When I Found You Ch. 10

*All characters are 18 years or older. This will be a 27 part series. A chapter is uploaded once a week.*

Jeremy woke up at six with Kylie still fast asleep next to him. He couldn't avoid smiling as he looked at her. She looked so peaceful and relaxed, still cuddled up against him. He knew he needed to wake her up as they had to get ready to leave by seven, but he decided to wait a few more minutes.

Fifteen minutes or so later, he kissed her forehead. What's better than being woken up by a kiss, he thought. Well, he was right about that; it made her wake up but with a very big smile.

"Good morning, sleepy head," Jeremy said quietly.

"Hum," Kylie responded, still slightly groggy.

"We have to get up. We need to leave in about forty minutes."

Jeremy slowly got up from the bed. The events of last night came back to Kylie, causing the biggest grin Jeremy had ever seen. He just chuckled when he saw it.

"Let's go. Come on," he said as Kylie groaned again.

"Fine. But I want at least one day to sleep in with you this vacation," she replied.

"Deal." Jeremy grabbed some of his clothes and headed to the bathroom to brush his teeth. When he returned, Kylie was dressed and feeling much more awake.

"I am going to go wash up, but then I am ready to go. You ready?"

"Yep. Just finished brushing my teeth, and we will get food on the way."

"Perfect," she said, walking to the bathroom.

Jeremy walked into the living room and found his parents packing some snacks into backpacks. He knew this meant a long drive, a hike, or some family outing. It had been a while since he was in LA, so he had no idea what house his other family members lived in at this point. They owned about four around the city and switched between them almost every year.

"Hey Jeremy, can you grab some water bottles from the fridge and throw them in here? It may be a long car ride, so we want to be prepared," his mother asked.

"Sure, mom."

He was right; a long car ride was ahead of them.

"You two get a good sleep?" Cassidy said, managing to keep the statement solid without breaking to laugh.

"Yep. Will need some more rest today though, still really tired from the flight."

"The flight sure...Well, just be ready to go in ten," she replied, now laughing and walking back to her room.

Jeremy was just left blushing and shaking his head. His parents clearly knew what happened, they must have heard them through the walls. He knew he would need to let Kylie know they needed to be quieter tonight.

Kylie joined him in the living room a few minutes later. They just sat on the couch, waiting for his parents to finish getting ready.

"Last night was super nice," Kylie mentioned.

"It was. You have fun?"

"I had a lot of fun, thanks to you." Jeremy knew what she was referring to, but he had to hit the compliment back to her as well.

"Well... I had a bunch of fun, thanks to you," he replied. Kylie just grinned and laid her head on his shoulder. He avoided bringing up the noise topic now; that would just put a damper on her mood.

"Ready to meet more of my family?" he asked.

"Yep. As long as you guide me through it. I am not the best at meeting a bunch of new people at once," she admitted.

"I will be with you at every point along the way. I promise." He gave her a reassuring kiss on the forehead. He had learned that a little kiss really helped prevent her nerves from spiraling out of control.

His parents walked in a few minutes later, and the group headed downstairs to the rental car. They would take one car today as it was quite a long drive, so there was no reason to drive separately. Even in the morning, there was traffic, so it would take at least two hours to get to the house. Typical Los Angeles driving.

Almost as soon as they entered the car, Kylie cuddled up against Jeremy and quickly fell into a nap. Jeremy and his parents then got into a discussion, just talking about plans for the week. They planned to go to the beach, see a concert, go to a Dodger game, and even try to meet up with some old friends. It was a large TODO list, but if they managed their time right, it would be doable.

Two and a half hours later, they pulled into the driveway of a large three-story tall house. Jeremy always considered it more like an estate, but the family hated calling it that. Jeremy rustled Kylie's shoulder to wake her up.

"We're here," he said as she opened her eyes. She nodded and sat up slowly. Kylie fixed her hair and followed Jeremy as he got out of the car. Her eyes went wide while viewing the large entrance to the house. It was bigger than any house in all of Westport.

"Nathan!" Cassidy yelled as a man walked out the front door. He quickly walked over and gave her a hug.

"Nathan is my mom's sister's husband," Jeremy whispered to Kylie.

A few moments later, three others appeared from the front door. Jeremy told Kylie their names as they came out.

First was Lily, his mom's sister. Following shortly after was Sabrina, one of Jeremy's cousins. His other cousin Stacy followed right behind. They both looked like they were not having a good day. Stacy's face was fully red and blushing; meanwhile, Sabrina looked pissed. Jeremy knew he would be dragged into whatever was happening very soon.

"JEREMY!" Lily yelled, dragging him into a big hug. Kylie just looked at Jeremy's painful facial expression and laughed. This caused Lily to turn her attention to the unknown person standing next to her.

Jeremy used the distraction to remove himself from the hug. "Lily, this is my girlfriend, Kylie."

"It's nice to meet you, Lily," Kylie said before she was quickly taken into a hug, just like Jeremy was before.

"It's great to meet you too!" Lily responded, letting go of the hug. "Let's head inside so you can meet everyone else."

The group walked toward the door where the others were standing. So far, so good, Jeremy thought.

"Kylie, this is Sabrina and Stacy, and the man right behind them is Nathan," Cassidy said, introducing the group.

"Nice to meet you all!" Kylie said, shaking each hand as Cassidy made the introduction.

"Let's head inside and cook some breakfast. You must all be hungry," Cassidy stated, walking inside as the group followed.

