A/N: For those who have already read the book, welcome back!! To the newbie readers, hello guys!! So this chapter is another epilogue chapter because there were so many people that didn't like the ending so I finally decided to make all of you happy and make another ending. For those who liked the first ending, just pretend that this one doesn't exist and for those who wanted a happy ending... well here it is. ENJOY PRETTY FACES XOXO
Daniel's POV
Like son, like father
I wake up to my phone vibrating under my pillow. I look at the screen with half open eyes. Max. I press the green button and put my phone next to me ear. "Happy birthday bro! What we doing tonight?" I get a exciting shout from my best friend, who's more like my brother that I never had to be quite honest. "Good morning to you too." I sarcastically say with a hoarse morning voice, rubbing my eyes before looking at the time on my night stand reading 08:07am. "Thanks though."
"What we doing? It's the last day of school and your BIRTHDAY." he stressed on the last word and I chuckle. "I don't know, my mum is probably throwing me a family party, you know how it is, my aunt Eve coming over with Michael and stuff." I respond.
"We can always skip, we only have one period today." he suggests and I shake my head, not actually realising he can't see me, "I can't skip another lesson, Max. I promised Christi to meet her before class." I say getting up from my bed, opening my white curtains. "Okay, I'll meet you there then, but after we gotta do something, we gotta celebrate!" he shouts once again and I smile. "Yeah okay. I'll see you after then." with that I end the phone call, going to my bathroom.
After I take a quick shower, I walk out with only a towel around my waist. "Happy birthday, honey!" I look to my left to see that my mum just opened my door and I instantly hide myself, "Mum! Knock!" I yell covering myself with my hands, not really helping myself at all.
"Daniel! No!" she imitates me, "Lock your door and I won't be able to get in next time." She reminds me. I always leave the door unlocked because it's my room so I don't expect anyone coming in unless it's Christi. "Is there anything you wanted besides wishing me happy birthday?" I ask wanting her to go away because it's embarrassing me.
"Dan, I saw your penis when you were born, I don't think me seeing your abs is something more private than that." she says and I cringe. "And I wanted to borrow your charger." she says welcoming herself inside and taking it from the plug socket, "Okay, go!" I yell once more and she laughs closing my door.
After that I make my bed, yes, I do my own bed as a 18 year old guy, surprise! My mum was pretty strict when growing up, so was my dad. I get into some Adidas shorts and a Hollister T-shirt. I quickly style my hair in a fresh quiff -that chicks kinda dig, so why not- and run downstairs with my backpack on my back. "Mum, I'm out!" I shout and I just hear her hum something, she's probably eating again, I don't know how she manages to keep her body figure like a 18-year-old teen with the amount of food she manages to consume.
My walk to school isn't all that interesting, it's only a ten minute walk. We live in our grandparents house. Apparently they left it for my mum and dad when they finished college and moved in together. And my grandparents from my mum's side bought a house not that far away from us actually, they bought a smaller house though, they said they didn't need such a big house when it was only them two.
When I get into school, I instantly make my way onto the pitch, it's like second nature to me. I played soccer since I was like 4-years-old, I remember me and my dad just playing in our back yard for fun, him teaching me how to score goals with my little legs.
I squint my eyes because of the sun beaming into my eyes. When I focus my vision, I see an athletic body. Christi. Her long thick brown hair going all the way to her waist. She's wearing white Adidas shorts and an olive crop top making her butt look even bigger than it already is. Taking in her appearance from the back, I lick my lips and smirk walking behind her.
Angela, who's also on the swim team, and who's also Christi's best friend, sees me and smiles so I quickly put my finger over my lips, telling her to stay quiet. She just gives me an answer with her eyes and continues talking to Christi and Donna.
I speed my walk into a slightly faster jog and grab her by her waist, picking her up in the process, spinning her around with me. At first she jumps but then realises it's me so she laughs. I put her back down, turning her around and instantly connecting my lips with hers. She smiles under the kiss so I peck them again, this time more sweetfully.
