Ben and Aaron returned panting and sweating, both convinced they’d whooped the other one, all fronts of friendly competition temporarily put aside for their audience.
“Your rebounds, dude….you suck.”
“Yeah, well, they wouldn’t if you’d quit foulin’ me so much. God, you’re everywhere.”
“But I won, didn’t I?”
“In your rules, yeah…”
Their talk went back and forth, the ball being tossed chest to chest with each attack and no one knew who won, who lost or really, who cared. Neither had wiped a smile off of their exhausted faces. And it had been way too long since a smile had visited those faces, so it felt warm and nice… and in need of food to celebrate.
“When’s dinner?”
“Now. Rosalie called you in 10 minutes ago.” Lani took hold of both of their shirt sleeves and tugged them down the hall and into the guest bath. “Wash quickly. Ben, show him where the washcloths are.”
As she left, the boys stood looking at each other, raising their eyebrows at her bossy demands. “Pushy broad, ain’t she?”
“She sounds exactly like what my brother needs.”
Yanking two washcloths from the linen cabinet, Ben tossed one to Aaron, chuckling as he turned on the water. “No doubt, dude. No flippin’ doubt.”
They washed up as well as teenaged boys are bound to wash and ended up in a water battle, flicking water at each other, quickly wiping down the walls and mirrors and then starting up again.
The door abruptly opened and Nick stood firmly in the doorway. “Don’t make me pull Dad on you, guys. Everyone’s waiting.”
Ben and Aaron rolled their eyes at his much overused phrase, tossed their washcloths into the sink, and slipped their shirts back on, trying not to giggle. They failed miserably. They followed Nick into the dining room, tails firmly tucked between their legs. Until they were to part at the table, Aaron to sit between Ro and Kitty and Ben to sit between Nick and Liz.
“Pushy dude, ain’t he?”
Aaron smacked Ben’s arm and laughed out loud, silencing quickly when he realized that he and Ben were the only two laughing. “Sorry. We, uh….yeah.” He looked around and caught a glimmer of a chuckle in Kitty’s eye, relieving him of his nervous tension. “Sorry.”
Rosalie patted his arm and leaned over to him. “It’s okay, Aaron. At least I’m not the one in trouble this time.”
“Glad to be of help.”
“Turkey?”
Aaron looked up to Kitty shyly smiling and offering the plateful of meat, and the meal began. The family communed, the newest member feeling more at home than he had in months. They all did. It was a funny little home, but it was home.
And they were thankful.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*The meal finished, the football games were turned on and the final pan was washed and put back into the cabinet. “Did we miss any of the Miami game?” Nick fwapped Ben on the head with the towel starting their third or fourth fight since starting the clean up process.
“No, although I don’t know how. If you guys would have worked instead of goofing off so much, you’d have been done a long time ago.”
“We got it done, didn’t we?” With much dramatic flair, Nick scooped Rosalie up from the couch and put himself in her spot, snuggling in between Aaron and Lani. None of the three were tremendously happy about his wider load shoving in the middle of their very happy spot.
“I was sitting there, Nicky.”
“Now I am…you can sit on my lap.” She crawled onto Aaron’s instead and as Nick turned to express his injury at her gesture, he was greeted with two tongues sticking out at him. “Nice, guys. Real nice.”
Liz felt for the fool and crawled up, mumbling about hating football, but might like it better from Nick’s lap. Solana grumbled and scooted over, bumping more into the arm of the couch than she had been. “Anyone else want to come up here? I don’t think we have quite enough.”
Stupid call. Jack and Ben fell into the pile and Amy, never wanting to be left out, clamored down from her mother’s arms and added to the mass of arms legs and giggles. Solana peeked out and caught Kitty’s eye…just as it disappeared behind the viewfinder of her camera and snapped a shot.
“Oh, you little…”
“Mom? You wanna be the cherry on top?”
“NOOOO!” Everyone moved quickly, some from their own volition, others from being pushed, some landing squarely on their feet, others firmly on their bottoms.
“You know, I should be offended by that.” Patty chuckled and snagged the camera out of Kitty’s hand, snapping a few pictures of mussed hair, hiked up shirts, and although she wasn’t quite sure how it happened…an upside down Liz, legs up on Nick’s lap and head hanging backwards. Ben and Patty caught eyes and for the first time in weeks, shared a smile as he took the camera from her and took her picture…wanting to have her sweet, albeit semi-toothless smile as a permanent memory.
