Modern Family: New Life-Chapter 107: Calm before the storm

Andrew answered the call, put the phone to his ear, and before Jay could speak first, he greeted him in a peculiar way:

"¡Waasuuuup!"

"..."

There was a long silence on the other end of the line.

Andrew smirked slightly. He knew perfectly well that Jay understood the reference. In fact, he had done it on purpose, just to annoy him a little.

After a few seconds of awkward pause, Jay's deep voice finally broke the silence.

"Are you still doing that stupid greeting?"

Without a hint of shame, Andrew kept editing his video, moving the mouse with one hand while holding the phone with the other.

"One day... one day you're going to answer me with a 'Waasuuuup' too," he said completely seriously. "Phil already does it."

"Phil still hasn't grown up. And the day that happens, it'll be over my dead body," Jay grunted.

"Well, at least it'll make for a nice tribute," Andrew replied with a small laugh.

"What do you need? It's not like you to call," Andrew added, getting straight to the point.

"I need help..." Jay began, pausing as if each word cost him a great effort. "For connecting a damn printer," he finally admitted, letting out a heavy sigh.

Andrew blinked a couple of times, confused.

"Connecting a printer... seriously?" he said after a few seconds, as if someone had just asked him to solve two plus two.

Coming from a future just over ten years ahead, connecting a printer seemed like such a simple task that he almost burst out laughing.

On the other end of the line, Jay snorted, clearly annoyed by Andrew's tone.

"Are you going to help or keep acting like a smartass?"

Andrew held back his laughter, sensing Jay's lack of patience.

"I'm not acting like a smartass. But I have to ask, since when does Mr. Anti-Technology want to connect a printer?" Andrew asked.

"Planning to print flyers to sell your closets?" he added with a slight smile.

"You're real funny today, huh?" Jay said, and then resignedly revealed the real reason. "Gloria misses her grandmother. I want to print an old picture of her, and this damn new machine won't cooperate."

'A romantic gesture?' Andrew thought, raising an eyebrow.

Gloria was the only person in the entire family who ever got gestures like that from Jay. For everyone else, being gruff was his default language.

Andrew realized it was the second "sentimental problem" he'd been asked to solve that day.

First Alex, asking for help with a love issue.

Now Jay, trying to do something sweet for his wife.

It was curious, to say the least.

"I can't go right now. I'm editing a video. Why don't you ask Phil for help?" Andrew finally said.

Jay snorted again, clearly unconvinced.

"He knows about that stuff. You'll have that photo ready before you lose patience and shoot the printer, Andrew insisted.

He heard a loud sigh on the other end, and finally Jay said, "Fine, I'll call Phil."

Andrew smiled. He thought this would be good for Phil.

His uncle was always seeking, unsuccessfully, the old grump's approval. And Jay, hard to impress, didn't give smiles or compliments easily.

Maybe this was a good opportunity for Phil to score a few points.

"That's great. See? It's not that hard to ask your son-in-law for help. Plus, you'll make Claire happy," Andrew said, leaning back more comfortably in his chair.

There was a thick moment of silence.

"If you keep talking like that, it won't be the printer I shoot," Jay muttered, clearly irritated.

And without waiting for a response, he hung up.

Andrew set the phone down on the desk and leaned back in his chair, clasping his hands behind his head.

A small smile formed on his lips.

So far today, he had managed to complete two family missions.

First, helping Alex as an intermediary so Pippa could give her advice.

That, in turn, also strengthened the bond between Pippa and his family, something she wanted, and Andrew valued.

And now, he had managed to get Jay to call Phil for help.

A perfect opportunity for Phil to show off his skills, even if it was with something as simple as connecting a printer, and hopefully improve his relationship with the old grump.

Claire would also be happy to see her husband and father getting along better, even if just a little.

'Next one, bring it on, I'm ready,' Andrew thought as he resumed editing.

Focused, he finished editing the video, uploaded it, and seeing that he still had some free time, he started working on the idea for his one-million-subscriber special, which he had decided to split into two parts.

Time flew by without him even noticing.

When he checked his phone, he saw a message from Pippa saying she would be at his house in ten minutes.

Andrew opened his eyes, realizing he had less time than he thought.

He quickly shut down his computer and started changing clothes, he needed to look more presentable for tonight. He sprayed on deodorant at lightning speed, changed clothes in record time, and as he was tying his Jordans, he heard the doorbell ring.

He finished tying the laces and practically ran out of his room.

"I'll get it!" he called out.

Cam, who was already heading toward the door, stopped in the hallway and murmured visibly emotional, "Ah, young love,"

As if his son rushing to open the door for his girlfriend was a scene straight out of a romantic movie.

Andrew ignored the comment, already used to it, and opened the door.

There was Pippa. She looked amazing, even better than in the picture she had sent him a few hours earlier.

However, Pippa wasn't looking at him. Her eyes were fixed on her phone screen, her brows slightly furrowed as she typed quickly.

Andrew raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms at the door.

"Hello? Earth calling Pippa?"

Pippa blinked, as if snapping back to reality, and looked up.

"Sorry," she said, smiling as she stepped closer and hugged him, wrapping her arms around his neck affectionately.

