Onyx breathed a sigh of relief seeing that she along with Clint were the first ones to arrive at The River's Edge cafe and Patio Bar. They decided to find a table to sit six outside overlooking the San Antonio river.
"How did you rope Clint into coming along?" Jeff asked with a laugh, walking up from behind them.
"Mom and Lydia got their claws into him," Onyx shrugged. "Where's your girlfriend?" She asked, not seeing Sugar anywhere.
"She needed to use the ladies room," Jeff told her. "Does he know that things might get uncomfortable over this lunch?" He asked, looking right at his sister.
"He does now," she responded. "And yes, I spent the better part of my morning going over everything with him, and the very good possibility that my ex will get brought up and who knows what else," she sighed.
"As long as he knows what he is getting himself into," Jeff shrugged.
"You both do realize that he, you are referring to is sitting right here. And he can talk for himself," Clint spoke up. "And for the record, I can handle whatever your moms throw my way. I'm here for Onyx," he clarified, giving her a smile.
"Can you really? I didn't know," Onyx teased, looking at him. "We should be more worried about what they are going to be saying to Sugar. It's been years since they have met a girlfriend of yours," she smirked at her brother.
"Like you don't know the comments of sweetie when are you going to call this one your boyfriend? Are coming your way," he commented, pointing to Clint, his eyes staying on his sister. "Because we both know those comments or more like suggestions will be coming," he stated.
"I know," she sighed, looking to Clint. "And I am ready to answer mom on those questions. I did come prepared," she stated, feeling confident in the answers she has ready for when the conversation goes that way.
"What did I miss?" Sugar asked, hugging her friend before taking a seat next to her boyfriend. She could feel the tension between the three of them. "Hi, I'm Sugar, Jeff's girlfriend and Onyx's best friend," she introduced looking at Clint.
"Hey. I'm Clint," he responded with a nodded.
"Didn't you guys meet the other night at the party?" Onyx questioned, slightly confused.
"I met the guys, and talked with your brother but Sugar wasn't there yet when I retreated to your room for my phone call," he told her.
"True, as I had only been there a few minutes before you came in," Sugar nodded.
"You should be talking to Seb, about things as your buddy here was there before anyone else showed up. I should know since everyone else showed up when I did," Jeff said with a shrug and what looked to be an evil smile.
"What did you and my best friend talk about?" Onyx quizzically asked him. Making a mental note to quiz Seb about what he said to Clint.
"We are so sorry that we are late," Lydia apologized, taking one of the empty seats, cutting off their conversation completely.
"Nonsense, you guys aren't late," Onyx said. "Mom, Lydia, do you remember Clint?" She asked.
"Of course, we remember him, dear," her mom said. "It is lovely to see you again, Clint. And please call me Jade," she told the young man sitting next to her daughter.
"Jade, Lydia it is nice to see you both again," he told them with a smile. "Have you enjoyed your time here?" He questioned, just as the waiter showed up to take their drink order, needing more time to look over the menu.
"We have enjoyed our time. We've been thinking about getting a winter house here as we are growing tired of the snow," Jade informed the whole table. Jeff and Onyx sharing pained looks across the table. "How is the hand sweetie?" She changed gears looking to her daughter.
"Broken and still driving me mad, so I guess it's healing," Onyx shrugged, pleased with the way the conversation is going so far.
"Sweetie, what even made you get into a fight with her?" Lydia asked, concerned as ever.
"She made one too many comments that I didn't like and comments that I am not going to be repeating. She ticked me off. And honestly I've been wanting to punch Bree since I found out about the affair," Onyx shrugged, glancing down at her cast, still the ugly green she was starting to get use to, but not a color she would ever use again.
"How are you doing with that whole mess?" Her mom asked.
"I'm still hurt and I feel betrayed by his actions. I don't get why he cheated," she said, looking at Jeff, saying, "I am not talking to him about it. Not yet. I'm not ready for that." She is still living with that pain; she is nowhere near ready to rehash that bit of betrayal. She would talk to Hunter when she is 100 percent ready to do so. "My thinking is if he wasn't happy with where our relationship is, he should have talked to me, and we could have gone from there and went our ways with no bitter feelings between us," she shrugged, playing with her fingers in her lap. Clint quickly placing his hand on top of hers. "I am trying to move on," she smiled softly, glancing at the man on her right. "One day at a time."
