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Alex awoke before the sun did; he did his mile-long run and hopped into the shower; by then, the sun was close to rising. When he got out, he went into the kitchen, grabbing an apple from the fridge. When his father came in, Becky was on his hip with the shoebox, the bird occupied clutched tightly in the small girl’s grasp.
“Get Talia up, we’re going to raise the flag,” he instructs. Alex nods, and Becky smiles.
“And we’re gonna let the bird go too, now that he’s better,” The child exclaims, Alex smiles warmly at his little sister.
“Okay, we’ll be out there in a bit,” he kisses his sister’s forehead and tosses his apple core into the trash as he makes his way to the bedroom he shared with Talia and Owen, who was never really there anyway.
His eyes fall on Talia, who is curled up in the sheets; he quietly walks to her and shakes her shoulder gently. “Lia,” he whispers as she groans.
“Sleep,” she tells him as she flips around to face him, holding her arms out like she wants to cuddle, her eyes still closed. Alex chuckles and slowly gets into the bed, causing her to sigh happily and nuzzle close to him. “My personal heating pad,” she yawns into his chest.
“We’ve gotta get up soon; we’re raising the flag,” Alex hums as he lays Talia on her back, cleaving open-mouth kisses down her neck.
Talia hums, her eyes still closed. “It can always be done later—” she’s cut off with a soft moan when Alex nips at the spot behind her ear.
Alex grins as his hands roam her body finding her plump thighs. He wraps them around his waist and leans back on his heels causing Talia to fall on his lap. “Got you up,” he grins.
“You cheated,” she grumbles laying her head on his shoulder.
Alex hums. “I won,” Talia pulls away with a playful scoff.
“Cocky much?” She questions getting off his lap to get a pair of shorts.
“Cocky’s a strong word for it,” he hums as Talia slips a pair of baby blue cotton shorts on.
The two made their way outside where everyone but Robbie’s daughters, Marcus and Owen, were.
“Where are the others?” Talia questions looking for her father and best friend.
“The girls don’t wanna get up, and we can’t find Marcus or Owen,” Roxanne shrugs; Lenny and Eric give each other a small smirk as Marcus is mentioned.
Lenny grabs the rope and starts raising the flag. “Happy Fourth of July, everyone,” Eric exclaims as everyone claps and cheers.
“It’s the birdy’s Independence Day, too, so keep your fingers crossed, honey,” Lenny picks his youngest up, and Becky holds her hands out; the bird flies from her hands, happy to be back outside, free as everyone cheers.
“She did it, Daddy,” Becky smiles as everyone starts voicing their goodbyes to the small creature.
——
Gloria, Amber, and Owen— who was glued to Amber’s side, are cutting fruit for the fireworks later tonight while Sally and Roxanne are sewing costumes. Talia sat and hand-sewed some cloth together while Alex watched her in the chair beside her.
The dark-haired mother bangs on the sewing machine and starts speaking quick Spanish. “That’s so sexy. What did you say?” Sally questions.
“Oh, I think that she said:” —Deanne speaks gibberish, trying to imitate Spanish —”–Milan,” she finishes causing everyone to laugh.
“She said nothing nice,” Alex chuckles, causing Talia to look up at him with a grin; she opens her mouth, but Alex beats her to it. “Yes, I’m fluent in Spanish,” he answers her unanswered question, causing Talia’s grin to widen as she looks back down at her work.
“You know, these guys at the store were talking so much smack about this basketball rematch that’s supposed to go on,” Amber speaks up.
“Bunch of dickheads,” Owen adds.
“Well, I’m glad we’re getting these uniforms ready,” Roxanne speaks up as Marcus comes out of the closet, Mama’s hat from the funeral on his head, his pants off leaving him in his boxers, while a tube comes out from something attached to his chest. One sock on, the other nowhere to be found. His shirt was on with the top few buttons undone and wrinkled.
“Oh, no more drinkie. Ahh,” he groans as Talia shakes her head.
“Hey, congrats, Marcus, for coming out,” Owen jokes, causing the others to laugh, Marcus groans from his pounding headache.
