The Friend I Needed

Ten.

Ten.

Oddie stood beside one of the many tables filled with food and goods drinking a full cup of fruit punch with a tired face, she kept gazing back at the grounded men still sitting down and eating their food quite annoyed.

She couldn’t help but smirk at the sight and shook her head amused; feeling someone coming closer she tore her eyes from both and turned to look up at her old grumpy General she had come to like a lot.

“What brand is it?” Henry asked out of nowhere confusing the brunette a little, she frowned slightly tilting her head to the side. He rolled his eyes drinking from his cup of soda. “Maybe you can fool the guests, but you can’t fool me, sweetheart.”

“It’s fruit punch, they sell it in every market and corner store.”

“Odette.” His stern tone made her sigh, of course she couldn’t lie to a veteran.

“Honestly I have no idea what brand it is, it said whiskey and that was enough for me.”

“Do you think that it’s a good idea to mix alcohol with sugar drinks in a kid’s birthday party?”

“Probably not, but I’m losing my mind at this point and I desperately needed something to help me get through this.”

“How much have you been drinking ‘till now?” He frowned at her as she stared deeply into her drink. “Oddie?”

“Is it bad if the number in my mind has reached two numbers?” He glared at her taking the almost empty cup away from her hands. “Hey! I was drinking that.”

“I think you had enough, we don’t need the mother of the birthday boy all drunk.”

“You’re so mean,” she glared back at him with a pout, Henry chuckled at her antics shaking his head. “I really needed that drink.”

“One drink I can understand, two drinks maybe it’s still good. But reaching two numbers? No, I will not allow that and I don’t care if you get mad.”

“You’re a good father, Henry.”

That caught him of guard giving her a strangled look, she merely smiled the warmest smile he had ever seen in years, but he was blaming it on the alcohol running through her system.

“You do care even when you try to hide it. I’m glad I met you.”

“Ok, that’s enough funny fruit punch for you,” he grabbed her hand pulling her away from the table, both walking over to another table with snacks. “Maybe something to eat can bring you down from your wasted state. Here, eat this.”

“I’m not drunk, Henry. Believe me, this is nothing compared to how bad my college years were.” Even though Oddie was grumbling, taking the piece of food from his hands. Those homemade pizza bites were too good to be true.

“Either way, care to tell me why were you in the need to drink spiked punch?”

“Look around you and there’s the answer,” Oddie pointed to the young men trying, and failing, to have a proper conversation without throwing hidden insults back and forth. “That’s one reason there.”

“That guy in the suit, he said he was your boss. Why the hell do you bring work over to a house party?” He glared at the table then at Oddie, who lifted up both hands with a worried look taking over her face.

“I didn’t bring him over or anything like that, if he’s here is because he actually took interest in a mere invitation I made,” she grabbed another pizza bite and popped it into her mouth moaning in delight, she so needed to make more of those for movie nights with Gabriel.

“Why did you do that?”

“Well, he saw me giving the invitation to Maya and I felt… bad and awkward for not considering him at all,” she frowned looking down, trying to avoid that evil glare of his.

“You’re way too nice sometimes,” he sighed taking some pizza bites for himself. “And by sometimes I mean most times.”

“I know, I know. Not my best play of the day.” She looked back at the table where Nathan and Sebastian sat and she felt panic rush all over her system at what she saw. “Hey, Henry?”

“What?”

“How do you survive war?” He curiously stared at her, totally not expecting that kind of question.

“Mmm lot of training, courage and the need to go back home and see my family once more.” He thought for a moment thinking that was the most rational answer he could give, but then stared back at her with a playful smirk dancing on his old lips. “But in my case, it was water turned into whiskey hidden in a bottle. Why do you ask?”

She pointed at the guys looking nervous trying to find a way to escape the flirty words from grandma Thea and her incredibly awkward questions.

“So, which one of you is the one dicking down my granddaughter?”

Oddie managed to hear one of those random questions, all color faded away from her skin; even Henry felt his eyes widen in surprise. She could die out of embarrassment, but at least the kids were too busy playing and all to notice that old crazy woman.

“I beg your pardon?” Sebastian was the first to speak feeling a deep blush take over, his heart was going wild at the thought of doing something as intimate as that with her.

“Oh god…” The firefighter covered his face trying to hide his own blush, he could barely handle the jokes and teasing he received from Liam and Roy, but this woman was way worse.

