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Post by Ellie Tyler on Nov 5, 2015 18:45:28 GMT
What Ellie was sure her parents had intended on being a small get-together to welcome Morgan back from her trip abroad had quickly become something much larger. If asked, Ellie had already decided that she was going to justify it by saying that her sister deserved a lot of fanfare to welcome her home, and really neither she nor Morgan should be blamed for the sheer number of friends that they had. Plus, it wasn't like they didn't have the space to accommodate more than the like five people that her parents had originally invited. And she supposed that as long as it didn't get out of hand and there wasn't underage drinking and extremely loud music pumping through the apartment, then there really was no cause for concern. At least that's what Ellie kept reminding herself as more and more of her and Morgan's classmates started to arrive.
Besides, Ellie justified, aside from the short week where the family had gone to visit Morgan over spring break, she hadn't seen her sister in five months. She wondered if she was still the same person, if she still looked the same or dressed the same, or still wanted to come back to her old life. If she was really being honest about the sudden increase of party-goers, she assumed that it might have had something to do with trying to show Morgan that it was worth staying in the city now instead of leaving again. Even if Morgan was going to leave her for college, then maybe there was a chance that they could at least see each other a lot more than they had over the last several months.
Morgan still hadn't made it home yet and so Ellie opted to try and keep her excitement contained by saying hello to her friends, as well as checking in with her parents. She knew that they were anxious to have Morgan home too.
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Post by Morgan Tyler on Nov 5, 2015 20:19:18 GMT
Morgan was eager to see her family again. She’d come back with gifts for her sister from some of the boutiques that she’d managed to visit between sightseeing. But she’d also come back with something else – or someone else, rather. Remi had – for all intents and purposes – been a fling. He had been a handsome French boy who had approached her one day when she’d been sitting along the Sienne drinking coffee. He’d been charming and complimentary and taken her out, introduced her to his friends – for her last remaining weeks in Europe he’d been there and she’d liked the whirlwind feeling of it all – the undivided attention he seemed to give her. But then, shortly before returning to New York, he’d let her know that he was attending NYU in the fall for a year. And suddenly the fling had become a lot more permanent.
“My parents and my sister are probably going to make a big thing about me coming home and want to go out to dinner or something, if you want to meet up later,” she’d tried to explain to him. But he’d been insistent on coming along – saying he wanted to meet them.
She hadn’t been expecting a homecoming larger than her immediate family, either. So when she swung the door open, dragging her suitcase in and idly wondering why Remi wasn’t helping her with her baggage, she was surprised to find their home somewhat crowded with familiar faces.
Riley was ecstatic for Morgan to be coming home and while they’d originally only planned a little get-together, she thought Ellie’s idea to have a bigger party was sweet and something Morgan deserved. When the door opened to the apartment, she smiled broadly, moving to greet her daughter before she noticed a boy walking in with her. She watched the way he took Morgan’s hand in his and smiled at everyone and looked at Adam. “Oh boy.”
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Post by Ellie Tyler on Nov 5, 2015 21:37:29 GMT
In retrospect, Adam knew that he had been the one that had really supported the idea of Morgan going away. And while he still believed that it had been the right decision to make, as long as she returned in time for graduation and for college to start in the fall, it had been the day that she left that he had really started to question whether or not Riley should have fought him harder on getting her to stay. He argued with himself that it was probably more that he was just being an overprotective parent than anything and so he let her go, knowing that it was going to be difficult to let her go. He had hoped that they would have all had another year together before the twins had gone off to college, but he was still proud of Morgan for accomplishing all that she had. Even if her high school career seemed to have ended because of a physical confrontation at school.
He had been hoping that upon her return that the four of them would have been able to just have dinner together and catch up on all that they had missed, but it seemed like their youngest daughter had different ideas about what would have made Morgan's perfect homecoming. Adam supposed that they still had all summer to be a family and catch up, but Morgan's time with her high school friends was quickly coming to a close. And so he hadn't said anything when Ellie had started inviting all of the girls' friends over to the apartment. He was having a much more difficult time not saying anything when his daughter walked into the apartment with a boy at her side. "Oh boy indeed," he said softly to his wife. "Did you have any idea about that?"
