/ hells bells

[sebastian oliveras]

"it's not yours!" "what?" "the baby! it's not yours!" "what?!" "jesus christ, oliveras. how many times do i have to tell you?" "third times a charm?" "the baby isn't yours. i have the paternity test in my hands" "thank god. what do we do now?" "celebrate?!" i chuckle, because i know exactly what she means by 'celebrate'. i had asked her in a legal context, but she was already looking years forward to all the things that a baby wouldn't complicate. i tap absently on the steering wheel of the car, still sitting in my driveway, listening to her detail her plans for the night. all of them raunchy, all of them r rated and none of them were congruent with the dinner i was heading to at my parents house. although turning up with the news that the baby wasn't mine was a much better prospect then turning up and telling my mother the opposite. "that all sounds really tempting, harris, but i have a counter offer." i smirk, teasing her with her own lawyer speak as i pull my legs into the car, settling into the driver's seat and closing the door behind me. she's going to hate me when she figures out what i'm doing, but i'm the kind of kid that wants to have their cake and eat it too, i can't help myself. i give her the address and smile as we hang up. i give myself a minute to grin like an idiot, the relief seems like a ten tonne weight lifting from my shoulders and i didn't know that i had let it get to me so much. i had denied it all since day one, i had slept with her, the dates matched, the kid even looked a little like me, but that kid wasn't mine. despite all the odds being against me. i didn't want it just for me, but for marisa. i wanted us both to have even the smallest shot at trying to have a normal relationship and a baby wasn't part of that. especially one that wasn't ours. i turned the key in the ignition and listened to the engine fire and idle in the driveway of the beach house, i had flown in with her only hours before, concerned enough to check in with my parents and taking marisa to liase with the los angeles office, i didn't know that it could all manage to work out so well. it was perfect! what better way to deliver all the good news to my parents at once, no illegitimate babies with my surname and a smoking hot, clever, talented and way above my usual standards girlfriend to show them that i was cleaning up my act. i was officially welcoming this as a new chapter to the story of bas. i grinned and turned up the radio loud as i pulled out of the driveway and headed towards my parents house. i say house, i mean mansion. i hadn't had the chance to go back in months, despite athena and elsie getting on my case about it. the two of them were always such a pain in my ass, mostly because they couldn't decide if they both wanted to be my mother or they both wanted to be my sister. athena was always acting too mature, while elsie was always trying to hold onto her youth, it was tiring. i don't know how dad managed to put up with them. probably because they had him both wrapped around their little fingers. i finally reached their gates and waited for the familiar company car to pull in behind me a few moments later. i hit the intercom and asked to be let in and the gates obliged as we followed the driveway up to the house. as soon as i parked and slid out of the car, i met her at hers and pulled her up and into my arms. i'd been waiting for this for too long. to have her relaxed and not on edge, to have her not plotting a painful way to mess with jenna or worse get rid of her completely. now she was all mine, no pressures weighing down on us, no arguments about nothing, it was just us and hopefully that would mean a whole lot more after the night was over. i kissed her hard and she responded just as eagerly, my hand on her cheek, stroking her soft skin and finally we stopped, coming up for air and i chuckled as i lent my forehead to hers. "how is it that i think you're more thankful then me?" i tease and she starts to argue and i smother it with another kiss. there would definitely be no arguments tonight. i slip my fingers into hers and lead her to the front door, past the expensive cars and manicured gardens. i ring the bell, one hand on the button, the other on her ass and she laughs "where are we, bas? what are we doing tonight?" she asks, confused and curious and i pull her close again, my hand moving up under the hem of her skirt to the soft skin of her thigh, my lips on her neck, teasing and tickling her, until i catch her lips and kiss her like i haven't seen her in months. my fingers intertwine into her long dark hair and i hear the door open and a choking sound and i jump away quickly like i was 15 and getting caught in the same situation with the neighbour's daughter. i cast a quick look to marisa who is straightening her skirt and fixing her hair. i reach for her, tucking a hand around her waist in a more appropriate gesture and meet my mom's eye. "mom! hi!" i start in surprise, but i can already see her trying to put all the pieces together in her head. she tries to smile through a confused frown and i step forward and hug her tightly. "i have good news, so you don't have to worry, ok? but firstly, this is marisa!" i step back and make a sweeping arm motion like a magician's assistant to introduce the awkward girl on the front step "she's my girlfriend. marisa, this is my mom, elsie oliveras." my mom feigns a smile and mutters a 'welcome' and i try to ignore the concern that comes up when my mom doesn't immediately correct me by making sure i don't forget that she's 'elsie french oliveras' and usually i forget it just to taunt her. i don't know why she insists on keeping it, honestly. my dad comes up behind her and places a hand on her shoulder. his lazy smile stays on his face and he takes in the situation slowly. "dad! this is marisa, my girlfriend. this is beau, my dad." i go for another round of introductions and my dad quirks his brow at me as he shakes mine and marisa's hands. "and this is... not the girl having your baby" he starts, and i laugh. "god no! let's go inside, i have news!" my mother, usually the perpetual hostess, doesn't say another word and turns on her heel walking away from us and into the house. i take marisa's hand and she looks up at me with accusing eyes. my dad turns to follow elsie and marisa hisses at me under her breath "are you even kidding me right now? everyone in this room knows that this is the worst timing ever, except you! why would you bring me here?" i frown "why do you mean? this isn't bad timing. i have good news to tell them, why