The Aislin Chronicles
Part XXV
A/n: Okay, I lied. And I found inspiration. You should all be ecstatic this is being updated so quickly, because this chapter came out of nowhere. And it was only completed because I had massive amounts of cookies to keep me going. Maybe that's what I need, you guys need to send me cookies. I like chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and chocolate peanut butter chip and my address is… Haha, just kidding. But. Um. PM me and maybe we'll work out a deal ;)
It has suddenly come to my attention that I changed 'Syd-and-Vaughn junior' to 'Syd-n-Vaughn junior.' Well, oops. Aislin decided to short hand it? Sorry for the long A/n. Please read and enjoy!
6-22-03
11:04 AM
I called Jess this morning, told her about Syd-n-Vaughn junior. Needless to say, she's so excited. I told her we'd been looking for houses too, and she said there was like two houses in her neighborhood for sale. One of them belonged to this creepy old man who always wore only these blue shorts that were short and bunched in… funny places. So I think that house is out, just because I'd be frankly disgusted. The other house is probably too expensive. Come on, it's Jess's neighborhood. Even though there's a million kids in her family, she's freakin' rich. I told her we'd look anyway.
She said she'd alert the usual suspects about the baby, mostly because I hinted (not so subtly) that I was too lazy to call them, and because I don't want to have to go searching for their numbers. Oh, and I think she's spending the night on Friday, I still have to ask Mom and Dad. We might call Kathleen too, if it's okay. But Jess thought Krissy said something about doing something with Kathleen so maybe not. I don't know.
Tonight, however, I believe I will accompany Dad and Mom to look at some houses. They say they want my input. I say they don't want me to feel left out. Whatever floats their boats, man, whatever floats their boats. (That was my impression of Kathleen, by the way. Sorry I can't type in an American accent.)
8:17 PM
Well, mates, I think we've found a house. I know, it's pretty amazing, and really fast, but it was the last one we looked at and it's soo cute and perfect and I love it. We looked at five houses. The first one was okay, kind of smallish. It had enough bedrooms and stuff, but it seemed really crammed. I don't know. I wasn't terribly fond of it. The second one we liked, it was nice. It had this sweet little breakfast nook, aww. Anyway, the third one, oh good god, hated it. I almost didn't get out of the car to go inside. First of all, it was hidden by huge pine trees and this wild jungle of a garden, and it was painted pink. Pink. Not kidding. I didn't even know it was pink until I roughed it through the dense rainforest called the front yard. Plus it didn't have a garage. What's up with that? Inside was, hmm, stained carpets, and tiny. Did a family of midgets live there before? Maybe they were circus midgets, the way it looked.
That was mean. Sorry. I didn't mean to offend any midgets, circus or not.
Fourth house was a lot like the first one, nothing too special. But then the fifth one, ooh I just fell in love when I looked at it. It's yellow, like a light yellow, not crazy bright, kind of a mellow yellow (hehe) and it has this cute little brick pathway from the driveway to the front door and nice bushes in front of the house, and a slight overhang from the second story over the front door. I heard Sydney mention something about hanging flowers… Inside. Perfect. Adorable. No breakfast nook, but oh well, great everything else. We walked into the foyer, there's a room on the left, like a bedroom I guess, and on the right it opens to a living room with a pretty bay window (I've always wanted one) and walk through the foyer (passed the bathroom and closet, though I wasn't sure which door was which) and there's the kitchen and dining room. Yeah, an actual dining room, as opposed to random spot where we put a table. Upstairs there are four bedrooms– one really big one, two good sized ones, and one decently small one, and two bathrooms.
I could tell they both loved it too. It was on the expensive side of their price range, but hey, it was still in the price range. So while Sydney went to talk with the real estate lady Dad and I wandered to the kitchen. We went to inspect the dining room, then I wandered around to look out the glass sliding doors that led to the backyard. "Hey look, there's a huge balcony."
"You mean deck?" He came up next to me and put his arm around me. "How about a porch?"
I laughed. "Okay. A porch." Alas, the argument of deck/balcony/patio has finally ended. It is now a porch. Anyway, it has a nice big porch. And a pretty backyard. The people next door have a pool. Nice.
