chapter nineteen

 “Come on,” Avery said. “Let’s go in the kitchen first, make the blockheads wait.” She smiled devilishly. Alex, surprising himself, wasn’t very nervous. He had heard so many great things about this family from Jessica, how could he? But there was that tiny piece of his heart that was very unsure of this. Just because he loved Jessica, did that mean he would love her family? He sure hoped so. He wanted to be a part of this. This warm, loving, caring family. It was so different from his stiff, cold family. It was the kind of family he always wanted and never had. He followed Jessica and her little sister, who had been before identified as Avery into the large kitchen. Bright sunlight shone in through the three huge picture windows. Two smiling people he assumed to be Jessica’s parents smiled and laughed as they prepared lunch. Her mother was blond, as were all her brothers and sisters, but her father had brown hair. He found this a bit humorous, that only one person in a family of nine had brown hair. He was sure, though, as soon as he walked into that house that he wanted to be a part of this. The love, the care and the warmth were so thick you could cut them with a knife. He had to be a part of this. He had to.

Jessica gave him a small smile of reassurance before speaking with her parents. Alex was grateful for that.

“Mom,” Jessica said, a smile gracing her bright face. “Dad, this is Alex.” Alex smiled widely as he was introduced to Jessica’s long-haired mother, (“Call me Diana.”), and her gentle and humorous father, (“Walker.”).

“It’s so great to finally meet you,” Diana said, pouring spaghetti sauce into a pot.

“Well, thank you,” Alex said. “Jessie spoke so much of you two,” he gestured to Diana and Walker. He looked at Jessica. She was positively beaming.

“Mom,” Jessica said, “we’re gonna go in the living room.” She was sure her brothers and sister were probably eavesdropping and/or going insane. Avery, who had been sitting next to her father the whole time, snickered as she followed the two out into the living room.

“This is gonna be good,” she laughed. Jessica tried to throw her a glare, but it broke into a smirk because, despite her five-year absence, she knew her siblings just as well as Avery. They all shared a smile and ventured into the living room.

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 “God, what the hell are they doing in there?” Isaac muttered. Taylor, though equally as frustrated, kicked him in the leg and pointed to Zoë, who, actually, found this quite humorous and was laughing. Zac also found these circumstances quite amusing and was sitting next to Zoë, laughing also.

“They probably left again because they were scared of you guys,” Zac said. He and Zoë laughed together as Isaac and Taylor glared at them.

“Well, we should have but we didn’t,” a new voice declared. Everybody turned to look at Jessica, who was standing, a large smirk on her face, in the doorway leading to the kitchen. Alex was standing next to her, and Avery was convulsing with giggles at Jessica’s other side. Apparently they had heard the whole conversation, and found it quite entertaining, because even Alex could hardly keep from holding back a smile and stifling a laugh. Alex leaned over to Jessie and whispered, “I thought you brothers were musicians, not comedians.” Jessica found this extremely funny and burst out laughing. She whispered back, “That’s a good one, but their rehearsals are even more entertaining, believe me, I’ve seen ‘em all!” She looked up and cleared her throat, realizing that the entire room was looking at them. She cleared her throat again and smiled. She held back the laugh that threatened to burst from within her.

“Hi,” she said, still smiling radiantly. The confused look on Taylor’s face was too much for her to take. She erupted in laughter again.

“Will you stop doing that?” Taylor asked in frustration.

“No,” Jessica replied between laughs. “You’re just * laugh * too * laugh * funny!” Taylor rolled his eyes and looked at Isaac. After a few minutes, Jessica composed herself. She sat down on the couch with Alex. There was an awkward silence. After a few minutes, Mrs. Hanson informed them that dinner was ready and they headed into the kitchen. Jessica lagged behind with Alex.

“Don’t worry,” she whispered. “The worst is over.” He smiled back at her and gave her a kiss, which, amazingly, went unnoticed.

chapter twenty