[Andrew] How did we get here? [Brody]

[torres]

Tristan wasn't really a kid person... and he definitely wasn't the sort of person you would expect to see with three kids hanging off of him, especially three kids under eight years old. He obviously wasn't the dad of any of them. The two boys were about six or seven years old, and the little girl looked to be about one year old, and was clinging to Tristan's hand as her still wobbly balance threatened to cause her to topple over. Seeing as Tristan was only 19, there was no way either of the two boys could be his... not to mention the fact that they were both nearly bleach blond, and had more sturdy builds than Tristan. Age wise, the girl could easily be Tristan's... but considering she had curly blond hair and big blue eyes and Tristan had nearly black, straight hair and brown eyes, she looked nothing like him, and no one would assume that she was his... at least no one in their right mind.

So what was he doing with these three kids? Well... he was babysitting... and not by his own free will either. Alex and Anthony... his trainers and sponsors in his jockey apprenticeship... were gone on a much needed vacation, and along with them was Charlie and Peyton, two whom the three kids belonged. Tristan didn't really know Charlie all that well except that he was always hanging out with Sebastian and Anthony, and that he was a cop. He didn't know Peyton at all except that she was currently seeing Charlie. So how did he get stuck with the three children? Well, you see. When Charlie left, he put his brother Brody in charge of the three kids, which was a good thing. Brody was good with kids, and he seemed to like them a lot... but he was also working as a fireman, and because of that, if he got a call, he needed a babysitter pronto.

As Tristan's rotten luck would have it, today was one of those days when Brody got called out. He'd been going over to Alex and Anthony's house, which was literally right across the street from Charlie's house, to drop off the daily horse reports. He was extremely ADD, and everyone knew it, so Alex had given him very strict instructions to drop off the reports every day as soon as he was done filling them out, otherwise he'd probably forget what he was doing and end up leaving them somewhere and they would never be found again. So just as he had stepped out of the house and locked the door, Brody seemed to magically materialize out of nowhere. Tristan sort of knew him a bit... I mean he spent enough time with Alex and Anthony to sort of get to know the neighbors, and Brody was one of them.

Before Tristan even had an opportunity to say a single word, Brody was telling him that he got called out to a fire and the kids needed someone to watch them. Tristan managed to get out a What... before Brody cut him off, thanked him, jumped in his car, and disappeared... leaving Tristan with no option but to take on the task of dealing with the kids until Brody got back. After scowling at Brody's quickly shrinking car, Tristan sighed heavily and headed across the street, fairly sure this was not going to be a good day for him. He was a super high energy person, and even though kids took a lot of energy to keep track of, it wasn't the same. He was the sort of guy who needed to be doing something strenuous at all times or his ADD would kick in even worse, which was not a good thing when he was supposed to be looking after three children... not to mention the fact that he had absolutely no idea how to take care of kids.

After a while, Chuck and Jamie got tired of entertaining themselves and started bugging Tristan to take them somewhere. Well... Tristan had no idea what kids liked to do here... or what normal kids did anywhere. He'd never been a normal kid... he was always getting into trouble because of the ADHD and he never really did normal things as a kid. So finally he asked them what they wanted to do, considering he was never going to be able to think of something that they would like to do that wasn't completely insane... and their response was the response any seven year old would have... they wanted ice cream. Go figure, right? Not knowing what else to do, Tristan reluctantly agreed, and the three kids were packed into the car, and off they went... and that was how they got here.

All things considered, Tristan was really doing a pretty darn good job of babysitting, even though he'd never done it in his life. Melody was an easy baby to take care of, she never made a fuss about anything, and Chuck and Jamie were old enough that they coud pretty well take care of themselves all on their own, especially Chuck who had pretty much raised himself from three to five years old. He was a very self-sufficient kid, and Tristan was pretty sure he could take care of himself, Jamie, and Melody without any adult supervision... but obviously he wasn't going to just leave them there and find out.

