Achieving Unbroken

-Chapter 15-

Achieving Unbroken
Chapter Fifteen

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"Pretty soon now you're gonna get older;
Time may change me, but I can't trace time"
Changes | David Bowie

—

Jason
[Saturday, October 10th, 2012]

"Jason! Joey! Can you two come down here for a minute? Penny and I wanna talk to you," Dad screams from downstairs. I kick aside boxes that I have had sitting on my floor for three years, still needing to be unpacked, and fling open my door. Joey did the same thing, and we give each other a brotherly 'what's going on' look, transcending the staircase of our house side by side.

"Don't tell me Penny's pregnant," I whisper to myself, thinking of the fact that there's already three young boys in this house.

"There's no way," Joey mumbles in response. I chuckle when we reach the bottom; Dad, Penny and Carl are already in the family room.

"Hey, you two," Penny smiles. I'll hand it to her: She's pretty cool for being a 37-year-old gold digger who is almost 20 years younger than my dad. Carl and I have fun, too. I suppose Dad could've done worse.

"Hi," Joey eyes them suspiciously, and him and I plop down on the couch across from them.

"We need to talk to you guys about something," our dad says. Him and Penny keep looking at each other, smiling, and grasping each other's hands. "Penny and I want to get married."

My breath halts. I can't hear Joey breathing, either. The only one who seems excited is Carl, who starts squealing and jumping.

"Boys," Penny says, looking at Joey and I. "What do you make of this?"

"Um, uh..." I drone off, looking at Joey, hoping he will say something. He just gives me a panicked stare back.

"We want to make sure you're okay with this before we do anything. We don't want to rush you guys into anything," Dad tries. Joey and I are still quiet.

Until I decide to end the silence.

"Go for it," I say weakly. Then, I check back with Joey.

Me speaking up before him will upset him more than he will ever admit to me.

"Yeah," he chokes out. "Go for it."

Penny looks at Dad for assurance, and he nods; so she gets up from her seat and bends over to wrap her arms around my brother and I. She smells like mangos, and I cant figure out if it's her shampoo or perfume.

"Thank you so much, you guys," she tells us. "I really appreciate how you've accepted and respected Carl and I, and I'm so excited for this family's future."

Joey and I smiled, nodded, and expressed our own excitement for the situation. We still had questionable feelings about Penny, but she made Dad happy. So I can suck it up.