“Are you fighting over her? Let me tell you I don’t like man in suits unless they’re getting married or about to bail me out of jail.” Thea crossed her arms over her chest glaring at the ceo, but then smiled at the firefighter resting one of her hands on her cheek. “But I do like you, dear boy. Who wouldn’t want a grandson in-law like you? You’re a dream! When are you marrying her? Just make babies already.”

“Wait, what? We’re not even dating yet!” He tried to defend but her smirk made him gulp, he didn’t realize the mistake he just made. “I mean… we’re just friends, we barely know each other…”

“Would you consider dating? At least f**k and have some fun, you’re young and strong to handle her wild sides.”

She wiggled her eyebrows at him, Nathan wanted to die out and have earth swallow him whole covering his face again with both hands; while Sebastian didn’t know if he should be embarrassed by the questions or annoyed that even Oddie’s grandmother liked a mere firefighter more than him.

At this point, Henry poured a full cup of fruit punch for Oddie handing it quickly to her and getting one himself. Both hitting bottoms up before going for another full cup, now he understood what she meant with her war related questions.

How could she survive family meeting with over protective father and uncle, a jealous cousin and a perverted grandmother, was beyond him.

“Honey, not even I know how to deal with this kind of war, but I’m sure of something.”

“What?” She asked trying to control her beating heart, she could see her soul flying around away from her body.

“You need to save those two. They already suffered both your father and Roy, now they have that woman; I highly doubt you want another family member traumatizing them.”

“Right, give me another cup.” He did as she told and drank the sweet strong liquid in one gulp, before taking a deep breath and walking over to them.

Before Thea could embarrass other even more, a slim hand covered her mouth, both men sighing in relief at that, they smiled at Oddie as if she was a hero saving them from a terrible villain they couldn’t fight.

“Alright! Grandma, I think you already talked enough.” She called over her shoulder, Thea smiled widely at the sight of her granddaughter. “No, no! No more talking, you evil lady. We have to sing.”

“Sing?” Nathan and Sebastian asked at the same time, wide eyed they glared at each other once more.

“Yes, sing. Now get up and go to the cake table, please.” Her smile was enough to have both of them almost running towards the table.

Thea sighed dreamily at them catching Oddie’s attention, she had dropped her hand and stood beside her staring with interest.

“You’re so lucky, I’m so proud too.”

“Uh?”

“When I was your age, I also had my fair share of good looking gentlemen who wanted to take me for a date… or their bed, not like it matters.” Thea chuckled amused at the memory, Oddie’s discontent was too evident, she couldn’t understand her grandmother’s logic.

“There’s a huge difference between dating and one night stands, grandma.”

“One night stands? Pff, how boring! If the man was good, one night wasn’t enough.”

She gave the younger a bored expression, gently patting her shoulder. Her boredom turned into seriousness as she stared into her eyes, her warm stare had Oddie frozen in her place.

“Live a little, baby. Enjoy your youth and your beauty before you even think of settling down. Don’t look down at yourself and don’t think you deserve all the s**t you’ve got, if I could I’d give you all the happiness of the world if that meant never to see you cry again, but I can’t, my love.”

“Grandma…” Thea caressed her face with such love.

“I know many think I’m a disgusting woman, but I also had my share of s**t in love and life. I’ve lived longer than you have and I’ve learned more as well, I loved and I hated, I cried and I laughed, I held onto things I shouldn’t have and I also let go of many more I definitely shouldn’t.”

She didn’t know what to say, she was aware of the deep love Thea felt for her late husband and how sweet and perfect their relationship was; she also knew that Thea had gone through terrible and amazing things before, so it was no surprise that she could give good advice.

“Now, you said it’s cake time, right? Let me gather the adults over and you call the little puppies, I want a big piece of cake for myself. Nick makes the best sweets I swear; I’d marry him if I was younger… or if he was older!” She laughed out loud kissing her granddaughter’s cheeks before walking away.

Oddie stared at the retreating figure of Thea, blinking confused. Her grandmother could be a huge perverted most of the times, but there were times she would say the most serious, mind-blowing and deep things that would leave her overthinking the situation.

“Well, that came out good.” Henry stood beside her resting his hand on her shoulder, with a calm expression he pushed her forward. “Come on,  we gotta call the kids.”

“Right.”

…

“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you!! Happy birthday, dear Gabriel! Happy birthday to you!”

 “Blow the candles!”

“Ask for a wish first!”