Ellie caught sight of her sister arriving and rushed over to her without a second thought. Nearly launching herself into Morgan's arms, she hugged her sister tightly, happy to finally have her home. Since they were born, Ellie couldn't remember a time where she had spent more than a weekend away from Morgan, and so the last five months had seemed like a completely alternate reality. Several months ago Everett had teased her about how she felt about becoming an only child and now, having experienced it first-hand, she had to say that she hated it. It was strange to walk past Morgan's room and know that she wasn't going to be coming home that night. So she held a little tighter to her sister before pulling away. "Hi! How was it? You'll have to tell me everything about it!"
In her excitement, she almost missed the sight of an unfamiliar face beside her sister. She couldn't remember Morgan mentioning anything about a boy at spring break, unless she was keeping secrets, so Ellie had to admit that she was a little surprised to see him. But she did have to admit that he was cute. "Hi, I'm Morgan's sister, Ellie," she said with a smile, offering him her hand. Though, having now remembered that Morgan had been holding his hand, she was questioning whether or not it had been a good idea to invite Brody over as well.
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Post by Morgan Tyler on Nov 5, 2015 21:52:46 GMT
Morgan laughed as Ellie hugged her, immediately embracing her twin sister in return. "I missed you so much!" she exclaimed. "And I brought you something back! I had to declare an extra bag at the airport just to bring you guys things," she laughed. She shifted awkwardly when Ellie drew more attention to Remi.
Before she could respond, Remi offered his hand out to Ellie. “I am Remi,” he said slowly, English still not being his forte. “It is nice to meet you. I am Morgan’s…” he paused, searching for the word. “Boyfriend.”
Hearing the title placed on him, Morgan felt a bit uncomfortable. She would have preferred to have this conversation with her family privately first, but now it seemed like there really wasn’t any time. “I met Remi while I was in Paris, he let me know just recently that he was studying in New York for the school year. He even arranged to be on my flight home,” she explained softly.
“I was considering studying abroad at Georgetown,” he cut in. “But how could I say no to the chance to spend more time with your sister?”
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Post by Ellie Tyler on Nov 5, 2015 22:25:15 GMT
Ellie grinned widely at her sister before turning her attention to Remi, as he had introduced himself as. At the note of being called her sister's boyfriend, she had to stifle her surprise, masking it as excitement. "Oh! Well, welcome! We think Morgan's pretty hard to say goodbye to, as well. That's why we're so happy to have her own," she didn't know why it felt like she was staking a claim over her sister, but something about the idea of having to share her with someone else before college started for her in the fall seemed highly unappealing. She figured that feeling would go away in a few weeks or days, but for now she wasn't sure what to think of the new boyfriend. Aside from the fact that he was incredibly attractive. Ellie wanted to shake her head at her sister's ability to always seem to find the hottest boyfriends, but she supposed she couldn't really blame her.
It was as though almost on cue that Ellie spotted Brody stepping into the apartment and making his way over to them.
"Hi," he greeted the Tyler girls with a wide grin before pressing a friendly kiss to Ellie's cheek. It had been strange in Morgan's absence as they had both realized they had never spent much time away from the redhead, and while they hadn't immediately rushed to become each other's best friends, they had found a sort of common ground while Morgan was away. It had seemed to particularly help his cause in being the blonde's friend when he had finally stopped seeing Melanie. After Morgan had left it seemed like Melanie's interest in him had gone on the decline incredibly quickly and he had gotten tired of playing second string to whatever other prospects she deemed more interesting. "I'm sorry for being late, my mom's been on a kick about family time lately." He turned to Morgan, the sight of her bringing back the memory of what had happened when she had come over to say her goodbye around Christmas. "Hi," he repeated, not sure what else to really say. "Welcome home," he added, hugging her quickly. It felt incredibly weird to have her back, especially with everything that had happened, and the sudden introduction of the boy to her side. Brody had caught the tail end of their conversation and had heard enough to know that Morgan hadn't come home alone.