The quartet walked into the nearly empty soda shop, the boys got their ice cream, and all four of them made their way over to a booth. Chuck and Jamie were being your typical seven year old boys, running around like crazy children and making a football game out of a crumpled up napkin. No one minded them though, put any two little league football players in an ice cream shop and they're going to do this... it was normal behavior for kids their age. Tristan was just glad he didn't have to worry about them breaking anything or hurting themselves, the place was pretty kid proof. Although, he was fairly sure if Melody said the word "what" again, he was going to kill himself. She didn't know very many words, and what was by far her favorite, and she had probably said it about 100 times in the past hour. He was really starting to admire Charlie and Brody... how they could put up with all this all day was beyond him.

[Andrew Lovasz]

No school meant no football for Andrew right? Wrong! He may be a high school graduate and not in College but that wasn’t going to stop him from playing a game with the guys at the park. Actually that was his weekend no girl activity… which usually ended up with girls watching them and him going home with one… sometimes more but they liked to refer to it as a no girl activity that they all did together. This was the first time he actually made it to the game after the whole incident with Sydney… well I guess we really shouldn’t refer to it as an incident but in his mind that’s what it was. It wasn’t as if he didn’t take it seriously… no he took it very seriously. But being the magnificent actor that he was all the guys on the team thought he was completely at ease with it all. They teased him all day… making pregnant lady jokes and being tied down and all that nonsense. On the outside he could care less… on the inside he was going insane… knowing that everything they said was true.

He was like a bucking bronco being forced to be a trail horse…or a mustang brought in from the wild to be some dressage pony. Holding everything being the angel on the outside when in reality he was just waiting to explode… like a volcano ready to erupt. He was ready to bolt and run… being tied down or being dubbed the family guy nearly killed him. He wanted to be the guy at the clubs who had all the girls but had no girl. He didn’t belong to anyone. And that was a fact. Sure Sydney had told him that this didn’t mean he was tied down and that he couldn’t be with anyone else… sex wise. But there was only a matter of time before she wanted him 24/7. He had all this aggression that he wanted to just put into a backpack and take off but he knew the manly thing to do was to stay and take care of the things he had caused. He knew it couldn’t be any easier for her.

Playing football was his release. He clenched and released his fist several times just trying not to hurt anyone but finding it difficult… Just wanting to once be on defense instead of offense. He needed to hit someone… or thing anything would do he just needed to get rid of the pent up energy that he had. He hated being in the same place things were getting so old. The same thing, the same story over and over he hated this small town. It was only a matter of time before the calm collected actor that is Andrew Lovasz exploded into the incredible hulk and beat the crap out of someone. But so far playing football on the weekends was preventing that from happening. You better thank your lucky stars Pinewood because once this bucking bronco gets out its going to be hard to contain him. And you better tame you man Sydney because he’s itching to run out of this town.

Today was a hard day. Football didn’t seem to do the trick on releasing whatever it was that was building up inside Andrew and Sydney was nagging him about her random cravings… like chips and salsa and vanilla ice cream. He would never understand that aspect of pregnancy. He understood women just fine…. But that was a normal woman not psycho woman who acted like she was bipolar. One minute she was crying and the next she would be pissed off about something or another. All this did not pertain to Sydney specifically it was more of just a general statement. He probably had it the easiest out of most expecting fathers but he was only 19 he didn’t want to have it at all. But he wouldn’t say or hint to this fact in front of Sydney or anyone else. As far as they all knew. He was still the biggest player around and here to take the thrown from Sebastian.

Which leads us to why he was at the Soda Shoppe to begin with. After football practice none of the girls looked pleasable… they were all to... The same as all the other. He felt like he was just seeing the same face over and over… and that wasn’t fun or interesting… sleeping with the same girl held no excitement. With the exception of Sydney… but other than that it bored him. So he was walking down the sidewalk after the game trying to keep the pace slow so he would have time to regain composure so he wouldn’t walk into the house and lose it at the first thing she mentioned. So he was walking down the sidewalk when he came across the Soda Shoppe the hot girl behind the counter caught his eye from behind the window. She was an hourglass figure with her hair in a messy ponytail and a dirty apron.

