THIRTEEN. expecting the very unexpected
FREDDIE HAD kindly asked Alexa to come over so they could potentially tell Millicent's mother, Gwen, about their new relationship.
"I'm not excited to eat these "Gwenchiladas". Millicent frowned, "I'm pretty sure Mom's recipe doesn't include pineapple."
"We're putting our own little spin on it." Freddie smiled.
"Is that spin called colonialism?"
Alexa nodded, holding her hand up in the air and giving Millicent a high five.
"It's actually called a metaphor." Freddie scoffed.
"Also known as colonialism." Alex rebutted. She sighed, leaning against the countertop as Freddie continued to cook, "I'm glad we waited to tell her about us in person."
"Do you understand what's at stake here?" Millicent asked.
Freddie sighed, "It's my yearly custody check-in with Gwen. Only we call it our ecosystem evaluation because she's a marine biologist."
"And Dad's a huge dork." Millicent quipped.
"Trust me," Alex smiled, "I've known that your Dad's been a dork for years."
Freddie smiled, "Guilty."
Millicent turned, "What do you see in him?"
"No idea." Alexa answered, shoving pieces of pineapple in her mouth.
Freddie playfully rolled his eyes, "It's just a formality. Your mom wants what's best for you, which is living on land and going to school with children, not walruses."
"It's cool that Mom works on a boat, but if I ain't captain, I ain't going."
"Come on," Alexa smiled, "do we really think that Gwen's going to hate me? I'll sue her for defamation if she does."
"Have you ever sued anyone for defamation?" Freddie asked.
"Plenty of times." Alexa smiled, "Have you ever heard of Kaley Cooper?"
"No..."
"Exactly."
"Oh, God." Millicent groaned, "I'm gonna have to live on a boat."
Soon the door to the Benson's apartment opened and Gwen came inside carrying plenty of bags and a smile on her face.
Alexa stepped forward watching Millicent and Gwen talking to each other in Spanish as she stood with Freddie.
She turned her head slightly, a small smile on her face, "Are you ready?"
"Let's do this." Freddie smiled.
"Finally. It was the worst trip ever." Gwen complained, "The dock was broken, my plane was late, my bags were lost." Gwen smiled as she turned looking over at Alexa and Freddie, "I'm sorry Alexa... I want to spend time with just my family."
Alexa nodded, clasping her hands together as she looked between Freddie and Millicent.
Gwen soon furrowed her brows, "What is that smell? Is that pineapple and beans? Did somebody adjust my recipe? Without telling me?"
Alexa stepped back, grabbing her bag from the couch, "That was all Freddie's idea and I don't know what could've possessed him to do such a daring thing."
Alex turned, her back facing the others as she began to make her way out of the apartment.
Freddie close behind, almost whispering in her ear, "We'll try again later."
Alexa only nodded and shut the door from behind.
She would later find herself back at the apartment later on without the presences of Gwen.
"I'm really sorry, Alexa." Freddie apologized, "It just wasn't the right time to tell Gwen about us. If she thinks that there's been too big of a shift in Millicent's ecosystem, she'll take her away. I forgot how sensitive she is about change. You know, she has a tattoo that says, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"."
Alexa nodded, "Where is it?"
"Uh..."
"Never mind." Alexa sighed, crossing her arms over her chest, "So, we're just never going to tell your daughter's mother that we're dating?"
"I love that idea."
Alexa scoffed, "Freddie, the longer we keep this from her, the worse it's going to get. Like when you forget to empty out the Instant Pot."
"Wait, is that why you told me to throw that thing away?"
"It was molding inside of it, Freddie." She scoffed, "Besides, I'm rich and I said I'd buy you a new one."
LATER ON in the evening, Freddie stopped by Alexa's apartment as she was testing new lipstick swatches for her beauty brand.
"I figured out how to tell Gwen." He smiled, "Question. What is at the center of Gwen's ecosystem?"
"Millicent."
"Exactly! Which is why I got you... ta-da!"
He placed the pile of books he'd brought over and set them into her lap.
Alexa furrowed her brows, every single one of the books that he'd given her had been parenting books.
