++Josh's POV++
It turns out that we are the first ones there when we arrive pretty much at 12:30 on the dot at the restaurant where we are supposed to meet for lunch. We have left our skis outside in the designated zones. Jack makes a beeline for the bathroom, while Ben talks to a waiter to figure out where our table is. I scan the room for any familiar faces, but nobody seems to be here yet.
"Over there, please follow me," the waiter says and grabs a stack of menus.
He leads us to a long table that can seat twelve people. Looking around, I see that every single other table is filled with people. Alex has done well, making a reservation. We normally do that, since most restaurants don't expect parties of eleven people showing up out of the blue.
Ben and I place our helmets, skiing goggles and gloves on the window sill behind the table and take off our jackets. We are just about to choose our seats when Alex and the twins arrive. My big brother has placed a hand each on their shoulders and is pushing them towards our table. At first, I am not sure if he has to manhandle them, but then I notice that his face looks pretty relaxed. He is smiling in our direction.
"Where's Jack?" Aidan asks as soon as they get here.
"Well, hello to you, too," I tease him and knock my fist on top of his helmet.
"Hi, Josh. Hi, Ben," Noah greets us enthusiastically.
His cheeks are red from the wind and the cold outside, but he looks very happy.
"Hey, buddy," I reply with a smile. "Did you have fun?"
"It was awe-some!" Aidan exclaims excitedly.
He has taken off his stuff and discards it thoughtlessly on the table.
"Put your things over there, please, Aidan," I tell him, earning myself a grateful look from Alex.
He is always glad when he is not the only one constantly reminding the younger kids of their manners. It gets tiring after a while, I know that from experience. But it is important that we keep it up to make sure they know how to behave. They are not bad kids, they are just overly energetic little boys with their minds normally preoccupied with stuff they deem a lot more important than rules and perfect behaviour.
"Jack!" Noah calls out as his older brother approaches. "Did you go to the snow park, too? Wasn't it totally dope?"
"Dope?" I repeat for Ben's and Alex' benefit, raising my eyebrow at them.
"That's how kids talk these days, old man," my brother, the teacher, replies with a grin. "Keep up."
"We did The Wall like a gazillion times, and I went on all the black runs!" Jack boasts.
"Woah, awesome, dude. Can we go there after lunch, too, Alex?" Aidan asks.
"Please," Noah adds nicely.
"Sure, I don't see why not. You guys did really well this morning," Alex compliments them and both of them beam at his praise.
"Cool," says Aidan. "But you gotta go on the snow park sometime, too, Jack, it's got a jump like you've never seen before. I totally aced it, bro!"
Ben and I exchange a look and start laughing at their excitement.
"What? It's true. Tell him, Noah!" Aidan defends himself, mistaking our laughter for us questioning him.
"It is, Josh. He flew like an eagle, it was incredible!" Noah is clearly impressed by his older twin brother's skills, and Aidan is literally basking in it.
"An eagle, huh?" Ben grins, ruffling Aidan's hair affectionately.
"I do believe you. And I can't wait for you guys to show us that jump," I placate him.
"Where are the others? I'm starving," Jack then changes the topic.
He plops down on a chair and reaches for a menu, licking his lips in anticipation.
Alex pulls out his phone to check for messages.
"They should be here any minute," he says.
"Did someone write to you? I got nothing," I say, having checked my phone as well.
"No, but they know where to meet, so I'm sure they'll be here."
I look a bit more closely at the tall blonde and notice the vein in his forehead pulsating, which normally means that he is pretty tense. He is apparently mainly saying this to keep himself calm. I wish I could convince Alex that he doesn't have to worry so much about his siblings all the time. He is probably the coolest and most controlled person when he is on the job, but as soon as something concerns our family, he is constantly on edge.
Not that I can really blame him, what with our past experiences.
I sigh in relief when Luke and Will come sauntering over. Their grins are as wide as the twins' ones were, a clear sign that they were enjoying themselves.
"The slopes are fantastic!" Luke raves as soon as they reach us. "And that one is getting better and better. I had my work cut out, keeping up with him."
He pats Will's shoulder and a smile flashes across the teen's face. It looks like spending some time with one of his more juvenile brothers, and – more importantly – away from the watchful eye of Alex, is good for him. He looks way more relaxed than I have seen him in weeks.
