Motherly Advice

The following chapter is written in 3rd Person POV…

*HGHG HKGKH*

“UGH. He’s going to be a nightmare in the morning.” Mrs. O’Brien says, after another loud snore from her husband. Mrs. O’Brien rubs her temple, already stressing out from the thought of having to deal with a hungover Mr. O’Brien.

Jay and Maddy are now at the O’Brien’s apartment, having just helped lay down Mr. O’Brien for the night. They met Tanya briefly as they passed her by in the hallway, and she told them that Stella and Cassie had already taken Brooke to her room at Viv’s apartment and that she’s already asleep. Tanya also told them that Nelly’s out cold too after having tried to match Mr. O’Brien drink-for-drink back at the party.

“Don’t worry, Grammy. Tricia and I are here to help you with Grandpa Rick tomorrow.” Maddy assures her grandmother.

“I’d rather you two not be here when he wakes up actually.” Mrs. O’Brien replies, to the shock of Maddy.

“Why not?” Maddy asks.

“I know how your grandfather gets after a night of drinking.” Mrs. O’Brien explains, before opening a drawer from the bedside table and pulling out two pairs of earplugs. “Antonia gave this to us back in the day.” Mrs. O’Brien prefaces, before handing Jay both pairs of earplugs.

“You’re gonna need it tomorrow.” Mrs. O’Brien warns him, and it takes all of Jay’s willpower to hold in the bile that immediately builds up from the threatening image Mrs. O’Brien just implied.

“Do I wanna know what that means?” Maddy innocently asks, though Jay can tell she already has an idea of what it means.

“I think it’s best that you don’t, Maddy.” Jay tells her, getting a smile of relief from Mrs. O’Brien.

“You can sleep over at your boyfriend’s place tonight if you want, Maddiecakes.” Mrs. O’Brien then tells Maddy, who immediately lights up after hearing it.

“Are you serious!?” Maddy asks excitedly, and Mrs. O’Brien gives her a satisfied nod, happy that she said something that made her granddaughter extremely happy.

“I still don’t know what happened to your group tonight, nor do I need to know the details, but I can tell that you all need each other right now.” Mrs. O’Brien tells both of them.

“Thank you so much, Grammy!” Maddy says, before she gives her grandmother a loving hug that gets Mrs. O’Brien to smile the sweetest smile you’ve ever seen from her.

“Thanks, Mrs. O’Brien.” Jay thanks her sincerely.

“I think at this point you can just call me ‘Mary’, Craig.” Mrs. O’Brien tells him.

“You’ve brought my family closer than it’s been in years. So allowing Maddy to stay one night with you is the least I could do.” Mrs. O’Brien adds with an appreciative smile, that she then directs towards her husband while she caresses his forehead.

“I didn’t do anything.” Jay replies humbly, knowing full well that the magic he bought for them has probably helped plenty.

“Not from what Ricky and Connor told me.” Mrs. O’Brien counters, taking Jay by surprise, as he’d have expected it was Maddy who hinted to her grandmother of his subtle involvement.

“I may have had only one kid, but I raised two.” Mrs. O’Brien begins to explain, obviously referring to Mr. O’Brien as the other child she raised, while her caresses on his forehead turn into gentle slaps on his cheek. “And I’ll be the first to admit I raised a couple of idiots.” Mrs. O’Brien continues, though she says it as a clear term of endearment.

“And it’s probably because of that that we couldn’t work through what we needed to work through in all those years. My two idiots didn’t want to stick by each other when they needed to.” Mrs. O’Brien admits.

“So whatever it is that you’re going through, work through it together.” Mrs. O’Brien adds supportively.

“We will… Mary.” Jay assures her, placing a hand on her shoulder as a sign of your appreciation.

“Now go before I change my mind.” Mary adds threateningly. “Or before this idiot wakes up and you find out ALL the tricks Ricky can do.” She then adds jokingly, her smile devious, and betraying the seriousness of her initial warning.

“We’ll see ourselves out.” Jay tells her, and Maddy’s lips are scrunched up to show that she definitely understood what her grandmother meant by that.

At Tanya’s Apartment…

“UGH. You’re going to be a nightmare in the morning.” Sofia comments, as she stands over her twin sister sleeping on the couch.

“No, I won’t.” Nelly drunkenly mutters, informing Nelly she’s not as knocked out as they initially believed.

“I hope your hangover incapacitates you tomorrow.” Sofia curses at Nelly.

“You’re so mean.” Nelly continues to drunkenly reply, and Sofia takes offense to that.

“Who do you think carried you up three flights of stairs, huh!?” Sofia argues with her drunk sister. Instead of drunkenly muttering something this time, Nelly puckers her lips and air kisses Sofia goadingly.

“Perra borracha.” Sofia fires back at her, just as the door to the apartment opens.

“Oi! [What is your sister doing on the couch?]” Tanya immediately shouts in Spanish upon seeing Nelly half sprawled on the couch. “[Didn’t I tell you to lay her down in bed?]” Tanya continues to ask.