Just to look at Gabriel’s overjoyed face made Oddie forget about the headache everyone else had caused her during the day. He had loved his weird food choice, he had been playing around with every single kid and he remembered to always include his cousins into every game, he also spent some time with the adults and throw a few jokes here and there.

Oddie snapped a picture of the precious moment, Oliver would love having that one. She knew he wasn’t her son but only her nephew, and yet she was aware that their bond was stronger than ever, she felt so proud of him. He had turned to be an amazing child, of course he was not perfect, but he was as good as a kid could be.

He felt her eyes on him so he turned away from the cake and the people surrounding him with their happiness. And suddenly all noise and movement stopped, as if there was only him with his loving aunt that he saw as a mother; Gabriel couldn’t help but smile back at her, his love towards her was beyond any explanation and he knew she felt the same way.

Gabriel took her by surprise by jumping into her arms, hiding his face on her neck holding her tightly to his smaller frame, not a second later she pulled him closer as well both sharing the sweetest heartwarming hug any of the adults around had ever seen. He felt tears gather around his eyes before mumbling softly against her skin.

“My best gift, if to have you with me every day all year long.” She felt her heart stop, she was lucky to have him in her life.

They pulled away still close to each other, staring and smiling fondly before resting their foreheads on each other’s. A snap of a camera brought them out of their little bubble of love, turning around to see Nick with a warm smile resting on his lips and a camera on his hands.

“I think this one’s the one of the year.” He said softly before laughing with them.

“I think so too.” She answered smiling at him.

Minutes later everyone had their piece of delicious cake, the party was coming to an end as Oddie didn’t wanted the children to leave when the night had come over and also because the weather was getting colder.

Gabriel had decided that he wanted to open his gifts when everyone other than family and Oddie’s friends had left; Sally had tried calling Elliot’s mother twice to ask her for permission for him to stay over, but she never answered.

Of course, this annoyed Oddie greatly so she took the matter on her own hand and texted his mother. After half an hour her phone rang with a simple ‘whatever’ flashing on her screen, trying not to call and give her a piece of her mind she just smiled at the reaction both kids had at this.

They were so happy about spending the night together, so much that they even decided to help to clean around if it meant they could sleep late watching movies or playing videogames. Oddie and Liam had agreed giving them simple tasks like getting all the trash on the floor.

Jacob and Melissa had to leave first, their girls needed to shower and sleep so they couldn’t stay any longer. Maya and Jack helped around a little before they had to leave as well, Jack was her ride home after all. Nick was Nora’s ride so after helping around they also left, not before pouring their love over Oddie and Gabriel with a bunch of hugs and kisses, of course.

Sebastian had an emergency call, so even if he wanted to stay longer he just couldn’t, he thanked Oddie for letting him into her house and apologized for the hundredth time for his behavior, she just smiled and affirmed it was alright.

Sally was staying over so she just changed from her clothes into something comfier like the kids and Liam, as he was staying over as well. Tommy, Nathan and Roy kept on cleaning the yard leaving it spotless and bringing the tables to the garage, they were great help for her.

“Why do you have to go?!” Gabriel and Elliot pouted at Nathan when he told Oddie he was leaving, he had been the one to bring Henry over so he had to bring him back, and the idea didn’t appeal the children at all as they clung to his body.

He was holding both in his arms as if they were babies, both hugging his broad shoulders and hiding their faces on his neck, Nathan looked at Oddie asking for help in silence but she was too busy laughing along with Sally and Henry.

“You’re definitely father material, boy.” The general mocked him, earning a glare from the firefighter.

“Not helping at all, man.”

“Who said I wanted to help?”

“Ah, kids please. I know you don’t want me to go, but I have to take grandpa henry back to his nursery home.” He tried explaining but they just hugged him tighter. “If I’m late, they won’t allow him to get out again in as punishment, do you want that?”

“No…” Gabriel mumbled sadly letting go slightly. “I want you both to stay.”

“I’m sorry, baby.” He kissed his forehead handing the kids over to Liam and Roy, who held them happily. “If you want and your mother approves, I can come by tomorrow and we can play all you want.”

“Can Grandpa Henry come too?” Elliot asked this time holding onto Roy’s neck with a hopeful stare, Nathan was dying to grab them back and hold them tightly to him, but he knew he couldn’t just give in like that.

“Yeah, I’ll come too.” Henry smirked at their happy faces, they jumped down form the others arms and ran to the general to give him a hug and pull him down to kiss both his cheeks. “Have a good night you two, don’t annoy Oddie, alright?”

