"Man today is gonna be so much fun" Jessie said to herself as she was getting ready for the day. They were gonna be going to her grandparents house for the big Fourth of July bash. Everyone was gonna be there. Jessie couldn't wait for it.
"Yes it will be" a voice called from the doorway, scaring Jessie badly. She turned around and saw Sylvain propped up against the doorway, hands crossed at his chest. He smiled at her and came into the room, going up to Jessie and kissing her as he put his hands around her waist.
"What are you doing spying on me?" Jessie asked Sylvain as she put her hands around his neck. She smiled up at him as he gazed lovingly into her eyes. "I mean I could have been naked or something".
"Cherie" Sylvain chided her lightly "I do not think you would have your door wide open had you not had any clothes on. I mean I would have been a lucky person if you hadn't but the odds, they were stacked against me, no". Jessie laughed at Sylvain's remark and smacked his shoulder.
"You know you sound like Pepe Le Pew sometimes" Jessie joked with him. Sylvain got this fake wounded look on his face and flopped down on Jessie's bed, sighing and doing loud comical sobs as he held his face in his hands. "You are such a drama queen" Jessie said laughing at him "let's go were leaving soon" Jessie walked toward the door way and before she stepped through the door she looked back at Sylvain who was getting up off of the bed "by the way" she said to him, getting his attention "you look really sexy" with that she exited the room and went downstairs.
"Lexi honey" Randy said going into the bathroom "are you still not ready? I mean we have to leave in like 20 minutes and we still need to get the twins things together".
"Well" Alexis paused in putting on her mascara "since you're already ready you could be doing that...it gives me more time to finish getting ready and I won't look like I was rushed".
"You know" Randy said coming up behind Alexis and wrapping his hands around her waist "since the twins are napping and we DO have 20 minutes..." he let the sentence leave off but the suggestiveness of his words weren't lost to Alexis.
"Take a cold shower" Alexis joked with Randy. He growled playfully and started tickling her sides, making her shriek. "Randall Keith if you make me wake up those twins you're gonna be in so much trouble".
"Ok ok" Randy relented "I'll go pack the twins things PLEASE hurry". With that Randy went to go do as he said.
"Mama shoe" Kevin said to Trish as he held out his shoe for her to put on him. He was already dressed thanks to John but he was still in bare feet. Trish was rushing around the kitchen trying to get all the food they were gonna bring together so she wouldn't forget anything, and John was getting Kevin's stuff packed up and ready.
"Ok baby boy" Trish said to him "just one second".
"Come here Lil Man" Sylvain said as he came into the kitchen. He sat down at the kitchen table and motioned Kevin toward him "I'll help you put it on". Kevin walked over to him, shoe in hand, and Sylvain helped him onto his lap.
"Thank you Sylvain" Trish said greatfully. "Things are kinda hectic right now".
"Trish" Sylvain said to her "since Jessie and I are already ready and all why don't we take Kevin over to the place where the barbecue is going to be at. I mean Jessie knows where it is right?"
"Yes" Jessie said coming into the room after hearing her name "we can do that Trish that way you and dad can pack up and all without having to worry about him".
"Thank you" Trish said "that would be a big help" she went over to where Kevin was sitting on Sylvain's lap. "You be good Big Guy ok" she said giving him a kiss and wiping off the lipstick trail she left on his cheek "mama and daddy will be there in a little bit ok". Kevin nodded and Sylvain stood up with the little boy in his arms. He lead the way, Jessie trailing him, out to Jessie's other car. She had two, one was a present from Randy from a past birthday, it was a silver Mitsubishi Eclipse. Sylvain strapped Kevin into the back seat and got into the passenger seat as Jessie got in the driver side and cranked the engine. She took off for her grandma and grandpa's excited to see them.
"Hey" John said coming into the kitchen where Trish was still doting over the food. "Why's it all of a sudden quiet?" he joked.