"Hey baby," I whisper into her lips and she giggles, "Happy birthday, Dee." She tells me before putting her hands behind my neck, kissing me very passionately. For a second, I forget where we are, that's until we hear Donna making us pull away, "Why can't you be more like that, puta!" She purses her lips and crosses her arms over, pretending to be sad, that's before her boyfriend and my friend, Dino, laughs at her.
Before she can get another word out, he slaps her ass and she instantly returns it by slapping the back of his head, "Why you always gotta play?" We all laugh in unison. "That's not what I meant when I said I want you to be more like him."
"At least you ain't single, Donna." Angela says. "I'd rather be single." she spits out and then puts her hand over he mouth not believing what she just said. Dino doesn't take it personally, just pulls her towards him, "You know you love me." he casually says and she smiles, we all know the answer to that one.
We all disappear to our next periods and I take Christi to hers before going to my own. Our teacher gives us one of those speeches about being successful, giving it our all when we go to college, etc.
After our first and last period, we all meet up on the pitch, just saying our last goodbye's with everyone. I didn't think that I'd miss this place, like ever, but I might just miss it a tiny bit. "Have a nice summer holiday, Cooper." Mrs Green waves at me as she sees me standing next to all of my fellow students.
"You too Mrs. Green." I say back. She's always been nice to me, I'll defo miss her.
Just then, Christi comes into view and immediately greets me with a hug and a kiss on the lips. "Daniel Cooper, may I remind you that you're still on school premises?" I hear Miss Williams right behind me making us both sigh in annoyance.
"Why is it always me she picks on?" I whisper to Christi and she laughs, "Then let's give her a good reason to pick on you for the last time." She whispers back, pulling me closer to herself. I smirk before lightly responding to my girlfriend's kiss, gently deepening the it by stroking the bottom of her lips waiting for access. I place my hands on her butt pulling her even closer as her hands tangle in my hair at the back of my head.
"Cooper!" She pulls us away one last time making us laugh, "It wasn't me Miss Williams," I say pointing at Christi, blaming it on her. She laughs and slaps my biceps. "I've got my eyes on you Cooper." she says in an octave lower. I roll my eyes and smile at Christi, leaning my forehead on hers. She bites her bottom lip before giving me a small meaningful kiss, then casually slides her hand into mine.
Me and Christi go straight to my house cause mum is probs throwing me that family birthday party I was talking about earlier. As soon as I open the door to our house we get greeted by my mum, "Oh hiya, Christi, how are you?" well, she greets her, not me.
Christi gives her a small hug before smiling at her with a 24K smile, "Really good, thank you. How are you, Melanie?" I still find it weird that they're so close together, my mum literally banned her from calling her Mrs Cooper. "Doing great, thanks. Would you come and help me in the kitchen?" my mum takes her away from me before I can even go to my bedroom to get changed.
"Yeah, of course. What do you need me to help you with?" I send a cheeky wink when my mum takes her hand into her own, leading her into the kitchen whilst making casual conversations. Christi smiles and shakes her head. I'm so lucky to have her.
I follow them into the kitchen wanting to get a cup of water. Everything is set out and organized really nicely and neatly, just like my mum likes it, everything in place. All types of food placed on the counter including the desserts and drinks. I get a glass and squeeze in between mum to find the tinniest bit of space to place my glass on. My mum sighs, "Christi would you please distract him for me? He's always in everyone's way."
I give Christi a look before cocking my eyebrows, "Yeah Christi, distract me." I smirk and she rolls her eyes. I then look at my mum and see her rolling her eyes too. "Just get out of here, you're stressing me out, go talk to Michael or something." she hushes me away and I decide to leave the women alone.
When I enter the living room, I see my aunt Eve and uncle Michael, Alicia and Josh, Johnny and Valeria and Luciano with his wife Erika. They're all sitting around a big square table that got put here purely because of my birthday I assume. Johnny and Valeria are the first ones to stand up and greet me, Johnny gives me a firm handshake, "Happy birthday, Dan." He says. As soon as he lets go of my hand I notice he slid a few hundred dollar bills in there and I shake my head laughing, so typical from him.