“We’ll be good!”

They went back to Liam and Roy, the four heading upstairs to put all his opened gifts away, Sally stayed in the kitchen to help out with washing all the dishes. Before Nathan could go outside with Henry, Tommy took a hold of Oddie with a smile.

“Hey, Oddie. If you need anything else just let me know, alright?”

“You leaving too?”

“Well, I might as well take a ride with Nathan. We’re neighbors remember?”

“Oh, that’s true… well in that case, thanks for coming over.”

“You know I’ll always be here, baby.” He winked earning a giggle from her. They hugged each other before walking together to the driveway.

She pulled her sweater closer around her, night had finally arrived and it was definitely a chilly one, she kissed Henry’s cheek smiling sweetly at him, he stared back slightly flushed.

“Thank you for coming over, Gabriel was very happy to see you there.”

“No, darling… thank you, I’ve never been called a grandfather before, he looked so proud calling me that all over.”

He chuckled happily getting in Nathan’s truck with Tommy’s help, even though he was older than Liam and Roy for a few years, his battle scars were too much of a problem especially for his knees, not letting him walk normally.

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow after 9:30am, the kids will want breakfast with you, so be ready for a long day.” She called out before he closed the door, he glared at her mockingly.

“That’s more time than you signed up for.”

“Yeah, well. Look how much I care about that.” Winking his way, he shook his head closing the door, Tommy getting in the back seats after kissing Oddie’s cheek one last time.

Nathan stood in front of Oddie with a shy smile and his hands hidden on his jean pockets, she smirked up at him with a teasing glint on her eyes.

“What?” He asked confused.

“So, is this why you wanted to enter my life?”

“Uh?”

“I know what you doing, Mr. Bear.” She crossed her arms under her chest, tilting her head to the side. “You’re plotting to take my boys attention away from me, but let me tell you, you won’t succeed. I won their hearts before you.”

“Oh, please.” He scoffed amused at her statement. “Gabriel I can understand, but Elliot? We both have the same amount of time of knowing him so, you haven’t fully caught his heart.”

“Is that so?” She leaned closer tauntingly.

“Yeah, pretty much.” He leaned down as well, their noses almost touching. “I’ll come tomorrow at 9:15am, I can pick up Henry again.”

“Oh no, you’ll stay here with the kids, Sally, my dad and uncle.” She held back a laugh at his panicked expression. “I already told Henry I’ll pick him up, so I hope you’re ready for a wild morning with my family.”

“You gotta be kidding me…” he barely mumbled, he had almost died more than five times this day, he wasn’t sure of how much more he could handle.

“You wanted to get to know me right? Well, this is pretty much my life, so do you think it’s worth staying?”

“You know what? I survived a birthday party with your weird boss and a horny grandmother, I think I can handle more.” They both smiled at each other, with him putting one of her lose hairs around her ear. “You’re worth the embarrassment they can put me through.”

“Kiss already so we can leave! May I remind you I have curfew?” Henry shouted from the opened window, both Nathan and Oddie pulling away from each other bushing madly.

“Right, I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“Sure thing, be on time for breakfast.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for nothing in the world.” He kissed her cheek lovingly before jumping on the truck to drive away.

She stared at the now empty drive way with a small smile before she snickered covering her face with a hand, her cheeks still hot for how close he had been to her not long ago.

“My goodness, Oliver. What am I doing?” Her heart was beating way too fast and too hard to be normal, she was terrified of the idea of love remembering the pain she had been through before.

Shaking her head, she headed back to the house closing the door behind her with a sigh. Reaching the kitchen, she saw Sally finishing with the dishes, so she helped her out with putting the leftovers into the fridge.

“Are they gone?” The blonde asked drying her hands with a towel. “I already put water on the stove, I figured you’d need some coffee.”

“Yeah, they’re gone and thank you.” They stood side by side resting their backs on the counter. “My heart is pounding.”

“For Nathan or Sebastian?”

“I think you know the answer to that one.” Both chuckled, Oddie resting her head on the blonde’s shoulder.  “It hasn’t stopped; I feel like at some point it’ll just beat out of my chest.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“I don’t know… I’m scared, more like terrified.”

“He’s not Josh.” Sally rested her head on top of Oddie’s with a small frown. “Don’t even dare to compare.”

“I know that…”

“What exactly are you afraid of, Oddie?”

“Of falling for the wrong one again…”