If only he would shed his bad boy attitude when we are at home, too. I know that Alex worries constantly about him, and that he blames himself for Will having turned out the way he did. I am in total agreement with my oldest brother that we need to keep him on a tighter leash in order to prevent him going off the rails completely. But I also believe that all is not yet lost. He is only in his freshman year, and there is still a long way to go until he is officially an adult. I am confident that we can set him on the right path still.
They get rid of their jackets and find a seat.
"Where are Sam, Jordan and Lily?" Luke asks, looking around.
"They're not here yet," Aidan says in a bored tone.
"Well, obviously," Luke retorts, rolling his eyes and then turning to Alex. "Have you heard from them?"
"Nope, but they'll be here any minute," Alex replies confidently.
"What if..."
"Luke," I stop him, giving him a look that I hope conveys the message not to go there.
"Can we order already? Some people are starving over here," Jack repeats dramatically.
"I'm pretty sure that no people are starving in our country," Ben states dryly. "You'd be the first in a long time."
"Gosh, do you always have to be so literal?" Jack huffs.
He sounds way more mature than his fourteen years when he says that with an irritated tone to his voice. Ben just shrugs it off. He is used to being made fun of because he chose to be part of "the dark side," as the younger boys call it. They cannot for the life of them figure out how someone could become a teacher and voluntarily return to school every day.
To them, teachers are the enemy and therefore Ben automatically is one, too. Which is totally unreasonable, of course, because I can vouch for my younger brother not being a typical high school teacher. Should Jack or the twins ever end up in one of his classes, it will open their eyes to that, too. But somehow, I wish for Ben that this is not going to happen, since he would certainly have his hands full, teaching his own siblings.
"There you are!" Luke interrupts my musings.
I turn my head and find two giants and a little kid walking up to us. Lily is still wearing her full gear and she looks like a tiny astronaut floating towards us. She has got a bounce in her step and, even without me seeing her whole face, I can tell that she is almost bursting with joy and excitement. I instinctively turn around in my chair and open my arms. She launches herself at me and gives me a big hug. I let go of her again and push the skiing goggles on top of her helmet. Then I push her back and hold her hands, forcing her to spread her arms sideways. I examine her closely.
"Stop that, Jay-Jay, you're being weird," she giggles.
"Everything's still intact, don't worry," Jordan says, having quickly figured out what I am doing.
"Yeah, no limbs are missing," Sam jokes.
"I'm glad to hear that," Alex admits from behind Lily, where he is sitting.
She pulls her arms out of my hold and jumps at him. He catches her expertly and pulls her into an embrace.
"I take it you had fun?" he asks her.
"It was sooooo great!" she exclaims happily.
"Hello everyone. I'm Elaine, your waitress for today. Are you...oh my!"
I turn my head to find a middle-aged woman standing near our table with a notepad at the ready to take our orders. From the way she is scrutinizing us, she is most likely a bit taken aback by the sheer size of our family. I can tell that she is doing a quick count in her head as she looks at every one of my siblings.
"Please excuse me. It doesn't happen every day that I get to wait on a table full of good looking men and boys. Eleven guys? Wow, that's quite something," she says with a warm smile, theatrically fanning herself with the notepad.
To us, it is a common occurrence that people show their surprise when they are confronted with the fact that we are a family. I am not sure if she has yet figured out that we are siblings though. We don't necessarily look too much alike, at least not all of us. Jack and Luke are quite similar. And I guess one can also tell that Ben, Sean and I are brothers. Will looks the most like Jordan. If the twins look like anyone at all, than it is probably Alex and Sam, due to their dirty blonde hair. Lily is one of a kind, of course.
"I'm not a boy!" Lily protests and finally pulls her helmet off, letting her two braids fall out.
"Oh dear, I'm so sorry, sweetheart. Of course you're not. You're a beautiful girl, all right."
I reckon she thought Lily was a boy because she is wearing a hand-me-down ski suit that used to belong to Noah. It is dark blue and orange and is clearly not a girl's item of clothing. Not that she minds at all, since she is not the kind of girl to insist on wearing only pink and purple. Thank god for that.
