My Atypical Wolf (BL)

Chapter 310: Welcome to our house

*Ding dong*

Pretty soon after the bell rang, the door opened to reveal a smiling lady, “Hello Ashton, I am so glad you could make it.” Melanie smiled at Ashton who was accompanied by three little kids. “Welcome to our house”

“Thank you for inviting us.” Ashton smiled as he followed Melanie’s direction to welcome himself into the apartment. It was smaller than their loft, but was definitely well groomed.

“George, they are here.” she called out. She invited them to sit on the couch while she took a minute to excuse herself to check why it was taking so long for her husband. While Ashton sat down in silence, he found himself fumbling with his fingers, because he was scared to ask what he was about to ask. On top of that, socializing with other people wasn’t really his strong suit.

“She is so pretty.” he found Carmen mumbling in awe. Ashton tilted his head at that but decided not to say anything regarding that.

After another few minutes, she emerged holding a tiny toddler in her arms with her husband right behind her, whose face appeared quite familiar. Last Ashton had seen him, he was a junior in high school. Now he was seemingly a middle aged man, whose features had become quite robust over the years.

“Wow, you look like you haven’t aged a day.” George couldn’t help but comment.

.....

“I get that a lot.” Ashton nodded, remembering how he hadn’t aged much during his absence. “I guess you know who I am. Allow me to introduce my kids,” he turned to Connor, “he is Connor.” and then he turned to the girls, “And this is Carmen and Ivy.” he declared.

George nodded at them, “Well, she is my daughter Paige,” he followed the same introduction pattern. “So, how have you been?” he asked.

“Same old, same old.” Ashton mumbled. He couldn’t fathom what else to add. “I am sure Melanie has told most of the things about me by this time,” he added.

“Ahh, no.” George frowned and shook his head not quite firmly. “We have a strict rule, we don’t bring back our work home.” he added.

“And yet she invited me, so clearly she didn’t follow the rules very well.” Ashton added, with a nervous chuckle.

“Only because I know who you are.” George chuckled as well. He took a seat in the adjoining sofa, following which Melanie handed Paige to him. She disappeared again for a moment. “She has been cooking all evening. She gets really excited whenever anyone comes.” he chuckled as well.

“Isn’t she tired?” Ashton was amazed. “I know I am.”

“She is just excited I guess. Usually I do the cooking, since I work from home.” George shrugged.

“I’m bored, do you have any video games I can play”? Connor interrupted and asked. George chuckled nervously. Ashton was about to sush him when he got up. He brought a co soke with him.

“It’s an old edition, you sure you can ace this?” Asked George.

“Yes!!” Connor jumped up.

“And who is gonna play with you?” Ashton pointed out.

“Ivy will” He declared without any hesitation.

“Can she play”? Ashton tilted his head.

“I’ll teach her if she can’t”. Connor grabbed Ivy’s hand and motioned him to follow. Ivy was hesitant but Carmen encouraged her.

“I’ll keep an eye on them” She declared and took the kids near the TV as George directed them.

Once George was back Ashton asked, “So... you work from home?” Ashton pretended to be amused. “What do you do?”

“Mostly freelancing work. Designing websites and stuff like that.” George shrugged. “I did have a full time job, but I am taking a sabbatical for now, since Paige is so little.”

“I see.” Ashton let out a small smile, recalling how both his and Caleb’s busy schedules had often led to Connor feeling left out. For a flicker of a moment he considered whether or not this was best? For one of them to take some time off. Then again, his kids were much older, and he wasn’t sure if taking time off now would make much difference at this point or not.

“I would ask about your job, but I guess that encroaches on the territory of my wife’s job as well, so... I wouldn’t pry.” George shrugged.

“Well, there isn’t much to tell. Apart from some recent alarming things.” Ashton sighed. He wasn’t sure how to get to it. How to ask for this favor from George without sounding way too desperate, at the same time able to convince him. Deep down he himself wasn’t convinced that he should go ahead with this plan or not. He was still not okay with committing another crime to hide his previous one.

“Dude, you okay?” George asked. “You look constipated.” he chuckled playfully. He could even hear Carmen stifle a laugh.

“Yeah,” Ashton nodded. “I guess... I am not that great at carrying conversations.”

“I know that dude. You have been this way since I remember.” George added as well. “It’s alright. I don’t take this personally.” There was a bit of awkward silence before he added, “So how is the wedding planning going?”

“It’s been fun.” Ashton nodded. “Although we are currently taking a break”.

“From each other”? George was visibly puzzled.

Meanwhile George’s assumption led to Ashton being horrified. “What?! No! We are taking a break from planning a wedding.”

“Oh thank God, that’s a relief.” George breathed out. Ashton was surprised to see George react this way. He was glad that these two were still together? Didn’t he hate Caleb? At least that was what Melanie and Caleb told him. Seeing Ashton confused like that George added, “Don’t be so surprised. Just because of some personal dispute I do not wish the worst of the people”.

“Hope you’re hungry” Melanie stepped in at that moment to ask. “Dinner’s ready” She declared. Ashton was glad she showed up when she did because he was starting to get nervous. He got up to call the kids, but Melanie stepped up to do that so that George could lead Ashton to the table. She was aware that Ashton hadn’t asked for the favor yet, and thus she kept pushing him to do so indirectly. Meanwhile, Ashton was almost certain that he wasn’t gonna do it and had changed his mind by the time he had sat down in the table.