once climbing in to the passenger seat.
The car was already started. "So what first oh might driver." She teased him.
"Well you've got the engine going, that's good." He teased right back making Aubrey laugh. "Just put it in drive and ease your foot on to the gas pedal. It's a bit different from yours." Reid told her.
Aubrey did what he said and the car gently eased itself across the brick lay of the driveway and around the fountain. "You know it's not as hard as you think." Aubrey told him with a smile.
"Well, it's just different then your car Sweets."
Boston:
Aubrey parked the Camaro in the parking lot just outside the restaurant where her and Reid would be meeting the Garwin's and shut off the engine. Reid had bickered about her over driving the car, using the brake too much...but when she looked over at him he grinned. "You did good." He said.
"You're petrified I'm going to ask to drive home aren't you?" She teased.
Reid tried to shake his head no but he spoke before he could stop himself. "N...yes." He said and nodded. "Completely horrified."
"Candice is your car, if you don't want me to drive that's fine." Aubrey sighed in surrender. In all fairness there was nothing wrong with her driving, but she could feel how Reid was feeling. Whenever she handed over her keys to him, she mentally nitpicked at the things he did while driving her car that she didn't like.
"Awe you used her name." Reid said jokingly.
Aubrey rolled her eyes. "You are impossible. Here take your keys." She took them from the ignition and climbed out of the car and walked around to the rear and waited for Reid.
He sighed knowing he'd frustrated her a little, but he couldn't help being picky about his car. Getting out he locked it up and walked over to Aubrey. "Sweets, I'm sorry." He said putting his arm around her waist. "There's nothing wrong with your driving."
"Yeah, yeah." Aubrey headed towards the main entrance of the restaurant and Reid followed after her grabbing her waist from behind and stopping her.
"No, really Sweets. You drive just fine I'm just a freak about my car, you know that. Besides can you honestly say you don't think negative things when I'm driving your car? I just choose to voice my opinions like the obnoxious jackass boyfriend I am." He said some of it jokingly so as to ease Aubrey's mind.
Aubrey turned around to face him fisting her hands in his jacket and looking up at him. "You might be an obnoxious jackass, but you're my obnoxious jackass. And you are mildly paranoid about your car I guess I can understand since I'm the same way when you drive my car."
"See." Reid smirked a playful glint in his eye. "So are we good, no more stomping off mad at me?"
"Yeah." Aubrey said softly and he leant down and kissed her lips lightly as she tiptoed up meeting him halfway.
"Aubrey, Reid." Both broke away to find the Garwin's standing to their left waiting at the entrance of the restaurant. Melinda smiled at them. "Glad you could make it."
Aubrey smiled politely in returning releasing her hold on Reid's jacket and slipping her hand down his side in to his. "Have you guys been waiting long?" She asked sheepishly.
"No. Our flight landed forty-five minutes ago and it took that long just to get from the airport to here, Taxi's are the worst." Randall complained.
"Let's go inside shall we." Melinda offered. Reid released Aubrey's hand and quickly stepped forward to open the door for his mother, Aubrey and his dad. "Thank you Reid." Melinda said kissing his cheek on the way in.
Aubrey grinned at him as she followed Randall in to the restaurant and felt his hand slip in to hers as he followed her in letting the door slip shut behind them. Once they were seated and looking at the menu light conversation started between the four.
"Reid is behaving himself at the house I assume?" Melinda asked Aubrey.
Aubrey giggled lightly and raised her eyebrows as she looked at the menu. "Of course not." She said it in a joking fashion. "He's already splattered red paint everywhere."
"Where would I even get red paint?" Reid asked Aubrey knowing she was only joking.
Aubrey glanced over at him and shrugged. "I dunno. Knowing you if you wanted to you'd find some."
"This I can not deny." He said sardonically.
"It's easy to peg you as a trouble maker." Aubrey remarked her eyes back on her menu.
"She's got you pegged Reid." Randall said aloud.
Aubrey grinned. "I've had him pegged for years."
"What is this bash Reid day?" He laughed.
"No it most certainly isn't. Actually we invited you both to lunch for a specific reason." Melinda said closing her menu and resting it on the table, before casually resting her folded arms over it.
Reid set his at the end of the table and looked over at his mother. "There's no such thing as a free meal these days." He joked.