"I don't get it." She sighed.
"We need to show Gwen that cool, childless Alexa is a healthy addition to the ecosystem and knowing the basics about parenting can only help." Freddie explained, "Although, now that I look at these it does seem like after the birth, you are really on your own."
"I don't know, Freddie." Alexa muttered, putting the books on the counter, "There's most likely an easier way of going about this."
And there was, as almost as if she was listening in (and maybe she was), Harper texted the duo in a group chat about how they would be holding a family type of event in order to get Gwen to see that Alexa was a great addition into Millicent's ecosystem.
THE NEXT day rolled around quickly and everything was set up pretty nicely (maybe because Alexa paid for it, but moving on) and nothing could possibly go wrong.
"We've got sushi for Millicent, raw unpeeled carrots for my mom, and 18 bottles of wine for seven adults."
"Carly said it was for Gwen." Alexa reassured, "So she can get a little loose and it may be a little easier to tell her about us."
"Well, I hope you're right because here she comes now." He said, handing her a bottle of wine.
"Hey," Alexa smiled, "Welcome to FaFuDa."
FaFuDa = Family Fun Day... if it wasn't clear.
Alexa continued, "Park wine?"
"No, thanks, I'm doing dry August."
Alexa smiled, gripping the top of the bottle, "And you are doing a great job."
"Okay..." Freddie paused, "Um, Alexa and I have some news."
"What's up, party people?"
The trio turned seeing Paul coming towards them and holding a foam machine in his hands.
"Paul... I didn't know you were coming." Alexa said, "I don't have an extra shirt for you."
"Oh, and I forgot to be devastated"
Alexa turned, facing Gwen, "This is my manager, Paul. Paul, this is Gwen, Millicent's mom and Freddie's ex-wife."
"What?" Paul chuckled, "How did an unemployed tech has-been get a stunner like you? Paul. Echanté."
Freddie scoffed, "I'm not unemployed. I sold my company."
"So, what are you doing now?" Gwen asked.
"Well, I've actually been writing a lot of music. It's kind of a Celtic/ska hybrid—"
"He produces iCarly." Alexa interrupted, "Which might as well be equivalent to being unemployed."
Gwen shook her head, stepping forward towards them, "Freddie... I can't believe you didn't tell me you're unemployed. Need I remind you this is an ecosystem based on trust? Trust is our kelp. Do you know what happens when you take kelp from the ocean?"
"From context clues, I'd say something bad."
"You know," Alexa awkwardly smiled, "the ocean sometimes has help from other little things in the ocean to keep the kelp alive and healthy."
"You know nothing about science." Gwen said.
"But I'm a multimillionaire, so how about that?" Alexa scoffed.
"I just need a minute to myself." Gwen sighed, leaving Paul, Alexa, and Freddie to themselves.
But Paul was quick to follow behind Gwen.
"I feel like he could've done a better job talking you up." Freddie said.
"No... I think he did a great job." Alexa sarcastically seethed.
Freddie sighed, "We can't tell Gwen now. The ecosystem is in shambles."
"I'm sure we can get this back on track." Alexa reassured.
Harper and Carly soon arrived and there was already another problem to worry about.
The shirts that Harper had made had read FaFuDa, but instead, FaFuPa.
"This is fine." Alexa spoke through her teeth, "This is so fine."
Harper and Carly went around to pass out the shirts and soon Lewbert and Marissa (Ms. Benson) arrived.
"Lewbert, did you bring something for ten party?" Carly asked.
"Two rare Antilles pinktoe tarantulas."
Alexa sighed, turning to Marissa "If you don't control him, I will sue him."
Millicent soon approached Alexa.
"Hey, kid." Alexa softly smiled, "Ready for some fun?"
"Oh, dang, you got foam?" Millicent asked with a smile, "It's on like Catherine of Aragon. First wife of Henry VIII?"
"Go eat the sushi."
Gwen rolled her eyes, getting away from Paul and making her way towards Alexa.
"Hey," Alexa called, "don't you think this is such a fun and stable ecosystem?"