“I’m sorry, Mama.”
The room stilled, no one wanting to watch the moment unfold and no one wanting to turn away.
But Ben and Patty didn’t care. No one else existed for the moment. Just them.
“Me too, baby.”
Another gaze, another pause and then…a perfectly timed change of subject.
“Dónde está el flan, Mamí?”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Lani looked to her daughter, accusation for speaking Spanish in front of guests quickly melting as she saw how tired the child was from the early morning of bird preparation and Aaron excitement. It was a moment to choose ones wars with a child and this war would not be fought. Asking for dessert was hardly worth a war.
“En la nevera.”
Ro climbed off Aaron’s lap, stepped over Liz’s head, stopped to pose for a picture and quickly went back to being the center of her mother’s world. “Vamos a comer un poco!”
Nick tickled the bottom of Liz’s feet, finally moving her from upside down to a 7 yr. old pile on the floor. “Cómo puedes tener hambre ya?” Hungry. Ro was hungry? He didn’t want to see food for at least another…hour.
She shrugged and answered with the simpleton answer a four year old should have. “No lo se, pero tengo hambre.” Who knew why? Who cared? She wanted flan and she wanted it now. End of discussion.
Lani started to get up and Nick patted her thigh, telling her to stay put. She’d done enough for the day. “Sientate. Yo lo busco. Alguien más?” When no one answered, he caught himself and went back to English. “Anyone else? Sorry.”
Eight hands slowly raised and Nick shook his head and headed into the kitchen to figure out how to serve flan. It couldn’t be too hard, could it? Pudding…sorta.
Rosalie saw Nick’s empty spot on the couch and giggled, climbing right back where she had been earlier, never noticing the look of utter shock on Aaron’s face.
Lani, however, didn’t miss it. “What?”
“When did he…how long has he…was that even right?”
“What, his Spanish? Oh yeah…he does fine. He didn’t tell you?”
“Uh, no. He can’t even speak English right half the time.”
“I taught him!! You wanna learn?” Rosalie was bouncing on the couch in anticipation of teaching Aaron Spanish. It might mean he’d stay forever. “I can teach you too.”
Aaron simply turned his gaze back to the TV, still dumbfounded at this life his brother was leading. He felt so out of touch. So out of…touch. And yet, it all seemed to feel so right.
“Aaron, get in here and help me serve this stuff up, huh?”
Rosalie smacked Aaron’s leg when he didn’t even budge at his brother’s plea. “Nick wants you, silly.”
“Huh? Oh. Yeah. Mi hermano.” His brother. How could someone seem so different and yet so much the same? He felt like he’d entered the twilight zone.
Aaron played butler and served everyone at their seats in front of the television, interminable pre-game yammering going on, post-game pondits rambling on about the Detroit game and pre-game predictors spouting off their infinite wisdom on the ups and downs of the Miami match. Even to sports fans like Ben, Aaron and Nick, it was ridiculous. However, as soon as the flan hit everyone’s lips, no one could speak. Moaning was about as profound as it got.
“You know what the best part of this day has been so far…besides the food, of course.” Nick looked up to his brother, expecting some sort of sentimental sap and started preparing a smart-assed retort.
“What’s that?” Rosalie’s spoon hit the plate as she finished and her butt hit Aaron’s lap immediately after.
“Well, okay, besides the food and you…” Rosalie snuggled into her Aaron and decided she was going to keep him. “…it’s not having to fight off the stupid dogs and cats while we eat. I don’t know how to act.”
“You have pets? How many?”
Nick laughed and collected empty plates, making Lani wonder what drug he had taken to suddenly turn him into Mr. Domesticity. But, her wonders ceased when he brought the stack of plates and forks to her, smiling victoriously. But she got him.
“Thanks. Here’s mine. Just stick ‘em in the sink, huh?”
With a wink, he grabbed her plate and tossed a question over his shoulder as he disappeared yet again. “Yeah, Aaron…how many pets do you have now? Have they started breeding between species, yet?”
