"They're here!" Ivy yells, and we all look out the window. I jump up, and run outside to greet my parents. The twins parents got here about thirty minutes ago, Kane's arrived earlier this afternoon, Levi's family got here tenish minutes ago, and we are still waiting on Dustin's mom.
There's some debate from Bryce that Dustin's mom decided not to come because she doesn't want to face Misty and Oaklynn, but Misty assured all of us that if either one of them thought it'd be an issue then Misty, Oaklynn, and Rebel would have stayed in Tennessee.
"Hey kid!" Dad hugs me, and a big smile takes place on my face. He pulls away, "How are you?"
Ruth comes up beside him, and pulls me into a hug. "He's fine Owen. We talked to him a few days ago." She jokes, and I roll my eyes. When she pulls away, she eyes me, and then smiles, "Move kid. I need to pee!" She blurts.
I move, and she runs past me. When the front door closes, I turn to the car to grab whatever they have. "Jesus, she literally peed at the store. I swear that woman has the bladder of a two-year-old." He says, and I laugh. I also make a mental note to bring that up to Ruth. Them having stupid arguments is one of my favorite pastimes.
That's something I love about their relationship. They are so carefree, and know that most of the things they say about each other are jokes. They've always been able to play around with each other, and if my relationship isn't like that then I really don't think I'd even bother trying to make it work. I get that might be immature, but if I'm going to spend the rest of my life with someone, then I want it to be with someone who I can have fun with all the time.
"How was the trip? I'm assuming a little longer since she has to pee all the time." I joke, and Dad nods. "Seems like fun." Since Ruth fell pregnant, they've decided to not take as many trips as they used to, so the whole driving far while is new to both of them, and I'm assuming they stopped a lot. Just being home for Thanksgiving, I noticed Ruth peed a lot, and I mean like every ten minutes she was running to the bathroom.
Dad starts walking towards the house, but he stops a few steps in front of the porch. "Is everyone here?" He asks, and I nod. "So we'll get to meet Oaklynn and her family?" I nod again, and he gets this shitty grin across his face.
"No. No. No. Please don't." I beg, and he laughs, heading into the house. I didn't even think about everything he'd tell her. My embarrassing stories about learning hockey, the way puberty did me massive favors in all areas, how I used to insist on sleeping in the living room when I lost a tooth because I was terrified of the Tooth Fairy.
In my defense, the last one should be a lot more common. I mean, what child is completely okay with having some little fairy fly into their room while they're asleep just to take a tooth? It's completely outrageous if you ask me. I will never traumatize my children with that. They can have Santa, the damn Easter Bunny, and hell I'll even give them something for halloween. But no way in hell am I telling them a little fairy flies into their room.
When I finally walk into the house, I hear laughs and squeals from the women. "OMG! She's kicking!" Oaklynn squeals, and Ruth laughs. Oaklynn's eyes meet mine, and she grins big, "Dude, I felt your little sister kick! It was the coolest thing ever!" She exclaims, and I smile at her reaction. My reaction was basically the same when I felt Ari kick for the first time.
"You let her call you dude?" Dustin asks, and I nod. "I figured she'd call you babe or some cheesy ass nickname." He comments, and I shrug. She has many nicknames she calls me, like I have many for her. Just because we're dating doesn't mean we are going to stop calling each other normal names that everyone else gets.
I walk past him, and walk into the kitchen, setting the food bags down that I brought from my dads van. "It's good to see you Owen. How's everything?" Asher- Kane's father- asks mine, and he pulls him into a hug. I don't stick around for their little reunion.
With all of our parents being close, we've learned to ignore their happiness when we all get together. It's always the same. The moms sequel and hug, then gossip about whatever it is they gossip about. The dads do a bro hug, and talk about sports or whatever it is thirty year olds talk about. When Ruth got pregnant, it became a whole thing. Every once in a while our big 'family' group chat, that has everyone, will be a million messages asking how Ruth is. Which reminds me I need to add Oaklynn and her family into it.
"Do you need help?" Rebel asks me, and I nod. I'm not one to turn down help, and also it'll give us time together. According to Oaklynn, Rebel liked spending time with us guys when we were there for their nana's funeral, so we've planned to make an attempt to hang out with him while he's here. Just him and us guys.
I can't blame him for liking spending time with us, all he's ever been around is girls. And that's fine, but I feel bad for him. His family did good raising him, and he's had a good male role model from his best friend's father, but I get wanting to be around more males.
As we're getting the rest of the bags, we find a couple of totes full of bags and boxes, and the dads all but run out to us. "Don't look at those!" Mine yells and Rebel and I laugh. "They're Christmas presents." He explains, and we nod. Duh. Why else would he not want us to look at them.
The dads grab totes, and Rebel and I head back to the house with the bags. When we get into the kitchen, we drop the bags. "What do you think you got for Christmas?" I ask Rebel, and he shrugs. I know what he got from Oaklynn, and it's pretty damn big, but she insists he has to have it.
"Probably some clothes, and shoes like I get every year. It's all I ever want to be honest." He confesses, and I nod. We both know that's a lie. It's all Misty could afford, and that's why his present from Oaklynn is what it is. She wants him to have what she couldn't. "What do you think you get?" He asks me.
