Chris tapped the plane seat armrest while his leg bounced at the same time. I knew there was no use in telling him to calm down because of his anxiety. The only thing I knew to do was to hold his hand to stop it from tapping. Without taking his eyes off of the seat in front of us, Chris tightened his grip on my hand and squeezed.
He had finally gotten a break from filming with MCU and was coming with me to visit my home of Austin, Texas. And to meet my siblings.
I was the middle of 5 children; two older brothers, one older sister and one younger sister. And they were all pretty protective over me, especially my oldest brother, who used to be the best wrestler on our high school wrestling team. Chris was still older by about 2 years and slightly bigger in muscles, but he was still worried.
When the plane landed and came to a complete stop, I could've swore Chris nearly jumped out of his skin. I put my free hand on his shoulder.
"Chris," I said, soothingly. "It's gonna be okay."
"What if they don't like me?" Chris asked.
"Who cares? I like you," I shrugged. "Just as long as you don't break my heart, they'll love you."
I kissed his cheek before unbuckling my seatbelt and standing up to get my stuff from the overhead compartment. Chris continued to pick at the seatbelt buckle, waisting time before having to unbuckle. Finally, he undid his seatbelt and we walked off the plane together.
As we came down over the escalator, I searched the crowd of waiting family and friends for whoever was picking me up. Finally, I seen my older sister, Celestine (also known as Toni) holding a sign that read "Squirt & Co.". I laughed and rolled my eyes before racing to give her a big hug.
"Hey there squirt," she said. "Although, I guess I can't call you that anymore. You're nearly taller than me!" We both laughed, then Toni turned to look at Chris, who was standing awkwardly behind me with his hands in his pockets and his head down. "You must be the famous boyfriend then." She extended her hand. "I'm Celestine, the favorite."
"You wish!" I teased, giving her a slight shove.
Chris chuckled. "It's nice to meet you. Chloe talks about you guys all the time."
Toni smiled at Chris before turning back to me. "Let's go grab your bags and bring you home. The guys are so excited to see you again."
I glanced at Chris over my shoulder. He seemed slightly more awkward now. I linked my arm with his and gave him another kiss on the cheek.
The two of us got our bags and put them into Toni's car. The ride to our old family home, in which Toni lived in now, was full of chatter, mainly from Toni. She asked Chris about being an actor and what was next for Captain America (she was a Marvel fan), she asked me how LA was, she asked how long we'd both be visiting.
The more Toni talked, the less tense Chris became, which made me a little less tense, too. I was worried he'd spend this whole trip stressing out over what my siblings thought of him, even though I kept telling him they'd like him.
We pulled up to the house. I recognized Jake and Ejay's cars parked on the side of the road right in front of the house. Suddenly, I was feeling anxious, too. But not a bad kind of anxious. An excited kind. Like I couldn't wait to run in there and see my brothers and my baby sis.
The moment Toni had the car turned off, I was out the door and into the house.
"Squirt is home!" I announced as I ran through the door.
"Chloe!" came the voice of my little sister, Catherine, first. The next thing I know, I have a 14 year old bounding from wherever she was into the porch and nearly tackling me to the ground with a hug. I laughed and squeezed my little sister.
Before I go any further, I guess I should explain a few things. First off, the ages: My oldest brother, Jake, is 33 years old. Then it's Toni, who's 30, then there's my other brother, Ejay, who's 28, then there's me, I'm 26, then there's Catherine, who's 14. Shortly after Catherine turned 3 years old, our parents were killed in a car accident. In their will, they left the house to Toni, who gratefully took it as we couldn't bare to sell it. Jake, being the oldest, took responsibility of Catherine and raised her on his own.
And now you're caught up.
I finally managed to pry Catherine off of me long enough to step out of the porch so that Chris and Toni could drag the bags in. Catherine was about to latch herself on to me again, but then she seen Chris.
Catherine wasn't a Marvel fan like Toni, but she was a 14 year old girl going through puberty and was incredibly boy-crazed. And Chris...well...Chris was probably one of the hottest guys on the planet. So I didn't blame Catherine for staring with her mouth opened so wide I wouldn't be surprised if she swallowed a fly.
"Um...hi," Chris said rather awkwardly. "You must be Catherine."
She didn't speak. Instead, she stared.
