Marvin and Jessica had just pulled up to the front of the Keppler's house and Marvin was dumbfounded at the size of the place. "Holy shit, it's fucking massive," Marvin said as he got out of the car. Jessica just chuckled at his shock, she understood how he felt, the house was a massive 10,000 sq ft, something most were not accustomed to seeing.
"Yeah, that's what happens when you have a successful talent agency and NFL career," Jessica said as she and Marvin began heading to the door. "Alright, I've told these people just how good you are, so prove me right, no cussing, and show some liveliness" Jessica was stern with her words, but Marvin understood why.
The Keppler's accepting him to be their foster child would be a huge relief for Jessica, these would be people who would be able to give him a life of luxury that most people would dream of. 'Eyes down, no long eye contact' Marvin said to himself, he didn't want them to get offset when they saw his stare.
*DING* Jessica rang the doorbell and they could hear the scuttling of feet in the house. The door was then opened and a lady with a bright smile came out "Hey guys, sorry to keep you waiting." she said as she welcomed Jessica and Marvin in.
As they entered the house, they were greeted by Joel, his kids, and Jolie. Jessica warmly received their hellos with a handshake while Marvin stood by her side with his head down, he merely nodded at them.
'Put a couple of tats on Joel and he's an SS9 member' Marvin thought in his head as he saw the massive Joel Keppler, Joel stood at a resounding 6'4, 225 pounds.
Marvin followed Jessica as she was directed to sit on the couches in the living room, as they walked Marvin couldn't help but think, 'DAMNN SON, this place is nice as fuck'. He and Jessica took a seat, Jessica relaxed on the soft cotton couches, but Marvin sat straight up, he couldn't relax completely in a new place.
The Kepplers and Jolie took a seat across from Jessica and Marvin, it looked like an interview with Jessica and Marvin being put in the spotlight. I
Then the awkwardness began to set in, no one had said a word yet, they had just been staring at one another, except Marvin who had his eyes lowered. It was getting extra awkward as everyone began to notice just how silent things had become.
"Hey Joe why don't we get our guests some water" Jolie spoke up breaking the silence that had filled the room, Joel quickly got up along with Jolie to head into the kitchen. Olivia gave them both a grateful look, it was quite unlike her to freeze up when hosting guests, and she had no idea how to break the silence, so she was grateful someone else had.
"I see this is Austin and Brooklyn," Jessica said not letting the silence come back in again.
"Yes, this is them, this little troublemaker is Austin" Olivia smiled and ruffled her son's hair, "Mom come on" Austin complained as he tried to get out of his mother's reach, "And that over there is our loveable Brooklyn, Brooke for short" Olivia introduced her daughter as well.
'I half expected them to have some weird names like Audio and Inspector' Marvin laughed at his thoughts as he heard Olivia's introductions. "I am their aunt, you can call me Mrs Jolie," Jolie said as she came back into the room with Joel.
"You don't have to, Jolie works just fine, and you don't have to call me Mrs Keppler, you can call me Joe or Joel whichever works for you," Joel said as he set down the cups of water he got for everybody. "Oh and Olivia works best for me, none of that Mrs Keppler stuff" Oliva quickly added as well.
"I'm just Austin" Austin also included himself, he didn't want to feel left out from the introductions. "What's your name?" He asked which instantly caused Olivia's face to sink in fear.
She had told her children about the guests that would be coming and about the living situation they would have with Marvin now. "Stupid, they're Marvin and Jessica, Mom already told us" Brooklyn smacked the back of her brother's head, and Olivia took a sigh of relief at her daughter's save.
"I know that, but he didn't introduce himself like everyone else did " Austin's words caused both of his parents to instantly become scared, they weren't trying to pressure Marvin to do anything. "You don't have to do that if you don't want to" Joel tried to fix his son's mistakes.
