The Good Life

*Jack*

I laid in bed, with Alex, not feeling like moving anytime soon. I still had a headache from all yelling that took place yesterday. I was trying not to think about it so hard but I couldn't help it. I've always hated when Izzy was mad at me ever since she was a little girl. I know I deserved it this time because I told her I didn't mind her going on a date with Vic; I even helped set it up but after hearing Alex talk about it it didn't seem so okay anymore.

I understand Cass's concern she had with what happened, but ultimately it did come down to what we said, well mostly Alex, and that was no. I'm planning on calling Cass later to talk about this some more so she at least understands where we're coming from. I don't think she gets that we're very cautious about certain problems as parents and sometimes we have to make decisions that might make Izzy dislike us for a little while but it's only to help her in the long run. She sees Izzy more as a friend and I admit I do that sometimes too, but we can't just let her run wild she has to have some authority figures in her life.

Alex got out of bed going to the bathroom without saying a word. I could tell he was still on edge about it too. He walked out of the bathroom a few minutes later and then walked out of our room. I didn't even bother asking him what he was doing. I picked up my phone seeing that it was almost noon.

Alex walked back in minutes later with Izzy's iPhone in his hand. He went to put it in his bottom drawer under his clothes like he always did when he took her phone away.

"Don't you think that's just going to add more fuel to the fire?" I asked him.

"What do you want from breakfast?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Alex." I sighed.

"Pancakes? Toast?" He kept up the charade.

"Alex." I repeated more sternly.

He sighed knowing I wasn't going to drop this. "I didn't take it because she was planning on going on a date with Vic. I took it because of the way she talked to us yesterday."

"Well she was angry." I mumbled.

"Yeah and disrespectful so she's grounded." He said.

"I just don't want her to 'despise' us like Cass said." I told him.

"Our parents wouldn't let us do most of the things we wanted and we don't hate him. It's not like we won't let her leave the house or have friends. She's just not allowed to date one boy for justifiable reasons and all of a sudden we're the worst parents of the year." I could see how upset he was through his eyes.

"We're not the worst parents! We're just probably not her favorite people in the world right now." I said trying to make him feel better.

"I guess I can accept that." He said.

"What if he isn't a bad guy? I mean Vicki and Emilio did raise him and they're great people." I reminded him.

"I'm not calling him the devil or anything I'm just saying he is a guy and I along with most guys at that age are only worried about one thing. And that might not be his main intention with her, but I'm sure it will be one intention he has." He said.

"Well what's stopping her from dating a guy her own age and sleeping with him?" I asked. I know it sounds like I was switching viewpoints again, but I was genuinely curious.

"Well for one it's illegal for her to consent to having sex with and adult, an adult being a person eighteen or older.” He explained as if I didn’t know this already and I rolled my eyes at him. “So if she sleeps with Vic then he could go to jail if she get pregnant or anything like that. Someone her own age wouldn't face consequences."

"So you're ultimately trying to protect Vic?"

"I don't know! You're confusing me with all these questions. Look I don't want Izzy dating him or anybody really because she's not mature enough to understand that guys will go too far lengths to get what they want. And I know Vic was raised by nice people or whatever but at the end of the day he's still a guy." He said and I understood his point of view a lot better.

"Were you one of those guys who said whatever a girl wanted to hear to get into her pants?" I asked jokingly trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, look how perfectly it worked on you.” He said smirking.

"I'm not a girl, Bitch." I laughed.

"You could have fooled me. Now do you want breakfast or not?"

"It’s noon now so it's not called breakfast anymore." I said just to be difficult.

"Oh-fucking-Kay do you want brunch?" He rolled his eyes making me laugh harder.

"Yeah I want pancakes. But bring them to me in bed. I don't want to leave." I said. He mumbled something under his breath but went to do as he was told.

Alex came back almost twenty later with two trays of food for us. "Here you go your majesty." He said sarcastically.

"Thanks servant." I said and he glared at me. "Did you make Izzy something too?" I asked.

"Yeah I placed it outside of her door and knocked, but now that I think about it she probably won't come out because she'll think it's one of us trying to talk to her." He said.