"Some clothes, a pair of skates, maybe a phone case or watch." I shrug, and he nods. "What do you think they got you?" I ask. He makes a face, and I laugh, "All of our parents buy everyone at least four gifts. The girls usually get a few perfumes and lotions, maybe a pair of shoes, and something they've been wanting all year. The guys usually get a few colognes, something that deals with hockey, and some game tickets we go to together while the girls have a girl trip." I explain, and he nods.
Based on his reaction, he doesn't know how to react to that information. I wouldn't know how to act either, but I'm used to it by now. It sends a pain to my chest that they've never had a big Christmas like the rest of us have had. "That's cool." He says, and walks away. Dammit! I didn't want to offend him.
I chase after him, "Reb. I didn't mean to brag or rub it in," I confess, and he nods, "I thought you knew our parents buy everyone a few things. If you guys didn't, that's fi-" I stop, and shake my head. "Dammit. That's not how I meant that. I mean we don't expect anything. Like you don't. We just want everyone to have a good Christmas, and none of the parents want any of us kids to hate their presents. We all grew up different.
"I didn't grow up with a lot of money. Wren and Ivy did. Kane grew up with hand me downs from cousins before his grandparents passed. Dustin's family is in between there. Levi grew up a lot like you and I did. And Bryce doesn't have a family." I explain a short version of everyone's life, and all I receive is a nod.
After a minute, Rebel's eyes meet mine, "Growing up how I did, you don't expect anything. You had your dad busting his ass, and still giving you whatever you could want and need. Wren and Ivy have always been set. Kane's parents are making their way up in the world. Dustin's just a dick. Levi might understand. And Bryce will unless his family were rich assholes before whatever happened." He pauses, "You guys get what you want eventually from your parents. Oaklynn and I, we're used to going without, or finding ways to get what we want.
"All of you are here because your parents paid for you to be here. Oaklynn? She's here on a scholarship for being smart as fuck, and busting her ass in every class. After Nana died, she left money for both of us to help through college, but not enough to cover everything." He pauses again. "I'm taking it you didn't know Oak was here on a scholarship?" I shake my head no. "Then I didn't tell you. And I'm not crying about how we grew up. It taught us to make do with what we have." I nod, and he continues walking into his room.
I feel like a complete asshole, and maybe I am one. I shrug off the feeling for now. I'll figure out how to make it right with him. And head into the living room with everyone else.
Big mistake.
A few hours later, we are all exhausted from decorating the house. We all smell of sweat and pine, and are all a little hangry. "I'm going to order pizza. Any specifics or allergies?" Dad asks Misty, and she shakes her head no. He nods, and leaves the room.
"We're going to shower. Everyone else can as well. The water won't be cold." Evan tells us, and we nod. Once he and Megan are gone, Misty excuses herself to get some extra work done- she didn't want the trip to leave them broke, and her boss was nice enough to give her some files to sort out for the college course.
When she's gone, I look to Oaklynn, who shakes her head no. "It'll be weird for us to shower together with everyone here." She says, and all eyes snap to her. "I know we do things at the house, and we did at my house, but everyones here. Like everyone." She says, and we all laugh.
"Babe, they aren't going to care. If they were going to then you'd be sharing a room with Ivy and Grace." I say, and she shrugs. "Speaking of sharing a room, where's Morgan?" I ask Dustin, referring to his older sister.
He pulls out his phone, and takes a second to answer. "She's in Cali with some dude she's been with for a couple months. Apparently he demanded for her to meet his family." He shakes his head, not liking that. "I can already tell this is going to be a shitty dude." We all nod, and he shrugs.
Oaklynn stands up, and looks at me. "Do not come into the bathroom while I am showering. If you do, I swear on baby Jesus, you will sleep right where you are sitting." She threatens, and I nod. We both know I'm going into that bathroom in five minutes, and we both know I'm not sleeping on the couch. The only time we sleep apart is when I have an away game, or she's at Ivy's.
As she walks away, we all chuckle. Everyone of us knows I'm going to go against her orders. "See ya later, don't cry when she makes you sleep out here." Bryce laughs, and I flip him off.
"My bed is open if you need it!" Wren yells after me, and I shake my head.
When I get to our room, I wait a few minutes, hearing the shower curtain pull back twice indicating she's in the shower. Then I walk in quietly, strip my clothes off, and pull back the curtain. Oaklynn lets out a blood curdling scream, "What the fuck are you doing?" She asks, and I laugh. "I told you, you're sleeping on the couch." She pokes my chest.
I laugh, "One, we both knew I was going to come in here. Two, we both know we don't sleep apart unless we absolutely have too. And three, don't be embarrassed. You were fine standing in the bathroom at your moms while I showered, you were fine with fuckign while your mom was downstairs. So why is this different?" I ask, and she shrugs. "You are my girl, my woman if you will. If they didn't want us to shower together or fuck, they would have put us in separate room. They trust us enough to be safe, and they know we are both adults who love each other."
She doesn't say anything, just carries on with her shower. If I knew she'd be mad about it, I would have stayed down with the others, but I figured she was joking. Maybe I will end up on the couch tonight.
Apparently today, I woke up and decided I was going to be a dick. Also, I don't even remember making that fucking choice.
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NEXT UPDATE: 11/12/23