Olivia walked over to Marvin and Joel, she kissed Joel, completely forgetting about Marvin who was watching the intimate action. "You'll never believe what happened," Joel said raising Olivia's interest, "What?" she asked.
Joel stifled a chuckle as he explained the situation he had found Marvin and Austin in, Olivia became quite angry with her son, "HE DID WHAT!" Her voice was loud reminding Marvin of the loud Warden Lohan. Joel wasn't that concerned with Olivia's anger, he was used to seeing her angry, and he always found it adorable.
"Relax Liv, he just wanted to show them off to somebody" Joel tried to calm his angry wife, but she wasn't having any of it. "Waking someone up at six!?, Joe come on that's not right" Olivia said, her voice much lower than before, Joel laughed it and said it was alright, "He's still young, it'll be alright" Olivia stared at her husband's lax attitude, but she relented, at the end of the day Austin was still a kid.
Marvin continued making the waffles, he didn't look at either of them but he made sure to pay attention to their conversation, 'She's the disciplinarian in the family' Marvin thought, he had already made the observation yesterday but this conversation simply helped to confirm it.
"I'm sorry about Austin, you don't have to make breakfast with Joe, Austin should be," Olivia said to Marvin creating a theatrical gasp from Joel. "So cooking with me is punishment, that's just wrong," Joel said with a funny expression on his face.
Olivia ignored her husband's theatrics, her focus was now on Marvin "So you like baking too?" She asked, Marvin shook his head no, honestly without Joel's instructions Marvin would be completely lost in how to even mix the flour and eggs.
Olivia smiled at Marvin's response, she was happy that Marvin seemed more receptive to conversation than yesterday. "Well that's good, I don't think I could live with two crazy bakers" Olivia made a joke but she quickly realized that she indirectly called Marvin crazy, "Not that you're crazy," She said flustered.
'She's taking this whole foster thing too seriously' Marvin thought in his head as he heard how quickly Olivia was apologizing. "Um... We were wondering if you'd want to go explore the city today, it would be good to get you acquainted with the area and we could go to the mall to get you more clothes" Olivia nervously asked.
Joel and Olivia silently waited for Marvin's answer in silence, they did not want to pressure him into making a decision. Marvin thought about the decision, 'A look around the city would be nice, but shopping, that just seems like a hassle'. After thinking for a couple of seconds, Marvin decided, "Sure, I would like that".
It wasn't that difficult of a decision, understanding your surroundings was far more important than feeling uncomfortable while shopping, plus he did need more clothes, and getting them now wasn't a bad deal. "Great, we'll eat breakfast and then head out," Olivia said with a similar excitement that Austin usually had.
"Uhh, she and Brooke aren't gonna let us get out of there quickly" Joel sighed as he saw his wife go shower. He and Marvin returned to making the waffles, Joel also decided to cook up some eggs, just eating waffles is not that good of a breakfast.
"Well everything here is just about done, so could you head up and get Austin and Brooke?" Joel asked Marvin. He wanted to set up the table for breakfast and also wanted Marvin and his children to start having more interactions with one another.
Marvin nodded and headed upstairs, as he headed up he realized a problem, 'I don't know where their room is'. On the second floor, Marvin needed to decide which direction to head, he headed to the right where he found two doors, opening the first door he saw a flat-screen TV with some wires connecting it to two consoles.
There was a white couch across from the TV, as well as a foosball table to the side, 'A room just for a TV and couch is crazy' Marvin thought to himself, he didn't understand that he had gone into the game room. He moved on to the second room.
He slowly opened the door and was greeted with lavender-purple walls, the walls were decorated with pictures and drawings. A massive poster of a blonde boy holding a mic while singing. Just like in his room, there was a dresser but in this room, there was a table beside the dresser, on the table were various magazines, pictures of Brooke and other people, and a laptop.
Marvin took all this in before turning his attention to the bed, there were blankets galore on the bed, concealing the figure that lay underneath. 'How should I do this' Marvin thought, he didn't know what to say, he didn't want to walk over and tap her wake, but he also didn't want to raise his voice to wake.
Lucky for him, Brooke pulled off her blanket and looked at him, "What are you doing?" were her first words to him. Marvin paused for a second, he had not expected her to already be awake, so he didn't know exactly what to do.
Brooklyn watched the boy who was now living in her house, she watched him as he just stared at her, "Get out of my room weirdo" she said getting up. Marvin did not want to deal with her, so he quickly left the room and went to the other side of the 2nd floor.
Again two rooms were seen, causing Marvin to sigh, 'Who needs so many rooms' he thought, reaching for the doorknob of one of the rooms. He opened it revealing a room with blue walls. Its layout was similar to Brooklyn's room with a table and dresser, on the table was a football with several playdough containers on top.
'Nice room' Marvin thought as he observed Austin's room, like his sister Austin was buried underneath his blanket. Marvin didn't feel as nervous waking up Austin, the kid seemed to like him very much so he wasn't scared.
Like last time Marvin did not need to do anything, Austin raised his head out of his blanket, and his face showed surprise as he saw Marvin, "Oh I thought you were mom for a second" Austin said as he got out of his bed.
"So what's up, did mom send you up here?" Austin questioned, he'd rather not have to deal with his mother's anger this morning. Marvin stood still as he watched the mix of emotions that occurred on Austin's face, 'He could be an actor' Marvin thought.
"Your dad wants you downstairs," Marvin said, he turned around ready to leave after delivering his message. "Oh sweet, you know what's for breakfast?" Austin stopped Marvin with a question, "Waffles" Marvin replied continuing his journey back to the 1st floor.
Back downstairs, Marvin was greeted back stacks of waffles, and scrambled eggs. Joel was done setting up breakfast and had disappeared to go take a shower. Marvin was left alone downstairs, he did not know exactly what he should do, he didn't know if he could just start eating or if he needed to wait for everyone else.