"Jessie and Sylvain took Kevin over to your parents house early so he'd be out of our hair as we gathered everything we need to take together" out of the corner of her eye Trish noticed John get a panicked look for a second before going back to a neutral expression. "What was that look for?" she asked him.
"What look?" he asked, trying to play dumb but Trish wasn't buying it.
"That oh shit look you just gave" Trish replied "John what's going on?"
"I just hadn't had a chance to tell the family about Sylvain" John said brushing it off as nothing.
"Oh Lord" Trish groaned "well lets hurry and get everything together and maybe we can get there before they've tortured the poor boy too much".
"They won't be that bad" John told her, Trish turned to him with a 'yeah right' look.
"Hun" she said "Sean took Kevin out to a park to 'pick up girls' when he was a year old...need I say more".
"Nope" John smiled, he knew his family was eccentric at best.
Jessie pulled up to her grandparents house and cut the engine "yay gamma gapa" Kevin cheered from the backseat. Jessie and Sylvain laughed and Sylvain helped the little boy out of the backseat as Jessie went to knock on the door. Carol answered it and when she saw Jessie she let out a happy yell and wrapped her arms around her in a huge hug.
"Jessie" she said, wiping happy tears from her eyes "I can't believe you're finally back it seems like forever since I've saw you".
"Gamma" Kevin's happy yell broke the silence. Carol looked and saw him being carried by Sylvain up the steps to the house.
"Well who's this?" she asked as Kevin jumped from Sylvain's arms into her own. She kissed him and hugged him a bit before she sent him off to see his uncles and grandpa out back.
"This is my boyfriend Sylvain" Jessie told her "dad told you about him right?"
"No" Carol said as Sylvain shook her hand "but no matter, that's ok. Let's go out and see everyone out back, they're itching to see you Jessie and I'm sure they'll want to meet Sylvain too".
"Hey guys" she called out to everyone "look who's here". Everyone stopped what they were doing, Matt getting hit in the head by the Nerf ball Kevin threw to him, to look at Carol. Once they saw Jessie they all sprinted over to her and tackled her in a big dog pile.
"Ahhhhh" she screamed "Get off me!"
"But Jessie" Sean called from somewhere in the pile "we haven't saw you in forever we missed you".
"And you can't give hugs like normal people" she asked in a smartassed tone.
"Yep that's our Jessie" Marc said as they all climbed off the pile. He helped her to her feet and pulled her into a big hug. She was then passed to everyone else for a big hug and few words.
"Who's this?" Matt asked as Jessie pulled back from Pops. She turned and saw him eyeing Sylvain who was standing there awkwardly. She smiled and went over to Sylvain, wrapping her arms around him.
"This" she told everyone "is my boyfriend Sylvain".
"Is John ok with him?" Pops asked with a stoic look on his face. Jessie was beginning to get nervous.
"Yes" she said, with that everyone shrugged and came over to shake Sylvain's hand and make introductions.
"I can't believe dad didn't tell any of you about Sylvain" Jessie said once everyone had gotten to know one another and all.
"He probably forgot" Marc said, knowing his cousin very well.
"I have an idea" Jessie said, smiling evilly and making everyone look at her worriedly.
"What?" Sylvain asked worriedly, looking at his girlfriend with curiosity.
"Well" she said "you go hide before dad gets here" she told him "Kevin can go up to one of the spare bedrooms with you and you two can play for a bit or something" Kevin cheered when she said this "and while you're gone I'm gonna have fun with dad".
"Cherie" Sylvain said as he picked Kevin up into his arms "what are you going to do?"
"Oh nothing" Jessie said "just make dad sweat a bit. Now you two hurry before he gets here" with that Carol escorted Sylvain and Kevin inside the house and put them into hiding.
"You're evil" Dan said, smiling mischievously at Jessie.
"Yes I am" she said "now you all have to help me with this" everyone agreed and they waited for John and Trish to get there.
"We're here" John said sometime later as he and Trish came to the back yard area of the house. He came down the steps of the patio and noticed everyone looking pissed off, and Jessie standing a few feet away from everyone, her back to them all. "What's going on?" he asked worriedly as he sat the load he had in his arms on the table. Trish was right beside him looking equally worried.
