A Cute Little Moment: Chapter IV: The Protective Older Brother Storyline :D:D:):)

 

The Protective Older Brother Storyline😊 (Three years after Lexi and Thaddeus were married😊)

I let out a big sigh of relief as I reach my front door. Today was Friday, my last day of work for the week and I was looking forward to spending time with my beautiful wife and my lovely little daughter. As I step through the door, leaving my jacket on the hook by the door and sitting down on the couch, my phone started to buzz in my back pocket. I pick it up and see that baby sister, Hadley, wants to video chat with me.

“Hey, Hadley!” I say, happy to see her. “What’s up?”

My now sixteen-year-old sister smiles at me.

“Hi, Thaddeus! So, I have something to tell you,” she says, blushing.

“Shoot,” I tell her.

“Someone just asked me out on a date,” Hadley giggles. I could feel my pupils dilate at that news.

“Wait, what?” I exclaim. “Who is this guy?”

At the sound of my voice, Lexi came out of our bedroom door, holding two-year-old Ashlyn in her arms.

“What’s going on?” she asks me, coming to perch the couch’s arm rest while Ashlyn launches herself into my arms. I couldn’t fight back smile even as I grunt as my sweet little girl hits me with full force. Before I answer Lexi’s question, I kiss Ashlyn on the top of her head.

“Hi, little girl,” I whisper as she wraps her little arms around my neck and Lexi smiles like she always does whenever something like this happens.

“So, what’s going on?” Lexi repeats.

“Somebody just asked Hadley out on a date,” I tell her indignantly. Lexi grins proudly.

“Ooh, what’s his name? What does he look like?” she asks curiously. I turn to her.

“Lex, we are not encouraging this,” I whisper. Lexi smiles at me like I’m the most adorable thing in the world. Almost against my will, I could feel my cheeks lifting.

“How did he ask you, Hadley?” Lexi wonders.

“Well,” Hadley begins. “First, his name is William, he has red hair and blue eyes, and he came up to me and said that he’d had a crush on me for about two years and then he asked me if I was free this weekend,”

Lexi turns to me, smiling ironically. “Well, gosh!  Just can’t think who that reminds me of. Thaddeus, can you?” she says sarcastically. I level a playful glare at her as I kiss her forehead.

“Haha. Very funny,” I say.

“Well, do you have any plans?” Lexi asks.

“No, not that I know of,” Hadley replies.

“Are you interested in him?” Lexi wonders. Hadley shrugs.

“I don’t know. He seems nice and I’d be willing to give it a chance,” she says.

“Well, I say go for it,” Lexi tells her as I start shaking my head.

“How do we know we can trust this guy?” I say honestly as Lexi laughs.

“I’m sure your aunt and uncle have met him,” she reassures me, but I’m not satisfied.

“But I haven’t,” I say as Lexi laughs again and turns back to the phone.

“Okay, Hadley, my brothers did this, too and my advice is just tune it out and know he’s probably not actually going to do anything,”

“How would you know that?” I mutter.

“Okay. Well, I’m going to give William a call, then,” Hadley says as I grumble softly.

“Good luck!” Lexi says as Hadley turns back to me.

“Love you, bro,” she says.

“I love you, too,” I say quietly as Hadley gives us one last hopeful smile and hangs up.

“Aw, it’s her first date,” Lexi sighs romantically as she goes to the kitchen and starts on dinner. I can no longer fight off the grimace that I had been fighting throughout the phone call.

“I don’t like it,” I say honestly. Lexi gives me a playful smile.

“Of course, you don’t,” she replies as she turns on the stove and I realize she’s making spaghetti.

“But, she’s so young!” I exclaim as I go into the kitchen to help her make the tomato sauce. “She’s like, ten,”

Lexi snorts as she pours the noodles into the now boiling pot of water. “She’s sixteen!” she laughs. “Need I remind you, that’s how old I was when I went on my first date with you?”

“No, she’s like two,” I reply, stirring the sauce around in the pot. Lexi starts laughing again.

“Ah, memories,” she says. I turn to her.

“What do you mean?” I wonder.

“My brothers did this exact thing when they found out about “Adam” and then a little less with you, but not that much less,” Lexi explains, pouring the frozen vegetables into a frying pan along with some olive oil.

“Well, they had a right to be doubtful about that first one,” I say, meaning about Adam. Or, well, I guess Zevon is his proper name. “But they know they can trust me,”

Lexi shrugs. “Well, they do now. But back then, they had never seen you date anyone,”

“What’s a date?” Ashlyn pipes up. Lexi chews on her lip a little before answering.

