40. The chapter with all the fake siblings
Christian
Everyone interrupted what they were doing, alternating their gazes between the two of us looking confused by the situation. Rose closed her eyes, hiding her face again on her knees, as she was sitting on the floor next to her father.
" Dating? Really? Because you were with her friend yesterday," Theo pointed out.
" I'm not dating her! " I pointed.
Rose stood up, approaching me with a haughty expression on her face.
" It was an accident, I had no way of imagining that they would misinterpret me," she shrugged.
" What did you tell his parents? " Addison wanted to know.
" Why were you talking to his parents? " Theo added.
" I didn't say anything too much, I just reassured them both and said that Christian was fine," she returned, "you're overreacting.”
" You said we're sleeping together! " I returned.
Rose stared at me dumbfounded, looking as if she couldn't believe that I had said it out loud in the middle of her father's living room, and in a normal situation I wouldn't. But I just got an unwanted girlfriend!
" Oh, great, you lied to us for weeks, but at the first opportunity you tell your mother-in-law.” Liam threw his hands up.
" She's not my mother-in-law, I'm not lying to anyone, and I didn't say that, but if that's what you understood, just let Christian explain.” she returned it.
" Ahhh, I tried. And now my parents think I'm ashamed of them and don't want to introduce my girlfriend! After all, you also had the bright idea of saying that I traveled to meet your parents. Do you understand the trouble you've caused? " I approached her, lowering my tone, crossing my arms.
" Ohhh," she babbled as the others began to laugh.
" Rose, if you want to date the boy, you can ask. It's a modern world," Jack scoffed.
" We would have helped you prepare a nice surprise for him," Theo winked.
Rose glared at the group before taking a deep breath, turning her attention back to me.
" Okay, I'm sorry. If you want me to call your parents and explain everything, or let them know that it didn't work out between us," she returned.
" You won't get out of this so easily. They want to meet you, and they will," I warned.
" Meet me? And how exactly is that going to happen? " she returned in a flippant tone.
" Mr. Campbell, I'm sorry, but your daughter is spending Thanksgiving with my family," I returned in the same tone, without looking away from her.
An amused expression came over Rose's face just before she turned incredulous when she saw that I wasn't joking.
" This is ridiculous," she returned.
" Seems fair enough to me, you caused the mess, now go meet your new in-laws," my mother smiled.
" It's a shame you'll miss family photo day," Jack sighed.
Rose stared at her parents dumbfounded, as if she couldn't believe their decision. A small smile appeared on my lips at her reaction. Sure, I would have preferred that she hadn't created all this mess, but on second thought, it would be interesting to have her company without any of our friends for so many days.
" Ahhh we'll miss that family discount," Addison complained, "we need to find a replacement, will Nancy be okay with that?”
" Can I come? My parents are divorced and are fighting over whose house I go to, and it's always an unnecessary stress," Sky proposed.
" What? " Rose raised her voice.
" This is perfect," Jackson agreed.
Rose alternated her gaze among the group, where everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves more and more as the story unfolded.
" There's nothing perfect about it!”
" Not at all, perfect will be with my presence. My parents are planning a romantic trip to Hawaii for Thanksgiving," Liam added.
" This is magnificent, our discount will be even bigger with another child! " Addison celebrated.
The one who didn't seem to like that solution was Harry, who soon spoke up, looking annoyed.
" If you're having trouble, you can come with me to my family's house, my parents are learning these Thanksgiving traditions," he offered.
" Hey, we already have one daughter away to meet the in-laws, we're not releasing the second," Jackson warned.
" That's ridiculous, they won't…”
" Rose, they will be our children at Thanksgiving and you will be his girlfriend," my mother pointed to Christian, "now, respect your siblings.”
Rose tried to argue, but was ignored by the group that discovered other compromising photos of her. And soon everyone was distracted by the image of Rose trying to dig a tunnel to get to Mexico.
" Usually kids want to get to Japan, why were you trying to go to Mexico? " Sky asked.
" I really like tacos," Rose shrugged.
Taking advantage of the group's distraction, Liam approached me while I held the photo in my hands, watching the little girl doing a great job on her father's lawn with a toy shovel.
" You know, now that you're officially my brother-in-law, I want to talk about the mysterious scratches that often appear on your body," he sneered.
I stared at him with both eyebrows raised in a questioning expression. Liam knew about Rose and me, but still constantly tried to get some kind of confirmation from me.
" Becoming my brother-in-law for a week doesn't give you the right to know anything about my body, Van Derr Waal," I returned.
" One day you will assume, Davis," he whispered back.
" I don't have to take over anything for you, Van Derr Waal. You can mind your own business," I returned in the same tone.
He was about to retort when a commotion started with a new found photo.
" Was this before she was banned from game night? " Theo asked, passing along a photo of Rose with her parents setting up a monopoly board.
" You were banned from game night? " Harry was surprised.
" So you've already told this story to your friends? " Addison smiled.
" We wish she had before we let her into a foosball game," I teased.
" I'm sorry you had to go through the traumatic experience of having any competition with our daughter, I swear I tried to teach her as best I could, but Addison has a soft heart and made sure that reform school was out of the question," Jack sighed.
" Quiet," Rose murmured, taking the picture from my hand without any delicacy.
We spent some time there laughing and listening to stories about Rose's parents until the pain started to bother me again, forcing me to just take a shower and lie down for a while after taking the painkillers she had bought for me earlier.
