Chapter 26 -- Adulting. Merry Noel
Heather, Alice, Scarlett, Athena, and Dave stood just inside the large room. The room was a hodgepodge of decorating styles. A few band posters hung on the walls, along with some notable pieces of original art. A large king-size bed backed up to one wall. Two separate desks were in the room a few feet apart, each with a large Apple iMac on it with a vibrant screensaver catching the eye. There was also a flat-screen television and a cushy loveseat.
Across the room there was a door to an ensuite bath and shower area. In that short hallway were side-by-side walk-in closets full of teenage clothing for Rose and Matthew as of an hour earlier.
Heather sighed, "I guess this is where I congratulate the two of you for being adult enough for all of us to approve of you living together before you head off to college and do it anyway."
Rose giggled, "The kids in school call it 'adulting' and we have been 'legal' for ages. Of course, we thought we were ready five years ago, but in hindsight we weren't. Thank you all for allowing us to live together, and mom, thank you for giving up your master bedroom to us. I promise we'll take good care of the house and not be an embarrassment to anybody."
Scarlett rolled her eyes, "Yes, honey. Just keep up with your birth control pills. I don't want any 'oopsie shits, guess what happened' conversations. My press agent already has migraines because of MY lifestyle. All she'd need was to hear that my offspring had fallen off the rail. You would be a bigger splash in the gossip columns than Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol when she got pregnant out of wedlock as a teen."
Rose said, "It's not like we haven't been making love for a while. We are not only very careful, but we are very committed to each other. Both of us have some great plans for our education and careers." She pointed at the computer on her desk. I'm teaching myself how to build apps and Matt has the guts of these machines mapped onto his brain.
Dave added, "The academics have to stay up there, too. As adults you have ...:
"Dad, we know ... we're both 'A' students. We help each other, plus Toby and Danica have been helping us since they've taken most of the classes we have, often with the same teachers. They were pack rats and even had their old tests and papers that we can use to bootstrap into something better. They're saving a lot of their freshman class assignments to help us, too."
Rose said, "Speaking of that, I'd like your permission to test out of plane geometry and trigonometry. I know the material in those subjects like the back of my hand, and I'd like to take something more challenging. There's an Introduction to Calculus course that looks like fun, as well as a biochem class."
Scarlett looked at the other adults, "Fun? I would have never called a math class fun, at least when I was in school. Maybe there's something to this adulting stuff we should try." She laughed.
Dave and Scarlett had an aside, and then told Rose to arrange for test outs. They would be glad to intervene or write notes on her behalf if her instructors gave her any problems.
The five adults left the 'kids' to their own devices. As they walked away, Dave noted, "You know even when they're forty-five, they'll still be the kids." The others laughed.
Dave peeked in as the last to walk down the hallway. Rose had gotten on her computer and seemed to be working on some kind of app. Matt was on his computer and had just called up a TED Talk on human psychology.
As they got out of earshot, Athena said, "I have a small confession to make. I started to make love with Matt and Rose about a year ago when they became of age." She waited for some kind of reaction, but the others merely looked at her in questioning way.
"You're not mad at me?" Athena posed.
Dave responded, "Athena, I love you and I know you care deeply for all of the children. You do yeoman's work to help with the younger generation. I know that any of your actions with any of us come from a loving and supportive place. I'm not a bit angry. You've held up this end of things for Scarlett and me, while we've been off doing other crazy things."
Scarlett hugged the dear girl to her. "I'm glad someone as loving as you had been their friend, lover, and companion since forever. Thank you."
Athena breathed easier. "And it's all right that I continue to live in the house?"
Scarlett looked shocked, "Of course. I think you're a good influence on all you come in contact with, plus your help as my home assistant has always been outstanding. Please don't ever even think about leaving. You will always have a home here. I don't worry about bills, finances, or anything here; you have it all in hand." She gestured around the mega house she'd built years earlier.
Athena shyly said, "Thank you. I love all of you so much.
The weather had finally moderated for the Thanksgiving holiday, so Sarasota wasn't soaking in ninety-degree days. If previous years were an indication, the citizens and snowbirds would have about four months of beautiful weather that invited being outside, possibly even with a jacket.
Dave went to the bar planning to open things up for the Saturday evening trade. He got a Face Time call just before reaching his goal. The call was from Ashley Steerman. He instantly guessed what the topic would be -- paternity.
He moved away from the bar crowd and accepted the call. "Hi, Ash. What's up?"
"We're pregnant!" She grinned from ear to ear, and then turned the phone so he could also see Kyle with a happy look on his face. Dave wondered, even whether moments like these weren't exceptionally awkward, even among Circle members who'd decided that paternity wasn't important.
Kyle said, "Hi, Dave. We are deeply indebted to you for your assistance in this little feat. We got the lab tests back today, even though it's a Saturday. We know the doc personally. We're over the moon."
Dave chuckled, "I'm glad to help out. At this point there's not much I can do but wish everyone well. What can I do to help? Anything?"
Ashley laughed, "I think I have most of the work to do between now and June twelfth, the projected due date. I'm about three months along. I did do an IPT test and got a positive but I wanted confirmation from the medical community before I called to confirm with you. Supposedly, I'm an ideal candidate to deliver a healthy baby. I'll email you the sonogram in which you can see the little bugger. We asked that the doctor not tell us the gender."
"I'm so glad. So, now what?"
Kyle jumped in, "That was one of the things we wanted to talk to you about. We've finally agreed on a set of plans with Jack Anders. We want a decorator down there in Sarasota to take a look at the plans and talk to us about them. Do you know anybody?"
Dave said, "Two actually. Alice Grace up in Mark Worthington's family, and one of our pledges named Jenn Whitaker. Do you want me to have both of them give a look at the layout and call you?"
"Precisely," Kyle said. "That's exactly what we hoped for. I'll text Jack to give you two sets. He also said he'd submit to the city and Circle Board for formal approvals and permits and all that stuff. They don't care about décor unless it gets structural."
"Let me know what else I can do? I want to be sure my ... errr ... your ... ummmm ..."
Kyle laughed, "It's okay. You can say your baby. We aren't going to pretend this happened any other way than the way it did. For public dissemination we'll just say I'm the baby daddy and not announce what happened. Nashville has a crazy rumor mill that would spit us out in little pieces if they really knew."
