IIX: The Worlds Meet

It was a long ride to the restaurant, let me tell you! We ended up having to sit by Mackenzie, my little brother, and he bugged poor Adriann all the way there. I guess she was used to it, though

‘cause she didn’t seem to mind at all. “So, Adriann, you live pretty close to…where Jess has been living, right? Isn’t your street only about a block away?” Oh, no, my dad was speaking up now. Crap.

“Yeah, in fact, my street has the same name as An-Jessica’s. Weird huh?” Nice cover-up there.

“That reminds me, Jessica, just what name were you going by?” Jeez, what’s Dad’s major malfunction?

“Anna, Dad. Anna. Is that ok with you?”

“Sure, hon.”  Thanks Dad. You’re making this so easy for me. The rest of the evening was pretty much uneventful, except for the one time that Zoë screamed and Mom had to take her out. Adriann ended up being really popular with the little kids. I even think Zac liked her. He kept looking her over and up and down. He always does that with people. She had some nice conversations with the rest of the family too. Adriann and I got up to go to the bathroom, just to get away from all the chaos. “Your family seems pretty cool, Jess,” she said, once we were in the safe haven of the bathroom.

“Thanks. You’re not used to all the noise, are you?”

“Well, of course, I am sorta, ‘cause you know Tim. He’s insane. I always say he’s louder than a herd of elephants, but I guess 3 or 4 kids is a lot louder, huh?”

I chuckled. “Yeah, I guess.” Thank God she liked them. I still didn’t know how to tell Elizabeth and Marie, but that would come to me eventually. I wasn’t too worried about it now.  When we got back to the table, it looked like Mom and Dad were packing up the herd to leave. Zac and Taylor walked over to us, ‘cause they looked kinda disgusted with Isaac. Don’t know why though. “Hey, Adriann, right?” asked Taylor in that nice I’m-too-cool-for-you way of his. Luckily, Adriann didn’t know him well enough to know that yet. “Yeah, Taylor, right?” Or maybe she did. She shot the same thing right back at him. I loved it when I got back at my brothers. Ha. “Come on, you guys! Let’s go!” Mom was getting sorta impatient. It takes a lot to get her impatient. We hurried up. Back in the car, Adriann asked if we wanted to come back to her house for a little while. “Oh, are you sure it’s ok with your mom?” Duh, Mom, why else would she ask?

“Of course, she doesn’t mind at all. Tim should still be up too.”

“Oh, do you have a brother?” No, Mom, he’s the elf that lives in her closet.

“Yeah, he’s 5. He’ll be going into kindergarten this fall.” Adriann didn’t even flinch even though I’m sure she thought Mom’s question was pretty stupid too. “Well, Mack would be going into kindergarten, but we like to home school the kids. It’s just something we’ve always done.” Adriann looked at me sorta funny and I slunk down in my seat. I know Mom was boring holes through me, but I couldn’t be bothered to look up. She always did hate it that I had to go to school, or so Aunt Kate had told me. We made the drive across town back to the nice neighborhood that my friends and I all lived in. My dad almost got lost on the way there and Adriann and I had to direct him back to her house. Some people. “Well, let’s go on in.” I really hoped that we wouldn’t stay too long. This was awkward: really awkward. Adriann and I walked up to the door first while my parents got the kids out of the car. Zac, Taylor, and Isaac followed behind us. They must’ve been just as uncomfortable as me. I know they were. Adriann rang the doorbell and I could hear Mrs. Holly coming to the door. “Hey Mom,” Adriann said calmly.

“Oh, hey, Annie. How’d it go? Did you girls have a good time?” Just as we were about to reply the three gawky things that called themselves my brothers walked up. “Jessica, are these your brothers?”

“Sure are.”

“Well, I didn’t know you had any siblings. I guess I just always assumed that you were an only child. That was a pretty stupid assumption, I guess.” I shook my head. “How many siblings do you have?”

“Four brothers: three older, one younger, and two younger sisters.”

“Wow! I had no idea you came from such a wonderful family!”

I chuckled quietly to myself. “This is Isaac, Taylor, and Zac. They’re just here ‘cause they don’t really know what’s going on. They’re sorta the stupid ones of the family.” She smiled and laughed. Then my mom and the little kids walked up. “Nice to see you again! I hope we’re not intruding or anything! Adriann insisted that it was okay,” my mom, always the worrier, said.

“Oh no! Of course not! We’re so glad to have you all! Really.” I really liked Adriann’s mom. Just then, her dad walked in. Come to think of it, he was pretty cool too. “Hi, John Holly, nice to meet you all.” He stuck out a hand to my dad. Dad, who was holding the baby, tried to shake it, but had some problems. So Mom took the hand instead.

“Come on Jess, let’s go upstairs.” We jogged up the winding staircase to her room. I always thought this house was so cool. The Hollys had built it about a year after we moved here, ‘cause their other one was too small. If the other one was too small, they went straight to the other end of the spectrum!  Sounded like our parents were having a good time downstairs. “Hey, do you wanna spend the night tonight? I mean, if you wanna go and stay with your mom and dad that’s ok, but I just wondered.”

“Sure, Ann, I’d love to,” I replied. “Lemme go ask my mom real quick.” I ran down the stairs. “MOM! Can I stay with Adriann tonight? If you don’t mind that is.” I looked at Mrs. Holly.

“No, of course not honey. You’re always welcome here, you know that.”

“Sure, Jess, we’ll have to go get your stuff, but you can certainly stay if you want.”

“Great!” I told Adriann, then went back downstairs to say goodbye to my mom. “Hey, Mom? Aunt Kate’s house is just over there, so it won’t take but a minute to go get some stuff.”

“Sure, hon, we’ll run and get you some clothes for tonight. We’ll call you in the morning, ok?”

“Ok, Mom.” I gave her the number and they left, but not without me giving everyone a big hug first.

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