Fade to Black (sequel to riptide)

Part 37

We got sat in our ticketed seats in first class and I immediately cuddled up to him. The seats literally folded down into beds. They were amazing. We had made sure to get a flight at night so we could sleep through a lot of it. Australia is literally 19 hours from LAX well the part we are going to. I was reading a book during takeoff while Jackson held my hand looking out of the window at the ground flying below us. A few hours into the flight Jackson was dead asleep laying fully on his bed chair. I decided to get to sleep but I couldn't find a way to lay while still holding his hand. I looked around seeing that everyone was probably asleep so I crawled over and laid almost on top of him. He wrapped an arm around me and I fell asleep in his embrace. When we woke up, we settled into our own seats much to my dismay. We ordered food and ate before we sat as he told me all about the family that I was going to meet.
"My grandparents are the best grandparents potentially the best in the world. My grandparents will love you."
"I hope so I live to impress grandparents because mine are picky and their opinion is very important."
"Well they will love you more with that mindset."
"I can't wait to see your family. Will Sydney and Toby be there?"
"Yes they left a few days ago."
"I can't wait to see my little baby. I miss him so much."
"I know me too."
"Will that Sandy girl I always hear about be there?"
"Yes she will and she texted me about how excited she is to meet you. "
"I think it's so odd that you dated your cousin."
"Well she wasn't my cousin at the time and we didn't know we were becoming cousins."
"I know, I know. You've told me many times."
"Good. I can't wait for you to meet everyone and to see the place where I was created. The town that built me." He jokes and I laughed at his silliness. We talked some more before the plane landed. We got off the plane and in baggage claim ran into some fans. We signed things and took pictures then searched for our ride. There was a sign being held by none other than Baby Tobias.
"Lolo!" He yells catching Sydney's attention and she smiles at us. He runs all the way over to me.
"Oh my goodness look at you baby you look so healthy and happy." He nods breathing really hard. Like painfully hard.
"Woah woah you ok?" I ask him. He nods continuing to breath hard. I pick him up and pay his back tying to help. It doesn't work.
"Here." Sydney hands me an inhaler. I crinkle my face in confusion with a slight pout then take it putting it in his mouth so he can breath in in. I press down and he inhales.
"You ok?" I ask. He nods enthusiastically.
"I missed you so much!" He hugs me around my neck.
"I missed you too."
I side hug Sydney after her and Jackson greet each other.
"Tell me all about what happened at school since I've been gone." We start walking towards the car that was our ride. While Toby starts going into deep detail about what is happening at school making sure to tell me all about his 'girlfriend'.
"So you asked her to be your girlfriend?"
"No she told me."
"So she told you she was your girlfriend."
"Yes."
"And you just agreed?"
"Yes."
"Is she nice?"
"Very nice."
"Is she pretty?" Jackson asks and I roll my eyes.
"It doesn't matter if she's pretty right Toby? Just matters if she's a nice person." He nods. Score, raising this boy to be a feminist that's awesome.
We get into the Cadillac truck and it's at this point that I remember the money of Jacksons family. I sit Toby next to me telling me everything in his life that I missed while I was away. And by everything I mean everything. He left nothing out on the long trip as Australian roads passed by disappearing going in and out of full out communities to barren lands. Suddenly the communities stopped and as far as could be seen behind was nothing but barren land then we reached a gate. A person at the gate asked who they were then went back into the little place opening the gate mechanically. We drove down the path passing passages of cows and pigs and goats then past crops so many vegetables then it was revealed. The large no scratch that huge white ranch house. Other buildings on the sides and behind them a bunch of cars.
"Welcome to the Danielson family ranch." Sydney says.
"Holy shit you guys own this place?" I say after covering Toby's ears.
"Yeah we do as a family. It's a family estate. We call it a ranch because that's what it is. It's a farm ranch. There's stables in the back and we grow crops here and raise animals. And we're not like those really annoying people who have a lot of staff. We have someone who comes by twice a week and cleans the house but that's it."
"This is really cool."
We get to the front and Sydney parks the car allowing us to all get out. I carried the sleeping Tobias in my arms.
"They're here." Someone inside the house yells before three men around me and Jacksons age come out of the house.
"Jackson!"
"Cousins!" He yells back jumping up the stairs and getting them all in bro hugs. More people come out of the house as I make my way up the stairs holding Toby.
"Guys this is my better half, the love of my life, my fiancé Lauren."
"Wow she's beautiful." An older lady says.
"I know." He says smiling at me.
"Hi." I say sweetly smiling at them all.
"She has a beautiful smile too." The lady says again.
"Lauren these are my cousins Brody, Dax, and Ryder, and Stella."
"Stella is such a beautiful name." I say looking at the girl definitely my age.
"You're such a beautiful person."
"Thank you."
"That's Damon her boyfriend and this little kid is Dexter their son and their daughter Magnolia or Maggie."
"Your whole family has amazing names. Maggie is so beautiful." I say. Stella smiles at me again.