"And you, Clint?" Jade asked, looking at her daughter's newly crowned friend. "What is it you are trying to gain here?" Hearing that her daughter was dating Hunter, a guy she has known since he was nothing more than a boy, she thought no harm could come from it, thinking Hunter to be respectful and not hurt her baby girl the way he had. She hadn't questioned Hunter when it was announced they were dating like she should have done. She wouldn't be making that same mistake again.
"Friendship first and foremost," Clint answered, giving Jade all of his attention, his hand firmly atop Onyx's under the table. "I am not out looking for anything. I don't want to take anything more than what Onyx is ready to give, and if and when she decides she wants more I will be there for her. Honestly, I want to date your daughter, but that is up to her, and if she decides she wants to be nothing more than friends; I will be okay with that," he explained.
"That is easy for you to say now," Jeff muttered.
The table grew quiet when the waiter returned with their drinks and to take their orders. They remained quiet even after the waiter left them alone. The tension building between brother and sister.
"What's your deal, Jeff?" Onyx questioned visibly annoyed with the way her brother was starting to act towards Clint.
"My deal is that you're not the easiest person to deal with, Onyx," he replied, resting his forearms on the table. "Saying something now and following through with it are two very different things. And I don't want to see you rush into anything because I know what Hunter did to you killed you inside, and you're so good at pushing people away. He says that he will take things at your pace, but I can't see that happening because you will push him away instead of embracing your feelings for him. And while you are pushing those feelings away and pushing Clint further from you, he will get tired of the Onyx game that you have mastered over the years, and he will walk away hurting you in the process," he ranted.
"You don't believe that do you?" Jade asked her son. Jeff nodded his head in reply. "How could you say that let alone think it?" She questioned her oldest.
"Because I've seen it done many times. And I don't want her to get hurt. I don't say it to be mean, I say it because it's the truth. And I do hope that she doesn't push you away, Clint, because I really do believe that you can make her happy, and that she makes you happy. And that is all I want for you, Onyx, is to be happy. I want you to have a happy, healthy relationship."
"I get it; I do, Jeff. I have been great at pushing people away when I am hurting, when I get freaked out that the next person can do the same thing. I push them away trying to protect myself, and I know I shouldn't do that, but I can't help it," she sighed. She hated she felt like everyone around her could hurt her and what their ulterior motives were. She didn't like to second guess herself on what friends were true and who could possibly be using her for their own gain. But things with Clint were different. He had been a pillar of strength for her since the break up. He knew when she needed to laugh, when to leave her be. He is something else, and she could truly say that he is a friend whom she didn't need to think what he wanted from her, because she already knew what he wanted.
"Onyx, we won't let you do that," Sugar promised her. Onyx gave her friend a smile. She knew that it was something that Sugar couldn't stop from happening if she started to feel smothered and needed to push people away from her.
"What is it you do Sugar?" Lydia asked, taking the chance to learn more about Jeff's girlfriend, since they were told nothing about her.
"I'm a guidance counselor actually. It's not a job I saw myself having growing up, but one I thoroughly enjoy doing." She loved helping kids. It wasn't until her second year of college that she realized what she truly wanted to do. Onyx her dorm mate for the year playing a hand in it one night when Sugar was frustrated over some assignment. From day one of them being in the same dorm the two of them hit it off from the start. The following two years they shared an apartment together until graduation.
"With the multiple high schools around the city, do you work at the same school?" Clint asked, curious to the answer.
"Unfortunately, no we don't work at the same high school. I do work with Seb. In fact, his classroom is right across the hall from mine," Onyx shared.
"Do the two of you even get any work done?" He teased, gently nudging her.
"You know, Clint, that is a very serious question," Lydia mused. "Do you actually teach the students or just goof off?" She knew first-hand how Sebastian and Onyx could be, and with a bigger audience to egg them on, it could be complete chaos.
