When Autumn gets accepted in the university of her dreams she cannot believe her luck. Her mind is only focused on her scholarship and getting her degrees.
But all those goals are put aside when she meets the notorious Nicholas Payne who is everyth...
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Knock knock!
"That must be the Paynes!" Mom's voice is filled with excitement. She swiftly takes off her apron and carelessly throws it on the kitchen counter. She forgets about the flapper pie that Dad asked her to make. Hr really must be busy to ask Mom of all people to make the pie.
"Arthur! The Paynes are here!" Mom shouts out to Dad who is still upstairs grooming himself.
"Almost done dear!" Dad replies just before Mom and I hear something fall onto the ground. Eric curses out loud.
"Eric language!" Mom scolds him. She turns to me and mutters, "Please can you check up on him. Make sure that he is actually going to wear something appropriate."
I nod before I run up the stairs to go check on Eric while Mom goes to open the front door for our guests. I make my way to Eric's bedroom which is right across from mine, adjacent to the bathroom. I ball my hand into a fist and bang it on the door twice as a sign of knocking.
"I am naked! Do not come in!" replies a voice from inside the room. I cover my eyes with one hand whilst I push the door open with the other. Eric attempts to scream as if he is really naked, but when I open my eyes, he is still in his casual clothes. Which consist of his band merchandise t-shirt and a pair of dark, skinny jeans.
"You are not even dressed?" I ask rhetorically to which he jerks his head agreeing. "I do not know what to wear." he tells me as he gestures to the piles of clothing that lay on his bed.
"How about..." I say thoughtfully picking up an outfit together. He shakes his head and declines it. I pick out a few more and he keeps saying no to every one of them until I look at him straight in the eye. I quizzically question him, "Eric are you okay? Why do you seem as stressed out as Mom and Dad?"
He lets out a desperate sigh while he takes a seat on his comfortable, bouncy bed. "Can I be honest with you?" his eyes are so brown they remind me of the color of the cappuccino I had earlier this morning. Not too dark, not too bright either. There are small glints of green today, not orange.
"Yes you can be honest with me Eric."
"I invited this one girl in my class. I really love her Autumn. Like genuinely love her." he confesses truthfully making my heart nearly slip a beat.
"W-what?"
"Yeah, I love Delia. She is the most beautiful girl to exist." I am surprised to hear Eric gush all about this girl. "Do you think Mom and Dad are going to freak out?"
I shrug my shoulder -- "I cannot promise to you that they will be okay with it, but we will see."
"Okay just help me with the outfit and I will go do my hair." Eric tells me as he leaves the room for the bathroom.
"Wait what grade is she in?"
"She is sixteen as well." he grins then he disappears into the bathroom. Once I am done with his outfit I decide to go change into my own clothes before my parents freak out. As soon as I step out of Eric's bedroom a whiff of masculine, woody cologne enters into my nostrils. It is so strong that I even choke on it. I am beyond stupefied to realize that it is my father who has never used the cologne set that I bought him for his fortieth birthday last year. But here he is right now. Arthur Chastain using his cologne that I bought for him. Just a bit too much of it to be quite honest.
When he comes out of the bedroom he does not look at all like the man I am used to seeing He wears the black tuxedo that he wore at my cousin's wedding a couple of months ago and he looks very handsome. My father is not a man to wear tuxedos and suits or fancy things. He breaks the stereotype that a man should wear a suit. He is the cook in the family that is also a humbled man who wears aprons and casual clothes. Sometimes the little French boy in him comes out and he tends stay in his workshop at home the whole day just painting.
When he was younger his parents used to take him to street painters and he has fallen in love with art ever since. The baking and cooking was just a hobby he like but when he turned sixteen my grandmother worked hard to afford to take him to a culinary school just near Italy. Which he says he loved with all his heart. Dad's cheerful voice drags me out of my thoughts when he tells me - "Alright I am ready. Now you go change into something nice then come and join us downstairs."