A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. The only thing on his mind now was her… he had to have her and she was his new challenge. His mind flew with ideas on how she would be lured into his trap. He was in hunting mode and she was his prey. You better run for your life hunny cause someone’s gone and let the tiger on and his putting all his anger and frustration into this hunt, so beware. He had a plan in mind and moved his way to the door stepping inside letting the bell warn her of his presence. She looked up at him and he moved in a swagger like way toward her. Leaning against the counter he looked at her like he was looking into her soul with his passionate blue eyes. And immediately after she looked into his eyes he knew he was making her heart flutter. Her smile and the way she giggled as he complimented her smile. You have a gorgeous smile you know. He said without the hint of a question in his voice and she giggled, wiped the counter and leaned against it towards him.

He tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ear and he knew this cat was in the bag. C-C-Can I get you anything? She managed somehow to stutter out. But despite her stutter she pulled off the coy attitude well. She was playing hard to get. But darling that was one game that Andrew always won. She batted her eyes at him and his smirk only became more defined… there was only one thing he wanted her to give him… and it was kind of obvious what he was after. He let his fingertips trace her jaw as he pulled his hand away from her face. She didn’t even tremble but she was playing along… most guys would have been confused by this gesture but he knew what he was doing. He knew most girls inside and out without even having to have met them. Andrew was just talented like that. A simple shake of his head answered her question, but he kept his eyes locked on hers not letter hers wander from his.

It was locked in… he had it in the bag… and there wasn’t anything that could distract Andrew from a girl like her… or so we all thought. Down… set…. Hike! was being called out behind him from a familiar voice behind him… it was Chuck. Charlie’s adopted son… and Andrew was all too curious to see if it was Charlie or Brody escorting the little varmint around. Neither of them was too fond of Andrew so either way he was bond to get a look of disapproval. His smirk only slightly changed from luring beast to troublemaker. He loved pissing them off… it was all to easy to set them over the edge especially Charlie… though Anthony had told him to lay off of Charlie because he’d been going through a hard time. But when had Andrew ever listened to what anyone else told him to do? Uh…. Oh that’s right. Never.

But to his surprise it was neither of them… it wasn’t even Charlie’s niece… whom he didn’t want to see anyways… she got on his nerves… Sure she was a good f.uck and that was only because she had to be the kinkiest girl he’d ever met but once he had to sleep with her twice he was over it. Once was enough twice was pushing it and three times just wasn’t going to happen. But it wasn’t her either… it was Tristan… Andrew didn’t even know Tristan liked kids… or for that matter even knew Charlie or the kids. His eyebrow c.ocked up in a curious way do to the fact that he was totally confused. Don’t let him fool you… he was still aware of the sexy looking girl behind him but he knew she wasn’t going anywhere and this was just to good to not know what the story was behind it. So he walked up behind Tristan and leaned against the back of the booth looking down at the beautiful baby girl… he held his smirk for Andrew wasn’t the smiling type though he had to admit she was a gorgeous baby. So… how exactly did you get babysitter duty? He asked with his typical jackass mentality, turning his full attention to Tristan whom was sitting below him, not even sure if Tristan had seen him come in. And then of course his next question would be. “Who the heck is that other little termite?” Andrew…he had such a lack of sensitivity to others. But he didn’t know any better that’s how he was raised.

[torres]

As per usual, Tristan's mind was wandering. Nearly every ten to twenty seconds his attention was captured by something else. He needed to partake in activities that required constant physical exertion to keep his mind on the task at hand, and baby sitting just didn't cut it. Sure the kids were wild and crazy... but Tristan and football... not a good mix. The guy was only 5'3" you couldn't expect him to have an interest in playing football. Heck, growing up in England he hardly knew what football was, and had never been very intrigued by the sport... although he wasn't really all that intrigued by any sport except horse racing, and considering he was a soon to be jockey, that was only natural.

