A Missed Opportunity

39

✧𝙽𝚘𝚊𝚑✧

I don't know if it's obvious by now or not, but I'll say it anyway.

I fucking hate hanging out with my family. Not necessarily my sister and her family, mostly just the annoying portion of my family. My mother, my father, and some aunts and cousins.

Unfortunately, the rest of my family must not feel the same about each other. And if they do, they like to keep it quiet. For the most part.

Another issue with my beloved family is my sister's compassion. She finds it awkward and uncomfortable to not invite certain people to whatever party she's having, so she ends up just sending out invitations to everyone and hoping those who she doesn't want to see can't make it. They almost always can though. I'm ninety percent sure it's out of spite.

So, with the fact that she's about ready to pop, she naturally wants to throw a 'little' party like my mother has been pressuring her to do. She thinks that if they're not going to announce the baby's gender, then they could at least celebrate the new life. Alex did what he could to shut it down since Aaliyah had initially been unsure, but ultimately my mother won. Mostly because Aaliyah still half felt like she wanted some kind of party for her last baby like she had for her first.

Since this party is pretty important to her, I'm forced to attend it. And if I'm forced to, I'm sure as hell making sure my other family is forced to too. Kiara's less annoyed by it and is more willing to go because Aaliyah's still basically her best friend now. And Cameron is excited to get his first breath of fresh air outside of the lock up.

At the very least, my son is entertaining enough to keep me happy around the snarky family members around us.

He looks around the park in wonder as if it's his first time being out of the house in his whole life. His mom watches him with narrowed eyes, absolutely pissed off that he's making it look like she's had him locked away in a room with no sun or windows for years. I've noticed that it's a little thing he likes to do just to harmlessly piss her off sometimes, and I absolutely love it. It's how I know he's my son.

I leave them to discover the new world for just a minute to find my sister trying to chase after her kid as fast as she can. Which isn't very fast at all. I swoop in to save the day like the good brother I am, catching the kid before she can run past me. "Ooh! Gotcha, kiddo. Nice try." I laugh triumphantly and lift her up into my arms. She starts kicking to desperately get out of my grasp while her mother catches up.

Aaliyah huffs as she finally makes it over with a little headband in her hands. "Come on. Your Tita made this for you, and you're going to wear it." She demands.

"Ooh, shipped all the way from California. Look at you." I gasp and lean in a little closer to Aaliyah to make it easier for her to slide the headband onto Elaina. Elaina pouts, but she allows it to happen to her. "So, I gotta ask," I sigh as I start maneuvering Elaina around in my arms once Aaliyah has her thing on. "If this isn't like a gender reveal, what the hell are we here for?"

Aaliyah frowns, hand absently landing on her pregnant stomach. "I don't know. A celebration of the new life." She shrugs. "Last grandkid for Mom and Dad."

I nearly laugh at that last grandkid part. Aaliyah knows what my stance had been before I knew Cameron and Kiara, so she now assumes that now that I have Cameron, I'm done completely and that it all ends with her. Shit, maybe she's right. I can't tell yet.

"Gotcha," I acknowledge with a short glance Kiara's way. She's busy sat with Cameron and Katie, smiling gently at both kids as she listens to whatever story they're telling her.