“How many? Uh, I have no idea…we have a ton of dogs, cats, birds…I have an iguana, um…peacocks, fish…”
“You have a zoo!”
“You don’t have any pets?”
Everyone in the room shook their head and Nick returned picking up right where he’d left off. “Nah, they don’t need pets. They’re all animals.”
Ignoring Nick, Jack was busy mentally sifting through Aaron’s list, settling on one in particular. “You have an iguana?? I’ve always wanted an iguana.”
“And I’ve always said no way. No reptiles in my house.”
And so the discussion went, Aaron talking about his animals, everyone piping in with the animal of their dreams, Lani silently grateful she had been able to keep the animal talk down to a quiet skirmish in her house. The last thing she needed was someone else to take care of.
“Hey wait! I did have a pet! Mom, you remember…” Kitty’s face lit up for the first time all day. Not that she’d been sad, she’d just been…hidden.
“I do?”
“Yeah, Ben you might too. I got it from the aquarium on a school trip. That guppy. Second grade?”
“Uh…no, I don’t remember a guppy.”
“Well, yeah. I think it lived like…2 days.”
“Oh yeah! I remember. I had to flush the dumb thing. It wouldn’t go down.”
“Yeah…you flushed Lisa.” Kitty put on a pout good enough to elicit a car from the stingiest of fathers. Aaron thought he might fall off the couch. And then her words hit him.
“Lisa? You named your guppy Lisa??”
“Yes…Lisa was the name of my best friend in second grade.” Aaron started laughing, not noticing that no one else was joining him, and really, not caring all that much either. He had no idea why this struck him so funny, but there it was. Lisa. A guppy named Lisa. A dead guppy named Lisa, no less. “What???”
Kitty’s giggles joined Aaron’s and in between his own gasps for air, he’d ask again. “A guppy? Named Lisa?”
“Yes! I was seven!” The giggles and laughs spread across the room, not at the poor guppy’s name, but at Aaron’s uncontrollable laughter at it. Okay, so Lisa was not a name for a fish, but it wasn’t that funny.
“Lisa, the guppy. Here floats the beloved Lisa.” Aaron was almost crying now and Kitty wasn’t far behind, smacking Aaron now and then, forgetting in the midst of it who this young man was. He stopped being Aaron Carter and just like his brother before him…turned into just Aaron. Just a guy. A guy who was making fun of her pet fish named Lisa.
“Stop it! I loved that stupid guppy!”
“For two days!”
“I was seven! I even wrote about it in my diary.” Kitty smiled proudly as she quoted her eloquent, deep-hearted words of a mourning child…decorated with a smile. “Today my guppy Lisa died. I am very sad.”
Aaron finally fell over onto the floor, stupid laughter wracking his body, Rosalie tumbling into him with giggles of her own and Amy following suit. Kitty sat on her spot on the floor, trying to stifle her smirks, arms crossed, pout protruding from underneath her smile, and an occasional kick going into the pile of arms and legs making sure she only landed on Aaron.
“A guppy named Lisa! I’m surprised you didn’t set up a monument in the bathroom for her!”
“Your mama’s gonna have to set up a monument for you pretty soon if you don’t hush!” She kicked again, burying her face in her hands with embarrassment, thrill for the sweet moment and a secret wish that her boyfriend could temporarily disappear so she could give it a go with this one. She’d never had so much fun with Brad before. Nice guy. Kinda boring.
One more kick for good measure and Aaron finally grabbed her foot, pulling her closer to the pile of Aaron and girls. She scooted in and ruffled his hair, catching his eye in an upside smile as his head came close to resting in her lap. The giggles stopped and Rosalie heard the feelings dashing between the two teenagers.
She climbed off of him and shoved her face between the lovebirds, facing Aaron. “Uh, Aaron?”
“Yes, Rosalie?”
Leaning down to his ear, she filled him in on the all important fact. “She has a boyfriend already.”
“Ah…thanks for telling me.” He raspberried her cheek and pushed her aside, sliding up and planting himself next to the guppy mourning blonde who, at least for the rest of his day, was going to be the center of his attention. Boyfriend or no. She was cute. She had finally let that wall down. He was goin’ in. Partially. As he lifted his arm to wrap it around her shoulder, he caught Ben’s eye and read very clearly, “don’t touch the sister.” His arm went back down and the football game finally started.
