Adopted by Rilex (Jalex)

9

"Thanks," I say as I slip them on, "now I'm ready!" I proclaim proudly.

We walk outside into the cold, frigid, Baltimore winter air. I didn't mind today, this time it was my own choice. I crouched down and started gathering the snow up, "Dad, Papa, let's build a snowman!" I say excitedly.

Dad and Papa come over and help me build the snowman as if I was still a small child. I enjoyed the time I was spent with them, it made me feel so happy to finally have a real family. When I finished creating the snowman I decided to name him, "His name is Steve." I proclaim proudly.

"Steve?" Papa questions.

"Yup." I say, popping the P.

"That's an odd name for a snowman." Papa mentions.

"He may be made out of snow but he's still a man." I inform papa.

"Okay." He agrees.

"Stand next to, Steve, I'll get your picture." Dad says with a smile as he pulls out his phone. I do as told a sling my arm around Steve's shoulders with a big smile on my face. Dad's phone makes a clicking sound before he lowers it. "Adorable." He says as he looks at the photo he just took.

"Oh we should get that printed out, Alex." Papa says as he also looks at the photo.

"We can hang it on the wall in the entryway." Dad smile.

"I love that idea." Papa says as he snakes his arms around Alex's waist and rests his head on his shoulder.

I reach down to the ground and scoop up snow into my hands. My parents were too distracted with by the photo that they so proudly too that they didn't notice me launching a snowball at them.

"Hey!" Dad says defensively out of shock. I burst out laughing at them and nearly fall in the snow. Papa picks up a snowball and hits my head with the snowball.

"Hey!" I yell defensively as I lunge to the ground and begin picking up as much snow ass possible.

Dad does the same while papa picks one up and throws it at me again. I start retaliating as the legs of my jeans start becoming soaked by the melting snow I am kneeling in. Papa and dad have teamed up against me. "This isn't fair!" I yell with a laugh as I throw them two at a time in the direction of the two men. 

This was no longer a friendly competition, this was war. I duck behind Steve, using him as my shield as I start quickly building a fort around him. I poke my head out from behind Steve and begin pelting clumps of snow at my un-shielded parents. Their attempts of retaliation are futile as I duck behind my snowman and short snow walls for protection. My pants are completely soaked by this point but at the moment I could care less.

"This isn't fair." Dad whines.

"It wasn't fair when it was just two against one." I inform as I gather up more snow.

"Well I'm getting cold so, I surrender." Dad informs.

"Yeah, I'll surrender too." Papa mentions.

I peak around the corner to see Dad holding his hands up in surrender, 
Fine, you two are no fun." I say as I drop the snow and exit my makeshift fort.

Papa scoffs, "We are plenty of fun."He crosses his arms.

"Sure." I laugh at his antics.

"Whatever let's go inside, change into some dry clothes and drink some hot coco." Papa suggests.

"I love hot coco!" I shout.

"I call dibs on making it!" Dad says excitedly.

"No way! You add too much powder and end up waisting it." Papa explains.

"Because I make it good, otherwise it just tastes like hot brown water, if we wanted to drink that we'd drink sewer water." Dad says very matter of factly.

"Gross, no it doesn't I like it with only one packet." Papa seems disgusted by dads analogy.

"Fine, I'll make you hot sewer water." Dad rolls his eyes with a smile as we walk back inside.

"It's not-" He cuts himself off with a sigh, "Sure." He smiles at the love of his life.

"Go get changed, we'll watch some movies or something in a bit." Dad smiles as he pats my back.

I run u stairs to my room and shiver as the air conditioning hits my wet clothes. I take off my jacket and leave on my long sleeve. Next, I peel the soaked jeans off my body and put on a pair of fluffy pajama pants.

I start feeling much warmer, fast. I walk downstairs to see Dad setting down three mugs of hot cocoa on the living room table and Papa sitting on the couch, watching him. Dad takes a seat next to Papa, leaving a small gap between them. I take that as my queue to sit in between them.

"Are we going to watch a movie?" I ask as I lean forward and grab a mug of hot cocoa from the table.

"What do you wanna watch?" Dad asks as he picks up the remote.

I think for a moment before speaking up, "The nightmare before Christmas?" I ask.

"Good choice." Papa says as dad scrolls through Netflix.

Dad finds the movie and presses play. Everything was calm and happy. Just me and my parents. I love them, so much. They make my life so much happier.