"I WANNA BE THE CAR." Folio yells.
"THATS TOO BAD. I CALLED IT FIRST." Aliyah screams in rebuttal.
"FINE THEN ILL BE THE STUPID TOP HAT" folio crosses his arms.
"STOP BEING A FUCKIN BITCH" Aliyah pops again.
"I HATE ALL OF YOU" Nicholas throws his arms up.
Noah and Danielle both sounded like Seth Rogan as they sat cackling on the couch next to jolly and I, who were simply confused.
"CAN WE NOT JUST PLAY ALREADY?!" Jolly exclaims.
we had started the game and all was well until Nick got out in jail.
"IM NOT GIVING MONEY TO HIM. He is a criminal." Noah said.
"BUT YOU LANDED ON HIS PROPERTY." I yell.
this game was stressing me out but I continued to play anyway
"DO YOU GUYS WANNA SEE HOW MANY OF THESE I CAN FIT IN MY MOUTH?" jolly says holding a box of fruit snacks.
"INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, Do it." I say sitting back from the game. I seen him empty 8 packs of fruit snacks into his mouth." WHAT THE SHIT JOLLY"
"What the FUCK WAS EVEN THAT" Noah throws his head back laughing again.
"I just caught all of that on video" Aliyah says pulling her phone down.
"w

When is Charlotte coming?" She asks.
"Soon, her flight left an hour ago" jolly sits back down.
"she will be here by dinner tonight."
"BACK TO THE game. NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR IMAGINARY GIRLFRIEND. Danielle. It's your turn." Nicholas tosses the dice.
"Collect $200 and pass goooo" Danielle flaunts
"I WISH YOU WERE NEVER BORN." Nicholas yells.
"ME EITHER-" she screams in rebuttal. "You FUCKING ASSHOLE"
Aliyah and I share a blank stare across the room.
Busting out into laughter. The night had went on, with laughter and more yelling.
"Jolly, I thought you said she would be here?" Nicholas asks.
"She is I swear."
"$100 says she doesn't show" folio whispers to Noah.
Aliyah and I shoot them both a dirty look.
"..or not"
we heard a knock at the door. jolly went. Moments later, he comes back in the living room.
"And these are all my friends." He points to us holding her waist "This is Nicholas, his sister Danielle, Noah and Lillian. Nick, we call him folio. And Aliyah."
"Hi. I'm Charlotte. But please call me char or Charlie" she waves.
She was a short girl, maybe 5'2 / 5'3, she was pale almost pasty, green eyes and flaming red hair.
I didn't take jolly for a guy who dated red heads.
"Holy shit. She's real." Folios mouth drops open.
"Shut up " Noah smacks his chest with the same expression.
"I'm gonna go show her to our room. I'll be back guys" he leads her upstairs.
I look at Aliyah and grab her hand leading her into the laundry closet.
"WHO IS THIS PASTY BITCH.?!?" She shout whispers.
"APPARENTLY THAT IS CHARLOTTE" I SAY.
"Jolly is dating a red head. She upsets me, when I look at her. we have to check her vibe." Aliyah leans against the dryer.
"check her vibe?" I laugh.
"yeah. I wanna know her credit score. If she hurts our jolly. I will kill her and you will help me hide her body." She says with a sharp change in tone.
"Okay, calm down there Sylvester Stallone." I say again before hearing a knock on the laundry closet door.
"Uhhh why are you guys in the laundry room?" Folio asks.
"So you can ask dumb fuckin questions" I come out smacking him in the back of the head.
"Ow-" he clutches his head.
"WEINER" I smirk.
"hey, can I have your help setting the table?" Mrs.R asks.
"Of course," we follow her out with stacks of plates and silverware.
cool air hit my skin as I made a spot for Charlotte.
as we got done, we called for everyone to come outside.
we sat in the same seats, except it was jolly, Charlotte, Nicholas, Danielle on the left tonight. The rest of us on the right. I sat across from her, studying Charlotte.
The way her hair was naturally wavy and looked nearly perfect against the sunset.
Was i jealous? that she was prettier than me?
of course not. I didn't care. I couldn't. but part of me wanted to just beat the shit out of her. For good measure.
"so Lillian." I hear her say. I nearly choked on my food.
"Hm?"
"I've heard a lot about you. Jolly talks about you so much" she smiles.
"Does he?" I look at jolly with a forced smile.
She was so nice, yet I hated her guts. I felt the need to assert dominance and I was fighting every intrusive thought telling me to jump across the table.
"Noah, I'm a big fan of your work." she smiles.
"aren't we all?" I laugh through my teeth.
"Well, if you put it that way." She laughs. "your skin is even better in person." Charlotte says to Noah.
"May I be excused?"
"Please take your time dear." I get up from the table going into the house and straight upstairs.
Anger had risen within me. Jealousy.
She knew me and Noah were together. why would she flirt with him in front of my face.
Moments later, Noah comes into the room.
"what happened out there?" He plops down on the bed next to me.
"What happened out there!? Are you kidding?" I exclaim
"That's what I asked ." He stays calm.
"Noah. she openly flirted with you in front of me. in front of jolly and you both fucking let her."
"You are intimidated by her ... aren't you?" He laughs.
"WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING. no I'm not." My ears were burning, along with every molecule in my body.
"babe. There is a reason, we didn't say anything to her. everyone down at that table knows that YOU, LILLIAN RADKE, are the only girl I've ever had my eyes on. That won't change." He takes my cheeks in his hands resting his forehead on mine." Come back down. Be nice. we are about to light our candles."
I came back down, taking a breath.
"You good?" 'Liyah asked handing me a candle.
"Yeah." I look at Charlotte.
"Okay, we are going to pass the flame around the circle, and say what we are most thankful for. I'll start." Mrs.R says.
"I'm thankful to have all of my kiddos home this year and I'm greateful for good health." She says lighting Nicholas' candle.
"I'm thankful for my friends and family being here." He looks at me lighting Danielle's candle.
"I'm thankful for old friends and new friends." She smiles lighting jollys candle.
"I'm thankful for love and the support that we've given eachother" he lights charlottes candle.
"I'm thankful for life. For the universe."
What a fuckin sap.
she passed the light to Noah.
"I'm thankful for Friends. I'm thankful for bad omens and Lillian." I smile as he lights my candle.
"uh. I'm thankful for being here. Three years ago, I would've said home had four walls. but, now I have a very different answer.
home has many different names, many different faces. im so thankful for everyone standing here and I'm so glad that you've kept me alive this long" I wipe subtle tears away from my cheeks.
"Aww." I get a hug from Aliyah. The rest of everyone latched themselves to us until we became a ball of arms and legs.
I had meant what I had said. Every word. folio and Aliyah said they were thankful for each other and some other sappy shit.
we all went back to dinner, eating pies and turkey until we couldn't move. Then, we found ourselves watching a movie on the couch, drinking wine. I rested my head on Aliyah, still angry with Noah, which turned into a full blown cuddle.
"are we dating or are you and Lilly dating 'liyah?" Nick asks.
"Me and Lillian are dating and you and Noah are just cover ups" she says with a straight face.
"leave them alone dude, go cuddle with Noah." I hear Nicholas laugh from the loveseat.
"Fine. Noah I'm coming for you man" he says sitting next to him.
"Get off of me" Noah pushes him away.
"What ever I'm going to bed" folio says stomping up the stairs.
"what a loser." I laugh as the silence returns.
I loved our weird little family, I wouldn't trade it for the world.