"Oh like you don't know" Jessie yelled out as she turned around. John saw that she had tears in her eyes. "Why didn't you tell them about Sylvain dad?"
"Shit" he said quietly, he turned back toward his family "you guys, he's a great guy and I can tell he loves Jessie very much".
"He's not good enough for her" Marc said icilly, keeping the hard look on his face. John gaped at his words.
"What?" he gasped out, shocked "yes he is, he's great he's the best thing to happen to her".
"No" Sean disagreed "we are. She doesn't need him. She has us, she'll get over him".
"Where is he?" John asked as he looked around for his daughter's boyfriend.
"HE LEFT" Jessie said storming over and standing in front of John "THEY" she motioned to everyone "ATTACKED HIM AND THREW HIM OUT INTO THE DRIVEWAY. HE STUMBLED ALONG THE ROAD AND DISAPPEARED OUT OF SIGHT!"
"What?" John exploded "oh my God you assholes. We have to go find him".
"Dada dat is dolla in swear jar" John heard from behind him, he turned and saw Sylvain standing there holding Kevin, Sylvain smiling wildly.
"Ok" he said catching on "who's bright idea was this?"
"Mine" Jessie said coming up beside him and wrapping her arms around his waist, putting her head on his shoulder "once grandma told me you hadn't told them about Sylvain I couldn't resist. Call it payback for how you treated me when we first got together". John laughed, being able to take the joke and kissed her forehead.
"Now let's eat" Sean said bringing everyone's attention to him "I'm starving". Everyone agreed and went to fix their plates. Trish, of course, was left to fix her own and Kevin's. Once everyone had their plates fixed they all sat on the big picnic tables that were pushed together in a line. Kevin sat in between John and Sylvain, at his insistance. Jessie sat across from Sylvain and between Matt and Dan.
"Everyone's eating without us" a voice called out bringing everyone's attention toward it. Randy and Lexi were standing there, the twins in their arms despite both of them baring the things they brought.
"Whoops" John said, standing up to help them. He got the kids out of their arms and sat them down beside Marc and Trish before going to help them put the stuff down and fix plates. John fixed the kids plates and brought them to them, sitting in his original spot.
"Unc Marc" Sydney said, tugging on his sleeve "where is everything?" Marc looked at her and realized that no one had told her what food was on her plate, let alone where it was. He took her fork and put it in one of her hands.
"This is a fork" he told her "ok at 9 o'clock there's some green beans, at 11 o'clock there's some ham, at 2 o'clock there's some creamed corn, at 4 o'clock there's mashed potatoes, and at 6 o'clock there's some turkey. Your tea is on the right side of your plate". She nodded and began eating. Marc turned back to his own food and the conversation he was having with Stephen.
"So Randy" John whispered to him while Kevin was engrossed in telling Sylvain and Jessie about something "what took you and Sexi Lexi so long in getting here?"
"Have I ever told you I don't like you calling Lexi, Sexi Lexi?" Randy joked "we got lost, Sydney was singing and distracted me and I took a wrong turn and got us lost. I had to retrace my driving and all so I could find the right turn off".
"She's gonna be the next Mariah Carey" John said to Randy about Sydney. It was true, even at almost 4 years old Sydney was always singing songs she had learned and even though both Randy and John were slightly biased they thought she had a good voice, even though she had a slight speech impediment from being so young.
"My little girl" Randy wiped a fake tear away and John chuckled at him.
A little while later everyone was split up doing different things. Randy and John were playing messenger with the kids. They were sat in a circle. John began by leaning over to Sydney and whispering something in her ear, she then leaned over to Randy and whispered what she thought John said into his ear, then Randy leaned over and whispered the message in Kevin's ear and Kevin finished by whispering the message into Matty's ear. "A wolf was spotted outside the drug store eating french fries".