Aubrey giggled handing him her menu to set atop his own. "What he means is, how can we help?" She said sweetly.
"Thank you Aubrey." Randal smiled at her. It was amazing how much alike Reid and Randall were. Aubrey found herself memorizing the similarities at times, occasionally wondering if Reid's child would look just like him as well.
Melinda smiled at them. "We were wondering if you two wouldn't mind staying at the house until the end of the first week of May. We agreed to help move Grandma Garwin from New Hampshire back to Ipswich. She'll be living in our home."
"Grandma Dorothy's moving back?" Reid asked a slow smile forming on his lips. His grandmother had moved away when he was eight, after his grandfather had passed away from the power.
Randall nodded. "Yes. She decided she's been away from home for too long. We'll be going to New Hampshire after we finish business in New York, to help her pack and get things shipped out here."
"This is awesome, I haven't seen Grandma Dorothy in like six years." Reid said happily.
Aubrey looked over at him and grinned. "Someone he's actually excited to see, I really need to meet this woman." She teased.
Melinda smiled. "Reid use to go over to Grandma and Grandpa Garwin's house every weekend when he was a child, but after Grandpa Garwin passed away Grandma moved to New Hampshire. We tried to send him out for visits, but it just got harder to do as he got older and his interests changed."
"Grandma Dorothy is the reason I can make breakfast." Reid informed Aubrey with a grin.
Aubrey giggled. "Well then I should thank her that you haven't killed me with your cooking yet."
"He cooks for you?" Melinda questioned raising a perfectly plucked brow at Aubrey. Aubrey nodded mutely. "Well aren't you special." She teased.
Aubrey smiled. "I like to think so." The rest of the meal was spent chatting ideally amongst the four of them. When it was over Aubrey and Reid bid Randall and Melinda a safe trip and started back for Ipswich. "So you're really excited about your grandmother coming back?" Aubrey asked conversationally after Reid had gotten the car on the highway.
"Yeah I am. Grandma Dorothy isn't like most grandma's. She's got a spitfire personality. A lot like me in a way." Reid stated reaching over and dropping his hand over Aubrey's their fingers mingling. "I think you'll really like her." He said sweetly.
"Of that I'm sure, but how can you guarantee she'll like me?" Aubrey asked a hint of concern etched in to her words.
Reid grinned. "Cause I love you." He said gently running his thumb along her palm. "And she thinks I'm a great judge of character. Or at least she use to when I was a kid running around with goodie-too-shoes Tyler Simms." He joked.
Aubrey giggled. "Why must you tease him? Besides he's not such a goodie-too-shoes anymore."
"Ah he'll fool Grandma Dorothy and she'll bake him cookies like she use to. All of Ty's grandparents passed away before he was old enough to spend any real memorable time with them. So Grandma Dorothy adopted him as her honorary grandson." Reid informed her.
"That's sweet of her." Aubrey said softly.
Reid nodded. "Yeah. So trust me she'll like you, because I adore you."
"I hope so." Aubrey murmured so softly to the passenger window Reid hadn't heard her. Aubrey wanted his family to like her, because she wanted to be a part of his life for as long as he'd have her. She was afraid that if someone he thought so highly of like his grandmother disproved of her he would maybe change his mind about her too. She knew it was silly to think that way, but she couldn't help worry.
Party:
"Oh my god! This...this...I want to move in." Kat exclaimed as she walked over to the group sitting in the game room of the Garwin home Val following close behind.
Aubrey giggled. "Hey Kat."
"You guys are so lucky." She said looking around.
"She's been like this since we pulled up out front." Val said putting her arm around Kat's waist.
Kat looked over at Reid. "Your house is the size of my apartment complex, the whole thing."
Reid shrugged. "It's not my house. It's my parents. I always thought it was a bit to big." He admitted.
"Seriously?" Kat asked. "I'd love to live here. I wish I could have something this amazing."
"Trust us it's not all it's cracked up to be." Pogue said.
"No you guys have it made." Kat took a seat with Val on a bar stool near the mini bar.
Tyler shook his head. "No, we might have money but really it's not that great. Money can't buy you a lot of things. Like friends and love...it's hard making friends in our position cause they just want to claim their friends with us, to be popular. We were lucky to have each other growing up."
"Yeah at least you know if your friends are true friends or not." Aubrey stated.
