-BOOK 1 OF 3- Something On The Side (FOB/Smosh FanFic)

[Chapter 16] Catch Up

-Cassidy's POV-

I walked through the front door of my house and set my bag down. My mom was still in the kitchen, working her ass off on perfecting this meal she's made perfect countless times. I walked past the living room to find Joe, Andy, and Patrick playing some video game. I jumped when Andy threw his remote controller down, most likely in defeat. At the same time, Patrick shrugged and set his controller down on the side table. I presumed he got second place (that is if there were places in the game).

"FUCK YEAH!" Joe exclaimed as he jumped in the air in victory, also throwing his remote controller to the ground.

"Language, boys!" My mother sang from the kitchen.

"Sorry, Mrs. Stump!" He called back to her, sitting back down on the couch between Patrick and Andy.

There was no sign of Carter or Pete though. I wondered what was taking them so long. Maybe Carter reconciled with her dad and the two of them were still catching up.

"Hey mom," I greeted as I walked into the kitchen.

"Can you hand me that?" She asked, pointing with her left hand to a knife on the counter. She was facing away from me.

"Sure," I retorted, grabbing the knife for her and handing it over.

"Thanks, dear," She said as she started chopping some vegetables. "So, how'd the whole thing go?" She attempted to spark a conversation. The "whole thing" being my meeting with Connor.

I shrugged my shoulders and leaned back on the counter, crossing my arms over my chest, "I don't know. Fine, I guess. He apologized for the hundredth time. We talked a little. Oh, and he wants me to give him a second chance."

She stopped what she was doing and looked over at me, "Who's this boy again?"

"Connor. Remember? I brought him here that one time?"

She nodded her head in remembrance and went back to preparing the meal, "I remember him. He was so nice! You looked so happy with him!"

I chuckled, "Yeah, key word: looked."

"What do you mean?" She asked, throwing the chopped up vegetables into a bowl she had beside her on the counter.

"Just because I looked happy doesn't mean I was. I mean, yeah, I was happy to finally have some time with him, but...it wasn't long enough."

"What happened?" She inquired, walking over to the sink and turning on the water, running her hands under the pressurized stream of tap water.

I sighed, "Let's just say after we left, things...didn't go so well." My remark deserved a quick glance from my mom. "Our schedules...they didn't work out." I added. Still the glance. "Okay, I was an impatient bitch who couldn't wait for him to get home to work things out."

"Language," She reminded me. I rolled my eyes.

"I just don't know what to do, mom," I admitted, covering my face with my hands and mumbling, "It's like my old feelings for him are resurfacing. Seeing him here, in Chicago, just to try and convince me to love him again, not a lot of guys are going to do that." I dropped my arms to my sides before crossing them over my chest, "I just don't know what the fuck I'm going to do."

"Hey, language, missy," She pointed the knife at me, "You know the rules. In my house, no cussing."

I put my hands up in the air, "Okay! Just put the knife down!" A satisfied smirk grew on her face as she lowered the knife and went back to slicing the vegetables. I stood there for a little before announcing, "I'm gonna go see what the guys are up to."

"Alright, tell them to watch their language too." I rolled my eyes once again and walked out, into the living room where Andy and Joe were doing a one-on-one race in Mariokart. Patrick was just sitting there watching it all go down. I sat down beside him.

"So, how'd Carter handle seeing her dad again?" Patrick asked me, breaking his gaze from the TV to look over at me. I think I mentioned to him that I was going to take her to see her dad sometime this week, but I can't remember exactly when.

"I don't know," I retorted, "I didn't go with her." He gave me a confused look.

*****

The seven of us were sitting at the large dining room table, which was disproportionate with the rest of the small room. Mom and Patrick sat at the two ends, Carter and I were on one side, and Joe, Andy, and Pete were opposite us. In the center of the table was the meal my mother had prepared. The plates in front of each of us were filled to the brim with no space for more until eaten, and then seconds were served to you, whether you wanted more or not. Even if you didn't want more, you'd eat it because you couldn't say no to my mom. At this dinner, which usually fell upon a Thursday, the day before we all left to go back to our normal lives, we'd catch up and talk about what was going on in our lives. We went around the table, starting with Patrick.

He told us that he and Elisa have been talking about adding a child to their family. "We haven't really focused on it though because I'm touring and not home all that much." He also spoke for the band when he added that they were working on another album and thinking about another tour.

Next was Pete. He told us that Meagan was supposed to give birth to their child in the next few months. "We're don't know if it's a boy or girl yet. We want it to be a surprise."

Joe was the next one to speak. He informed Carter, my mom, and me (because the rest of the band already knew) that he and his wife Marie welcomed their daughter Ruby into their lives in April. "Things have been going great for us!" He exclaimed before digging his fork into his plate and shoveling the forkful of food into his mouth.

Andy didn't have much to say. He never really did.

My mom was next. She told us that she's been considering retiring. She also added that she wanted to move out of the house. "You know, I've been here for more than forty years," She pounded her fist down for emphasis, "That's old. That's older than any of you are." We all laughed.

Carter was after my mom. She shrugged her shoulders and admitted, "I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I can't predict what the future's going to hold for me." I noticed at this time that she looked over at Pete and a sly grin grew on her face, as well as Pete's. I wonder what went on when they were gone...

I must've zoned out because it was Pete's voice that snapped me back into reality, "Cass!"

"W-what?" I stuttered.

"What's your catch up story?"

I stared at him for the longest time before I shrugged my shoulders and replied, "I don't know. Carter and I are probably going to be writing more songs and maybe even start to do concerts."

"And what about Connor?" Joe inquired. My eyes widened. "He was the guy you brought here second to last time, right?"

Carter leaned over and whispered into my ear, "You brought Connor here?"

I looked over at her and replied in a whisper, "It was when we were dating and things were better between us!"

"Well?" Andy butted in.

I glanced at all the guys before responding weakly, "Uh...he and I...I'm not sure."

Patrick laughed, "How are you not sure how things are between you and your boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend, okay?" I snapped, rising to my feet and slamming my napkin down. I pushed my chair in and stormed away.