"Yes, we do our job, but we do have fun," she shrugged. "Anything to make the school day more fun for the students."
"Making learning fun," Jeff laughed. "Do you think you would've made it to school if you thought school was fun?"
"Shut up," she laughed. "I went to school, unlike one of us," she pointed out, a smirk on her lips, seeing his brothers face fall just a little. The question of how in his eyes. "Sebastian is my best friend; I know plenty," she laughed.
"I'm gonna murder him," he ground out.
"No you won't," Onyx laughed.
"Jeff, how?" Jade asked, looking perplexed by the whole situation.
"Mom, just know that going to school and skipping out after attendance for your classes are two very different things. Or my favorite having your buddies cover for you," she smirked.
"I hate you," he said between clenched teeth.
"Why? It's not like they can ground you, Jeffy," Onyx laughed. "Besides I've done worse," she shrugged.
"Like what?" Lydia asked, wanting to know what they didn't catch onto.
"Senior year when we had a three-day week in the middle of November, myself along with Sebastian took for Cleveland to visit the Rock and Roll hall of fame museum. We left Wednesday morning," she shrugged. "Took us a day or two since we got lost," she laughed.
"A time or two?" Her mom questioned, shaking her head. "It's only a two and half-hour drive. How lost were you?"
"Maybe lost wouldn't be the right word, either way we ended up in Philadelphia for the night, stayed until Friday afternoon," she shrugged.
"What in the world would posses you to do such a thing?" Her mom asked.
"Nothing," Onyx frowned. "We talked about it and decided why not."
"I don't remember getting a call about you being absent," Lydia frowned looking to her girlfriend.
"Because, uh Seb called the school office pretending to be dad," she replied. Earning a laugh from her brother. "And I called the school to excuse Seb. It was an even trade. However, you can't be mad at me for that, Jeff had me call in and be you, Mom," she stated.
"I have a bunch of delinquents on my hands," Jade sighed.
"You did, mom," Jeff appeased her. "We've outgrown that stage; I think," he thought out loud. "Onyx, I might need you to call into work for me, and make an excuse up as to why I don't show up tomorrow night," he teased.
"Because that will go over so well," she rolled her eyes at her brother. "You can escape work anytime you want. You have a manager," she pointed out.
"Actually, Nick quit," he calmly stated.
"Why didn't you tell me? Why did he quit for?" Onyx asked upset over the news she just received.
"Onyx, you do realize that you don't work there right?" Sugar asked her.
"I know that," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "But they are like a second family to me." Sugar nodded at that, knowing how close her friend is to the guys who work there.
"You can see Nick anytime as he does live in your apartment building," Jeff laughed. "And he quit because he wants to open up his own brewery. Ya know to make his own beer, and serve burgers," Jeff told her. He couldn't fault his friend wanting to go create his own place of work.
"Oh, I can accept that," Onyx stated. "For a second, I thought you were going to say he was going to open his own strip club," she shrugged, hearing the multiple choking noises around her; two deep chuckles mixed in with it.
"Onyx Sage Sterling!" Her mother hissed.
"What?" Onyx asked with a groan at the use of her full name. "It's not like I said he was going into the porn business," she retorted.
"Are you sure about this family?" Sugar asked Clint as mother started to chew her daughter out as Jeff sat back and laughed, until Onyx dragged him into the mix.
"The more I learn; I am positive that I enjoy seeing what happens when they are together. They are the entertainment," he chuckled.
"That they are," she laughed. "Onyx has been one of my good friends for a while now, and I gotta make sure that you aren't setting her up for anymore heartbreak, she has gone through enough," Sugar said, leaning closer to Clint as the family of four were in their own little world over porn and strippers.
"I get that," Clint said. "But I'm not like that, not anymore."
"You aren't going to say something as lame as Onyx reformed you are you?" Sugar asked raising an eyebrow.
"No," he laughed. He did want to be a better man, or at the very least try to be a better man for Onyx.