"Thank you, John, you didn't have to though." I say to him and he rolls his eyes, "Call me John one more time and I'll kick your ass." he teases. Sometimes I feel like my dad's friends are still children, including my dad. Which has me wondering where he is.
Valeria gives me a kiss on the cheek, giving me a birthday gift bag, "Look at you, so handsome!" she compliments me and I blush a tiny bit. I remember when I was like ten, I used to crush on her hard and Johnny would always tell me I need a girlfriend. I don't look into the bag because Josh comes up to me right after with Alicia on his side.
"Happy 18th Dee!" Alicia excitedly shouts before he can even get it out. I get another two gift bags with some more cash and uncle Michael comes up last, "I wish you all the best, Dan. I hope all of your dreams come true and you achieve everything you'll put your mind to. Let's hug it out." He instantly pulls me into a man hug. I pat his back, "Thanks Michael." I reply.
Michael was always like a second father to me and Eve was like my second mum. "I didn't know what to get you, so I got you alcohol. I'm pretty sure all kids your age drink, even though it's illegal." she shrugs and I laugh giving her a hug as well, "Thank you aunt Eve."
Last but not least a good friend of the family, Luciano comes up to give me a hand shake too. "I got you something none of these losers could get their hands on, " he turns around laughing at them, provoking them. He then hands me a Nike soccer ball. I turn it around and instantly gasp, recognising the signature. It's from my favourite player in Real Madrid, Karim Benzema. Obviously he doesn't play any more but he used to play back in my dad's days. He's a legend.
Some people prefer Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo as legends, but everyone has preferences. "How did you even-" I start but can't even finish my sentence, "It's called contacts, Dan."
"Thank you so much, I don't even know what to say." I pull him into a hug, before asking where grandma, granddad and dad is. Just then I hear the front door open, my dad instantly apologising for taking so long.
My mum then comes into the living room with Christi as well, my birthday cake in her hands. She gives me a swift glance before putting the cake on the big table, the candles are already lit up as well as the big 18 candle right in the middle. I blow the candles out in one long breath, Luciano putting on old school Spanish songs. Normally I would wish something before blowing the candles out, I used to do it every time from a young age, but I already have everything I want, so I just skip it, enjoying the moment with my family.
My dad then gives me my present, he takes out a little box from his pocket. I'm assuming it's a Rollex watch or something, but when I open it I just see a red USB stick. My eyes drop being a bit disappointed in my gift from him. "That's for when you have time to play it. This is for now." he says and takes out Porsche keys from his other pocket making me jump in the air. "No way!!!"
Jumping around like a little kid on his 10th birthday, I take the keys, "Thanks dad." I say. "All grown up, you deserve it. I'm proud of you." I just shoot him a smile.
After like another half an hour my grandparents arrive, giving me a gift as well. Luciano then gets up from his seat and takes Christi out from her seat, wanting to dance with her to the song from Sergio Mendes and The Black Eyed Peas 'Mas Que Nada'.
She doesn't hesitate and takes his hand, getting onto the dance-floor. For a while I watch my beautiful girlfriend sway her hips from side to side to the rhythm of the song with Luciano. Luciano has always been the one to keep a party going, even though it's only a family party, he makes everything get lit. Not long til Valeria stands up singing all the lyrics in Spanish, Erika instantly joining her, dancing along.
I watch as my dad takes my mum to dance right in the middle, my grandparents going into the middle as well and everyone else soon joining them too. Christi gives me a smile dashing her teeth at me and I realise I've never been happier, I achieved everything I ever dreamed of when I was a kid. I'm the captain of the soccer team, got into one of the best colleges in USA, have the prettiest, most intelligent girlfriend I could ever wish for, my parents are happy and healthy, what more can I wish for?
I'm not really a dancer but when I see Christi looking at me with those hypnotising eyes, I get up and walk over to her and Luciano. "You gotta find your wife, man!" I shout over the loud song, quoting him from when I was little and he chuckles and pats me on the back before going to Erika, starting to dance with her.