"That one was too easy" John exclaimed. It was then Sydney's turn. She leaned in and whispered something to Randy, he whispered it to Kevin who whispered it to Matty and he whispered it to John.
"Cold food is best eaten indoors" John said.
"No" Sydney giggled "I said 'old news is left on the floor'".
"That's what I tol' you Unca Don" Matty said, shooting John an exasperated look.
"Whoops" John said.
"So are you having fun?" Jessie asked Sylvain who was sitting beside her. She looked over at him and almost drooled at the sight. It was warm out so he had taken his shirt off, as had many of the other guys, and the sun was beating down on his body.
"Why yes, yes I a..." Sylvain's words were cut off as Marc and Dan came up and picked him up running with him over to the pool and throwing him in. He came back up sputtering, everyone laughing at his look of shock.
"Honey" Jessie said as she came over beside the pool. "I forgot to tell you, this is somewhat of a custom, throwing people in the pool and all".
"Cherie" Sylvain said, a look of love on his face "so you would not mind if I should do this..." he grabbed Jessie and hauled her in the pool beside him. She resurfaced quickly, having learned how to swim while she was away at college.
"Brat" she said sticking her tongue out at him. Sylvain laughed at her. Her mascara was running and her hair was plastered to her face.
"Pool party" Marc yelled out as he jumped into the pool. Everyone joined them. They all spent time playing around and splashing and having fun. Everyone kept in mind that there were 3 young kids in the pool with them though so no one got really wild.
That night Sylvain, Jessie, Trish and John (who was carrying a sleeping Kevin) traipsed back into the house. Everyone had had fun at the get together and they were now winding down.
"I'm gonna go put this little guy to bed" John said, gesturing to Kevin who was asleep on his shoulder.
"I'll come help" Sylvain offered. John looked weirdly at him but nodded anyway. The two went up the stairs to Kevin's bedroom.
"So what'd you want?" John said as Sylvain held the covers down so he could place Kevin in the bed. After he did that he kissed Kevin's forehead and covered him up.
"I want to take Jessie on a date tonight" Sylvain said "somewhere casual but still nice. It will be our first official date and I'd like to have it be special".
"Ok" John said "so are you asking permission or something cause if so you got it" he laughed a bit, so as not to wake Kevin up.
"Well thank you" Sylvain said "but that was not my intention. I wanted to ask if I could borrow your car and if you had some place in mind where I could take her, I have no idea about this area and all".
"Hmmm" John said, deep in thought "well are you wanting to get food?"
"Non" Sylvain said "I am not too hungry, I ate too much at the gathering together".
"Get together dude" John corrected with a laugh "anyway ummm well Boston Common is really nice, especially since its warm weather and all. It's a park and since its night time now then you won't be harassed too much by fans. It's in Boston though, about an hour away from here. There's not too many places in West Newbury that are all that interesting. I'd say go with that, and right off the Common is the Boston Public Garden. To me its pretty boring but you know women and their pretty flowers" John and Sylvain shared a laugh "Lemme tell you how to get to the Common, come with me to my room though, I don't wanna wake up Kev".
"What's taking them so long?" Trish asked as she flipped through the tv stations to find something to watch.
"You know guys" Jessie joked "even though there's two of them they still have a tough time of putting a kid to bed".
"Yeah" Trish giggled as Sylvain and John finally came back downstairs.
"Cherie" Sylvain said coming over to Jessie "come with me, I want to go somewhere".
"Where?" Jessie asked as she allowed Sylvain to lead her out of the house and to her dad's car. He put her in the passenger side as he got in the driver side and started the car.
"You'll see" he said mysteriously. Jessie smiled and nodded. She turned on the radio and they listened in comfortable silence as Sylvain drove them toward Boston.
"What's this?" Jessie asked as she and Sylvain got out of the car at the Park.
"It is called Boston Common" Sylvain said to her "your dad told me about it".
"A park" she said as they stepped through the entrance. "Wow its really beautiful here".
"Yes" Sylvain said looking straight at Jessie "it is". She blushed and kept walking.