"Oh no, Austin's right, we should introduce ourselves as well. I'm Jessica, Marvin's social worker, you can call me Jess if you'd like" Jessica said, she was laughing in her head at the lack of social anxiety Austin had. "And this guy next to me is..." Jessica was allowing Marvin to introduce himself.
'Dang Kid, way to play your cards, forcing me to talk. Ouch-' Marvin was snapped out of his thoughts by a pinch from Jessica. 'Fine' Marvin thought as he introduced himself, "I'm Marvin" Marvin looked up showing everyone his eyes.
Marvin took note of everyone's reaction as they made eye contact with him, they all had shocked faces, all except Austin who had a shine in his eyes as he looked at Marvin. "Dude, your eyes, that's so cool are they contacts?" Austin asked, his parents were again getting stressed at Austin's lack of tact.
"No, they're real" Marvin replied, his grave voice finally shaking the Kepplers from just staring at him. "Well it's very nice to meet you, Marvin," Olivia said as she smiled at Marvin. 'She's worried' Marvin thought as he looked at her eyes.
"With those out of the way, why don't we get started with the questions" Jessica said, getting down to business, she had come to this meeting to help Marvin feel more comfortable before he began his stay with the Kepplers.
"Yes let's begin. The first question is how are you doing" Olivia said, she didn't want to start asking any deep questions right off the bat.
"Well, I'm doing great" Jessica promptly said, Marvin also replied, he had to be part of the conversation now. "I'm cool" He kept his response short and brief.
Things were beginning to get awkward again, as no one wanted to ask a follow-up question, no one except for Austin, "So you're eyes have just been like that?" He asked with intrigue in his voice.
Marvin was surprised yet again at Austin's lack of anxiousness, 'Only one year younger and he's able to speak so confidently' Marvin began to have some admiration for Austin. "Yes," Marvin said out loud, he was still going to be keeping his responses short.
"Wow, that's so cool, you must've been so popular in school," Austin said, and Marvin couldn't help but laugh in his mind at the irony Austin had just brought up. Seeing Austin take the lead made the other adults feel a bit ashamed, a child had more confidence than them.
"I tried to look for you online, but I didn't see anything, you have social media?" Brooklyn spoke up for the first time since she sat down. What she was true, after being told by her parents that a random boy would be living with them she wanted to find out about him, but she couldn't find any account linked to Marvin Lewis.
"No," Marvin said, he didn't know why but he felt that he would be getting irritated by this girl during his future stay.
"What about sports, you play?" Joel asked, he believed this question was appropriate to be asked by him since he was a retired pro athlete. "No, never played on a team before" Marvin replied in short like he did to the other questions.
"Oh that's actually a lie, he's played a bit of Seven-On-Seven before" Jessica corrected Marvin's statement, she also thought sports would be a great way to keep the conversation flowing smoothly.
"Oh is that so, we're a football family here, Joel's the head coach over at the high school, and a lot of my clients play the sport as well," Olivia said, she was happy that she found a way to put herself into the conversation after her first question.
"What position did you play?" Joel asked, his head coach was going into gear as he looked at Marvin's slim build, 'A bit more muscle and he grows a bit, he'd have the body for a receiver' Joel thought as he analyzed Marvin.
"Center" Marvin responded, causing Joel to be shocked. "Center!?, how big were the other kids that your coach didn't put you in at receiver" Joel had every right to be shocked, Marvin was a good height for his age, and it would be a waste to just have him give the ball to the quarterback, 'Unless he sucks at catching and throwing' Joel thought.
"They were your size," Marvin said like it was a matter of fact that he played with kids the size of Joel, "My size!?, what league were you playing in kid?" Joel was surprised by Marvin's response, after all, he was a massive guy, and there was no way a league existed that would put Marvin against guys his size.
"It wasn't a league," Marvin said, he could already see the direction the conversation was heading but he didn't want to be the one to bring it there. Everyone except for Jessica who knew the truth was confused by Marvin's statement.
"This was when you were in the juvenile detention center right?" Jolie asked her first question