“Did you really sleep in the closet, you drunk?” Roxamne questions shaking her head with a grin.
Marcus groans with a little laugh as he nods. “Think so,” he confirms; he looks down at his shirt and pulls it open, revealing Sally’s breast pump. “No, ow,” he groans as he pulls it off.
Everyone groans, expressing their disgust in different ways. “I’d bleach that twice before you use it ever again,” Talia tells Sally.
“Or burn it,” Alex adds causing Talia to point at him and nod.
Marcus groans again, pinching the bridge of his nose with a short laugh “Oh, I had the sexiest dream about a little blonde girl, though. Hey-yi,” Marcus chuckles, he looks down as Curly comes out of the closet.
He looks back up at everyone. “I think it was a dream,” he voices, causing more disgusted comments and noises to come from everyone.
“Dream or not, gross dad,” Talia shudders as she finishes sewing, she stands up and takes Alex’s hand.
“We’re going on an adventure,” she hums, pulling him outside.
“Okay, Lia,” he chuckles, letting her pull him along.
——
The two enjoy a peaceful walk until they hear Marcus scream “What now,” Talia groans as they run towards where they heard the scream.
Marcus is at the top of the deck chucking pool floaties at Robbie. Was was attempting to get up the steps. “Leave me alone! Drink your maize!” Marcus yells dashing across the deck.
“What the hell is going on!?” Talia yells as she follows Robbie up the stairs, Alex right behind her.
“You’re gonna pay this time,” Robbie tells Marcus as he limps up the steps. “You bastard! I’ll show you how to be nice!”
Marcus was on the handrailing he was about to jump before he saw a snapping turtle. “Bad turtles!” He yells as Talia tries to get Robbie’s attention.
He starts hitting him with a board game, and Marcus jumps away from his hits; Talia is trying to get Robbie off him when Alex tries to help, she pushes him back, telling him to stay out of it as she rips Robbie away.
Lenny runs up with the other dads “Robbie, wait!” He yells, going to help Talia, who is barely holding back Robbie; all the dads hold Robbie back, who is trying to get out of their grasp, while Eric holds his hands out between him and Marcus; Talia helps her father down.
“Calm down!” Marcus yells “Buddy. Buddy. What’s the problem?” Marcus questions as everyone lets Robbie go; he seems calmer.
He wasn’t. Alex grimaced when Robbie kicked Marcus in the balls; Marcus fell to the ground while Robbie groaned in pain, holding his arrow foot as it was the foot he used to kick Marcus.
“Robbie, what the hell!” Talia exclaims, stepping in front of her father; she is mad. “What the fuck is going on? Why are you trying to kill him?” She asks as Robbie is brought to the ground by his friends.
“He slept with my daughter!” Robbie yells, causing Talia’s stomach to churn; she backs away from her father and turns to him, waiting for him to explain.
“Talia I didn’t, I swear!” Marcus promises as he gets to his feet; he turns back to Robbie, “You think I would do that to you?” He questions, kind of hurt his friends thought that lowly of him.
Robbie is helped to his feet by Kurt and Eric while Lenny comes around to stand by Marcus. “Out of any of us, you’d be the one to do that,” Lenny admits, causing Marcus to give him an offended look.
“You did sleep with Simpson’s mother,” Kirt adds with a shrug.
“I didn’t even know that guy. He was your friend. I barely knew him. She grabbed my wiener, I told you guys. That’s his daughter; it’s different!” Marcus exclaims, causing Talia to sigh and let her head fall.
She didn’t know who to believe, she didn’t think her father would do that, but he was also drunk last night.
“Me and him?” Jasmine questions as she makes her way up the steps; she scoffs, walking towards the group. “Okay. Maybe I flirted with him, but that was just to get your attention,” Jasmine explains, causing Talia to let out a silent breath of relief.
“Well, what about his snoring?” Robbie questions looking at his daughter.
“I heard it, too,” Amber explains as she comes up the steps, an obvious hickey on her neck that she had tried covering with her hair.
Lenny, Kurt, and Eric all imitate a buzz noise as Robbie flips around and kicks Marcus in the balls a second time with his arrow foot.
