I honestly couldn't explain how stunning she looked. Her hair was French braided, draped across her shoulder, and little wisps were poking out. I wanted to reach out and put them back into their rightful place. The white shirt made her eyes seem green when just last night they held tints of blue that made me want to drown in them in the best way.
My dad had stepped forward out of the rest of us to meet them; he was always bold. As they greeted each other, Mary started walking towards me. Staring at the ground, I met her halfway.
"How do you want to do this? Should we pretend this is our first time meeting?"
She grinned and said in her luxurious voice, "It's good to see you again, Will."
"Likewise." I took her soft hand in mine and shook it, never taking my eyes off of her. For someone who once sweated through a T-shirt when talking to Suzie Tompkins in sixth grade, I think I was doing pretty well with Mary.
Mom was walking towards us. Oh, God. Mother be cool please. Just this once.
Her hand was outstretched towards Mary as she mustered her dazzling smile.
"Hi! I'm Mrs. Lampton, it's a pleasure to meet you." Dad popped out of nowhere it seemed, along with Jeff, as they all crowded Mary with reaching hands. She was positively red at all the new found attention, but looked adorable nonetheless. But when Jeff shook her hand, he held on for a few more seconds than i would've liked. My eyes squinted at Jeff when he turned towards me with a thumbs up and very obvious wink.
"She's not a bad sight, huh?"
"Dibs." We had always had a deeper respect for dibs than most, plus it was the only way he was going to back up a few steps.
"Ugh, fine," he rolled his eyes and went to the one of the other guys in the room. I decided to venture towards the boy that looked about our age. Jack, wasn't it? I walked over, and he immediately squared me up. Woah, man. Chill.
"I'm Will," Maybe he's cool.
"Jack." He grasped my hand, dang okay. What a grip.
"So what's the deal with you and my cousin, aye? You guys haven't stopped giving each other googly-eyes since you got here." I bet he could kill me. He was a good head taller than me and had thick arms with a sharp jawline to match. He had brown eyes like mine, but black hair.
"Well we kinda met last night already, and I think we hit it off?"
He just stopped and stared at me. Next thing I know, he's grabbed my shirt and yanked me into the kitchen. This is where I die.
"I swear to lord almighty that if you hurt her, I will make you fry you up, eat you with peanut butter, and have you crapped out by morning." There's the sweat, I could feel it now.
"Yes sir."
"That's what i thought, but welcome to our Christmas celebration and i hope you have a good time. It was nice to meet you, Will." He walks away at the last word with a gleaming smile, like he just didn't threaten to commit cannibalistic actions towards me. But I honestly don't think I'll hurt Mary, if anyone's getting hurt it'll be me because I cant imagine harming her.
"Alright! Let's eat!"
