The O’Briens

“Good morning, young man.”

Mrs. O’Brien greets you as you open your door. It’s hard to tell if she’s here to threaten you with another noise complaint, but she seems calmer than the last time you saw her. You hear two people talking to her side and you look past her and peek your head out through your door and see it’s Mr. O’Brien and a young lady, probably around Stella and Cassie’s age, arguing with him. Mr. O’Brien sees you peeking and turns his attention to you.

“Hey, caught you at a bad time?” Mr. O’Brien asks you. Before you could answer him, Mrs. O’Brien answered for you.

“We waited for the noises to stop, Richard. He’s obviously no longer indisposed if he answered the door.” Mrs. O’Brien told him, acting like you weren’t even there. You decide to let that slide and just deal with this as politely as possible.

“Like Mrs. O’Brien said, it’s no big deal—” you tell them as politely as you can, but Mrs. O’Brien cuts you off.

“You see, Richard? What did I say?” Mrs. O’Brien asks her husband.

“Yeah. So~, how can I help you?” you ask them, and you can’t help but glance at the girl with them.

“This is our granddaughter, Maddy.” Mr. O’Brien introduces the young lady with him. You wave to say hi, which she shyly returns.

“Oh, darling. Greet him properly. You’re the one who was excited to meet him.” Mrs. O’Brien encourages her granddaughter.

“Hi Mister—” Maddy started greeting you but Mrs. O’Brien didn't let her finish.

“Here, girl! Don’t be shy. He’s not as big of a celebrity as you make him out to be.” Mrs. O’Brien tells her, which gets an eyebrow raise from you.

Maddy gets in front of you to introduce herself, but still raises a hand up to wave at you as a greeting.

“Hi Mr. Craig. I’m Madeleine. I’m a huge fan.” Maddy formally introduces herself.

“It’s nice to meet you, Madeleine.” You greet her back, offering a handshake, and this small gesture gets the girl to suddenly light up and smile widely. She returns your handshake excitedly, initially surprised by how it feels due to ‘Magic Touch’, but she can’t help but shake your hand vigorously… for an awkwardly long time.

“That’s enough, Maddy.” Mrs. O’Brien tells her granddaughter, who immediately stops shaking your hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Craig!” Maddy tells you.

“Well, now that you’re acquainted, we wanted to ask you a favor, young man.” Mrs. O’Brien tells you.

“Grammy!” Maddy reacts.

“You’re going to be bored out of your mind in the hospital with us, Maddiecakes. We’d rather you take the opportunity to get to know your idol than be stuck with us for another entire day.” Mr. O’Brien tells her.

“Hospital? Is everything alright, Mr. O’Brien?” you ask him with genuine concern.

“Oh, Mary and I are just going for our monthly check-up. It’s no big deal. Nothing to worry about.” Mr. O’Brien tells you with a reassuring smile.

“If it’s just a check-up, I can go with you guys to assist you.” Maddy tells them.

“A check-up at our age takes hours, darling. This young man will be happy to have you stay over.” Mrs. O’Brien tells her, imposing a decision for you.

“That’s if you’re not busy. Don’t mind Mary, she’s become rude in her old age.” “Richard!” “But we were hoping you might be okay to host our granddaughter for a few hours? We wanted to introduce you after she arrived yesterday, so it wouldn’t be too sudden now; but you were out the entire day yesterday… So here we are. We really do apologize for the suddenness” Mr. O’Brien politely explains the situation to you.

“It’s no problem, Mr. O’Brien; but wouldn’t it be better to have your granddaughter with you to assist you if you need anything?” you ask him.

“We’re elderly, young man. Not invalids.” Mrs. O’Brien answers for you, and that immediately stops you from caring about her wellbeing any further; but you do care for Mr. O’Brien.

“Are you sure Mr. O’Brien?” you ask him, completely ignoring Mrs. O’Brien’s opinion.

“Positive.” Mr. O’Brien answers you.

“Only if we’re not imposing, Mr. Craig!” Maddy chimes in.

“You’re not, Madeleine. I’d love to introduce you to Stella and Cassie.” you tell her, and this gets a curious look from Mr. O’Brien.

“Cassie? That’s not Sylvie’s daughter is it?” Mr. O’Brien asks you.

“It is Mr. O’Brien. She’s staying with us over the summer.” you answer him.