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Post by Morgan Tyler on Nov 5, 2015 22:52:03 GMT
Morgan smiled softly at her sister, wishing desperately that they’d mastered that Twin ESP thing she’d tried so hard with her to establish. She knew that randomly showing up with a foreign boy was largely out of character for her. In fact, the word boyfriend had yet to be uttered until just now. It seemed so serious – so official. She never thought that the first person to call himself her boyfriend would be anyone other than the boy she shared her first kiss with.
And speak of the devil.
The quick hug caught her off guard and she blushed, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Hi,” she replied gently. “Thank you for coming. I didn’t realize it was going to be such a big welcome, or I would have brought back gifts for everyone,” she chuckled nervously. “How is your mom? Is she good? I got her something when I was away.” She’d gotten him something too, but from the way Remi squeezed her hand she thought that maybe that would be a bad idea.
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Post by Ellie Tyler on Nov 5, 2015 23:11:43 GMT
Ellie couldn't help but be oddly fascinated by the whole exchange between Morgan and Brody. She wasn't exactly sure what had happened between them after everything that had occurred with Melanie, but they were always going to be the same people that she used to play with when they were all little. Morgan was always going to be the girl that chased Brody around the house and he was always going to be Morgan's first kiss, and Ellie knew that a French boyfriend wasn't going to change anything.
Brody gave a small shrug. "I was happy to come." Truthfully he wasn't sure that Ellie was even going to invite him with everything that had gone on, but he was relieved and even a little excited that she had. "My mom's great. I'm sure she would love to see you when you have some time. She's probably wondering which shop was your favorite since ... well, she's surrounded by boys most of the time so she's probably looking for an excuse to talk about shopping with someone." Deciding that he couldn't just ignore her boyfriend forever, he turned to the other young man, offering him his hand. "Brody. I'm sorry, I missed your name."
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Post by Morgan Tyler on Nov 5, 2015 23:24:26 GMT
Remi was more than eager to introduce himself to Brody. “My name is Remi,” he informed him, none too pleased with the way that Morgan seemed to flush at the very sight of him. “I am Morgan’s boyfriend,” he explained with a nod. “You are a friend of Ellie’s?”
Morgan cleared her throat, “Brody and I grew up together,” she interjected. “He was always one of my best friends.”
“Curious,” Remi muttered.
Morgan shifted uncomfortably and looked down at the floor before glancing over her shoulder. “I should probably go say hello to my parents.”
Riley, in the meantime, was sipping her water and eying the boy next to her daughter, eyebrow ticking up as Brody walked in. She turned to Adam, shaking her head. “I have no idea what’s going on. But I have a feeling that things are unfortunately going to get more interesting around here. I miss when they were babies and couldn’t talk or walk…or even roll onto their stomachs. They were cute and well-behaved.”
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Post by Brody Finn on Nov 6, 2015 0:08:22 GMT
Brody wasn't sure what he was supposed to say to Morgan's new boyfriend. Part of him had thought that maybe once things with Melanie had ended and Morgan had come back from her trip that things would go back to the way that they had been before. Even if it hadn't been exactly like it had been before everything that had happened on Halloween, at least they could have gone back to just being each other's best friends. Or even just friends, he would have taken that too. He wasn't sure what to do now that she had a boyfriend as that, he hated to admit, was not something that he had expected. Besides, something about the new boyfriend seemed off, but Brody couldn't quite put a finger on it just yet.
Ellie nodded, taking her sister by the arm. "Come on, Mom and Dad are probably dying to see you. I maybe should have let you get to them sooner, but I was just too excited to see you." She wasn't sure what her parents were going to think about Remi, but she did know that she wanted a front row seat to whatever that show was. She was sure that her dad was going to have something to say about it, at least.
