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Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 18, 2015 3:29:34 GMT
It hadn't seemed like it had really been that long since he had been here last. At least since they had discussed what he had on the agenda for this particular lunch meeting. Brandon had come to accept the fact that his business lunches with Cooper Benson had really become less and less about business as time had gone on. He supposed that was what happened when you ran in the same social circles, or at least when Amber Jacobs tended to be part of your life. And now that they had reconciled, he found it was a lot easier to talk to her, and even about her than it had been just days before. In fact, their timing couldn't have been better suited for this time of year as the holidays were just around the corner and she was now on a kick to make sure that their first holiday together was absolutely perfect. There was a high probability, he realized, that the Thanksgiving dinner that she wanted to host was less for them and their friends than it was to prove to themselves that they could have a normal, happy Thanksgiving for their future child. Which brought him back around to what he wanted to talk to Cooper around.
The idea of being a father to Alayna's child had been unnerving and unexpected and so he had sought out the other man's advice as a way to make himself feel better about the possibility of having a kid and taking on an onslaught on responsibilities he had neither been ready for, or really wanted. But this time was different. Not only was he certain that it was his child, he was also going to be having a kid with a woman that he actually loved. It just didn't make any of it any less terrifying. And under these circumstances he felt like he needed fresh advice, or at least someone to point him in the direction of the appropriate next step to take.
But now that he was sitting at lunch, he realized he wasn't sure how to actually say the words out loud. He hadn't actually told anyone yet, except for when he and Amber had told Cassidy. "So, how have things been?" he asked, taking a drink. It wasn't the best way to start a conversation, he knew, but it was better than just blurting it out.
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Post by Cooper Benson on Sept 18, 2015 3:40:09 GMT
Cooper liked his regular lunch meetings with Brandon. In fact, he'd noticed that ever since his social circle had started slowly changing that he looked forward to them. Not too long ago, most of his acquaintances in New York were just business associates and his life had revolved solely around work and his daughter. But things changed. He thought a great deal of it had to do with Madison, but at the same time it went both ways – he wouldn’t have met Maddy if it hadn’t been for the small very odd social circle that they ran in. Sometimes, he noted that it was like juggling – because certain people just wouldn’t like to be in a room with each other at the same time, but he was willing to work with that. Still, he’d come to appreciate Brandon’s friendship – especially over the recent months. Part of him thought it was because Amber Jacobs made Brandon more likeable and vice versa, but he’d never say as much.
“I’ve been all right,” he nodded after having handed the waitress his menu once he’d placed his order. He reached for his drink and took a sip. “Work’s been…work,” he chuckled. “But the new place is great, you and Amber should stop by sometime. Melanie would probably love that,” he nodded, almost teasingly due to the fact that he knew just how much his daughter had taken a shine to Brandon.
“What about you?” Cooper had maybe, possibly, been made aware that for a very brief period of time, Brandon had made his way into the gossip columns for being out without Amber again, but then things had seemed to fall back into the status quo, so he didn’t pry.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 18, 2015 4:03:59 GMT
"I'm sure we'd be happy to drop by," he said, briefly considering if babysitting for Cooper's daughter would give them the practice that they needed to prepare for their own impending kid. He pushed the thought aside and followed suit, placing his order and handing over his menu as well. He looked at Cooper and nodded, "I know how the work things go." Since stepping into his father's role, he had felt as though his work hours had become a little out of hand. He had been trying to find a way to manage the time spent at the office, as well as the responsibilities that had come with the new job, but it was still a struggle. He supposed that as things progressed with Amber, he owed it to her to at least be around to support her and to care for her and the baby as needed. At this point it seemed like the nine months that they should have had to prepare were going to be nowhere near enough, both to rearrange things at work, as well as to prepare mentally. Besides, there seemed to be a dozen things they needed to do just to get the Penthouse ready. It was, he admitted, more than he thought he was able to handle on his own. Which was just part of the reason why he needed advice.
Brandon sighed, for a second trying to figure out if there was an appropriate way to share the news. "I'm good," he nodded. "Really good. Amber ... she's pregnant, actually."
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Post by Cooper Benson on Sept 18, 2015 4:09:09 GMT
Cooper nearly choked on his drink. He couldn't help it, he just hadn't been expected to hear that at all. He ticked his eyebrow up and nodded. "Really?" Cooper considered this for a moment. "Huh, how about that." He observed Brandon for a moment, remembering how Brandon had come to him for advice about his ex-fiancee who'd been claiming her child was his. "How do you feel about that?" he asked cautiously.