"Well look who got off his ass." she says with a smile on her face, "I thought you didn't dance." I chuckle and grab her by her waist, copying her two step. "There are special occasions." I laugh trying to keep up. Instead of taking it slow on me, she speeds up, showing off her moves, lip syncing the song.
I shake my head, "Okay, I get it, you can dance, what can't you do?" She giggles and stops dancing for like a split second, placing my hand in the right place on her waist, and my other hand in hers. "So it's just back and forth, side to side." she tells me and I find myself mimicking her steps. This ain't actually that hard.
When I get the hang on it, I decide to spin her around taking her by surprise. She blushes a bit and when I spin her out again, she looks me in the eye mouthing I love you.
I let one of my hands lose, walking through the family crowd on the dance floor. I lead her up to my room and close the door, placing my hands on her hips, pulling her closer so I can kiss her. She stops for a second, looking me in the eyes, "Your parents are downstairs."
"I don't care." I lustfully say, wrapping my arms around her again, this time actually connecting my mouth with hers, tasting the birthday cake on her lips. I brush her hair away from her neck, giving myself access. I start trailing kissing from her jaw to her neck, inhaling in her Victoria Secret scent. She starts putting her hands under my shirt, taking it off in the process.
"What is this?" she stumbles upon my dad's gift that I had in the little chest pocket on my right. "I don't know, it's from my dad." I honestly say, trying not to distract myself. "Don;t you at least wanna see what on there?" she curiously asks, walking away from me, plugging it into my Macbook.
I sigh and follow her, picking up my shirt in the process and putting it back on. I sit in my desk chair and she sits on my lap waiting for me to open whatever is on there. Once the USB stick loads I see a file called Daniel Cooper. I click on it, having no clue what's on there. It immediately turns on as a video clip media file.
The first time I saw you the title read.
"So I'm at the hospital right now. I'm just waiting for the nurses to let me in and see my son for the first time- I... I can't believe it, I'm actually having a son." It's a video of my dad in his early days. I don't know why but this video makes me feel some type of way, why would dad want to show me this? "Mr. Cooper. You're alright to come inside now." A nurse says with a smile.
"Alright, here it goes..." He says. The door to the hospital room opens and the camera flips over to my mum, "How you doing baby- Oh. Mah. God. Is that... is that?" he stutters and can't get his words out, my mum interrupts him. "Yep, Dylan Junior. Come have a look."
There's chuckles coming from the other side of the camera, "Let's not call him that shall we?" he laughs. "I was thinking Daniel, like your dad." mum says in a light voice. "Daniel Cooper Jr. Sounds good to me... You're gonna be just like daddy won't you." he says in a baby voice, sweet talking to the little me, holding my tiny hand in his humongous one. "No, daddy's a bad boy, you're going to be a good boy, aren't you?" my mum inputs and makes my dad laugh.
"I love you, Melanie." he says in a serious tone before kissing mum on the lips. "And I love you too... son."
"That's adorable, you were adorable." for a second I forget that Christi is still sitting on my lap watching the whole thing with me.
"You two are my life and my family, and I swear if anyone ever tries so much as touch a strand of your hair, I will personally torture them. From now on you two are my responsibility, I will take care of you and protect you... I promise." he says leaning into baby me and kissing my head.
The time you started walking/running
"Oh my God! Dylan get in here now!!" I recognise that as my mum's voice but I can't see her so I figure she's holding the camera. Soon enough dad comes into the living room and squats down to reach my mini height while I run around him like a small happy puppy. "No way! He's walking, when did this happen?" he yells in excitement. "Now, apparently." my mum states.
"M-mama... Dada" little me starts cackling, still running around our coffee table whilst holding onto it with one of my hands. As if I'm trying to show off with how fast I was. "Daniel, come to daddy, c'mon!" my dad extends his arms, wiggling his fingers for me to come to him. In a matter of time, my dad picks me up and looks at me, "Oh wow, everyone learns how to walk first, then there's you who skips it and goes straight to running, you're gonna be just like daddy, y'know, running on field."