Adam sighed, "I knew we should never have let them grow up." He knew that Riley had a point, things had been much easier when the kids were all much younger and didn't have any drama of their own. He missed when the girls' biggest problem was whether or not they could have cookies before dinner and had nothing to do with boys. "I wonder how much of it she's actually going to tell us about. Or if she's actually going to make him come say hello to us."
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Post by Morgan Tyler on Nov 6, 2015 0:24:22 GMT
Morgan was grateful to go and say hello to her parents and she squeezed her sister's hand with a grin. "We have a lot to talk about later," she muttered into Ellie's ear before greeting her parents, throwing her arms around her father. "Daddy!" she exclaimed. "I missed you guys, you didn't have to do a big thing just because I came home," she said to them. She was trying desperately to avoid addressing the issue of Remi. She smiled brightly at her parents though, she really had missed them quite a bit.
Remi stayed lingering near Brody, observing him for a moment. "So, you are a friend of Morgan's," he nodded. "Curious, where I come from it is very rare for a man to be friends with a pretty girl without becoming - comment dit-on...more than friends." Smirking and nodding at Brody, he then took a moment to glance around the room. "Perhaps things are different here. Or perhaps you do not think she is pretty - or at least not as pretty as others. Like her sister, even."
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Post by Brody Finn on Nov 6, 2015 0:55:09 GMT
Ellie nodded at her sister, already having about a thousand questions that she wanted to ask Morgan about her time abroad, about the boy that she brought home, and about what all of this meant now. She had thought that maybe Morgan would have come back ready to make up with Brody, or at the very least ready to move on to someone who was maybe a little more local. But, she did have to admit that having a boy follow you across the Atlantic ocean seemed terribly romantic.
Adam grinned at his daughter, happy that she seemed so happy to be home and particularly happy to see him and Riley. "This was all your sister's doing. We were planning on just taking you out to dinner to catch up on everything that's happened in the last five months. Ellie thought that this might be a better welcome home. But that doesn't mean that you're off the hook on family dinner," he teased. He looked over at the boy that she had left behind with Brody and wondered exactly what his duty as a parent was to say something about it. "So... who's that?" he questioned, trying to remain nonchalant.
Brody surveyed Morgan's new boyfriend, still struggling to place what it was that he seemed to dislike about him already. At his mention how men were unable to be friends with girls, he suddenly realized what it was - Remi seemed to be a complete douche. "Morgan's been my best friend for as long as I can remember. So no - I don't think that it's impossible for men to be just friends with a pretty girl. Which Morgan is - as I'm sure you know. And she's very important to me." The last part seemed to come out a little more territorial than he had expected, but he would have hated to see Remi hurt Morgan. Really, he hated the idea that anyone could hurt her, himself included. He knew that there was still a lot that he needed to make up to her for, he just hoped that she would give him the chance to do it before they both went to school in the fall.
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Post by Morgan Tyler on Nov 6, 2015 2:18:40 GMT
Morgan smiled at her dad, "Dinner sounds great," she agreed enthusiastically. When her father asked about Remi, she froze for a bit, eyes going wide. She pursed her lips for a moment and glanced over her shoulder at him, momentarily concerned she'd left him alone with Brody. "That is...Remi," she said slowly. She realized she had to explain. "I met him while I was in Paris, he asked me out to dinner - he's very nice. He took me sight-seeing a bunch of wonderful places and was really very kind while I was there and I thought there wasn't much harm in making a...friend. And it turns out that he had the chance to study abroad for a year, and he is going to go to NYU...I didn't know that part until a couple of days ago though." She nodded. "He's my...boyfriend," she said the last word a little uncertainly.
Riley eyed the boys for a moment before turning to her daughter. "I'm sure he's very nice. NYU is a good school." She withheld her opinion that it wasn't a great school. "But I'm sure he'll also understand that our family dinner is for - family and we'll have to get to know him at a different time."
Remi smirked at Brody. "Of course, Morgan - she is a pretty girl in her own way. She is very sweet and..." he struggled to find the word. "Naive - or innocent, you would say I suppose. And shy. Though perhaps now with more time together, that will change. After all, from what she tells me about herself I know that she is always eager to learn. And I am a very good teacher," he mused.