The inside of the house was impressive. Tall ceilings and a grand staircase were right after the entrance. Kylie had never seen anything like this. While Jeremy and his family may not showcase their wealth, his aunt and the rest of the family do. They had multiple houses and cars, plus they also even rented private planes to fly.

Cassidy led the group through the living room out toward the back deck, which overlooked the whole city. There was a big pool and eating area with enough seats to fit everyone in the group, plus another ten people.

It was a little overwhelming for Kylie, which Jeremy quickly noticed, so he pulled her closer to him as they were walking. Kylie had never seen a house like this, but in LA, this type of house was very common. She thought it must have cost like a million dollars, but in all truth, all houses in LA cost that much. This house was valued at twelve and a half million. Jeremy avoided mentioning that detail to prevent Kylie from having a heart attack.

The adults all started to cook and prepare breakfast while the kids sat at the table.

"So Kylie, tell me. How did Jeremy get you to go out with him? We have never seen him bring anyone on trips with him," Stacy asked.

"Well, he helped me in school with some issues, and it led to us really falling for each other," Kylie replied. She purposely withheld the specific details about the issues in order to prevent them from gaining any leverage to tease Jeremy for helping the bullied kid.

"How's your senior year going?" Sabrina asked. Kylie could tell they were just trying to make conversation. She had no actual sincerity in her voice. Jeremy quickly picked up on that himself.

"Stop the bullshit questions. What is going on between you two?" Jeremy shot back at Sabrina and Stacy. He kept his voice low enough not to attract the parent's attention. Kylie was surprised. She had never seen Jeremy use that language or attitude. It was a new side of Jeremy she had just discovered.

"This bitch stole my date to the end-of-year dance," Sabrina said, returning to her bad mood. Stacy just rolled her eyes at the statement.

"He wanted to go with me first anyways," Stacy jumped in.

"If you say that again, I will beat you up. You understand me?" Sabrina threatened.

"It's nice to see you two torturing each other rather than me for once," Jeremy stated, chuckling, earning him a slap on the arm from Kylie. "Okay...Okay...Who is this guy?"

"He asked me out last year. We dated for a while, and then we went on a break. I was going to ask him to the dance and was talking to Stacy about him. Next thing I knew, when I asked him, he just said he was already going with Stacy."

"I thought you were going to chicken out," Stacy admitted. "My date backed out, so I was just grasping at straws."

"You could have asked anyone else, not the guy I wanted to go with," Sabrina said. She was starting to get worked up again.

"ALRIGHT, THAT'S ENOUGH!" Jeremy said sternly. Quickly the two girls stopped the bickering between each other. Even Kylie was once again surprised by Jeremy's tone. "When is this dance?"

"This Friday. They do it over break, so kids have time to relax before the next week," Sabrina told him.

Jeremy leaned over and whispered something in Kylie's ear. She at first looked confused, but he clarified something, and she nodded her agreement.

"I will take you to the dance on Friday, Sabrina. Clearly, you want to go, and you want someone to take you, so I am offering to go."

"That's very nice, but I could not do that to Kylie. She's your girlfriend, and you don't even go to my school. She could not even enter the building," she replied.

"Nonsense," Kylie replied. "You two are family. He's trying to be nice and support you. Plus, he already made me a separate deal."

Sabrina looked over questionably at Jeremy.

"He promised me a shopping trip and a day at Disneyland before we leave town," Kylie clarified with a smile. She knew that Jeremy was a gentleman and he was just treating everyone with the same respect he expected from them. Doing this for her may change her teasing and torture of Jeremy. Plus, they were family.

"Okay," Sabrina agreed. "We will go then. Thanks, Jeremy. Thanks, Kylie."

Jeremy nodded while Stacy got up and walked away with a huff, clearly unhappy that her sister now had a date.

"I am glad he found you, Kylie. He seems much happier than last time he was here," Sabrina mentioned. Kylie just smiled and looked at Jeremy, who now had a slight blush on his face.

"I will go grab some of the food for us," Sabrina said, jumping up and heading over to the parents. This gave Kylie a moment to talk with Jeremy.

"That's a really nice thing to do, you know."

I know. She really was upset, and I think it will do some good to help strengthen our family relationship. It would be nice not to get teased every single time we visit."

"I don't think Stacy is going to stop. She is the one that seems pissed now."

"See has always had something to compete with Sabrina about. I knew she was having fun torturing her by stealing her date, but it was a crappy thing to do."

"It was really harsh and not cool. Especially for family. But I know plenty of friends who have gone through the same thing with siblings." This was quite true; Kylie knew for a fact that Skyler dealt with some really bad sibling rivalry before her sister went to college.

"Anyway, enough about them. How are you doing?" Jeremy asked.

"A little overwhelmed by the size of this place, but once I get into the grove of talking with people, I am good."

"Okay. If you ever want to take a break, we can always go for a walk or something."

"I just want another night like last night," Kylie admitted.

Jeremy just smiled and whispered, "tonight, we just need to be quieter. I think my parents might have heard what was going on."

Kylie turned bright red. Jeremy quickly noticed and just laughed. "They don't care," he clarified.

Kylie, now aware of Jeremy's setup to get her to blush, just rolled her eyes.

Both of them were unaware of what was currently happening in Westport. Janelle had started her new plan to get revenge. if she could not go after Kylie, she would just go after everyone else who cared about her. That meant Jeremy, Skyler, and Bob.