“Who’s at the door, Dad?” you hear Stella ask from behind you.

“It’s Mr. and Mrs. O’Brien with their granddaughter. Is Cassie with you? Come say hi.” You tell her. The girls greet your elderly neighbors and Maddy; they introduce themselves to Maddy, and Maddy informs them of what’s happening. The girls react positively to having her over and invite her inside for you. Maddy looks at her grandparents for confirmation, which they give. She then looks at you, and you invite her inside.

“Thank you, young man. We’re even, now.” Mrs. O’Brien tells you before she walks away and heads for the stairs ahead of her husband.

“You go ahead, Mary. I’ll just talk to the boy for a bit.” Mr. O’Brien tells her and she just raises her hand to signify that she heard, but also in a way that made it seem like she didn’t care.

“Be honest with me, are you sleeping with Sylvie’s daughter?” Mr. O’Brien surprisingly asks you. Not seeing any point in lying, you answer him honestly.

“Yes, Mr. O’Brien. Cassie’s my girlfriend.” you answer him.

“What about Antonia? Aren’t you sleeping with her too? If you’re wondering, you already know my wife tells me everything that goes on in this building, right?” Mr. O’Brien asks another question.

“Yes, Tanya’s also my girlfriend.” you answer him.

“And your daughter?” he continues to ask. You wonder how Mrs. O’Brien found out about that one, but she probably saw Stella naked and coming from your room when she came over to make the noise complaint before.

“Yes, Stella’s my girlfriend too.” you answer him.

“So, you’re with three women already.” Mr. O’Brien remarks, and you can’t help but nod.

“What about the new girl in 303? Mary mentioned she saw her at your apartment too.” Mr. O’Brien continues asking.

“No, Viv’s not my girlfriend.” you answer him, but he’s looking at you like he knows you’re not telling the entire truth. “Yet.” you add, being honest that you are planning to date Viv, and pursue a romantic relationship with her.

“There it is.” Mr. O’Brien reacts with a laugh. “Well, I guess I have to congratulate you on that part. It’s none of my business how you’re making that work, but I’m honestly happy for you. I can only imagine how rough the last few months must have been, so you getting back on your feet is a good sign. Hell, three girlfriends, you’re practically off your feet again and flying.” Mr. O’Brien tells you, letting out a chuckle at the end.

“Thanks Mr. O’Brien.” you tell him.

“That being said.” he adds ominously, getting your full attention. “I’m not Sylvie. I’m not pawning off my granddaughter to you because I’m too irresponsible to take care of her myself.” Mr. O’Brien adds with the same ominous tone, but also a bit more menacing than you’ve ever heard from the sweet old man. “My granddaughter?” he starts.

“Don’t you fookin’ dare.” Mr. O’Brien warns you, but he does it with such a warm smile that you can’t even see a hint of the menacing tone he used in his words.

“I understand, Mr. O’Brien.” you reassure him, the fear in your voice evident.

“Glad to know I still got it.” Mr. O’Brien says with an amused chuckle to himself, his voice going back to the sweet old man you know. He then takes out his wallet and grabs a couple of bills and offers them to you. “For having Maddy over,” he says. You reject it, telling him it’s fine.

“Pizza Time!” the same pizza delivery guy that’s been delivering your pizzas since you’ve been divorced shouts out to you.

“Hey Tom.” Mr. O’Brien surprisingly greets him.

“Tricky Ricky! You buying?” the pizza delivery guy asks him.

Tricky Ricky?

“I still have some left from last time, Tom. Maybe next time.” Mr. O’Brien answers him.

“Cool, cool. No worries. Anyway, these pizzas are for you, man.” Tom addresses you, but you’re still looking at Mr. O’Brien for an explanation.

“He’s my weed dealer.” he answers you honestly.

“Suh’, dude.” Tom greets you differently than before, before handing you the pizza boxes.

“You buying?” he asks, looking at you.

“He is now.” Mr. O’Brien answers for you and he hands Tom some bills. You try to politely reject his generosity but Tom’s already counting the money that Mr. O’Brien gave him.

“That’s for the pizzas and the slice. Keep the change, Tom.” Mr. O’Brien tells him.

“Right on Tricky Ricky!” Tom tells him before walking away happy. Mr. O’Brien looks back at you and gives you a warm smile before giving you a salute goodbye.

“Have fun.”