“Um, a date is where you like someone so you plan something special so you can spend more time with them,” she explains as she puts plates and forks on the table.

“Like when you drop me off at Lolli and Pop’s house every Friday?” Ashlyn asks, sitting down at the table. Lolli and Pop, to Ashlyn, are Lexi’s parents.

“Yes! Just like that,” I say, ruffling her hair as she giggles. Then I turn back to Lexi. “I want to go back my old house to meet William the night of the date,” I tell her. Lexi just chuckles as she pours some apple juice in Ashlyn’s sippy cup and some Doctor Pepper into her glass and mine.

“Okay,” she replies, kissing my cheek before sitting back down in her own chair.

On Saturday, Lexi, Ashlyn, and I get in my car and head over to my old home. Once we get there, I knock on the front door. A very panicked Hadley opens the door.

“Oh!” she exclaims. “It’s you! I thought it might have been William arriving early!”

Hadley wraps her arms around me and then hugs Lexi and kisses Ashlyn on the cheek. “What are you all doing here?” she wonders. Just I’m about to say something, Lexi interrupts me.

“He came to intimidate William, but I came to help you get ready,” she states honestly.

Hadley furrows her eyebrows at me, but smiles at Lexi. “Oh, great! Hailey has come to do the same thing! Let’s go!” she says excitedly as Lexi, carrying Ashlyn inside and leaving her with my Aunt Emma, followed Hadley upstairs where Hailey was waiting. I head over and sit down on the couch where my aunt and uncle are already seated.

“Hello!” I greet cheerfully as my aunt and uncle come up and give me a hug.

“Hi, Thaddeus!” My aunt says. “It’s nice to see you. Now, the reason Lexi said you were here, is that really why you’re here?”

“Haha, yes…” I say uncomfortably. My uncle stepped closer to me and grins.

“Let’s do it together,” he says as Aunt Emma facepalms. After about fifteen minutes, we hear a knock on the door, knowing for sure it was William and Uncle Daniel and I exchange looks, stand up, and Uncle Daniel opens the door. As soon as he does, William goes white faced, making his head look like a red mushroom.

“Hello, sir,” he says, and I was sure his voice wasn’t that squeaky before he arrived. “I’m glad to meet you,”

Uncle Daniel steps aside to let William in, but doesn’t say anything.

“So, what are your intentions with my little sister?” I say seriously. William turns to me.

“To respect her, and to show Hadley a good time,” he tells me, seeming genuine. I give my head a small nod as William smiles like he just realized something. “Wait, are you Thaddeus?” he asks.

I nod. “You’ve heard of me?”

“Yeah! I’ve great things! I’m glad to finally meet you,” he says, extending a hand and I shake it, warming up a little more to the kid. “And you, Mr. Parker! I’ve heard great things about you, too,”

My uncle actually smiles at William as William extends a hand and Uncle Daniel shakes. Then William turns to Aunt Emma and Ashlyn. “Mrs. Parker, it’s good to see you. And you must be miss Ashlyn,” he says, getting down on his knees and grinning at her. “How are you doing?”

“My socks are purple,” she replies softly.

“They are? That’s awesome! Is that your favorite color?”

“Yeah,” she says, returning to the little doll she was playing with and William chuckles.

Just then, Hadley starts walking down the stairs, looking very pretty, her hair curled, wearing skinny jeans and a light blue button up shirt. If I’m looking at her like she’s gorgeous, it was nothing to the way William was looking at her. I all of the sudden remember taking Lexi on our first date. I remember the way she looked, and I probably looked at her the same way.

“Wow,” William breathes. “You look wonderful!”

Hadley blushes. “Thanks, Will,” she whispers. Aunt Emma grins at them.

“You kids go have a good time, now,” she says. Hadley shoots all of us one final grin before they walk out the door. Lexi turns to me then.

“Well?” she asks.

“He seems like a really good kid. He reminds me of me,” he says. Lexi grins at me before she kisses me.

“Then I approve of him, too,” she says as I walk to the couch and scoop Ashlyn up in my arms. “What did you think of William, sweet pea?” Lexi asks.

“He was nice,” she says as Lexi smiles at her.

“You know, Ashlyn is going to go on dates someday, too,” she says to me. I nod.

“Yes, I suppose so. But right now, she’s just our little girl,” I whisper, kissing Ashlyn’s forehead and take Lexi’s hand as we walk out of the front door to head home.