Kat smiled. "You make a good point."
"And I'll take care of you forever and ever." Val whispered hotly in to her ear.
"Awe..." The girls chorused.
Tyler, Pogue and Reid were all silently chanting... 'Kiss, kiss, kiss...' until their respective girlfriends smacked them upside the head and told them to mind their own business. Caleb was the only non animal in the bunch. "Why is Caleb always praised?" Reid demanded jokingly after the girls smiled at Caleb sweetly.
"Because I can keep my mouth shut unlike you three." He replied looking smugly back at Reid.
"Oh big whoop." Tyler said jokingly.
"Yeah man we all know you like seeing them kiss as much as we do." Pogue remarked smirking at his friend.
Caleb shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh whatever." Reid rolled his eyes.
"Come on Reid." Aubrey grabbed his hands. "Let's go make sure the house is still in one piece."
"I'm sure it's fine." Reid complained getting up and following her out of the room.
Tyler rolled his eyes. "We should probably be a part of the party." Jack accepted his out stretched had as he stood and they followed out the door Aubrey and Reid had wandered through.
The other's soon followed and found themselves amongst what could easily be a hundred of Spencer's finest students. Swim team members said their hello's the the son's and their girlfriends.
Jack and Tyler found Aubrey and Reid in the kitchen. "Well if you hadn't invited all these people it wouldn't be broken now would it?" Aubrey said dropped the broken shards of glass in to the sink.
"Why are you arguing with me about this? It's a vase, my mom will get over it." Reid rolled his eyes. He leaned back against the counter arms cross over his chest.
Aubrey stepped back from the sink to look him in the eye. "It's not just a vase Reid. It's a one of a kind priceless artifact your mother got in Egypt. If you listened when she spoke you'd know that."
"Oh so it's my fault you didn't tell me to put it somewhere else?" Reid snipped.
"Oh you are not blaming me for this. I told you not to have a party." Aubrey said frustrated.
Reid mimicked her words mockingly before standing up straight and looking down at her. "Well if you'd just let me fix it...my way..." Reid said.
Aubrey glared at him. "I said no."
"Well fine then." And with that Reid walked out passed Tyler and Jack and left Aubrey in the kitchen.
Sighing and shaking her head Aubrey walked passed them and went downstairs to Reid's basement apartment. A few minutes after she sat herself down on the couch there was a small knock at the door. The door opened slowly and Jack peeked her head inside. Aubrey wiped at the small tears on her cheeks. "Hey." Jack said shutting the door and walking over to sit next to her.
"Hey." Aubrey replied softly.
"So, what happened? I'm pretty sure we didn't see all of it." Jack asked.
Aubrey sighed. "We found the broken vase and I started picking it up, Reid said he could use to fix it and I told him no. We argued some about that and then I told him he was stupid for having the party and that's where you found us in the kitchen."
"Well you guys never fight so maybe it's just tension built up." Jack said logically.
"I feel bad." Aubrey said lightly. There was another knock at the door and it opened.
Jack whispered in her ear as she patted her knee. "Looks like someone else feels bad too." She stood and left passing Reid before he shut the door behind her.
He turned back towards Aubrey. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten mad at you." He apologized.
Aubrey stood and walked towards him. "No I shouldn't have practically ordered you not to use your power to fix the vase. I'm not your boss."
"No you're my girlfriend and you care about me, you have every right to tell me not to use my powers."
"It's your life." Aubrey replied softly with a shrug.
Reid put his arms around her waist. "And you're a part of it. I shouldn't automatically chose to use my powers to fix something."
"And it's not your fault you didn't realize that vase was so important to your mother." Aubrey said lightly resting her around around his neck.
"I sent everyone home accept the others. I'll tell my mom I broke it and I'll try to find a replacement."
"There's no replacing it Reid." Aubrey said softly. "But you could find something better. I'll help."
"Thanks." Reid kissed her.
"Welcome." Aubrey whispered kissing him again.
AN: OK lame chapter I know, but I know what I want to do and I started this one and had to finish it. It's filler, next chapter will be way better. Things have been very busy I got my hair cut, which I swore never to do and now it's 7 inches shorter, wow! Yeah big change...anyways that brought on lots and lots of thoughts for my next couple chapters! Woo...hopefully more sooner rather than later!