"You don't have to wait, you can start eating," Olivia said to Marvin as she saw him standing around, Marvin didn't hesitate to take a seat and begin eating breakfast. The waffles were godly, they had a good outside crust with a fluffy soft inside, and the eggs were just as good. The whole meal was amazing, 'The man should be a chef' Marvin's thoughts about Joel making a career switch were re-affirmed even more.
Olivia smiled as she saw Marvin digging in, "Slow down now, you don't want to choke" Olivia said, she also took a seat to eat. As the both of them ate Austin came downstairs, he avoided his mother's gaze like prey avoiding the gaze of a hungry predator, he meekly sat down and began eating.
Joel joined them as well, "We're gonna be heading out after breakfast, where's your sister?" he asked as he began to eat his breakfast. "Sweet, what are we gonna be doing?" Austin asked, his voice muffled due to the food that was still in his mouth, his mother stared at him, her gaze even fiercer before.
"Sorry, what are we going to be doing" Austin quickly apologized and swallowed his food, he repeated his question. "We're going to get Marvin some more clothes," Joel said, Austin loudly groaned as he heard he would be going shopping, "Brooke's gonna stay in there for the whole day" Austin complained.
He had the same thoughts his dad had earlier, it seemed the ladies in the house were notorious shoppers. "Stop complaining, we'll be there for an hour or so, plus we'll also be getting you new shoes for school," Olivia said, shutting up the complaining Austin.
During the conversation, Brooklyn had made her way down, she had on new clothes indicating she had already showered. She was scrolling through her phone completely ignoring everyone at the table as she took a seat.
"Phone," Olivia said as she saw her daughter ignoring her family. Brooke groaned obviously frustrated at being forced to put down her phone, but she still did it and began to eat her breakfast. "We're gonna be going to the mall after this" Olivia said, this immediately got Brooklyn to perk up.
"Finally, I've been wanting to get some new cream and the new Ashley Morrison lip gloss," She said excitedly, Austin mocked his sister as she talked, earning him a smack from his father. Marvin was done with his meal, but due to the conversations happening, he decided not to leave, 'Leaving now would get too much attention' he thought to himself.
"Oh if you're done eating, you can go head up and shower Marvin, just place your plate in a sink," Joel said as he saw the empty plate in front of Marvin. 'What a legend' Marvin said a silent thank you to Joel, he immediately got out of his seat and dropped off his plate in the kitchen sink.
Getting into his room, he got out clothes from his bag and headed into the shower. He was in no rush to get prepared, he took his time in the shower allowing the water to get nice and hot. 'A hot shower is man's greatest luxury' Marvin thought, recalling his time in Juvie, all of his showers were freezing cold, it was to the point that he'd rather just swim in the cold Atlantic.
Marvin finished his shower and changed his clothes, he put on the same shoes that he had and made his way downstairs. When he got down he met Joel who was sitting in the living room and looking at a packet of papers.
Marvin simply stood around since Joel hadn't yet noticed him and he wasn't in the mood to make his presence known, "Where'd they all go?" Austin asked as he made his way down, he had also taken a shower and changed into new clothes.
"Changing" His father replied, his focus still on the papers in front of him. Austin didn't mind his father not looking at him as he replied, he understood that the season would be starting soon and his dad would start getting more and more busy.
"Alright then me and Marvin are gonna wait in the car," Austin said going to a cup filled with keys, Joel looked up from his papers realizing what his son had just asked him, "Don't you dare drive that car!" He said but Austin had already left with Marvin.
In the garage Austin opened the big garage door, and then got into the Mercedes "You gotta hear how it sounds" he said to Marvin, his eyes looking a little crazy. 'He's not planning on driving this thing right' Marvin thought with a little worry.
Austin turned on the car, and the engine roared to life, filling the garage with thunderous a sound, Austin's eyes grew wider as he felt the car vibrating underneath him. 'Fuck, he's actually gonna do it' Marvin began moving to Austin, he couldn't let him drive, that would create far too much trouble for him later.
"Austin, get out of that seat before I give you the ass whooping of the lifetime" Olivia's voice was heard, immediately Austin hopped out of the car and headed into the back seat. Olivia rubbed her temples, tired of her son's antics this morning. "You can head into the car as well Marvin," Olivia said.
Marvin did as she said, heading into the car through the other side Austin had gone through. It didn't take long for the rest of the family to get into the garage. Brooklyn came to the side of the car Marvin had gone through, "Move" she said waving her hand in a shooing motion.
'She really is just rude' Marvin thought but he did as she asked, moving closer to Austin. Very quickly they made their way out of the house and began their journey, Marvin took a good look at his surroundings as Olivia drove to the mall. The surrounding area was quite suburban, the houses were quite smaller than the one the Kepplers lived in, but they still looked quite decent. There were many small businesses, but no major factories or massive skyscrapers, leaving the blue sky open and bright.
'This is nothing like Houston' Marvin thought as Olivia got into the parking lot for the mall. Marvin was right, the place the Kepplers lived was nothing like the inner city of Houston, the air was actually breathable, the sky was clear of any massive buildings, everything just looked bright.
As he got out of the car, Marvin took a good look at the mall, it was the first massive building he had seen since he got here, the parking lot was filled with a variety of different cars, regular sedans could be seen parked next to luxury cars like a Rolls-Royce.
"Alright, let's go," Joel said as the group made their way in.
(A/N: Wow, this was a long chapter, hope you enjoyed it, I had fun writing it. Felt like it was needed because of the support the story has been getting, thank you guys very much. As usual please leave a comment about your thoughts, and ideas for the story. Hope you have a great day or night.