Caught Between a Mate and Love

Chapter 11: A Wild Range of Emotions

"It's hard to say no," I mumbled.

"Come on guys, breakfast is ready," Chris said, sounding happy. I ignored the speeding up of my heart and yawned again. Asher's eyes opened wide and he looked shocked to be holding onto me.

"Good morning," I smiled at him. He smiled back. I realized while Felicity was dead on for her April, Asher actually looked less like them. He had lighter hair and his ears popped out, making him sort of goofy looking. He had deep brown eyes, but they were smaller and less doe-like.

"Who are you?" He asked. I smiled.

"I'm Rita," I replied. Chris left the room and both kids sat up. "If you guys don't mind I have to get dressed.

"You're still wearing your clothes?!" Asher looked shocked. Both were wearing footsie pajamas. "You should change."

For having lost their father, both children seemed relatively happy. They easily welcomed strangers and liked Chris as far as I could tell. I left them to get ready, taking some new clothes to bathroom to change quickly.

When I was dressed and clean for the day I slowly went outside, hoping everyone would be dispersed. Sadly, my hope was lost as they were all seated at the dining table, waiting for me t join them.

"About time," Tony said snarkily. He was a grumpy frump when he was hungry. Come to think of it, he was a grumpy frump all the time. I scowled at him and took my seat between Felicity and Hannah, where a breakfast buffet sat between me and angelic April. Honestly I repeat myself because you hardly ever meet a woman who is so beautiful and tragic that it's the only thought that comes to mind when you see her.

"Sorry," I muttered to the rest of the table. I looked at my father, who gave me a lopsided smile, then my mother at the other end, who gave me a tired smile.

"It's good to have the family together again, Rita," my dad said, scooping some eggs onto his plate, thereby allowing the rest of us to begin shoveling food onto our own plates.

"Well Dad," I got up to get myself a glass of orange juice, "I'm sorry I deprived you of this wonderful time, but Debbie needed me, you know."

I could hear my mother silently chuckle from the table. I brought back the jug of juice for the kids to drink and took a big gulp of my juice.

"She needed you for a full month?" He acted nonchalant but the tension was in the air.

"Dad," I set down my cup and put out a fake serious face, causing everyone else to look haphazardly at me, "Debbie and I are soul mates! We need each other!"

This made everyone but Tony laugh, then again, Tony doesn't have a sense of humor so I shouldn't have expected him to. I smiled to myself and began eating away at my french toast and bananas. A nervous as Chris and his family made me, as angry as Tony made me, and as frustrated as my parents made me, it felt nice to be back in a somewhat normal setting. My little brothers' laugh was good to hear, since they were part of my favorite audience. I got to teach them how to be sassy and funny, since all Tony ever did was lecture and train them. Having a mentor like Tony probably sucked since he believes so harshly in rules and whatever, but they do look up to him for some reason. I think it's mostly because he found such a hot girl to mate with. Tony's not much of a looker.

I was one of the first to finish breakfast. I went out to the porch to sit for a moment, by myself. I hadn't been by myself for such a long time, it was a relief. No one was pestering me, in or out of my brain. I could feel the winds against my jacket and through my hair.

"Um," a low throaty sound came from behind me. I didn't dare look. "Do you want to go for a run? I haven't been officially introduced to the actual land yet, besides the city."