not give them lots of good news and introduce them to my girlfriend too?!" she rolls her eyes and shakes her head and leads me into the house, and i follow, still trying to process how this could possibly be a bad idea. she's crazy, it's fine, i finally conclude and we follow my parents into the dining room, the ridiculously long table for a family of four is set and the chef is in the kitchen working away, because i honestly don't think either of my parents have cooked a day in their life. athena sits at the table a wine glass in front of her chewing on a stalk of asparagus she had stolen from the kitchen. she looks up, with that calculating unamused look that she always saves for me and sighs. "is this the escort or the lawyer?" she asks, and i can hear the taunting in her voice, going back one of many arguments we had. we aren't the best of twins, we aren't even very good. we couldn't be more opposite, but in a way we were so similar all we did was fight. "don't be a bitch, she's a lawyer." i snap, feeling marisa squeezing my hand tighter, trying to hide the fact that she probably wanted to hurt me. "athena this is marisa, the lawyer" i speak slowly, like she's simple, which she kinda is "marisa, athena. porn star in training." it was typical oliveras banter, that i probably should have toned down in front of marisa. "i'll ignore him," she smiles politely at athena "it's nice to meet you. it's nice to meet you all, in fact" she extends the courtesy to my parents as they walk back into the room, my mom with a large glass of wine and my dad with a beer, apparently i drove them to drink. "i don't mean to interrupt your family dinner, i didn't know that when bas said he had a surprise it involved this." she smiles politely and my dad offers us a drink which we gladly accept. when he returns, we take our drinks and i interrupt the awkward silence that had taken over the room. "i have a toast, to not being the father of that kid!" and i raise my glass. athena shakes her head, lowering her face into her hand, but raising her glass anyway to my toast. my dad chuckles and raises a small toast before taking a sip, and i turn to mom and she doesn't share the same relief as the rest of us. "and why should i be toasting something ridiculous like that? we shouldn't be toasting it at all, something like that shouldn't have even happened!" she gives that same look that athena gives me when i say something stupid and shakes her head as she turns and walks out of the room. a look around at everyone else, confused as hell, hoping for someone to help me out and athena is hiding in her glass of wine and dad looks at me with a sympathetic look. "you know your mom, bas, she's just upset" i sigh and marisa squeezes my hand, i smile down at her and kiss her on the forehead as i turn to chase my mom. "i'll be back in a second, ok?" but before i could, elsie walks back into the room with a glass of scotch instead and meets my eye. "i'm glad it's not yours." she says after pausing to take a sip "but you need to grow up and figure yourself out sebastian." i almost wince as she uses my full name in those disapproving tones. she turns to marisa, who had almost been invisible to her since she'd stepped through the door. "and it wouldn't hurt you to learn to keep him in line." i wasn't sure if it was meant to sound so stern, or if she was messing with the both of us, but i took it as a small win that she was at least able to make eye contact and acknowledge that marisa was in the room. the lifted the tension motioning for us all to take our places at the table as the food as delivered. dinner wasn't as painful as everyone else seemed to think it would be. i could barely keep my hands off marisa, running my hands up her legs under the table, hooking my foot with hers, stealing bits off her plate that she didn't eat. dad eased the tension between all the women the way he usually does, asking questions about south africa and comparing his own travel stories, asking about her job and her career and how she liked new york. athena managed an input with her own life, jameson and the dogs they called children like it wasn't weird at all, but mostly it was work as her and mom argued about covers and photographers like mom was still a regular in the business, while athena kept trying to remind her in not so subtle terms that she wasn't. dessert couldn't come soon enough though and as soon as i had half a chance i was desperate to excuse myself and get marisa all too myself. we stood on the front step, athena ducking out to get back to jameson with a quick goodbye, she swung by the house on a regular occurance, where as i managed it and had to suffer through a longer goodbye. mom still had that stern edge in her voice, and beau and i made promises for a surfing trip in the off season, that we did every year. except this year, the old bastard had some cracked out idea that he would use it to return to the competitive circuit. marisa smiled at them both and shook their hands as they wished her goodbye. beau, as always, was so laid back he invited her back anytime, "hopefully next time we see you under better circumstances" i think was his exact comment, an obvious dig at the bad timing they all thought i had tonight. i ignored the intentions behind the comment and was glad pleased they asked her back at all. not that i was scared they wouldn't, marisa was beautiful and intelligent and a hell of a lot better then the cocktail waitress i bought home at easter. "don't let him get into anymore trouble" were my mother's parting words to marisa, and she replied so sweetly in a tone that you wouldn't think she put grown men in their place in an everyday basis. "of course, mrs oliveras, i'll be sure to keep him in line." i chuckled as mom corrected her. "it's mrs. french oliveras." she replied, and marisa nodded, probably unsure why my mom was so crazy, but i understood. it was a small win, mom was back to her usual self and i would take that as approval if anyone asked. i led her away to the dark of the gardens, pressed her against the car and couldn't resist when my lips found hers. she kissed me back for a time until she pulled back and punched in the arm. "you're an asshole, you know that?" i laugh "yes, but i'm an asshole without a baby, so come back to my hotel room and we'll get back to the celebrations you were promising me." i don't let her fight back, smothering her retorts with another kiss, pressing her hard against the car until we're both breathless. "hotel?" she nods and we both dive for our respective cars, racing to get back to the privacy hotel room.