A Second Chance (The O.C./Modern Family/All-American)

[Michael PoV]

"Sorry, I haven't come to see you in a few years, Mom. I've been busy going to school in the UK and then I would spend my summers with friends at their summer homes in Italy and France. But I guess you already knew that. It's good to be back. There's truly no place like home. Dad has been distant these last five years ever since…. ever since… well you know. It's funny y'know? I mean he ships me off to Europe and now that I'm back in California he's off in Europe because of business. Says that a 'restaurateur' needs to be hands-on or some bullshit.

I know he has fancy Michelin-star restaurants in the U.S., but he's over there expanding his Popeyes stores. Like Jesus Dad, they're fast food fried chicken joints they can manage themselves. Of fucking course, he starts to expand his business into Europe and moves over there right when I come back to the States. Oh, I forgot to tell you why I'm back. I actually got kicked out of Eton.

I got caught with two girls in my room and we were…. unclothed. Honestly, I wanted to get kicked out. I'm glad to be back in the States. Finally, I can go to a school that plays real football. I mean they play football with their feet over there. What kind of shit is that? And they're a bunch of rich snobs. I mean I guess I am one too, I doubt many of the kids at the public school I will be attending are equestrians or know how to fence.

Yes, you heard me right Mom. PUBLIC SCHOOL! I guess getting kicked out of a thirty-five thousand pounds a year school pissed off Dad. And that's not even the worst part. He won't even be hiring me a maid or a chef. I have to cook and clean for myself. I mean what kind of hell have I found myself in? I don't know how to do laundry! Oh, look at the time I have to leave soon. Sorry, I've brought you down with all my glum bullshit Mom I promise next time I'll have happier news to give you. I miss you, mom. I love you and I'll be back soon okay."

A tall muscular man in a light blue shirt and navy-blue slacks walked up to me after I said my goodbyes to my mother's grave. He was Ezekiel, one of the members of my father's security team.

"Ready to go, sir? We have to leave now if we are to make your appointment."

"Yeah, let's go."

We made our way out of the cemetery and over to where Ezekiel had parked the car, a black 2012 Cadillac Escalade. He opened the door for me, and I climbed into the backseat where another person awaited me. Michelle is my father's personal assistant, which basically means she does bitch work, i.e. whatever he tells her to do. 

She was blonde, pretty, and white, which is exactly how he liked his women, just like my deceased mother. Michelle was young too, only twenty-eight compared to my father's age of fifty-five. No doubt the old perv' had her assisting him in the bedroom too, the dirty fucker, not that I blamed him, hell I'd fuck her too if I could. She was wearing a navy-blue skirt suit and black heels which really complimented her beautiful long legs, and I couldn't help myself but ogle her while I imagined how she was at sucking co-.

"Michael you're staring."

"So? You're easy on the eyes."

My words didn't faze her as she chuckled and flashed me a sly smirk. A look that seemed to say, 'I know you want to touch but you can't, you can only look, you little shit.'

"Did you hear what I said before?" she asked.

"Nope," I said as I stared out the car window.

"We'll be viewing some houses today to buy one for you. I have five options for you to pick from, we'll see two today and three tomorrow if you still haven't selected one by then. I think you'll be satisfied with my selections."

"What did Father dearest limit for my price range?" I said in jest.

"Not as much as you might like, only five million."

"That's doable… I suppose." The disappointment was palpable in my tone. Only 5 mil? What am I? Poor?

The car turned out of the Evergreen Memorial Park located in Los Angeles, the place where my mother was buried. Rose Richards was a kind-hearted woman and the world's best mother, but her life was cut short after she was killed in a car accident at the young age of 36, five years ago. After his businesses, my mother and I were the two most important things in the world to my father, but after her death, he threw himself into his work and we drifted apart, barely talking or spending time with each other.

I was mixed, my mother was a white American and my father was Black British. They met while he was in America for business. She was a waitress. Young and beautiful. She was 22 when they met, while my dad was 36. He told me once that he knew he was going to marry her from the moment he saw her. But he told me that story years ago… when we still talked. 

The SUV finally came to a stop as it pulled into the driveway of a home located at 1075 Hanley Ave in Brentwood, an upscale neighborhood in Los Angeles. Ezekiel stepped out of the car and opened the door for me and there was a man in a two-piece suit waiting for us close by, he was clearly the realtor. He seemed familiar to me, I swear I had seen him in a zombie movie before, but I put that thought aside.