The time I got better
"Once upon a time in a land far far away, there was a young warrior who had a son and a wife that he very much loved. They were a happy family, they had everything they wanted, raised their son in the best way they could, always gave him the first and last. The family would often go on long walks through the park or the beach, but their son was very curious, always asked questions about everything." baby me was in a navy cradle, almost drifting off to sleep.
"But one day the warrior got really sick, his illness was almost incurable, but because he loved his son and his wife so much, he knew that he could never leave them, so he decided that if he left for a while to get treatment, it'd be better than to leave them forever... After months of getting treatment, he finally came home back to his family. Everyone speculated that it's impossible to cure such disease in such short amount of time and they wanted to know how he did it. He said, 'My son needs me. I thought about him all these months, that's what got me through it.' and so they realised that the bond of love and the bond of family is truly the cure to everything."
"You were my cure, Daniel. You brought me home."
"How old were you here?" Christi pulls me back from my thoughts, my vision getting slightly blurry, so she intertwines her hand with mine and gives me a tight squeeze. I don't remember this day at all, I don't even remember the story. All I know is that dad had cancer and somehow he managed to beat it, I didn't realise how hard it must've been for him, he almost never talks about that period of time. "I don't know, maybe like two-years-old." I answer her.
The time you succeeded
When the title fades away I recognise our old garden, it was me in a Barcelona jersey running around on the grass. I remember this day, my dad wore navy blue shorts, white Nike t-shirt and a navy cap, teaching me how to score goals into the net.
"I can't do this any more day, I'm too tired now!" the four-year-old me whines. "Yes you can, I believe in you buddy, c'mon one more time." he motivates. With the little legs I had, I set my ball on the grass, breathing in and out before kicking the ball just like daddy taught me. Unfortunately I don't score, but he keeps telling me 'one more time' until I get angry.
I start to get red, but focus on where I want the ball to go exactly, I kick the ball with more power. I watch as the ball rolls on the grass really quickly and goes right into the net. "DAD! LOOK!" I yell and run around with my hands in the air just like I see all the soccer players do.
"Yes! See I told you, you can do it buddy. C'mon gimme a high five!" he says not lowering down to my level to tease me, "C'mon that's not a high five, you gotta try better than that." he chuckles at my failure. When I jump as high as I can, he lowers his hand just the right amount so that I can reach it and slap his palm, "Now that's a high five! Wanna grab a bite?" he says patting me on the back and I just nod.
The time you got bullied... and kicked their arses
On the camera I could see what looked like my dads legs and mine walking next to him, it was really quiet for a while until he spoke up, "Dan, you know I don't like seeing you getting bullied especially by our team mates, but what you did there was absurd."
The camera then turned to me instead of facing the ground, 7-year-old-me put his head down in shame, softly speaking up, "But yesterday you told me to beat them up if they do it again and they did."
"Goddammit, I told you to punch that guy, to protect yourself and not let them step over you, but I didn't tell you to break his nose and smash the other guy's teeth out." he tried explaining to me. I remember this day, I didn't understand what he meant but now I know, he just wanted me to be the better person. "They're just jealous that I got to be the captain of the team instead of them, but it's not my fault the coach chose me, they're telling me I'm weak, that I'm an amateur, that my skills are nothing compared to there's so I don't know, maybe they're right."
My dad stops me and sits me down on a bench, "Right listen here buddy, the coach knew why he chose you, he's a coach for a reason, he chooses people for the right reason and he saw you as the captain so don't let anyone think you're something less, Max and what's-his-name are probably jealous of you because they know they can't stand a chance against you."
I nod, not really knowing what to say, "But I am proud of you for kicking their asses." we both chuckle.
The time you won your first cup
My dad is sitting in the audience seats along with the rest of my family and family friends, Michael, Josh, Johnny, Luciano, Alicia, Erika, Eve, Valeria, mum, grandparents, they're all there, cheering me on in my first ever real game as captain. We were in third grade, so nobody really cared about our game, they were all waiting for the fifth grade's game since they were off to middle school in a bit.