Anyway, he was trying quite hard to keep his focus on the kids and making sure they didn't get hurt... but he was having a hell of a time with it. ADD was a curse... and even more so when you add the H in there and make it ADHD. He was getting incredibly restless because of the need to be doing something more physical than just sitting there and holding the baby... but he didn't really have anything to do. He couldn't very well take Chuck, Melody, and Jamie to the stable and go riding with the three of them, considering that would not only be inconvenient to look after the boys and make sure they didn't cause trouble, but it could also be dangerous... and the last thing he wanted was for something to happen while they were in his care.

He was all too aware of the perilous position people put themselves in when they rode horses. He'd seen two grown men, both of whom had been riding their whole lives, killed on the track. If such tragedy could occur twice in just his family, it could definitely happen once with kids like Chuck and Jamie. So he was stuck. He could take them to the park... but there was still nothing physical to do there for him... so he still couldn't find a solution. Needless to say, Tristan wasn't exactly the most creative person in the world, and he certainly wasn't the smartest either. He hadn't learned much of anything in the few years his parents had managed to keep him in school before there were no schools left to send him to that he hadn't been kicked out of. It wasn't his fault though... it wasn't like he chose to be ADHD or anything.

Besides, Tristan didn't know the first thing about kids. He'd never had a younger sibling, and he didn't know anyone younger than him... how was he supposed to know how to take care of one, let alone three at once? He wasn't doing a horrible job... but it was pretty obvious that Tristan couldn't honestly lay claim to many parenting skills. He just wasn't the sort of guy to be like that... he wasn't really the sort of guy to have kids either... and he wasn't really the sort of guy to have a girlfriend or wife either... at least not at this point in his life. He was too busy working on his citizenship and apprenticeship to be bothered with relationships. He was a busy guy, and any girl who wanted to be with him would have to put up with only seeing him an hour or two a day at the very most.

Tristan had just managed to force his attention back to the two kids when it was stolen away from them again at the familiar sultry and flirtatious voice that couldn't be mistaken by anyone who had ever heard it in their lives. Andrew Lovasz. He was one of the few people Tristan actually knew... although he sort of had to know Andrew, he was only the little brother of Anthony and just happened to be living with them for the time being. He tended to run into Andrew a lot, which was weird considering how opposite they were. Andrew was more of a horse whisperer... gentle and understanding, while Tristan was a highly competitive jockey who, though caring, definitely wasn't exactly of the horse whisperer category. Andrew was somewhat tall and from the slums of Mexico while Tristan was short and from the upper class of England. Andrew was a major flirt, while Tristan probably hadn't ever even had a crush on anyone. They were just opposites.

He rolled his eyes slightly, leaving Andrew to his game, and looked back at Chuck and Jamie as they ran around the soda shop playing football. Then suddenly Andrew was standing behind Tristan and asking how he got roped into this. Brody's got the disappearing act down to a T, I didn't really have a choice. He replied, his thick British accent more than prominent in his speech as he looked up at Andrew. Andrew looked a bit like he'd been having a rough day and Tristan didn't blame him. From what he'd heard, Andrew was going through a lot with getting his... a girl... pregnant. He couldn't even imagine what it would be like to be expecting a baby at this age... partly because he didn't know anyone like that before now, and partly because he couldn't keep his mind on the topic long enough to actually think about it.

Tristan hardly noticed the lack of sensitivity... he was used to it. So far, just about all the Americans he'd met were rather... insensitive people. Anthony, though extremely nice, was the most grueling trainer he'd ever met, and Alex, though also nice, was definitely just as driving as Anthony was, only in every aspect of life, not just training. Over here the world was a lot faster paced and more bent on time and hard work, in England... not so much. He was still adjusting, but he'd gotten used to the missing sensitivity from the people here, and he expected it from Andrew... everyone did, that was just what made him Andrew.