Birds || Fuenciado

Chapter 20: A Tale of Five Families

His new found confidence makes me laugh again as I rub my eyes. "Will you miss me?"

"Terribly, my darling. Although I have a cat, which will ease the pain."

"Do you think Rolly missed you?"

"Well, the house sitter should have been feeding him, so he won't be too aggrieved. But he is partial to human company, so he might be a little pissed at all of us for abandoning him."

"Oh, you have a cat?" Dad asks from his armchair, doing the crossword as usual. "How nice. What's it called again?"

"Rolly. He's fat and cute."

"Ah," Dad nods in understanding, returning to the crossword. "Yes. Like me."

Mike snorts as he tries to take a drink of his orange juice and then seems to choke slightly as the drink goes down the wrong way. After a second he erupts into a coughing fit that is bred with a choking laugh, and he hits his chest repeatedly, trying to de-suffocate himself. He swallows eventually and blinks at me with those wide, innocent eyes as I raise an eyebrow, and then smiles. "Wrong pipe," he splutters. "Sorry."

"We had a cat once," Mom says as she arrives in the living room. She only got home from work a few hours ago before she drove down to the airport to collect us, and she's looking almost as tired as me.

"Called Tabitha, right?" Jaime pipes up, and my jaw drops.

"Wh- how did you remember that? That's impressive."

Jaime shrugs and brushes imaginary dust off his shoulders, and Mom chuckles fondly as she ruffles his hair. She seems to be just about to head into the kitchen when the doorbell goes off, and my heart suddenly plummets. Sarah and Andrew are here.

It's silly, really - he lives literally about fifteen minutes away, and I'll probably see him after New Year whether it's at his house or whilst we're working or it's at mine or we see a film or whatever...but I've had a taste now. I've had a taste of his constant proximity and I don't feel ready for it to be taken away yet. It's daft; but I guess you do get daft, when you love someone.

"I'll get it," I say, and go to open the door. Sure enough, it's Sarah and Andrew, looking suitably exhausted from the long journey back from Washington. I doubt they've even been home yet - Sarah is dressed up in a snowflake themed sweater and leggings, and Andrew doesn't look much different; slightly messy and dishevelled, mismatching socks peeking out above his shoes. But they still smile as broadly as ever, speak in voices just as chirpy. "Hey!"

"Hello honey!" Sarah bubbles as I wrap my arms around her for a moment, and she smells lovely and feels warm even thought it's cold out...huh. Turns out I've actually kind of missed Sarah these past few weeks.

And then Andrew does the same, rocking me slightly as he hugs me, patting my shoulder, and then I show them inside and shut the door behind them as they walk into the living room. Before I've followed them in, I can hear greetings going down; oddly, I'm a little nervous. This is the first time my parents and Jaime's parents are meeting, and I really want them to like Sarah and Andrew as much as I do.

"Hello chick," Sarah says warmly as I follow them into the living room, where Jaime has just thrown himself at her, smiling widely, swaying from side to side in her arms, burying his face in her shoulder as she strokes his hair.

"Hey."

"Am I obsolete?" Andrew asks, feigning hurt, and Jaime scoffs as he pulls away from Sarah and throws himself at Andrew instead.

"Of course not."

It's cute, the way he greets them. For a moment I remember that Jaime probably hasn't spent much more than day away from both of them for...God knows how long. For someone with what was clearly once utterly crippling anxiety, being apart form them for so long must have been hard on some level.