And, best of all, the real estate lady said we had a really good chance that it would be ours. The people who lived there moved out a long time ago and had trouble selling it, but then they replaced a lot of stuff and painted or something so now it looks so nice. And it's got new stuff. Not many people knew it had been redone or whatever though, so not many people were looking at it. I'm glad we got to though.
Oh, and it's only a few blocks form Kathleen's house! I didn't realize until we were driving away and we passed her street. That's so exciting. Ahhhh I really hope we get the house. We won't find out for sure until a week and a half, or within a week and a half or something. But that's too far away!
Then we got ice cream. At that place where Ian and I kissed and stuff… Made me happy. Hehe. I got the swirl, but with sprinkles. I can't let them go, they're just so colorful and tasty. Okay, I feel like watching TV.
6-24-03
7:15
So guess where we'll be having dinner Sunday evening?
Jack's house.
It's always awkward when we're all together, I mean me, Mom, Dad, Jack… It's tense and weird. At least he knows that she's pregnant now. Hm, maybe that will make it weirder. Because I really don't know if he's happy like Sydney says. We'll see, I guess.
Jess is spending the night on Friday, and Kathleen and Krissy are watching some movies, like a marathon. I think Star Wars. Those losers. Just kidding, I actually kind of like those movies. But Jess is less than enthralled, so, er, those losers. Oh, and Jess's entire family sends their congratulations about the baby. Kathleen too. And Adam. Pretty much everyone Jess talked to.
We finally got our grades in the mail today. What was up with them being so late? I thought we were supposed to get them like last Saturday. Oh well. You will be very pleased to know that I got an A in every subject except for math, in which I pulled off an A-minus. There's hope for me yet, Mrs. Frierson. There's hope for me yet. And for some crazy reason she put me in the hard math class again. I'm on the "advanced" math track. Why, I have no idea.
Dad was really proud of me and my A-minus though. So was I. A-minus is a lot prettier than a C-minus, let me tell you. He gave me this big hug, and I was gonna go back to my room, and he was like, "Wait a second, come back here." I walked back all confused… What? He stood close to me with his forehead wrinkled and looked down at me, and then he drew a line in the air with his hand from the top of my head to just below his chin. "You've grown."
"No I haven't."
"Yes, you have."
I still had to look way up to look at his eyes. Doesn't feel like I've grown. But I believe him if he says it, so cool beans. Before I went back to my room and after we had turned our chatter back to my awesome report card he offered to make whatever I wanted for dinner, my favorite.
I can't believe what came out of my mouth. "Even pancakes?"
He just laughed, but he nodded. So we had pancakes for dinner. I know I enjoyed it. And Syd really enjoyed it because she hasn't eaten breakfast in awhile. And Dad knows he loves pancakes. I mean, he even made sausage and eggs on the side. He toasted me on my good last marking period and to another good year in school. So we clinked our orange juice glasses and drank up. Sláinte!
6-25-03
11:41 AM
Well, I just knew today would be boring, so I did something I haven't done in a long time. And no, it's not dancing in the kitchen, because in fact I do that quite often. I listened to my darling little recordo-pen! I darn forgot I planted it again after returning from Jack's. Have you noticed I forget silly things? Ah.
So I listened just moments ago, to a lovely little conversation between Mom and Dad last night before he started making dinner. I'll be nice and productive and transcript it out word for word. Let's face it, I have lots of time to waste doing this anyway.
(After I leave after my pancakes-for-dinner suggestion…) "What?" Dad asks in confusion. I think Syd was staring at him from the couch (where she was sleeping/lying).
"It's nothing, I just… You're such a good dad with Aislin, and I can't wait to raise a baby with you. That will be such an amazing experience."
"I know, I can't wait." Funny muffled noises. I think they're kissing. Or that's when I tripped, fell against my dresser, and knocked the radio to the floor quite loudly. Let's say they were kissing. "Pancakes sound good?" Dad asks.
"Mm-hmm. Could we have eggs too? I want eggs."