“Aah! Oh, no. Twice?” Marcus groans in pain as Robbie grabs ahold of his arrow foot, groaning in pain as well.
“We heard it from three rooms away,” Bridget explained as she ran up the steps.
“He’s off the hook,” Lenny shrugs. “You know Marcus wouldn’t be with your daughter,” Robbie’s head snaps around to look at Lenny as Thean holds his hand up. “I mean, not that she’s —You know what I’m saying,” the Feder stammers.
“Well, what happened to your head?” Robbie questions looking back at his oldest daughter.
“When I was changing into my PJs, I got the feeling that some perv was looking through my window, so I went to go close the shade, and I tripped and hit my head,” Jasmine explains; Alex sees Greg and Andre on the stairs and glances at each other before pulling themselves down, and he rolls his eyes.
“And your neck?” Robbie questions his second oldest who blushes.
“Curling iron, so get off our backs,” Jasmine sticks up for her little sister, who isrelieved.
“Yeah, dude, that’s your daughter. I’d never be with her. You’re my best friend, man. And Jasmine’d never be with me, because I’m me.” Marcus explains “Look, sorry I don’t have my, uh, whole life together, like Lenny.” He sighs as the mothers and Owen make their way up.
“Oh, together, like Lenny. Ha, please.” Roxanne scoffs, turning to her husband., “I answered your phone, hipócrita. It was your assistant. I asked him if he canceled the flight to Milan. He said he did. Before we even came here!” The lady yells.
“He said that? Why would he say that? I mean—”
“So, he just made that up, huh?” Roxanne exclaims throwing her hands in the air.
“I’m not saying he made it up. I’m thinking— In his head, he believes it’s true,” Lenny lies.
Roxanne storms over to him “Don’t you agent me, Lenny. Stop trying to handle everybody and everything, and start taking a little responsibility for once,” she exclaims.
“I’ll take responsibility. Okay? You’re right. I thought it would be better for our family to be here with normal people instead of going to Milan,” Lenny admits.
“We’re normal?” Deanne questions, looking around with a look.
Talia shrugs “It’s news to me,” she tells the woman.
“I was scared to tell you,” Lenny admits to his wife with a shrug, “It was easier for me to keep it a secret.”
“You peel back any marriage; there are secrets,” Eric speaks up. Sally raises her eyebrow and turns to her. “Mine is. I love you. I love you very much,” he tells her, causing her to nod; she liked that answer.
“Roxanne, I just– I– our kids are becoming nutty, snotty, spoiled while our oldest is barely around, a stick up his ass, working all the time. We got a nanny, we got–”
“So she is a nanny?” Kurt asks with a grin as he points at Lenny.
“No, no, no. She’s not a nanny.” Lenny lies, his wife getting angrier by the second.
“Of course, she’s a nanny. When does the lying stop?” She questions her husband.
“It stops right after this,” Lenny mumbles to her before turning back to Kurt, “She’s more of an au pair, not a nanny,”
“Lenny,” Roxanne stops him from talking as Marcus, Robbie, Talia, and Owen laugh.
“Alright. That’s it. The lying stops now. I won’t lie to you ever again. I swear to God. I love you,” he tells her, his eyes boring into hers.
“Men lie,” Mama calls from the porch with all the kids. “They can’t help themselves. Kurt sure as hell lies,” she points at the ma, causing everyone to turn to him; Talia raises her eyebrow.
“What do I lie about, Toe-J Simpson?” Kurt questions his mother-in-law.
“Oh please,” Deanne speaks up. “The nanny,” she says, gesturing to Rita.
“What about the nanny?” Kurt questions.
“You have a thing for her,” Deanne accuses her hands raised in Rita’s direction.
“I do not have a thing for the nanny,” Kurt denies “I’m a married man. Period. But did I enjoy having a nice conversation with a woman who wasn’t going, “Where’s this?” and “Did you pick up that?” Yeah.” He answers.
“What, you can have nice conversations with me,” Deane argues.
Kurt shakes his head “When? You’re always working and when you come home, you’re just tired all the time. You barely even touch me or look at me.” Kurt complains.