The truth was that Cooper thought Brandon and Amber were good for each other. He figured that, after all the time that they'd been trying to make things work as teenagers and then how easily and effortlessly they seemed to get back together, this time older and wiser - well, he just figured that they could handle whatever the world was throwing at them even if it took them some time. But he remembered how taken off guard he'd been when he found out Simone was pregnant with Melanie. And they'd been trying to get pregnant. "And congratulations, of course."
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Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 18, 2015 4:25:48 GMT
When Cassidy had asked him how he had felt about the situation he had been afraid of what it all had meant for his life, as well as for his relationship with Amber. As much as he had hated it at the time, it really seemed like their little break had been good for them, at least in the sense that he no longer felt the same sense of anxiety when he thought about it. That wasn't to say that he was completely thrilled by it, but it just felt a lot more doable now than it had a week ago. "Truthfully? I'm worried."
Brandon had been trying to decipher his own feelings on it for a while now and everything kept coming back to the idea that he was worried that he wasn't going to know what to do, that they weren't going to be prepared for something that happened, that he was going to make a terrible father. He just kept coming up with more and more reasons that it was a terrible idea but he kept reminding himself of what had happened the last time that he had panicked and done something stupid, and he was going to be doing his best to avoid that from here on out. Instead, he had been trying to be open and honest with Amber about it, trying to allow some of their communication to soothe away any fears that arose. "It's different than when Alayna showed up," he admitted. "Not just because I have no doubt that this kid is actually mine, but I just feel different about it. I want to be there and be a good parent for it, but it's hard. Amber's been pretty great about it so far and I haven't done quite as well."
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Post by Cooper Benson on Sept 18, 2015 4:34:47 GMT
The truth was, Cooper had never really thought about what any of his friends would be like as parents. It seemed something that was so far off. Sure, Riley was marrying Adam soon, but they were also still so new in their relationship. Though, he supposed he shouldn't have been too surprised at this new development. Still, the more he contemplated it, the more he believed Brandon and Amber would be fine. "I'm still worried about being a good parent," he assured Brandon. "Hell, sometimes I'm pretty sure I could be better. But that's part of it, too, I guess."
Scratching his head, he paused for a moment. "No one is ever pretty great about having a kid," Cooper also added jokingly. "People are just usually better at hiding it than others. Still, it's not a contest. Just because Amber's handling it one way doesn't mean you're going to be bad at it. Hell, Brandon, being a parent isn't supposed to be easy. But I promise you, it's worth it." Taking a sip of his drink he nodded, "I think it's good that you're concerned, but don't beat yourself up too much. I freaked out for nine months straight before Melanie was born," he explained. "I mean, freaked the hell out. I tried throwing myself into work. I tried doing everything I could to over-prepare until Simone got pissed at me. I drank a lot for a few weeks of the second trimester, too."
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Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 18, 2015 4:50:13 GMT
Brandon wasn't sure if Cooper meant to be reassuring or not when he told him that he was still worried about being a good parent. He wasn't sure that he could take another nineteen years of this feeling throughout the course of Amber's pregnancy and then the kid's life. Though, he supposed, it would give him an awful lot of time to figure out exactly how he was supposed to be handling that feeling, and probably a significant bit more time to figure out what this meant for them. There was still a large part of him that worried that this entire situation would derail his efforts to take things more slowly with Amber, to ensure to both of them that this wasn't something that he was going to rush into and that if and when they got engaged, it would be because it was the right thing for them to do, and not something that he thought he needed to do for whatever reason.
He looked at Cooper for a second, unsure how much he knew about what exactly had happened over the last couple of weeks. "I kissed my secretary," he admitted. "It was stupid, but I was just so concerned that I wasn't ready for my life to change that I ended up doing something really stupid."
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Post by Cooper Benson on Sept 18, 2015 5:03:17 GMT
Cooper took a breath, tilting his head. "Yeah, that's pretty stupid, Brandon," he stated plainly. "I saw that you were out with Eliot. Word of advice, call me next time, I'll let you drunk without you possibly getting into trouble. I've even got three hotels in this city you can stay in without incident." Taking another sip of his drink, he considered everything. "How are you feeling now?" he asked. "Any less stupid?"
He offered Brandon a good natured grin. "We all do stupid things, man. The key is what you learn from them. If you learned enough then you just move on and it works out. How'd she take it? And how's she doing, by the way?"
