Chapter 5 - Family Holiday

Leon Vedder

I got off the plane. Eddie convinced me to visit his family for Christmas. Two years ago, we stopped by his home while we were touring the country, and I fell instantly in love with his family. His Grams were the best.

My heart churned when he explained that she had been slipping out more frequently. I loved the old woman, and it would hurt to see her fading away. I don't do holidays, and contrary to what the media says about me, I am not a playboy, a drug addict, or a drunkard. Yes, I have partied hard from time to time, but mostly, Eddie keeps me grounded, working hard, earning good money, letting our creativity do what we know to do best, and that is about it. A monotonous cycle of studio gatherings, touring, not sleeping in your bed for more than a week... and so on. It was a lonely story in the wash, rinse, and repeat cycle.

When he proposed to me to spend the Holidays, I thought that would be awesome. I met Eddie while studying music in the conservatory. He was gifted, and I was a talented, confident asshole. We became friends instantly. He was the one who embraced me when my parents died when I was sixteen.

I am the sole heir to one of the most old-money families in the country, so I had my life settled. Owning the multibillion-dollar company I inherited allowed me to try to reach out for my dreams, and here we are. The Abbot Red is one of the top-selling bands worldwide. The downside is that my face is so well-known that finding a partner for life is almost impossible. Yes, I have always wanted a woman who would share her life with me, her family, and, in the end, a quiet life once the ephemeral fame fades out.

Eddie picked me up from the airport. I traveled using my private jet. He wasn't alone; next to him was a gorgeous woman with a heavy French accent. I could see that something was brewing there. He had been home for a day and already had a hook-up. Wait, where did he find a French woman in the middle of America?

He introduced the girls to me. The French person was Colette Dubois, his sister's best friend and roommate. The blonde bombshell with too much cleavage was his cousin, Amanda Bell. If the roommate was around, the sister must be around, too, so why was she not there? It didn't make sense, but I swallowed my pride; one would have thought that meeting a rockstar would entice every female around, but his sister seemed immune to all of that.

Colette was a firecracker, and before we could reach Eddie's home, she made us stop by several bars, and, of course, we drank our asses out. She was festive, bubbly, and willing. Her eyes were set on Eddie, and I knew they would end up hooking by the night's end. Amanda tried to flirt with me, but when I didn't take the bait, she wandered around, landing a random hookup and making out with him in the corner of the bar.

When Amanda's hookup tried to take her away, I stopped them. She is my friend's cousin, and I won't allow anything to happen to her. She can have all the fun she wants around our eyesight. The guy gave me weird vibes, and I will not carry that one on my conscience. Surprisingly, she was cool about it despite the guy's annoyance.

Two hours later, after hitting the last bar, we finally reached Eddie's parents' place. The place was dope. They were not as loaded as my family was, but they were no beggars. They had a beautiful home with a cozy pool house I claimed two years ago as mine.

We arrived, and we stumbled around, being obnoxious drunkards. I was sure we would wake everyone up several miles around us. I stumbled into the pool house, and they discussed something that didn't make sense until I stumbled upstairs and opened the room door I usually took.

Right there in the middle of the bed was a woman... Wait, what is a woman doing in there? I was drunk and confused, and before allowing my mind to wander if what I was seeing was real, I pushed myself around and into the other room. I stumbled around and slumped into the bed.

The following morning, I heard a noise around me. I listened to the shower running and soft footsteps around. My head was pounding, but unmistakably, the woman in the other room was not a hallucination. I heard the soft click of the front door of the poolhouse and quickly jumped out of bed. As soon as I opened my bedroom door, the fresh scent of citrus soap hit me like a f*****g train. It smelled, wow...

Like a fool, I quickly put on a sweatshirt and tennis shoes, and without even considering a shower, I made my way to the main house, following the trail of the fantastic scent. Maybe Eddie has another cousin who is staying at the pool house. It can't be his sister, right? She has her room around the house; she has no reason to stay with a stranger.

I silently walked into the house and leaned against the wall close to the kitchen. I could hear female voices around. One was Grams, the other was Mrs. Muse, and the other two were completely unknown.

It was wrong of me to eavesdrop on that conversion; Grams was being brutal to someone. She was calling out some s**t that was... wow.