"Absolutely. How about some sausage while I'm at it?" Pause. "Good." Pause, take two. "How are you feeling, still tired?" I'm assuming she nodded here. "Okay, sweet dreams." Noise that sounds quite obviously like he's kissed her on the head.
Well, that's the cuteness for today. I don't really have much else to do. I might call someone to go do something, but, like, the phone is way in the other room, and I would have to change out of my pajamas, and homey don't play that. Lethargy is the way to go.
6-26-03
7:15 PM
Another boring day. (No, I did nothing yesterday. Like I said, lethargy is the way to go.) Anyway, I called Ian today. But he wasn't home. I thought about leaving a message, but then I realized I would sound like a bumbling idiot, or I'd say something really stupid I'd regret, and then I'd have to convince Mom or Dad to drive me over to his house, have them pick the lock, break in, and delete the message. But if I asked Mom she'd fall asleep on me while driving and we'd crash into a tree and die and be screwed and if I asked Dad then he'd inquire about Ian and I don't think he's ready for that kind of information yet.
Gosh darn hypothetical situations. You know, I contemplated all of this in a short duration of time from when the answering machine picked up until that little 'beep.' Thank God I had the sense to hang up.
6-29-03
9:00 PM
Well, we got back from dinner at Jack's awhile ago. It was. Interesting? When we got there it was somewhat awkward. No one talked about much. We talked about how Sydney was feeling for awhile, Jack was mildly interested. They talked about work for awhile, too, that was boring. Dinner was good at least. We had some sort of chicken and Delicious Wonderful Jack Sauce.
Honestly, if the man didn't make such good sauce, I don't know what he'd have going for him. It's a good thing I have those chicken dance pictures locked up in a safe place. Then he'd be in real trouble. Again, I wonder if he has friends. Hmm.
Well, for some reason Mom and Dad volunteered to do the dishes, so Jack and I had a niiiice talk. This was quite obviously the highlight of my evening. "So, Jack," I said casually, like we're old pals. Which we are. Ha. "How do you really feel about this baby thing? Happy? Surprised?" Well duh he doesn't feel surprised, he figured it out on his own and he wasn't jaw-on-the-floor when I confirmed the pregnancy for him.
"Though you may not realize it, I was a bit shocked when I put two and two together." He raised his eyebrows. "They were just married…" I raised my eyebrows at him. "I… Well, Sydney seems happy, doesn't she? What's more important, young lady, is how you feel about this… 'baby thing,' as you so eloquently put it."
Jack just called me young lady. That felt rather condescending. He was trying to turn this around on me. No, no, this is about him! "I'm excited. I asked you what you thought. I want a better answer."
He smiled. And suddenly instead of condescending he looked grandfatherly. And suddenly I could detect the tasty remnants of his amazing sauce on my lips. Clearly this was part of his conniving ploy to… Hm. He needs a conniving ploy. I'll work on that.
So back to my flashback, he smiled and looked grandfatherly, if one can truly call it that. Grandfatherly for Jack, I suppose. While his little smile faded, or was that just the way he smiled? It's hard to tell since he smiles so little. He studied me a moment, like he wasn't sure whether to really talk to me. Come on Jacky boy, if I can conceal those chicken dance pictures, then surely you can talk to me.
Finally he took a heavy breath. "I'm excited too," he admitted begrudgingly. I had to laugh. He wasn't too thrilled that I was laughing at his feelings, and I suppose it was a bit rude but the way he said it was so funny. I couldn't help it. "However," he added, back to his condescending tone that shut me up pretty quickly– he almost smiled again, I swear– then continued, "as you know I didn't have the best relationship with Sydney growing up. It makes me…"
He trailed off, but I wouldn't let him. "What, Jack?" I lured.
"Nervous."
"Nervous? Why?" He shrugged at me, not that he didn't know, just that he wouldn't say. Jerk. "Are you afraid of babies?"
He looked very, very slightly taken aback, only slightly because he's pretty good at hiding his emotions. "Of course I'm not afraid of babies."