"So how come you get to hang out with such a big group of boys?" Elaine asks curiously.
"We found her by the side of the road and took pity on her," Aidan claims cheekily.
"Actually, they left her on our doorstep, and so far, nobody claimed her back," Noah tries to outdo his twin.
"Maybe you want her?" Jack adds with a wide grin.
"Come on, boys, really?" I chastise them lightly, shaking my head.
They never pass on an opportunity to mess with their sister and they are quite relentless, too. If I didn't know that, if necessary, they would do anything for Lily, I would be quite worried. She is hardly ever allowed to play with them, and if they do let her, it is usually a matter of time until she voluntarily quits. Also, the boys acting so dismissive towards her gets more pronounced the older they get. Alex has been watching the development with worry, and I know for a fact that he has even consulted some of his various parenting books to get to the bottom of their behaviour towards our youngest sibling.
While all of us are very protective of our little princess, he is taking it a bit further still. I firmly believe that it is not necessary to protect her from her own brothers, but Alex seems to think differently. Sean once told me that he had a lengthy discussion with him about the topic, because Alex was convinced that Lily would end up damaged or traumatized because they treat her like this. Luckily, Sean managed to make him see that this was normal sibling behaviour, reminding him that it hadn't been any different when the rest of us were growing up together. Luke was a popular victim of our brotherly „crimes" back then.
Apparently, it also took quite some effort on Sean's behalf to make Alex see that it didn't make a difference if a kid was a girl or a boy. And that Alex didn't need to protect Lily from her rambunctious brothers any more than he had to look out for the other younger boys with regards to how they treated each other.
Sometimes, I think his acting so openly overprotective towards Lily actually accentuates the problem. I have heard the twins and Jack complain about it more than once, claiming that she enjoys a lot more attention from us older ones, that we spoil her and that we always take her side. I don't believe that this is necessarily true, but I can kind of see where they get that impression from.
"They are my brothers. Unfortunately," Lily tells the waitress and sighs dramatically.
"All of them?" Elaine furrows her eyebrows and gives us a once over again.
"Yep. But you don't have to feel sorry for me. Most of them are okay. But not these three. I could certainly do without them," she says, pointing at the twins and Jack. "But nobody wants them, either."
I am proud of my little sister for her being so resilient. Sam apparently thinks the same as he holds his hand out towards her and they high-five.
"I see. Well, it's certainly lovely to meet you all. – Now, anyone hungry?"
A chorus of yesses answers the waitress' question. She starts to take our orders while the three late comers go find a seat. When I notice that the only seat available for Lily is between Jack and Aidan, I get up and offer her mine that is between Alex and Luke. She gives me a grateful look and quickly climbs on the chair while I walk around the table and install myself between the two youngsters.
"You afraid to sit next to us?" Aidan teases her when he realises what is going on.
"No. But I prefer grown-up company to yours," Lily shoots back.
She must be the most quick-witted eight-year-old there is.
"Suit yourself," Aidan dismisses her and turns to me. "Can I have your phone?"
"What for?"
"To play a game," he says, sounding incredulous that I even have to ask.
"You remember that rule? The one that says, no phones at the table?" I remind him.
"We're on holiday," he argues. "Can't you, like, go a bit easy on the rules for a few days?"
"I think we're plenty flexible during our vacation," I say.
Luckily, Elaine returns at that moment with some of our drinks. She has a young colleague in tow who is carrying the rest. She looks to be in her early twenties and when her eyes fall on Luke, she immediately freezes.
Do they know each other?
"Aren't you that guy from last night?" she asks him once she has composed herself again.
Someone cat whistles and I am pretty sure it was my twin, since he is the one with the dirtiest mind out of all of us.
"I don't know...?" Luke replies slowly, giving her a questioning look.
"What did you do?" Alex asks, sounding suspicious.
"Hey, I did nothing. Why do you always assume the worst?" Luke complains, looking offended.
"That amazing performance at the Beaver Tavern. That was you, wasn't it?"
"There were a few really good performances last night...," my brother procrastinates, acting uncharacteristically coy.