"Aww ducks" Jessie said spotting some ducks swimming in a big pond in the middle of the park. She ran over to get a better look with Sylvain laughing and going to catch up to her. They stood watching the ducks and the few swans in companionable silence. After that Sylvain took them to the Gardens. Jessie marveled at all the beautiful flowers as Sylvain contented himself in watching her enjoy herself. Even though they weren't doing alot he was having a good time just being with her, he had enjoyed the week they had, had so far.
"Tired mon cherie?" Sylvain asked as Jessie put her head on his shoulder as they walked.
"Not really" she told him "I'm wide awake actually, I guess I'm going on an adrenaline rush or something".
"Oui" Sylvain said "I know the feeling, I am like that after shows and all".
"So's dad and Randy" Jessie said laughing "both of them are usually goofy and hyper and all".
"So what would you like to do?" Sylvain asked her "or do you just want to go home".
"Let's find a club and go dancing" Jessie said looking up into Sylvain's eyes and wrapping her arms around his waist.
"Ok" Sylvain said. They went back to the car and got in. Sylvain put the car in gear and went in a random direction, in search of a club that got their attention. Finally Sylvain found one that seemed reasonably active and pulled into the parking lot. He and Jessie got out and they made their way in. As they stepped through the door 'I Don't Care' by Ricky Martin met their ears. Jessie and Sylvain immediately made their way to the dance floor and started tearing it up. They danced closely and sexily as the music pumped through the speakers. The song changed to 'My Humps' by The Black Eyed Peas and Jessie turned her back to Sylvain, grinding up against his body in a sexy manner, making him dizzy with lust.
After a half hour of dancing the DJ turned down the music and got on the speaker "its Friday, you know what that means".
"BUFF FRIDAY" the crowd screamed out.
"Yep" the dj answered "so all you men out there in the crowd, if you think your in shape, if you have guns of steel, if you have powerful pecs come up to this stair case right beside me and line up in an orderly fashion".
"Go" Jessie giggled to Sylvain, gesturing to where guys were lining up on a staircase that lead to the stage set up.
"What?" Sylvain asked looking at her in shock. "What do you mean go?"
"Go participate in whatever the contest is" Jessie told him "please" she gave him a puppydog look and Sylvain sighed goodnaturedly and went to line up on the staircase. Jessie watched as one-by-one the guys came out on to the stage, whipped off their shirts, and hit a few body builder poses. Of course most of the guys had no idea what they were doing and looked ridiculous doing it but it was entertaining to watch. Finally it was Sylvain's turn. He came out on the stage and took his shirt off making the women in the audience scream, Jessie included. She watched as he hit poses like a professional. Not only that but he had a better body than all the guys in the contest, at least in Jessie's opinion. When the contest was over all the guys lined up on the stage and the DJ let the audience scream for who they wanted to win. The DJ went down the line and the crowd screamed for each man. When the DJ got to Sylvain the reaction was deafening. Needless to say the DJ pronounced him the winner. As a prize he got a t-shirt and a rough looking 'medal' made out of string and bottle caps. Sylvain played to the crowd a bit and then came off the stage.
He went up to Jessie as You and Me by Lifehouse started playing. He pulled her into his arms and they started swaying to the music. 'What day is it, and in what month this clock never seemed so alive'.
"You know you looked really sexy up there doing all those poses" Jessie said, putting her hand under his shirt and lightly scratching his abs, making him tense them in reaction.
"You always look sexy" Sylvain said leaning down to kiss Jessie on the lips. They stayed in the passionate kiss until both of them were breathless from lack of oxygen. When they pulled back from the kiss both of them had goofy smiles on their face.
"Sylvain I have something to tell you" Jessie said seriously as she stared into his eyes, both of them lost in the moment and not noticing as the song changed to a faster one.
"What is that cherie?" he asked, looking back into her deep pools that he loved to look at.
"I love you" she told him before she could change her mind and decide not to say it. Sylvain smiled softly and kissed her again.
"I love you too" he said as he broke the kiss.