"So you're excited but nervous, and this has something to do with Sydney," I said, thinking out loud, since Jack wasn't explaining anything. He seemed okay with my reasoning and let me carry on. I thought back to what he said about Dad and Mom being just married. It dawned on me that maybe he thought it was too soon in their relationship for a baby, but that didn't make any sense to me. No one loves each other more in this world that Vaughn loves Sydney, and vice versa. If it were possible, and logical, I think Dad would surgically attach himself to Mom if he could. You already have to pry him away from her with a crowbar. And with her pregnant he's even worse. Which is better. If that makes sense.
But it seems it doesn't make sense to Jack. And since he was talking about his distant relationship to Sydney, I wondered if he thinks this will result in him not getting close to the baby, or something even crazier, like Dad not having a good relationship with Syd-n-Vaughn junior, which is preposterous. We will all have good relationships with that child. We already love him/her so much and they're only like the size of a quarter.
I didn't know exactly Jack's thoughts, so I tried to explore his mind a little bit. "You'll make a good grandpa," I told him as a conclusion. "Especially now that I've been your guinea pig." I think he liked that comment, but he didn't blatantly show it. I wanted to throw in something else about the baby being taken care of, by all of us, but I didn't know how to work it in without it being awkward. "And Sydney doesn't seem happy; she is happy. And so is my dad. And so I am. So there's really nothing to be nervous about." I hoped that summed it up.
He reaped it all in, this little sparkle in his eyes gleaming. For some reason, whenever I try to say something serious to him, I always feel like he thinks it's funny. He certainly hears what I have to say, but I'm sure he thinks it's funny for some reason, but I do think he really listens to me. Deep down he knows I'm wise beyond my years.
Haha, me. Wise. Funny Aislin, you're funny. No wonder Jack secretly mocks you.
I heard the water turn off in the kitchen, so I guess they were done with the dishes, and I guess we were done with our conversation. But Jack pulled a fast one on me and kept it going a little while longer. "I'll make a good grandpa?"
Awwww, yes you will you sweet old man! As long as you're not condescending and make lots of sauce! I had the biggest urge to throw my arms around him and hug him, but I fought the urge and refrained from doing so. Jack can only b expected to make so much progress in one conversation and I guess a hug might scare him off a bit, don't you think? "Yeah. You and me, we're cool, right?" Oh God don't ask me why I said that.
Because he answered just as Dad and Mom came giggling through the door. "Yes, I believe we're cool." He emphasized the word cool. Dad gave me a funny glance before he tousled my hair. Ugh. I tousled his back. Or at least I tried. He's still a lot taller than me, even if I've grown, plus I was sitting down. I kind of fell out of my chair onto the floor in the process, which hurt, I think I have a bruise. But I just laughed and got back up. Jack got back into quiet mode and Dad quit winking at Mom and they barged forth with their boring conversation.
I got to thinking, I think it's really cute that Jack was nervous about being a good grandpa. I mean, we have a good relationship with each other, don't we? Well, if he said we're cool, then I hope we do. I really hope Jack has friends, since I don't really know. Maybe this baby is just what he needs. One weekend babysitting the little tyke and that sweet Irish teenager and he just may lure in some big fish.
I was interrupted in my little daydream of the three of us together at a park where Jack meets a nice lady who flirts with him over the baby when Mom's cell phone rang. (First of all, don't make fun of me for the daydream, you know you do it too. Journal.) The real estate lady called, we got the house! I wasn't expecting to find out until later this week, but when the people who were selling the house found out there were buyers they just said go for it.
So we have a house! Yay! The perfect one! With a porch. Ahhh. Well, this took longer to write than I thought it would, and my hand's getting a cramp, sorry for the messy writing. I was going to reflect on Jess spending the night on Friday but I'm real tired now. So is my hand.
A/n: Haha, hahahah, haha! Sorry, just picturing that daydream Aislin was having, about some lady at a park flirting with Jack because he has a cute baby and sweet adolescent girl with him. Oh, the hilarity. Anyway, next chapter should be good. I have lots of it planned already, and you know what that means (fast update). So make it even faster and leave me a nice review (and a cookie)!