A Trip to Remember

Dinner with the Devil

Chapter 3

Natalie leaned away from her parents as they rang the doorbell of the Taylors' house. Her younger brother Alex bounced giddily beside her. At least someone was happy. Alex was best friends with Devon's younger brother Jayden. It would be so much easier if their two families were strangers but no, it seemed her whole family was on board the Willis-Taylor bff boat.

She looked longingly down the street. It was 7pm. She should've been at Hannah's, getting pretty with all her other friends but here she was. Standing in front of the devil's door. 

Finally Mrs. Taylor opened up the door and smiled widely when she saw that every member of the Willis family was present.

"Carol darling don't you look fabulous as usual. And look at you Jonathan! Absolutely dashing! And Alex dear! Let me give you a kiss!" Mrs. Taylor was always full of energy and happiness. You couldn't help but smile when she did. Natalie had always wondered how a woman as bright as Mrs. Taylor could have a son like Devon.

"And Natalie sweetie. Look at you! You've grown into such a beautiful young lady. It's been too long since you've had dinner here, give me a hug!"

Natalie smiled warmly at Mrs. Taylor and stepped in to embrace the older woman.

"Evelyn I know how much you like my cookies!" Mrs. Willis winked at her friend and handed her a pan of her famous chocolate chip cookies.

"Carol! I was wondering when you'd make another batch for me! " Mrs. Taylor teased. She took the pan and headed towards the kitchen.

"You lovely people just settle down in the family room while I get everything ready for dinner!" Mrs. Taylor called back.

"Oh let me help you. You still need to show me that chicken casserole recipe!" and with that Natalie's mother disappeared into the kitchen as well.

Mr. Taylor came down that stairs grinning, while adjusting his tie.

"Why hello there! Wasn't expecting all of you to be here." he joked.

"Jake! I missed you last time. Heard you went on a business trip." Mr. Willis stood up to greet his friend.

"Yeah, two week trip to Germany. It was just meeting after meeting after meeting," he rolled his eyes. "But enough about work, Evelyn and I recently bought a new stereo system."

Natalie's father's eyes sparked in interest. "Really?"

"Bose, state of the art. But I have some trouble installing it. Wondering if you could give me a hand, being the tech guy you are." Mr. Taylor punched him lightly.

"I'm your man! Let's head down there right now before dinner." Mr. Willis rubbed his hands together enthusiastically.

"You kids be good okay?" He called back before following Mr. Taylor downstairs.

Natalie sighed and leaned back on the couch.

"Guess its just you and me buddy." She said to her brother, patting him.

Right on cue, Jayden came running down the stairs.

"Alex! Alex! Alex! You're here! Guess what I found! This huge roly-poly was in the yard and I caught it and put it in a box! Come look!" Jayden's blue eyes flashed with excitement.

Alex jumped up. "Cool!" And sprinted up the stairs with Jayden.

Natalie shook her head. She could never understand how little kids had so much energy.

She sat back and flipped out her phone to text someone. Only ten minutes into the evening and she was already sitting alone with nothing to do.

A few minutes later she heard footsteps enter the room. Thinking it was her mom she looked up from her phone.