“He sounds like an old woman,” Mama butts in again “Deanne, you should have married Umberto Denunzio like I told you,” she tells her daughter.
“Yeah, and you know if I had stayed with him, you’d be the one that’s pregnant right now, Mama,” Deanne yells to her mother.
Mama chuckles “You probably right, sweetheart, I’ll just butt out,” she says.
“Thank you,” Kurt calls to her sarcastically as Deanne turns back to him.
“Look, maybe I do take you for granted, and I’m sorry. How’s about I take you out every Thursday night for date night.” Deanne suggests with a soft smile, putting her hand on his shoulder.
“No, Thursday’s Grey’s Anatomy, but any other night would be beautiful.” He answers as he looks at his wife with love in his eyes.
“And as long as we’re all being honest, I think I should be honest too,” Eric speaks up, looking at Sally, who nods encouragingly. “Um. I’m actually, uh, not a part owner of the lawn furniture store. I don’t even work there anymore. I got laid off in April, but I rented the Caddy, and I acted like, you know, a big shot because I didn’t want you guys to know,” Eric admits, his arm around his wife’s waist.
“Lamonsoff, you don’t have to hide anything from us, I’m sorry,” Lenny speaks up as everyone nods.
“Yeah, since we’re getting things off our chests here, uh, I got a confession to make,” Robbie speaks up, he pauses before admitting “I’m wearing a toup,”
“No shit,” Rita tells him, Sally and Eric start to laugh as Alex comes over to Talia and threads their fingers together.
“I have the confession to make,” Gloria says as she steps forward, “I’m really a man,” everyone wasn’t surprised by the confession Robbie looked traumatized.
“No. I’m just kidding. I’m just kidding,” Gloria speaks up over the conversation “I’m really a little hurt that so many of you believed it,” she admits.
Everyone tries denying it, saying she was very womanly. Gloria starts talking again. “Nevertheless, I know it’s not my place, but, uh… Well, after all, I am older than anyone here.” Gloria says.
“Hell yeah, you are,” Mama yells from her porch, causing some laughs hidden behind the group’s hands.
“Well despite the joking and the razzing, I see a lot of love here. And with love comes hostility. Like, uh, Rob when he snapped at me the other day. That was scary. And you all thought that I was calm, but inside? Inside I was saying, “Gloria Noonan, do not call him a bug-eyed sociopath with a little-man complex. Do not say that his hair makes him look like a dirty Q-tip.”
“I like that,” Lenny chuckles lightly as Owen and Talia snicker behind their hands.
“Or that he resembles an elder gay Jonas brother.” Gloria continues as everyone laughs.
“They get it. They get the point of where you’re going,” Robbie tells his wife.
“Or a midget Filipino Fonzie” I didn’t say any of those things.” Gloria continues as her last insults cause everyone to start laughing again.
“That’s my favorite one,” Deanne decides with a laugh; everyone starts laughing and talking, falling quiet to listen to Gloria again.
“Life can be difficult sometimes. It gets bumpy, what with family and kids and things not going exactly like you planned. But that’s what makes it interesting.” Gloria begins, causing Talia to smile as Alex pulls her closer to him by her waist. “In life, the first act is always exciting. The second act, that’s where the depth comes in.” Gloria finishes with a smile.
“Why didn’t you ever tell us that she gets it?” Marcus questions Robbie, putting his hand on his shoulder.
“Yeah, you were holding out,” Lenny adds causing everyone to chuckle lightly.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you guys,” Robbie speaks up as he limps to his wife, giving her a hug, all of his daughters joining the hug.
Talia moves from Alex’s grip and makes her way to her father “Do I get a thanks?” She teases as she hugs him.
“Thanks,” Marcus replies causing her to chuckle.
“I love you, Dad,” Talia mumbles. The two don’t say it enough, and she knew that, so she wanted to make sure he knew.
Marcus freezes, a small smile, making its way onto his face. “I love you too, kiddo,” he replies as they pull away.
“Hey! Save some room for the Higgins’s!” Marcus exclaims with a laugh as he and Talia join the group hug.
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞
𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡😇❤
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