“[I got tired.]” Sofia replies, shrugging her shoulders.

“[No, she didn’t.]” Nelly, out of pure muscle memory, throws her sister under the bus. Tanya just rolls her eyes, knowing that Nelly’s not fully sleeping yet.

“Come on. Let’s get your sister to her room.” Tanya tells Sofia.

“If she has the energy to talk, then she has the energy to drag herself to her own bed.” Sofia sassily argues, forgetting who it is she’s talking to. She looks at her mom, who’s just looking at her blankly. For Sofia, a blank stare isn’t good. Because she knows what to expect with anger or annoyance. But blank is where creative punishments happen.

“I’m sorry, mama.” Sofia immediately apologizes.

“Mija,” Tanya scarily addresses her daughter. “That comeback is straight out of my playbook and I’ve never felt more heard as a mother than this moment.” Tanya tells Sofia, who just looks at her in stunned confusion.

“But remember what I told you this morning about trying to balance being ‘good cop’ and ‘bad cop’? Your sister’s getting ‘good cop’ right now. So in the interest of balance, you get ‘bad cop’.” Tanya tells her more threateningly.

“Pick. Up. Your. Sister.” Tanya commands her, and Sofia’s childhood fear of her mother immediately kicks in and she does what she’s told. Once Sofia has Nelly’s arm over her shoulder, she looks at her mother for help.

“Now, I’d help you, but if you had the energy to sass back, then you have the energy to drag your sister to her room yourself.” Tanya throws Sofia’s words right back at her. Sofia can only grunt and roll her eyes as she tries to drag Nelly to her room.

It only takes one step from Sofia before she feels the weight of Nelly becoming quite easier to carry, and she sees her mother on the other side of Nelly carrying her.

“You deserve a bit of ‘good cop’ too, mija.” Tanya tells her with a playful smile, implying that she was only joking with the threatening mom voice.

The two help each other carry Nelly to Tanya’s old room that Nelly claimed as her own once Tanya moved in with Jay. They both forcefully plop her down on the bed face first, and Nelly mutters a drunken “Ow.” from the forcefulness.

“[Oh, shut up.]” Tanya and Sofia simultaneously tell the drunk Nelly, making the mother-daughter pair look at each other in amusement.

“Careful, mija.” Tanya deviously tells her daughter. “You’re turning into me.” Tanya jokingly tells her daughter, who rolls her eyes but can’t deny the similarity.

“Compared to Nelly, I still have a looot of catching up to do.” Sofia replies, getting an eyebrow raise from her mother. “That looks a lot like you five years ago, no?” Sofia teasingly asks, directing her eyes towards Nelly’s drunken state when she says ‘that’, and Tanya immediately understands that Sofia’s ribbing her. Tanya spanks her daughter’s ass playfully for the rib.

“Go back to your room before I decide to give you more than just a spanking.” Tanya playfully tells Sofia.

“I bet your boyfriend would love to see that.” Nelly drunkenly comments, to Sofia’s raucous laughter.

“One of you is drunk and I’m still outnumbered.” Tanya defeatedly sighs, before she gives Sofia a **** glare to stop her from laughing.

“I’m going! I’m going!” Sofia declares, her flight response having been triggered.

“Mija!” Tanya calls out to her right after Sofia tries to flee, stopping Sofia in her tracks.

“Thanks for taking care of your sister.” Tanya tells her daughter sweetly.

“Of course, mama.” Sofia replies, appreciating the sweeter side of her mother.

“But you should let loose sometimes too, you know.” Tanya advises her.

“I’ll take it under advisement.” Sofia replies with the same appreciative smile.

“Good night, mija.” Tanya tells her.

“Good night, mama.” Sofia replies. “AND GOOD NIGHT TO YOU TOO, SIS!” Sofia shouts as loud as she could to annoy the drunken Nelly, who can only grunt her displeasure.

“Enough letting loose for you, mama?” Sofia jokingly asks her mother.

“You could’ve warned me!” Tanya shouts back, and Nelly grunts again at the two being loud around her.

“[Oh, shut up!]” Tanya and Sofia say in unison once more, getting Sofia and Tanya to laugh again.

“I better go get her some water for when she comes to.” Sofia suggests.

“No. I’ll do it before I leave. Go. Rest.” Tanya tells her daughter.

“Okay. Good night again.” Sofia replies.

“Love you, mija.” Tanya tells her daughter sweetly.

“Love you too, mama.” Sofia replies without hesitation.

Once Sofia leaves, Tanya immediately puts her hands to her hips and looks at Nelly in disappointment.

“And you,” Tanya speaks to Nelly. “I know you can hear me.” Tanya adds.

“Your sister doesn’t party like we do so she wouldn’t know, but I know a drunk act when I see one.” Tanya says, before poking Nelly’s side to make her jolt in reaction.

“OW!” Nelly reacts, a lot more awake than she was earlier. “[What was that for?]” Nelly asks, rubbing her side in pain.

“When’d you start thinking about fucking my boyfriend, huh?”