Eddie told me once that his sister had endured so much and that, after some trauma, she was never the same. I heard Mr. Muse's voice, and then I identified the third elder voice, Esther Bell, Eddie's aunt. I felt sorry for Eddie's sister, but in the end, she just agreed with the elderly women who were giving her a hard time.

Then Eddie's mom said something that almost made me laugh. She mostly told her daughter that her loins had an expiration date and that she was coming close to it. Again, these women could use some filtering.

Before they could find me eavesdropping, I made myself known.

"Whose loins are we talking about?" I asked, and I could see the young woman stiffened. She was giving me her back, and when I gave her a once over, I had to bite my lip to stiffen a chuckle. She wore comfy clothes, and nothing was wrong with that, but she displayed a couple of purple penguin slippers on her feet. f*****g hilarious.

"Hers..." the three female voices said in chorus. Yeah, this family urgently needs a lesson about when to speak and when to remain quiet. I chuckled.

"Eva, Eleanore, and Esther... you girls must behave..." I felt sorry for Eddie's sister. First, her grandmother was lecturing her on her mistakes and trauma, and now all of them were bunching up on her, telling her her life was about to be over, which, by the way, 26 years old is a woman in her prime... I don't see them telling Eddie, my age, 30, that it is about to expire and be useless.

"If you were born in my time, I would have tapped you, kid..." Grams said, and I chuckled. I know she is old and slipping away, but damn, she is on a roll, spewing s**t all around.

"Who is tapping what?" Eddie walked in. Finally, a middle ground in this f*****g nut house.

"What's up, Leon?" He patted my shoulder,

"I hope you are tapping the French girl!" Grams said, and I saw the girl choke.

"Grams!" Eddie and the girl yelled simultaneously. They had reached their fed-up point around Grams' spectrum of craziness. The girl turned around, finally facing our way. Eddie was standing beside me, and she turned to face him, but when her eyes landed on mine... Damn it! She was my best friend's little sister, who was cute and out of boundaries. So, she is in a red zone and a no-go. But damn, I wish I could come close to her face and count those freckles around her nose... Wait what?

"Ellie, this is Leon, my best friend... and your roommate for the next three weeks..." Eddie said. She gasped. I could see she was not happy about it.

"About that... Mom? Can we settle for other sleeping arrangements?" She pleaded with her mother. Any other mother who knew her single daughter would share accommodations with a rockstar, allegedly a playboy, would have scrambled the entire house to come to her daughter's rescue, but not Eleanore. Ellie's question wounded my ego, so I did what I knew best: play the role of an asshole.

"Yes, Eleanore, she snores like a drunkard..." I said,

"Excuse me?" She said, annoyed,

"You are excused..." I chuckled, earning myself an eye-rolling. It's not my best moment, but I get it!

Elenaroe told her everything was arranged, leaving her with no option but to accept defeat. Mmh... this is odd at best. Are they trying to push him into me? What are those three sneaky women planning? I don't think so, but I must remain alert because you never know.

"Bonjour!" The French girl walked in and almost cuddled into Eddie.

"Yeah, he is tapping that..." Grams said, voicing out what everyone was thinking.

The breakfast mayhem started; people barged in, and several conversations happened, one on top of the other... It was heartwarming, controlled chaos at its best. From time to time, I peeked around and sighed. Elisa Muse, somehow, I am curious about her. As a friend, right... a man and a woman can be friends, right? Nothing else. I will never break the bro code with Eddie.

Eleanore started handing around chores if I had any regard for their intentions concerning Ellie and myself. It was made crystal clear when Eleanore assigned me to tag along for Christmas Tree duty, whatever that meant.

Again, Elisa tried to bargain a different arrangement, asking her father to come along, but sneaky Eleanore had him and Uncle Brad on Outside Light duty.

.

"Leon... would you?" Elenore asked me, and I nodded.

"Anything for you, Eleanore..." I said charmingly, while Elisa grunted.

"Whatever... We will leave in two hours..." She stood up abruptly and left the kitchen.

"Bitter much?" I muttered, again, my ego had been bruised, and to protect it, the asshole suit was my forte. Eddie patted my shoulder and shook his head, a silent sign that I had crossed a limit. And I wondered why everyone threads around her like she could break on the next turn.