"What do you say Maggie?"
"Tank you!" The young girl says hiding behind her moms leg.
"You're welcome sweetheart."
"So these are my aunts Tabitha and Emily. Then my uncles Luke and Terry. And here are my grandparents Dave and Louisa."
"Call us grandma and grandpa D." She says bringing me into a hug.
"Jackson she is gorgeous. Look at those eyes."
"Thank you so much." I thank her.
"Let get inside I have iced tea prepared." She says and leads us all inside of their huge and grand house into the kitchen. There were three pitchers of mint iced tea set on this huge wood island in the middle of a state of the art kitchen fit for a chef. She pours me a cold glass and passes it over.
"Thank you so much."
"So Lauren let's get to know you. Where are you from?" His grandfather asks me.
"I'm from Miami Florida but now I'm relocated to Los Angeles for work with Jackson."
"So what do you do?"
"I sing in a girl group called Fifth Harmony."
"You're from Fifth Harmony?" Maggie asks loudly and excitedly.
"Yes I am."
"The one with Camila?"
"Yes that one."
"Cool."
"She lives that band. You just made her day." Stella informs me.
"Aw that's so sweet thank you for supporting us."
"So Lauren what do you want to do with your life going forward?"
"Uhm unfortunately Fifth Harmony will one day come to an end but I hope to go into music producing and maybe a solo career but I really want to build a family so whichever allows me to do that to the best of my ability I will go into."
"That sounds wonderful."
"How many kids do you want to have?"
"As many as God will bless me with."
"How long have you known Jackson."
"Uhm going on four years since we met right?" I ask for confirmation from him and he nods.
"And you've been dating for how long?"
"A little more than three years."
"Wow how did you meet?"
"Uhm..." I hesitate and look at Jackson who covers for me. I wasn't ready to tell his entire family that I used to be suicidal if they didn't already know.
"At the beach in Hawaii when I was living there. Her and her band mates were on vacation there and she had a mishap in the ocean so I kind of saved her life from a riptide."
"Wow that's amazing." Louisa said.
"So what happened after that?"
"She injured her leg. Her band mates were apt that no one could take her to the hospital. Thy didn't want anyone to know they were on the island for more reasons than just privacy also for their safety and Lauren's safety. I took her home and fixed her up then offered her to stay at my place so she could be looked after."
"Wait why? It was just stitches."
"I personally just thought she was cute and wanted her to stay in my house."
"Wait are you kidding? You told me that I had to so you could treat t and keep an eye on me."
"You didn't have to stay at my house for that. I just wanted to be around you."
"Wait but I hated you in the beginning."
"So that doesn't mean you weren't hot plus even the hardest shells have a soft center."
"What Jack that makes no sense most nuts don't have a soft center."
"Well you know what I don't make good analogies but I knew deep down you were a good person."
"Well how'd you know that?" Dax asks.
"Because he was obsessed with me before he met me." I say smiling to tease him.
"Ok obsessed is an overstatement babe. I saw some pictures and videos and thought you were hot and feisty and made a video about it that doesn't mean I was obsessed."
"Yeah it does." Sydney says.
"No I wasn't I mean I said she was cute and a good singer but not much else."
"No you said a lot more than that."
"No I didn't."
"I mean the video is still on your YouTube channel why don't we take a look?"
"No that's ok. We don't have to do that. You're right I was obsessed." He stops me before I pull out my phone.
"Ok so he knew you from your career and he made a video about it and you knew him from him making a video about it?" Brody asks to confirm.
"Yeah that's about right." I confirm for him.
"So what was it like growing up in Miami?"
"It was interesting. My family is from Cuba so we were all in the general Miami area after they immigrated so I was pretty much always surrounded by my family until about when I was 12 then they started moving away but we stayed. I grew up in a very music centric home. My dad was a musician and my mom loved to listen to music. So it surrounded me constantly. I had a brother Chris and a sister Taylor. But my childhood was kind of cut short because I auditioned for X factor at age 16 and from then on its been a whirlwind."
"So you've been doing this for five years?"
"Pretty much. On X factor is when my group formed and we got third place which opened so many doors and a few months later we were signed to epic records and I finished school online but I got to go to prom and a lot of the high school things because the guy I was dating at the time was in the same school and grade as me. So he took me as his date to the prom and him and my friends all invited me to like the events and parties as much as they could. So I didn't completely miss my childhood."
"That's good, you said you are from a Cuban family right?"
"Yeah I did."
"So you speak Spanish or just English."
"I do speak Spanish. It was my first language and then I learned English."
"So you're bilingual?"
"Yes I am."
"We tried so hard to get this boy to try other languages but he just wouldn't do it." Louisa says.
"Well he speaks Spanish now."
"Jackson you do?" She asks surprised.
"Yeah somehow she convinced me to learn Spanish."
"I did not convince you. I didn't even know you learned it until you told me."
"I know you were in a coma but still you speaking Spanish and part of your family not speaking English and family dinners at your house being in Spanish convinced me to learn Spanish."