But that ecosystem was quite literally all over the place with Marissa and Lewbert arguing about the tarantulas, Harper and Carly chugging wine, and Freddie cutting the sleeves off of his shirt.
Soon enough, Spencer came rushing in wrapping his arms around Alexa with a smile on his face and saying that "he was so happy" for her.
"Ah! Is that too tight?"
"It's too weird." She muttered.
"Of course you feel weird." Spencer smiled, his voice breaking, "That makes perfect sense."
"Okay..." Alexa awkwardly smiled, "I'm gonna go get the sushi."
"What? No!" Spencer shouted, "You can't have sushi!" He rushed over, throwing all the sushi onto the grass.
"What are you doing?" Alexa asked, "I'm not Carly. I'm Mexican-American if you forgot."
"Just be glad he didn't get to the wine." Harper said, "The dry FaFuDa is worse than a dry FaFuPa."
Alexa sighed, tilting her head to the side and began to grab a drink from Harper's tray, but once again, Spencer had knocked that to the ground.
"I don't think my Spotify playlist can save this." Harper muttered.
"But the foam can." Millicent smiled, "Can we get the foam going?"
"Foam?" Spencer questioned, "Toxic, slippery, sexy foam?" He screamed, knocking the machine to the ground.
"Hey! Why did you do that?" Paul shouted, grabbing the machine from the ground, "That was FaRuDa."
"'Cause, Paul, I'm protecting Alexa."
"Yes!" Lewbert shouted, "I beat him! I was discreet about Alexa's little meatball in her spaghetti taco, but Spencer just blurted out that Alexa's pregnant!"
"I'm pregnant?" Alexa asked as the small group of people surrounded her and gave their congratulations.
"Hey! Hey! I've got a whole gender reveal party in the truck of my car." Spencer smiled, "Let's start a forest fire and love this kid."
Freddie pushed Spencer out of the make his way towards Alexa, resting his hands gently on her forearms.
"Is this true?" He asked, "Are we having a baby together?"
Alexa sighed, grabbing Freddie's hands, "I'm not pregnant, Freddie. I don't even know where Spencer would get an idea like that from."
"Wait," Gwen called, "you two are together?"
Freddie sighed, turning towards her, "Yes, we were going to tell you."
"That's why we threw this whole thing." Alexa added.
"So, you lied to me about your job, a huge relationship, all these disruptions to our daughter's environment, and what? You thought I'd be chill about it if you threw me some park wine, A FUPA shirt, and this freaking guy?" She asked, pointing towards Paul, "You know what Freddie? This ecosystem has been evaluated. Millicent can't stay here."
Soon, arguments broke out and Alexa found Millicent standing alone in the foam that Paul had finally managed to set up.
"Hey." Alexa softly smiled, "I know this isn't exactly how you wanted the day to go. Are you okay?"
"I love a train wreck but not when I'm a passenger."
"They only want what's best for you, Millicent."
"Then why don't they just ask me?" She asked, "Hey, Mills, would you like to spend your formative years in the Pacific Garbage Patch?"
"Well, what do you want to do?" Alexa asked.
"I love my mom, but this is my home. With Dad and Grandma B... and the rest of you."
Alexa softly sighed, "I would do anything to go back in time and tell my younger self that everything was going to turn out fine and you'll have this stable home and people who care about. I think it's best if you tell everyone what you want because it may be the only time you can."
Millicent returned the soft smile, "Thanks for listening, Alexa. I will."
"Actually, you already did." Gwen said, entering the makeshift foam pit, "Millicent, I'm sorry we didn't ask you what you wanted. Alexa, thanks for jumping in. I'm glad you're part of our ecosystem."
"Thank you for having me."
With that said, Millicent was staying with Freddie and everything was looking up.
You know what they say... expect the unexpected.
— lucy has something to say !!
BYE "that was FaRuDa" JAJJSJSKSKSK 😭
okay sorry for going m.i.a. after publicly talking about freddie's arms i'm so sorry :/ anyways this is the second to last chapter lololol
anyway new header slayyy
bye :))))
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top