"Then how'd you get her phone?" I asked.

"Oh I just walked in and took it off her nightstand. She was still sleeping then."

"You're a monster."

"She's only grounded for three days. That's for being disrespectful and like you said she was angry so I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt."

"This kind of reminds me of when I was her age and I would get into arguments with my mom. I would stay in my room as protest but then I would get hungry and come out apologizing." I laughed.

"Wait wait wait!" He said ignoring my story. "Didn't you sleep with a thirty year old man when you were sixteen?!?" He asked and I chuckled slightly.

"Yeah I did and I know it makes me a hypocrite since Vic is only three years older than her instead of twice her age. I'm not proud that I did that though. I told you I loved the fact that somebody actually found me attractive and I kind of thought we were in love but we weren't it was always about sex." I shivered just thinking about that whole ordeal. "Of course it doesn't bother me now, but at the time I regretted it I was just never able to admit that to myself for the longest. I don't want Izzy to feel the same way. I mean I know my case is way more extreme, but still."

"I know what you mean. I don't want her to be like 'he thinks I’m gorgeous and he's in a band and he told me that if I really loved him we should do it' because then I would have to kill him and I wouldn't make it one day in jail, Jack." He moped.

"Yeah you'd be someone's jail wife in the first hour. But look Vic is just a guy she'll be over him before you know it and it'll be like none of this ever happened."

I hope.

***

Alex forced me out of bed and now we were sitting in the living room watching Modern Family. We were laughing really hard at one part when the doorbell rang five times in a row. I looked at Alex and he shrugged, whoever it was had to be in trouble because they rang it five more times. I got up from my seat and went to look out the peep hole to see Alan, Taylor, and Ian outside. I quickly opened it and got a better look at them. They were all three crying.

“Alan what happened?” I asked letting them into our house.

"Austin came into the house, drunk, and screaming and yelling at me calling me a whore and slut.” Alan told me through his tears. “He said he wanted a divorce and that he was going to take my kids away from me."

"Come on let's go talk in my office. Taylor take Ian and go find Izzy upstairs." I grabbed Alan's hand and pulled him to the office.

"Alan shhh it's okay. Austin was just angry and like you said drunk. He's not going to take the kids away from you and he was just accusing you of cheating to see if you really were." I tried to calm him down but he started crying harder.

"I did." He said and I looked at him confused. "I cheated on him." He clarified.

"Alan what?" I shouted at him. Now I was beyond stressed. I have my own family problems to worry about and now I have Alan's family problems to worry about.

"It was just once I swear and I didn't mean too." He cried and I rolled my eyes at him.

"How do you accidentally cheat on someone, Alan?" I yelled letting my stress get the best of me.

"I don't know! And why are you yelling at me, you're supposed to be helping me?"

"I am helping you. I let you in my house to get away from Austin and I'm trying to calm you down. That's the only way I can help you in this situation. What else could you possibly want me to do? I can't help you unfuck some other guy." I yelled. To my surprise he didn't get angry or storm out, he just let out more tears.

"I'm sorry Alan that was harsh." I apologized. "I'm just really stressed out."

"It's okay I understand. I'm sorry I just need to stay here for a few days so Austin won't bother me." He said and I sighed. I know he couldn't get a hotel since all the credit cards Austin's which meant he could find them at any time. I wanted to offer to buy him a hotel but I didn't want it to look like I was kicking him out of our house.

"Okay. Taylor and Ian can take the two guest rooms upstairs and you can have the one down stairs." I felt kind of guilty because Alan was the one who cheated on Austin and I was helping him hide their children away from Austin.

"Thank you, Jack." He sniffled and left the office. I nodded and sat down in my chair placing my head on my desk.

"Is everything okay?" Alex asked as he walked in and over to me. He began to rub my shoulders.

"No." I mumbled without lifting my head up.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Alan did cheat on Austin." I started off and he sighed. "And Austin wants a divorce and to take the children."

"Can he do that?"

"Yeah I think so. I think he would have to prove Alan was an unfit father and bringing up the infidelity would be step one." I told him.

"Jesus this is going to get so messy." He shook his head.

Notes

I love the next chapter!

Enjoy!