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Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 18, 2015 5:17:50 GMT
Cooper had a point, Eliot shouldn't have been the first person that he called. Though he wasn't sure that he would have called Cooper either. With everything that had happened, he assumed that like Cassidy, Cooper would have been on Amber's side in the entire situation. He had done something that had hurt her, and as most of their friends had come into his life because of their friendship with her, he figured that the lines would have been drawn pretty clearly. Eliot had been really the only person he could think of that didn't have any draw to Amber's side in their little break. Or Riley, which he now realized in retrospect should have been the better choice to make. "I'm feeling a lot less stupid," he admitted with a nod. Making up with her had actually been the key to making him feel like he could avoid making any more stupid decisions. He wasn't sure how long he could have gone on being separate from her before he found himself right back where he had been a year ago, partying with Eliot like an idiot.
"Amber didn't take the whole thing with Gwen well. She ended up moving out for a couple of days and stayed in a hotel. She even put her assistant on leave, which in itself was not great. But everything is okay now. She's doing really well." In fact, after a couple of days holed up in a hotel room, he was sure that she was doing exceptionally well.
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Post by Cooper Benson on Sept 18, 2015 5:24:41 GMT
"Was it one of my hotels? I would have sent her home if I'd known," he quipped. When the waitress brought their food out, he thanked her quickly and turned his attention back to the conversation. "But I'm glad you guys are doing well again, and I mean it - congratulations. I think you guys are actually, probably, going to be pretty great at it," he nodded, and he meant it. He figured the two of them would figure out the parenting part, but that they were in love enough to make it work. He had found, in retrospect, that was the mistake with his ex-wife. "You guys let me know if you need anything, yeah?"
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Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 18, 2015 5:34:36 GMT
He shook his head, "No, I think she purposely avoided them because she didn't want to be found at the time." But either way, he had been happy to have found her, even if she had said that she was on her way to see him anyway. That in itself probably proved that they had been right when they had come to the conclusion that they kind of needed each other, regardless of how they might have been feeling at the time. "But thank you. We haven't gotten around to telling many people yet and so it's a little strange to hear it actually acknowledged out loud," he admitted, pausing for a moment. "And thank you for the advice and the encouragement. I don't know a lot of people with kids so it's been helpful to get a better understanding of it all."
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Post by Cooper Benson on Sept 18, 2015 5:41:18 GMT
Cooper laughed, "Yeah, well. I've got some experience there, so again - really, anything you guys need. I remember when we were down in Austin without either of our families around. Something about it taking villages to raise a kid, you know? We just had a nanny," he waved his hand dismissively. "So really, just paying it forward. Besides, Melanie is just nuts about both of you and I'm sure she's going to decide, immediately, that any new kid is her new best friend," he laughed.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 18, 2015 13:43:23 GMT
He actually appreciated Cooper's offer for assistance more than he was probably willing to admit. Brandon had been thinking about how they were going to be able to manage all of these new responsibilities on top of their existing ones, and while Cassidy had already offered to babysit, it didn't seem fair to constantly tap into her to help them figure out how to be parents to their kid. There was probably a fair bit of truth in what Cooper had said about it taking a village.
Brandon smiled, "Well, I'm sure our kid will appreciate her friendship soon enough. Actually, if you don't have any plans for Thanksgiving already, Amber would love to have everyone over for dinner. I think she's trying to practice being domestic."
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Post by Cooper Benson on Sept 18, 2015 17:05:56 GMT
Cooper’s eyes went wide of his own accord. “Amber…being domestic?” he asked. “Does she plan on cooking for Thanksgiving herself?” He considered this for a moment. “I mean, I’d love to come – I’m sure Melanie would love it. Do you mind if I invite Madison as well?” He actually wasn’t sure if Maddy had plans with her own family and realized he probably should check sooner rather than later, but he thought it would be nice.
Typically, Cooper spent his holidays with Melanie. On occasion, his mother would drop in but since his return to New York, their relationship had been slightly strained. He thought it would be good for his daughter to experience a big group holiday, but also thought the group itself was likely to be an odd gathering of people.
“Does Amber know how to cook a turkey?” he asked, mildly concerned. “Should I arrange for the hotel’s kitchen to prepare a back up, just in case?”
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Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 18, 2015 17:43:24 GMT
Brandon laughed, he had also had a hard time wrapping his mind around the idea that Amber wanted to coordinate an entire holiday gathering on her own. It wasn't that he didn't have faith in her to do it, but there was a reason why they were the people who ordered take-out more frequently than not. But, in this instance, he wanted to give her something that would make her happy, and for whatever reason this seemed to make her happy. "I think she wants to try and do it all herself, so yes, a back-up would probably be for the best." Though, he was never going to tell Amber that they had arranged for a meal on the off-chance that hers didn't actually turn out. He wondered briefly if he should double check the Penthouse's insurance policy for anything about turkey-ignited fires.
"Madison is of course welcome too," he smirked a little at that. "So that's going well then?"
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