He showed us the property, but I wasn't too impressed. The place was just too small. I guess it shouldn't matter since I'm going to be living alone but it only had two rooms, and I wanted more space for an office, a gym room, and a game room. 

"A nice little quaint post and beam style home and yes it may seem slightly on the smaller side, but the property line extends all the way down the hill to the street so there's always room to make additional expansions to the house, certainly enough space for you and your son."

"They're not my parents," I say before I make my way outside to see the pool and the jacuzzi. 

"Oh…." The realtor turned around to face my 'parents' and with an awkward look on his face he tried to awkwardly mend what he thought was a situation, "I'm sure it's just a phase adopted children go through, I'm sure he loves you guys and se-"

Ezekiel couldn't help but laugh his ass off at the goofy man while Michelle interrupts him and says, "Sir, we aren't his parents we are employees of his father." 

"Oh... right of course," he says and awkwardly laughs. 

Having seen enough of the property I come back inside ready to leave.

"It's a no. Thank you, but I've seen enough, and we have to get to our next appointment."

"The house on 529 North Kenter Ave, right? Actually, I'm showing you that house also why don't we head on over, it's only three minutes away."

The four of us got in our respective vehicles and drove a mile south from where we were and arrived at a home that from looking at the outside was already more my speed. It was a much bigger house than the last one and had two stories compared to the last house with only one. Ezekiel again opened my door, and I stepped out to meet the realtor who was ready to show me the house. 

"Now if you hate small, you're gonna love this. A two two-car garage that leads to the laundry room and the inside, now let's enter. Here you have your dining room, living room, and family rooms, lots of open space, these beautiful French doors that open up the backyard with tons of room for outdoor fun, like a trampoline perhaps or a jacuzzi, and all the privacy you could hope for with these big trees." 

The realtor continued to give me the tour enthusiastically. The home was a beautiful Cape Cod-style house with four bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms. The master bedroom came with its own private balcony and a walk-in closet. It had tons of rooms for whatever I wanted. The backyard didn't have a pool which I wanted but it was fine I would simply have one built in. 

"I like it. I'll take it." I told the realtor. 

He brought out the paperwork and I signed a bunch of documents to purchase the house for the low price of $3.2 million. I was a legally emancipated teenager, so I didn't need to have my dad or someone else sign for me. I was told that I could move into the house in a week because the owners still needed some time to leave the property. As I was making my way back to the SUV there was something that had been bugging me since I first met this realtor, a man named Phil Dunphy, he looked familiar to me. 

"Say, Mr. Dunphy."

"Please, call me Phil."

"Phil... you look familiar, did you used to star in movies?"

A gleeful smile adorned his face as he replied, "You know I get that a lot. I guess I just have one of those faces."

Unable to recall where I recognized him from, I set the thoughts aside, shook his hand, and bid him farewell as we went our separate ways. We were on our way to Beverly Hills as I had a room for the week at the Four Seasons. But before we made it there, I told Ezekiel to take me to Beverly Hills Porsche. Ezekiel and Michelle would be leaving me after I had moved into the house and were heading to Europe to rejoin my father, so I needed to buy a vehicle for myself. 

A salesperson greeted me warmly, she no doubt could smell the money oozing from me after clearly recognizing a bodyguard and a personal assistant when she saw one. I was shown multiple cars and test-drove a couple when I finally decided to make a purchase. After considering which car to buy I finally decided on the 2013 Porsche 911 Carrera S Cabriolet. 

I bought the car in full for one hundred and eight thousand dollars and exited the dealership in my silver Porsche with a red leather interior and a red soft top. I split up from the two because I was heading back to my hotel room and didn't need them anymore today. I would see them again when they brought me furniture and other personal items that were in storage when I moved into the house. I arrived back at the Four Seasons and went up to my suite on the tenth floor and decided to give some old friends a call. 

I still had a few friends in the LA area, and I decided on texting and calling the two who were good friends from years ago. The first one was Seth Cohen who I met years ago because my dad and his grandfather, Caleb Nichol, had done some business together. The second friend was Jordan Baker, I met him when I was 8 at a football camp. We were both quarterbacks and we quickly began a rivalry and a close friendship. We both played Pop Warner against each other and the seasons would usually come down between my team and his team for the championship. I sent them both texts to tell them 'whatsup' and that I was back in Cali. After that, I lay down on the couch and watched TV.