"Stop your hormones for two seconds," came Jake's voice from down the hall. "He's old enough to be your dad."
This caused Chris to laugh a real, genuine laugh and not an awkward chuckle.
Once we finally got through the door, I took Chris to my old bedroom, which was where we were going to be sleeping. My room was the exact same as it was when I first moved to LA. The only difference was all my old, embarrassing posters were down off the wall. But other than that, it was all the same; same bed, same comforter, same dresser, same desk. Even same curtains and paint on the wall!
I let out a happy sigh and collapsed onto my bed, staring up at the ceiling.
"I'm home," I sighed. Chris smiled and sat down next to me. I looked up at him. "How are you feeling now? Still nervous?"
"I still have to meet your brothers," he replied, easing himself down so he was lying next to me. "But your sisters seem nice. I think I passed the test with Toni."
"You definitely passed the test with Catherine," I said.
Chris chuckled again. We laid in silence for a moment, just looking at each other. Chris' hand twitched a moment, then he hesitantly moved it so it was around my waist. I rolled onto my side and wrapped my arms around Chris' neck. The next thing I knew, we were kissing.
For a moment, we both forgot everything. We forgot we weren't alone. And if Ejay hadn't walked, we probably would've gone the full way.
"Come on, Chlo, not on your childhood bed!"
I quickly pushed Chris off of me, my face heating up with embarrassment. I tried to play it off by getting up and hugging Ejay. Chris awkwardly sat, his face beat red, as he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. I could feel Ejay glaring at Chris over my shoulder before pulling away to look at me.
"Look at you, Squirt," he said. "You've grown so much! Last time I saw you, you were a young woman just making the transition into adulthood. And now you're getting it on in your chil-"
"Okay!" I cut him off. "Okay, I get it. Where's Jake, huh? He called out to Catherine earlier, but he didn't come to see us."
"He's busy making supper. I wouldn't disrupt him just yet. You know how he gets about his cooking," Ejay replied. He looked over my shoulder once again and nodded at Chris. "It's nice to...um...meet you. Suppers in about 10 minutes."
We both nodded quickly and awkwardly waited for Ejay to leave. Once he was gone, Chris and I shared a look before beginning to laugh.
10 minutes later, we were all racing to the kitchen to gather some of Jake's delicious food. Being the older brother and technical "guardian", Jake took it upon himself to learn how to cook. And boy, was he ever good at it! Whenever we gathered together, Jake was always the one to cook.
Jake and Chris shared a quick greeting before they both got a plate full of food and made their way to the table. Jake sat at the head of the table, as usual, and Toni sat on the other side. Catherine got to the table before I did and "reserved" a spot for Chris to sit next to her. I sat across from Chris and Ejay sat across from Catherine, shooting her playful glances and teasing her every now and then over her new found "crush" on Chris.
Jake said the blessing and we all began to eat. Everyone talked at once, starting a bunch of different conversations all at one time, causing a dull buzz around the table. Every now and then, I'd playfully kick Chris or step on his foot under the table. He'd send me a secret smile across the table before returning the kick and also trying to listen to Catherine chat on and on about teenage things.
We were close to finishing supper - nearly everyone's plates were empty - when Jake stood up and tapped his glass, like he was giving a toast at a wedding. We all quieted down and turned to look at him.
"Well," Jake started. "First off, it's nice to have everyone sitting around the table once again. It feels like it's been years since we've had the original Squirt sitting with us, no offense Catherine."
Catherine shrugged. "I would rather not be known as Squirt."
"Oh trust me, you are squirt," I teased. We all laughed.
"But this time," Jake continued. "We're joined by someone else. Squirt's...boyfriend - " Jake playfully shuddered at the word. " - anyway, I know we didn't get a real greeting while everyone was rushing to get some supper, Chris, so this is my formal introduction. Hi, I'm the big brother, also known as the kind of dad and I want you to know that I used to be a wrestler in high school. And that's all I have for scare tactic." Chris chuckled. "But, in all seriousness, Chris you seem like a really great guy and I've never seen Chloe as happy as she is with you. So, for that, I thank you for coming into her life and I honorarily welcome you to the family until the day you may or may not decide to really become a part of it." Jake held up his glass. "Cheers."
We all repeated the word and took a sip of our drinks. Chris and I locked eyes across the table and we both smiled.
"See?" I said. "I told you they'd like you."