Trust is Dangerous- Russia x Germany

Friendships

"Bye," I hung up on Russ. He was on the eastern speed train to dad's island. Super. I need to go out and socialize. Enough family time for me. Over the break, my mom thought we should all do some family stuff. She broke out a board game yesterday and I ended up picking out a chess knight out of my 'ear'. But that's not all. Dad is kind of going crazy with the tea thing, and banned me from drinking coffee or pop. Even though Russia's father looks pretty intense and strict, he probably doesn't ban his kids from drinking anything but tea and water. Also, I'm sick of crumpets. Those are disgusting.

"America," My mom sung, her signal that lunch was ready.

"Coming mom!" I yelled from my room. Leaving my phone on top of the mess of clothes and opened Saxophone case, I scrambled down the steps, three paces ahead of Canada. Our kitchen was filled with little knicknacks on the top of all the cabinets and our wallpaper was navy blue. Two tiny windows covered over with too many blinds shed absolutely no light into the kitchen, so we installed LED lights everywhere. Mom liked the 'I can't see what I'm eating' feel and would turn off the lights at night to light candles. She was wearing her frilly pink apron and served me a warm reheated Shepherd's Pie from yesterday on a plate with patient on flowers. Yay for leftovers. Canada sat opposite of me and mom joined us soon afterward.

"Who did you call?" Mom asked me.

"Russia. My friend from school." I explained. "He's coming in about five hours."

"Oh, that's nice," mom turned to dad, who was coming in. "I have him in my class. Hello, Amour."

"Hello sweetie," dad crossed over to peek into the window. "Those stupid squirrels are eating my bird feed. Again." I rolled my eyes. Dad got into his 'middle age man bird watching' phase. Most of the afternoons he would spend watching the birds through the window. He even keeps a logbook. Canada was sneaking a portion of his pie back into the plate while everyone was distracted. It was pretty quiet now since Australia and New Zealand had school already and didn't bounce around the house. Their winter break started way earlier than mine. Canada was a full grown man, capable of living independently, but he chose to live with us. He is a year away from getting a master's degree, and already has a job at a forestry company. Dad was proud that Canada skipped over two years worth of study and could get his master's only after half the regular time it took. He had fourth year undergraduate friends, and I frequently saw him with a fidgety guy named Poland and an ambitious girl called Israel. He has a bunch more, but I forget their names.

"America was talking about his friend, Russia." Mom said serenely. "He called him just now."

Dad tried to cover his sudden surprise. "Russia? Is that Soviet Union's little boy?" I think dad's behind the times. Russia could hardly be called little, much less a little boy. He could probably beat Canada in a straight brawl, and had the same disapproving look on his face most of the time.

"Oui," mom nodded. "I was wondering if he would like to come here? To get to know us?" All my mind could say was no, no, no. Both Russia and Germany would take one look at this place and my status would just degrade in their eyes. Time to use those savvy talking skills.

"Oh, mom." I interrupted her chatter. "Russia is travelling with another guy named Germany."

"Germany?" My mom positively beamed. "I know him as well. He's a very troubled student, but is very smart. That's great." I groaned on the inside. Not that I didn't want them here. I just didn't need them to see what we do on a daily basis being together for more than an hour. "We can definitely have them over."

"Jolly good," dad delivered the verdict of disaster. "America, go an call Russia and say that they're invited if they want to come. After that, I would like you to clean the mess out of your room. It's sickening." With no choice, I trudged up the steps, deliberately making it loud, and plopped on my bed, searching for my phone. Dialling up Russ' number and waited.