Part 36

                                    

                                          
"Hungry?" Bryce asked, holding my hand as we walked down the stairs to the car. 
I nodded. "Starving. I want a veggie burger."
Bryce laughed. "This baby really doesn't want meat, huh?" he asked, climbing into the car. 
"Apparently not," I replied. "I want to gag at the thought of eating a veggie burger, but it just sounds so good."
I watched as his bicep flexed under his shirt sleeve when he turned the wheel. 
He turned to glance at me. "What are you looking at?" he asked. 
"My hot husband," I replied, reaching over to trace his tattoo with my finger. 
Bryce feigned shock. "There's someone else?" he joked. I smacked him playfully as we pulled into the restaurant's parking lot. "I'll be right back," he said, kissing me gently. 
                          
My phone rang. "How was it?" Nessa asked on the other end. 
"Did you just wake up?" I laughed. 
"Hey, not fair. JJ finally slept in, so I did too. No harm, no foul."
I laughed again. "It was really good. Bryce is getting me lunch now. Shit, Fletcher's outside. I'll talk to you later."
                          
Bryce was walking out of the restaurant, and Fletcher stopped him. 
"The fans wanna know, man, how is the married life treating you?"
Bryce smiled. "Good, very good. Love my wife. Wouldn't trade any of this for the world."
Fletcher followed Bryce to the car. "Kate! Good to see you! How's it feel being Mrs. Hall?"
"It's good, Fletch. Everything is really good."
"I saw the pictures of the wedding. It looked really nice. The fans have been asking though: where's your family at in all the pictures?"
Bryce quickly started the car. "We gotta go, Fletcher, but it was good to see you, man. Take care."
                          
"Can't say I wasn't expecting it," I said, taking my food out of the bag. "Ooh, this smells yummy. Thank you."
"Only the best for you, my love," Bryce replied. "Do i at least get a fry?"
I giggled as I shoved a fry in his open mouth. "What should we do today?"
"What? You mean we have to do more?" Bryce asked jokingly. 
"We don't have to do anything outside of the house, goofy. We can have a movie day."
Bryce sighed. "That sounds good. Popcorn, some other snacks?"
"Of course," I replied. "Nachos sound so good right now."
                          
We pulled up to the house to find Amelie and Blake screaming at each other. 
"What the hell, Blake? This is unbelievable!"
"This is unbelievable? What were you doing with Nick, huh?"
Although I knew it wasn't my place, I knew what he was talking about and couldn't help but interrupt. "Blake, you need to calm down. You know how the media twists this stuff."
"Of course you have something to say! I understand that we all live in one house, but nothing everything is a family affair!" Blake yelled turning towards me. 
"Blake," Bryce warned. "You need to calm down right now. Family affair or not, you will not speak to my wife that way."
Amelie stepped closer to Blake and grabbed his face in her hands. "I saw Nick while I was picking up lunch. I greeted him. That was it. Do you trust me or not?"
Even after Blake's outburst, Bryce and I stood by, watching the two of them. "I'm sorry," Blake whispered softly. 
                          
As they apologized to one another, Bryce and I headed past them into the kitchen. Cynthia and Quinton sat at the table, talking to one another. "You two were just gonna let that happen out there?" Bryce asked them, grabbing a water from the fridge. 
"Blake was right: not everything has to be an entire house affair," Cynthia said softly. 
"If they're in the living room, they obviously don't care who hears them," Bryce replied cooly. 
I put my hand on his shoulder. "Don't bother right now, baby. Let's just go upstairs."
                          
As we walked in our room, I shut the door softly behind us. 
"Bryce, maybe Blake was right."
"What the hell do you mean?" he asked, confused. 
I sighed. "We're getting older, all of us. You know, Cynthia's the youngest out of all us, and even she's gonna be twenty-one soon. Some of us are starting families. Maybe it's time that we start thinking about the fact that we aren't all going to live in this house together forever."
"You want to fight today? Is that it?"
"Oh my God! This doesn't have to be another damn fight! I'm just saying that living in this house might not be our forever."
It was Bryce's turn to sigh. "What gives you that idea? I've lived here since I was twenty years old. I can't just walk away from that."
"Do you remember when you said that Sway would never die? Sway isn't a house, Bryce. Sway is the people. We won't ever not be family with these people, and we both know that. Besides, I didn't say that it's something we needed to do right now, or even this year. We might not even have to do it at all. It's just what we need to consider."
                          
By now, Bryce was sitting on the bed with his head in his hands. "It just doesn't feel right. This is my home. This is our home."
I sat down next to him, wrapping my arms around him. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have even suggested it. I guess I just-"
Bryce interrupted me. "You weren't wrong to suggest it. It's definitely a possibility. Even if it's not us. Josh and Nessa could move out right now. It's just something I never even considered."
                          
There was a knock on the door. "Sorry if I'm interrupting. Bryce, your manager's on the phone, man. Says it's very important," Griffin said, opening the door. 
Bryce took the phone from him. "What's up, man? The both of us? She's never really been into it before, but I suppose I could talk to her about it. How soon do you need to know? By five? It's three-thirty. Okay. Yeah. Will do. You too, man. Bye." He hung up the phone and passed it back to Griffin.