Much to the relief of everyone.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Third quarter and Rosalie and Amy had disappeared into Ro’s room for some young girlie play, Rosalie thrilled at the thought of being the older and wiser of the two. Lani took the opportunity of a commercial break to go check on them, as they had fallen sinfully quiet.
Finding two sleeping angels, she covered them up on their respective spots on the floor and went back to the game, snuggling into Nick, into the warmth of their day, their friends and loved ones. It was truly a perfect holiday. Her favorite Thanksgiving ever.
And like it had weeks before, interrupting a perfectly contented afternoon, the doorbell rang.
And no one budged. No one wanted to budge. No one was welcome into this cocoon they’d created for themselves. But, it rang again and Ben finally stood to answer it, more out of curiosity than anything else. “I got it, really. It’s okay.”
“Good. Send ‘em away whoever it is.”
He was gone for only moments, but came back a different boy than he had left. He was shaken and angry and cold. Insolent in his words to his mother. “It’s for you.” Without even a stop in the room, he kept walking to the patio and exited out back, slamming the door behind him, making everyone in the room jump.
Patty quickly stood and headed to the front door, leaving the younger kids totally confused and their visitor even more so. He looked to Kitty for answers and only got a shrug and a flippant. “Don’t know. Might be her boyfriend. Ben hates him.”
“Why?”
Another shrug and Aaron’s questions went to Nick, and with only visual language between them, Aaron realized now was not the time. But, he’d found a connection with Ben before. Hell, maybe he would again. Besides, Miami was trouncing the competition. This might be more exciting. He got up and went out back, happy no one tried to stop him.
“Hey…”
Ben was sitting at the picnic table, chin resting angrily on his folded hands. “Hey.”
Aaron said not another word, but took a seat on the end of the bench, occasionally looking up to watch the rest of the crew cheer for something happening on the game. Sometimes talking sucked. Knowing someone was there to listen in case you wanted to, however? That was always good.
“Miami score again?”
“Don’t think so.”
“You gonna ask who was at the door?”
“No.”
Ben sighed, deciding to talk anyway. “Mom’s boyfriend. He’s a dick.”
“So’s my mom’s.”
He looked to Aaron, partially feeling sympathy, partially feeling jealousy. “At least you have a dad to go to.”
“Mmm…not always good. Dad can be a dick, too.”
Ben sat up and straddled the bench, facing Aaron. “I wish I had a dad.”
“You don’t have one?”
“Well, I mean, some dude nailed Mom and here I am. Same one who nailed her to get Kitty. I never met him, though.”
“Ah…yeah, that’s gotta be weird. What about Jack and them?”
“Jack and Liz have another dad. They knew him. Used to come around some weekends and stuff, but when Nick showed up, that stopped.”
“Wow…and Amy?”
Pointing to the front of the house, Ben explained. In small detail. “That’s Amy’s dad…I don’t know what he wants.”
“Maybe he wants Amy?”
“Pft. Right. Took off as soon as Mom told him she was pregnant. Just like Miss Romero’s dude with Ro. I swear, men are assholes.”
“Yeah, we can be…” A roar erupted from inside the house, causing both boys to peek in. “Looks like Miami scored again. Wanna go back in?”
“Might as well.” Aaron patted Ben’s back as he followed him inside, keeping his hand on his shoulder as they noticed Patty gathering things from around the room and sticking them in her bag, mumbling off directions to the kids.
“Don’t overstay your welcome, Kitty, you help Miss Romero clean up the kitchen, Liz and Jack, 10:00 bedtime and Lani? Are you sure this is okay?”
“Yep. We’re all big fat vegetables now anyway. I’ll kick ‘em out in a bit.”
With a wave and final quick look around the room for anything of hers, Patty waved and disappeared out of the room leaving Ben standing in the middle of it, dumbstruck and silent as he heard the front door close and the sounds of an old beat up pick-up truck revving in the driveway.
“Miami just scored again, dude…siddown.” Nick, of all people should get this. Why didn’t he?
“Hello?”
Everyone looked up from the game and at least to Ben’s eyes, showed absolutely no emotion at what had just happened. Not a glimmer of care.
“Am I the only person who is upset that our mom just walked out on us for Thanksgiving?”