"I was talking to Alex."

Andrew held her by the waist and tilted his head.

"Still about Jeremy? How did the advice go?"

"It went well. My advice helped," Pippa said, first with a smile, then with a more serious tone.

"But then came the drama..."

"Drama? What happened?" Andrew asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Alex found out that Claire read the messages she was sending to Jeremy without her permission. That's how Haley found out in the first place and gave her the advice to kiss him," Pippa answered with a sigh.

"Oh..." Andrew said, not sure what else to add.

It made total sense that Claire, the ultimate paranoid mom, would have taken Alex's phone and snooped through her private conversations.

"Alex wasn't the only one who got mad. Haley got upset too, because she didn't know any of that,"

"A classic," Andrew said, shaking his head.

"And how did you find all this out?" he added.

"I kept talking to Alex and she told me everything. She's really mad at Claire..." Pippa replied.

"Well, we already did our part. We helped Alex and she didn't end up making a fool of herself by desperately going to kiss the guy at his house," Andrew said with a shrug.

The rest wasn't their problem, it was a mother and daughters' problem now.

"That's not all," Pippa said, making Andrew frown.

"What else could've happened to make it worse?" Andrew asked.

"Somehow, Haley found out that Alex dismissed her advice and decided to ask me for help instead," Pippa explained, her tone neutral but clearly annoyed. "And she got offended."

"Offended by what?"

"I don't know. I guess her ego was hurt, that her sister preferred me. She even sent me a private message, like I had betrayed some sort of older sister code or something," Pippa said, frowning as she recalled the stupid logic behind Haley's anger.

"I couldn't believe it."

Andrew let out a low whistle at her statement.

Honestly, it wasn't that crazy.

Haley and Alex fought all the time, that was their dynamic. They rarely ever got along like real sisters.

Of course Alex would prefer Pippa.

After all, Pippa was smart, grounded, studious, serious about her future... everything Alex valued and hardly ever found in Haley.

"Let me guess... you didn't just let it slide," Andrew said, half amused, half surprised.

Pippa raised an eyebrow, not even bothering to hide the obvious.

"Do I look like someone who lets absurd things slide?"

"Definitely not," Andrew said, shaking his head.

"I tried to explain politely that I didn't do anything wrong, that Alex asked me for help and I just tried to support her. But Haley didn't want to hear it and kept sending passive-aggressive messages, accusing me of interfering in things that weren't my business. So, I ended up responding the way she deserved," Pippa huffed.

"Perfect. I tried to help Alex, and now I've triggered some kind of civil war. And now we're all going to have dinner together like nothing's wrong," Andrew said, resigned.

"The important thing is that we helped Alex, and she didn't ruin her first love because of some stupid advice from Haley," Pippa said with a serene smile.

Andrew glanced sideways at her, noticing a particular glint in Pippa's eyes.

She was still smiling... but she was definitely mad at Haley.

And that, at dinner, could be dangerous.

Especially because he knew Haley: impulsive, irrational, and anything but discreet when she was upset.

'This could blow up at any moment,' Andrew thought with an internal sigh.

Just then, they heard Cam's voice from the hallway.

"Alright, enough kissing at the door! Come on, love can wait! Gloria's Colombian food is waiting for us!"

"We weren't doing that, Dad," Andrew said, rolling his eyes and raising his hands in a gesture of innocence.

Pippa let out a soft laugh and waved at Cam and Mitchell, who was pushing Lily in her stroller.

"Whoa, that outfit looks perfect on you! Gloria's going to love it!" Cam exclaimed enthusiastically the moment he saw Pippa.

Mitchell, more reserved, smiled and nodded in approval.

"You look really nice, Pippa," he said more calmly, but sincerely.

"Thanks," Pippa replied with a smile.

Meanwhile, Mitchell glanced sideways at Andrew, noticing the slightly wrinkled shirt and the loosely tied laces on his Jordans, as if he had rushed to get ready.

'A classic straight boy,' Mitchell thought, unable to help himself, letting out a small internal sigh.

Cam and he always took their time carefully picking their outfits for every occasion...

Andrew, on the other hand, had clearly changed at the last minute.

Andrew, who had been too focused on the drama to think about anything else until that moment, realized he hadn't said anything about Pippa's outfit.

"You really do look amazing," Andrew whispered, giving her a quick kiss on the lips. "Sorry, I should've told you that earlier."

"Thanks," Pippa replied, blushing slightly as she accepted the kiss.

"See, Mitchell? That's how you show affection in public," Cam said, unable to resist throwing in a little jab.

The atmosphere suddenly shifted into an odd tension that Pippa didn't fully understand.

Andrew leaned down slightly toward her and whispered softly,

"Things are a little tense around here too."

Pippa raised her eyebrows and nodded slightly. Without saying anything else, the two of them, still holding hands, started walking toward the car.

Behind them, Cam and Mitchell closed the house door while arguing quietly under their breath.

Andrew and Pippa exchanged looks without getting involved. They all got into the car, and after getting settled, headed off toward Jay's house.

-------------------------------------------------

You can read 15 Chapters in advance on my patreon.

Link: https://[email protected]/Nathe07