I have been there last night and witnessed his taking and commanding that stage at the local pub. He was incredible and the crowd celebrated him like a proper rock star. It hasn't come up yet with our siblings, but I don't think anyone minds, not even Alex. He knows about Luke's passion for music and he has started to accept that this is the path our younger brother will most likely follow in the coming years.
"Don't be so modest! You were by far the best up there!" the young waitress claims. "Will you play there again tonight?"
"Thank you. And I don't know yet."
"You have to come back. We've talked about it all last night and made it our mission to find you again so that we can get you back on stage," she babbles. "I cannot believe that I just found so easily. Here of all places!"
"That's very flattering...umm..." Luke stammers.
It is not often that you see my brother so lost for words and apparently uncomfortable. If he is serious about pursuing a career in music, he definitely has to up his game with regards to how he deals with fans, if you can call her that. Luke is always so confident when he is on stage and when he talks to us about his passion and dreams. I didn't think he would be so reluctant and almost awkward when encountering other people who are praising him for his talent.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Emily!" the bubbly redhead introduces herself.
"Hi, Emily. Thanks for your kind words. And I'm glad you liked my music. But who's we?"
"Me and my colleagues at the Beaver. I work there three nights a week," she tells him. "So, I'll see you tonight? It's my night off, but I'll definitely come in if you play again."
"He will be there," Lily suddenly speaks up before Luke can answer her.
"And who are you, cutie pie?"
"I'm Lily. This is Luke, by the way. He's my brother. I like his music, too."
"That's great, hi, Lily. Will you make sure he shows up again tonight?"
"Of course. You can count on me," my little sister replies confidently.
I have to hold back my laughter at her being so precocious and looking at my brothers, I find most of them struggling to control their facial expressions, too. It is kind of adorable how she takes charge to organise Luke's social life while he is obviously too startled by his sudden fame to do so himself.
"You seem to be just as awesome as your big brother," Emily smiles at Lily and she beams up at her at the compliment.
"I'll see you later tonight, Luke. I can't wait to hear what else you have in store," the waitress says.
Emily quickly distributes the rest of the drinks and walks off, but not before locking eyes with Luke once again. I catch her giving him a small, seductive smile, which actually makes him blush. I laugh inwardly at my little brother's uneasiness. I never really thought about it, but apparently, he is pretty shy around women. And flirting in front of his whole family does not seem to be his thing, either. The total opposite of the likes of my twin.
"I think she likes you," Lily states simply when Emily and Elaine have left our table.
"Oh, she's totally got the hots for you, buddy," Jordan grins. "You must have been great on that stage last night."
"Wouldn't you know? You were there, too," Noah says, looking at Jordan in a confused way.
It is quite reassuring to see that not only Lily but also the twins are still clueless enough to make these kinds of innocent statements. Because, of course, Jordan wasn't at the tavern anymore by the time Luke got round to conquer the stage. He left with Tanya, who turned out to be a gorgeous, long legged blonde and therefore totally his type, not even an hour after meeting up with her.
"Ah, ehm...yeah, well, I must have been distracted, so I didn't quite catch it," Jordan says.
Alex just shakes his head at my twin's sad attempt at lying to the younger kids. But for some reason they don't pick up on it and just take it for a fact.
"I'll make sure to pay attention tonight," he quickly adds, glaring at Alex for almost giving him away.
"Can I come, too?" Lily asks innocently.
"Of course. Just make sure to bring your fake ID," Luke laughs at her, finally being his usual goofy self again.
"What do I need a fake ID for?"
"You need to be eighteen to get in," Sam explains.
"I don't think anybody would believe I'm eighteen, even if I had a fake ID," Lily muses.
"Well, now that you mention it, probably not," Luke teases her.
"Are you making fun of me?" For a kid who has already discovered sarcasm at her young age, she can be surprisingly naïve sometimes.
"Sorry, honey, I guess I'll have to play for you some other time," Luke placates her.
"Okay. And Jordan will just have to make a video for me until then. Won't you, Jo-Jo?"
Lily levels her doe eyes at my twin.
"Of course, pumpkin, anything for you," he smiles at her.
Once again, he can't deny her. I wonder if he has plans to meet up with Tanya again tonight, and if yes, who he is going to talk into taping Luke's performance for him. Telling by the look he is giving me, I reckon I know where I am gonna be spending my night tonight.