How Much We Changed

26

He almost fell at the impact but he wrapped his arms around both of them, trying his best to keep his balance. It was the same every time he came home.

"I've missed you so much girls" he ruffled both their hairs as they pulled away from him.

"We've missed you too" Kris beamed.

"Wow, Kendra" He looked down at her, faking surprise. "You've gotten so big" he exaggerated, flinging his arms in the air.

"Dad!" She yelled at him, folding her arms.

He only made the joke cuz he knew she was on a diet, trying to lose weight. "Just kidding" he smiled. "You look amazing" he added and then raised his head to face Angela who was standing just about eight feet away from them, her arms folded. "Sup" he nodded, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm cool" Angela replied with a shrug. "You know, just chilling" she added with another shrug.

Kris just closed her eyes and tried not to cringe to death. It had been her parents' usual way of greeting ever since she called her mum old and her mum went online to search for teenage slangs just to prove she wasn't old and she was just as cool as she was.

It was really weird for Kris and Kendra and kinda embarrassing too but her dad, being the supportive person he was, completely embraced it.

"Cool cool" he nodded and finally, his eyes darted to Luka who was just standing there feeling awkward as ever. "And who do we have here?" He questioned, turning to Kendra.

"Don't look at me" Kendra read the expression on her dad's face. He clearly thought she brought home a boyfriend or something "look at Kris" she told him.

Gary's eyes widened as he turned to Kris who was smiling sheepishly. "Kris?" He questioned.

"Good evening Mr Harris" Luka finally spoke up and he immediately cringed at his own words. Gary turned to face him, still surprised. "I'm Justin,  Kris' friend" he introduced himself.

"Oh, friend" He repeated, making it obvious that's not what he was thinking. "I'm not gonna lie, he got my hopes up for a second there" he turned to Angela and they both laughed, clearly mocking Kris.

Kris rolled her eyes at her parents. "He was just visiting and mum insisted he stayed for dinner" she explained.

"Oh, speaking of dinner, I am starving, I barely had anything on the airplane to save up some space for the Turkey" he said, rubbing his stomach before turning back to face Luka. "It's so nice to meet you Justin, why don't we all have dinner now and get to know you" he added.

Luka just smiled in response. He didn't know how to reply to that.

It was about thirty minutes later. The five of them were seated around the dinning table already at the main course. Their dad had cracked a couple of jokes that sent them all laughing. It didn't even matter if they were funny or not, Gary was just the kind of person who knew how to lift people's moods. It was possible that anyone else could tell the same joke and send the whole room quiet.

"So Justin..." He began, raising his head to face Luka who was sitting beside Kris. "Tell us, where are you from?" He asked.

"Quebec" He replied and Kris froze in her seat.

It wasn't just her, everyone else was shocked.

"Canada?" Kendra questioned.

"Uh... yeah" he smiled.

"Wow, I could have never guessed you were Canadian" Gary said, still in awe.

"Yeah, he's just so full of surprises isn't he?" Kris said smiling at Luka. The smile looked pretty normal except you're Luka in which case it was a 'what the fuck are you doing?!'  smile.