"Are we missing something?" Onyx questioned turning to her friends.
"Nothing as exciting as strips clubs and horrible, laughable porn movies HBO has," Sugar shrugged.
"I don't even want to know," their mom sighed. "How about we learn more about Sugar and her life," Jade suggested.
"That is an excellent idea, mom," Onyx smirked, looking from her friend to her brother. "Like why were you up so early to make muffins the other day?"
"We stayed up late talking and waiting on a call saying you were in jail or the hospital or something," Jeff answered back. "You forget that you have a handful of people worried about you when up and vanish like that?" He questioned, a worried look in his eyes.
"I do actually," she nodded, ignoring the smug smirk on Clint's face over what Jeff said. "It gets tiring being looked at as this little helpless girl," she commented.
"Told you so," Clint whispered against her ear, a deep chuckle mixed in.
"So Sugar spending the night wasn't a hookup or a ploy to make things look more real?" Onyx questioned, flashing her brother a smirk, ignoring the chill that went down her spine or the feeling of her fluttering stomach over Clint being right there on top of her.
"It was late and I didn't see the sense in her going across the city to her place at like 4 in the morning. I am guessing its the same thing Clint did for you that night, while you were intoxicated beyond belief," he suggested.
"Not really it's more like I passed out complaining about my jackass of an ex, and pigheaded brother of mine," she retorted. "It's not like we are trying to fake anything," she tossed out.
"For the record, I would have let her crash even if she hadn't passed out. Or at the very least make sure she got home safely," Clint said, making his voice heard on the topic.
"It's really sweet that you found someone who is so… well him," Hunter said invading the private conversation. "Jade, Lydia it is so nice to see you again," he smiled at the couple.
"It would be nice to see you under different circumstances," Jade icily quipped out.
"That it would," he smiled sadly. "If only your daughter would talk to me, we could clear up this whole mess. Then maybe we could be happy together again," he hopefully commented, turning his pleading looks at Onyx. "What do you say?"
"I say you'll never change. You cheated on me once that I know of, you will do it again Hunter, and I am not the easily forgiving type. I do, however, agree that we need to talk, but it won't change our status; we will remain broken up. You can go back to Bree or has she grown tired of your game?" She asked with a smirk to hide the mix of hurt, sad and anger that coursed through her at his sudden arrival.
"I don't think I am the only one here that needs to grow up Onyx. Was our whole relationship a game to you?"
"Screw you," she hissed out, pushing her chair back, making her exit.
"Hunter, I think it's time for you to keep walking," Jeff told him sternly.
"It was lovely to see you both again," he smiled charmingly at Jade and Lydia, before continuing on his way.
Sugar had followed after Onyx, after assuring Clint that she had it under control. And mentioned that he couldn't go into the women's restroom. Walking into the restroom, she saw Onyx leaning over a sink, her fingers white from gripping the sides tightly as possible.
"Can you believe him? The freaking nerve," Onyx seethed, her focus on her own reflection in the mirror. "How can you turn around and pull a stunt like that?"
"I honestly don't know," Sugar softly said, coming up behind her friend. She knew that it did not matter what she said. Onyx wouldn't listen to her as she is now in her own little world. She would try to the best of her ability though. She barely knew Hunter, not the real Hunter that Onyx or Jeff knew as she only ever saw the Hunter that cared deeply for Onyx, as that was the only side, he would show off while in public. So to her even seeing him as this douche it didn't really fit him, but it came off more like he is a bit jealous. Realizing what he really lost.
"He is naive to think I would even take him back. I hate cheaters," she sighed, pushing herself away from the sink, turning to look at her friend.
"Let him think what he wants Onyx. He ruined the best thing to ever happen to him. And you get to move on and find a better guy to be with. I can think of one that is out there with your family worried about you. Don't let what your ex said ruin your day," Sugar told her, pulling her for a hug.
"Give me a minute?" Onyx questioned. After her little meltdown, she needed to make sure that her makeup was perfect and not making her look like a raccoon.
"Of course," Sugar smiled.