"Wait you were in a coma?" Ryder questions.
"Yeah about a year back maybe a more or less than that I got into a really bad car accident. I was outside of my house taking a walk or more a run and I was running across the street and this car didn't stop and it hit me and I literally flew. I've heard the reports because my neighbor saw everything. The person hit me then left driving over my legs. I hit my head pretty hard and there's blood around it so on the spot they thought I was dead. They took me to an ambulance after finding out I was alive then they took me to the hospital where I fell into a coma."
"That's absolutely horrible they just drove over you and away?" Stella asks rocking her baby in her arms.
"Yeah but Jackson got the first flight back to Miami and spent everyday trying to pull me out of my coma."
"Oh wow that's devotion and that's love." Emily says.
"So Lauren why did it take you and Jackson a year to get together."
"I met him and after Hawaii I went home and I got into a relationship and when he came to the states and joined our tour the relationship wasn't in a bad place so we didn't get together because I wasn't going to break off a perfectly good relationship for someone I had a small crush on. I promised I would never be that person."
"So you broke it off with that person through what text or something or did they come on your tour with you."
"Uhm no they were on your with us."
"Like a techie or a opening act or something?"
"No it was my band mate."
"But you said you were in an all girl band." Ryder says.
"Yeah I'm bisexual."
"Jackson the man she's bisexual. Man tell me you got her to do some girl on girl action for you. Threesome something man? Damn you got the jackpot fucking Latina bisexual please tell me you got somet..." His cousin Dax says.
"Hey shut up about it damn! I didn't do anything like that because i respect her." Jackson says now wrapping an arm around my waist protectively.
"Dax you are literally disgusting. That's just a sexuality not an invitation for a threesome." Stella scolds him.
"Ok ok. Sorry dudes. Sorry Lauren."
"So which of your band mates did you date?" Ryder asks.
"Camila."
"The other Cuban. She strikes me like one of those girls who would be like a psycho girlfriend." Ryder says.
"She was for a while but eventually she got over me breaking up with her and let us be happy and weirdly enough became best friends with Jackson."
"Well she admitted that she got over Lauren a long time ago and was just being a psychopath about it and spilled her heart about things going on in her life. So being the amazing man that I am, I opted to help her through the time and be a friend she could call. You know."
"Admirable." Brody says.
"So Lauren what do you do when you're not singing or with this lug."
"I like to write and draw. I sometimes take pictures but I'm very work oriented."
"Just like Jackson huh?"
"Yeah I love to be in the studio or in the writers room or on tour in interviews. But I like to surround myself with music all of the time."
"How do you and Jackson have time to hang out and be together."
"I like to surround myself in music so I sometimes will go on tour with him or travel with him. And we work together too. I produce some of his music and he works with my band. And when I have radio interviews i prefer if he comes with me and sits on the side to make me feel more comfortable. A while back I had a not so great experience a while back with an interviewer. Whenever he's there he can like stand where the interviewer can see him or he can intervene so then if they ask something that I'm not comfortable answering or that he feels violates my privacy and sets me up to be in a vulnerable position then he can tell them no she doesn't have to answer that or like shut up."
"So he's kind of like an emotional bodyguard."
"Yeah."
"I like to always be there because a while ago some interviewer thought it would be OK to try to poke holes in our relationship and accuse me of cheating on her and of playing with her feelings and not caring about her. He called her some things that I didn't like and viciously attacked her with words to the point that she cried. Her band mates tried to make him stop and her manager was not available so whenever I can I tried to be here to prevent that from ever happening again."
"That's sweet."
"So what would you say was your biggest accomplishment so far?" Stella asks me.
"Uhm I'd have to say that it was when we beat out Beyoncé for a VMA. That was amazing. We didn't expect that and we got it. It was an amazing feeling."
"How do you feel about religion? As you probably know we are very religious." Tabitha asks. I noticed she had a pompous snooty attitude.
"I have mixed feelings. I was raised under an upbringing that promoted Christianity but allowed me to make my own life decisions. I don't have an issue with religion in a strong believer that God is up there but I don't think organized religion where people use heir faith and misconstrue it to justify volatile behavior or a hatred and oppression of a group of people based on self-rightcheous superiority."
"I'm not going to lie I only got part of that." Dax says.
"I don't like people who try to take their religious passages and use to oppress people. Like the Westboro baptist church who tried to keep families from their children's funerals. That's disgusting. And people who change the bible t try to justify anything they do. People like Donald Trump. That's my only grievance with organized religion. I go to church I read the Bible and I pray daily but being an active member of a church that practices those bad behaviors are not my type of institutions."
"She's eloquent Jackson and opinionated. I like her." Stella says.
"Me too." He says looking at my face but I keep my attention forward.
"Why don't we get you two settled in and then we can have some dinner." Louisa says.
"Alright Grams!" Jack says grabbing my hand and taking me towards the stairs and Damon walks us to our room and Jackson goes back down to get our luggage while I wait in the room. I'm excited for the rest of this week.