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Post by Brody Finn on Nov 6, 2015 2:54:39 GMT
Adam decided to follow Riley's lead and chose not to make any remarks about Morgan's new boyfriend just yet. He figured that if he learned anything about banning Moran from seeing a boy it was that it always seemed to backfire on him. But if he was going to be supportive of her dating this boy in any way, he still wanted to meet him. "After we have dinner as a family, you should invite him to come over to dinner with us. We would love to get to know your new boyfriend," he added, deciding that it was best to try and be supportive of how Morgan had decided to grow while she was away. For now he didn't feel as though he much cared for the boy, but he was trying his best not to judge him without knowing him just yet.
Brody could feel his hands tensing, fighting the urge to already hit the other young man. "I'm not sure Morgan needs to learn anything from you," he said forcefully. "Morgan is an incredibly intelligent person and I'm sure that she is perfectly capable of learning without your help. And I wouldn't get too excited about spending time with her, I'm sure that now that she's home things will start going back to normal. And I'm not quite sure how you fit into that. I would probably start looking into return flights to France if I were you."
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Post by Morgan Tyler on Nov 6, 2015 3:09:01 GMT
Morgan nodded at her father, "I will do that. He's very..." she trailed off not sure what to say, so instead she wrapped one arm around her dad and another around her sister. "Well, it's good to be home. I'm going to put my stuff in my room. And then we can get this shindig started," she teased. "Ellie, if you got queso dip you'll have earned yourself a pretty souvenir."
"Did I hear something about queso dip?" Will Blye asked, walking up to Ellie with a smile. He nodded at Adam and Riley before turning his attention back to the girl in front of him. "Because I do fancy a good snack," he nodded. Glancing around the party he took a breath, "Happy to have her back?" he asked, genuinely interested. "Who's the Frog?" he asked, gesturing to Remi.
Morgan made her way back to Brody and Remi, sensing that something was tense between them, she forced a smile onto her face. "Hi guys!" she greeted them chipperly. "I am just going to move my bags into my room and then get around to thanking everyone for coming." She turned to Remi, "I have to have dinner with my family tonight, but they want to meet you - maybe in a couple of days after I'm done settling in?" She hitched her backpack onto her shoulder and reached for her carry-on. Once she had them both balanced on her back she shifted to lift the handle of her suitcase to wheel it towards her room. She was, once again, a bit bothered that Remi didn't offer to help. He'd been a bit more accommodating in France. She wondered if it was just because he was jet-lagged.
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Post by Brody Finn on Nov 6, 2015 3:33:46 GMT
Ellie laughed, shaking her head. "I'll see what I can find." She turned to make her way toward the kitchen, stopped when Will approached. She smiled at him, still a little unsure if whether or not her plot to convince him that he actually liked him was working. In Morgan's absence, she had decided that she needed to show him how much she meant to him and after a few dates, she wasn't sure if she had actually accomplished anything. But it did seem like their relationship was a lot better than it had been before. "I am," she said with a nod. "It's very weird to suddenly find yourself an only child when you've literally had a sibling since you were born." At the mention of Remi she turned to see how he was fairing with Brody, noticing that Morgan had reintroduced herself to that conversation. "Apparently he's Morgan's new boyfriend. It sounds like it was very traditionally French, and romantic," she shrugged, "But I haven't really gotten to know him yet. He seems nice enough. He's certainly attractive enough. For her." She added the last bit, still unsure of what exactly their own situation was.
Brody was pleased about the interruption, sure that if he spent too much time with the French boy Morgan had brought home that things weren't going to go very well for anyone involved. At the mention of Remi attending dinner with her family he couldn't help but feel something akin to jealousy rise to the surface, but he stifled it, feeling as though it was a ridiculous emotion to feel in the first place. He had no right to be jealous of Remi, and if Morgan was happy with him, then he supposed that he really just needed to do his best to get along with the other young man. Watching her struggle to balance all of her luggage, he couldn't help but smile at her determination. "Can I help you with that?" he offered.
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