The camera then refocused from my family sitting down and chatting about to me running with the ball, making it almost to the net, "Daniel, now! NOW!" I heard my dad shout from the audience so I glanced up right at the camera before winking and scoring the winning goal. "IT'S A GOAL!!!!" my mum and aunt Eve start shouting like crazy making me laugh. The camera zooms onto the field, all the team players are huddling around me, yelling we won. Someone then comes up to me and shakes my hand, I totally forgot about this, then smiles at me and I return it.
"Wait... was Max the boy that was bullying you in 2nd grade?" All of a sudden Christi decides to talk again.
I nod, "Yeah. Weird how we're best friends now." I laugh.
The golden cup gets handed to me and in no time, our coach runs towards his team patting everyone on the backs, before we all go down on one knee, taking a picture.
"Is this the cup you left for school to keep?" she asks again.
"Yeah, it was my first ever cup and it kinda went down into the history book of the school cause no other third grade won the game, so I thought, I'd keep it in school for everyone as a reminder, besides I knew I'd have loads after that."
The time you had a crush
"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Daniel, happy birthday to you!" Everyone in the room sang as I blew out my candles. I remember I was 11-years-old that day, this was the first time I invited all of my friends over. I would be starting middle school in August.
I kept looking at Valeria, she had raven lose curls that ended right besides her waist, plump lips and big brown eyes. I sheepishly smile when she catches me watching and smiles at me. "Mel, come here. Look at him." my dad whispers to my mum whilst holding the lens, then they silently laugh together, "Aww, he's got a crush on Valeria." mum says in a aww
Out of nowhere comes a loud voice, "Who has a crush on Valeria?!" Johnny moves in front of the camera and walks straight up to me, "You need to find yourself a girlfriend man!" he teasingly points his finger at me.
The time you were in love
"Dad, is this really necessary?" I whine at him because he just turned his goddamn camera on again. "Yep, very much." he answers taking the piss. I just shake my head, sighing in the process, "Aww come on Dan, don't be shy on me now!" my dad is suck a dick sometimes. A smile forms on my face and without thinking I do whatever comes to my mind first to satisfy him.
"Welcome back to another episode of The life of Daniel Cooper, behind the camera, the wonderful, not so amusing father, Dylan Cooper and our lovely cook, Melanie Cooper." I pretend like I have a microphone in my hand like I'm hosting a show.
"Oh my Gawd! I remember this, please turn it off, it's so cringe ha-ha" Christi laughs.
"Our new guest sitting on the couch is Christi Navarro. Christi why don't you come up and introduce yourself to the camera, just say a few words so that my annoying dad can stop being annoying." I put on this deeper voice that sounds like I'm some host from like the 1950's.
Christi awkwardly makes her way towards the camera, dying in the process, "Hi, I'm Christi-"
"-Oh please turn it off, that's gross!" she laughs over the actual recording making me throw my head back in laughter too. "I thought you were cute." I say.
"Puh-lease!" she flicks her hair back getting an attitude outta nowhere. I laugh to her response before turning the video off seeing it only has 12 seconds left, so I'll probably just watch it after.
I turn to look at her, smirking, "Now where were we before this?"
She instantly knows what I meant and sits on me properly, putting her legs on either side of me, looking me in the eyes and smiling at me. I can't help but smile back as she places both of her hands behind my neck, brushing her lips over mine.
A/N
THE END
YALL WELCOME
So basically Johnny ended up with Valeria who went to prom with Luciano, but they didn't really like each other like that. None of them are footballers, but on the good side, they have luxury hotels that make a lot of money and they're the head of the company, meaning all of them, so still a good end for everyone.
As for Daniel, he actually went on in playing for his favourite team Real Madrid as a soccer player and married Christi. Obviously he's very different than in the first epilogue but that's because he actually grew up with a father figure.
HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS EPILOGUE GUYS! CAUSE I SURE AS HELL ENJOYED WRITING IT.
P.S.
Sorry for taking so long in writing it.
The story still isn't edited so sorry about that too, I will start editing it sometime now since I have officially finished the book.
Don't Forget to V O T E by pressing the little star, C O M M E N T telling me which epilogue you prefer and why and also F O L L O W me for more stories like this.
Peaceeee
Dani xx
Word count: 5370