Getting back to the table their lunch continued on as if they had no interruption from Hunter. Sugar was asked questions about her family. Not to mention any and every small question Jade or Lydia could think of to know more about the woman their son is dating. Onyx adding in little comments to embarrass either her friend or her brother. That most often than not turned into questions being asked about Clint as they wanted to know everything they could about the young man taken with their daughter.
"I need a drink," Onyx mumbled walking down the street with Clint. Sugar and Jeff going off to do something or another after their mom and Lydia left for their hotel to get things packed for their flight home in the morning.
"I still have some left over, if you promise not to leave abruptly," he teased, nudging her gently.
"I won't apologize or explain myself. I did both in the sticky note I left posted to your door," she told him.
"I know, Onyx. I saw it," he said, dropping the teasing tone to his voice. "I understood why you left." Sure, he had been disappointed when he got up and saw she was gone. A pit of dread filled his stomach not seeing a note or anything of the like on his phone from her. It wasn't until he was heading out to check his mail that he saw the note stuck to his door, a small smile creeping onto his face.
"You going somewhere?" She asked, seeing his bags next to the door. They took a taxi back to Clint's place. The car ride done so in silence.
"New York. My sister's in a new show on Broadway. I haven't missed an opening night yet, mostly because she won't let me," he shrugged with a small chuckle over his older sister's dramatics.
"If you need to be up early, I can head home," she told him, not moving from the door.
"Dramatic much?" He laughed. "I don't leave until tomorrow afternoon. Not that I would refuse a few hours of hanging out and watching a movie or ten," he assured her.
"If you're sure," she shrugged, walking to the fridge to grab a beer. Twisting the top off, she went to the couch making herself comfortable.
"Do you make yourself at home, everywhere you go?" He curiously asked, grabbing a few snacks from his counter top. He laughed shaking his head being forced to step over her legs to sit on his couch. He propped his feet up on the coffee table next to hers, flipping the TV on, to find a movie to watch.
"Pretty much," she shrugged, stealing the remote, going into his dvr to see what he has recorded. She let a small chuckle out, settling in to watch the movie Let's Be Cops.
Waking up come morning, the sun sitting low in the morning sky, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, recalling what led her to wake up in a bed that pulled her into the sheer comfort the soft mattress held. For a brief moment, she pulled the soft blanket over her head breathing in the mix of laundry detergent and the smell of Clint without his musky smelling cologne. She bolted upright coming to that realization. How did she get into his bed? She fell asleep on the couch. The last thing she could remember watching was Daddy's Home, or maybe it was in the middle of Dirty Grandpa. She couldn't recall which movie as she remembered bits and pieces of the movies from last night. She did know that she never walked to Clint's bed on her own accord. And by the looks of it she is the only one that slept in it. Which meant she made the man in question sleep on his own couch. Ever so slowly she pulled the door open to see an empty couch with folded blankets on one end. She could see the light shining from under the bathroom door and hear the water running.
Hungry and with the promise of not running from his place while he is occupied, she went to the kitchen to see what she could make. Pancakes seemed to be the safest choice as she didn't know if anything else was good or not.
"You didn't have to do that," Clint commented emerging from the bathroom a few minutes later.
"I was hungry, didn't think you would mind," she shrugged. "I will clean my mess up," she quickly assured him.
"Don't worry too much about the mess. I can handle that," he smiled, leaning against the counter next to the stove. Again, he laughed at just comfortable she made herself in his place. "Do you invade everyone's kitchens, they way you have done with me?" He asked more out of curiosity than anything else.
"Not everyone's," she said shaking her head. "Actually just Jeff's. Otherwise, I don't unless asked to do so. Invading their fridges, that is another story," she softly laughed, flipping the last of the pancakes in the pan. "You hungry?" She questioned, adding said pancakes to the pile on the plate.
"Famished," he said, turning around to grab plates, forks and cups.
They enjoyed a nice breakfast together, Onyx asking him questions about his sister and what else he planned on doing while in the city that never sleeps. She got very little from him about his sister, and that other than the show, he would be spending time with his brother-in-law, his nephew and niece, before coming home in three days times.