Milkshake Hearts

Chapter 61: Quite A Few Siblings

They had debated the attendee list for their engagement-party-of-sorts-but-3-months-late for a while. Some of it was clear: all four of their parents, Shayne's brothers and the kids, the siblings Courtney actually knew and spent time with at some point in her life and their kids. They weren't sure where to go from there.

"What about some of your work friends? I haven't seen Damien for so long!" Rob had enthused, when they'd brought the topic up over a relaxed dinner at Shayne's parents' place not long before they went on their Colorado holiday.

"I mean, I don't really want to invite everyone from work, we don't exactly see them all socially outside of work things," Courtney tells Shayne, when they're talking it over by themselves later, "but not sure where we draw the line. And I don't know if I want to invite any of my non-work friends, since as cool as they are, they've never expressed much interest in knowing my family."

"I get that. I mean, I almost feel like we should invite Damien and Liv – and then Sam, I guess – given they already know parts of our families anyway..." Shayne shrugs, trailing off. Courtney gives a non-committal hum, signifying her mild disagreement.

"I get that, but would it be weird to have all family just plus a couple of friends?"

"Maybe. I dunno."

Liv and Sam make their question on whether to invite them a little easier – when Courtney mentions their plans for the 4th of July weekend, Olivia goes into an excited ramble about the trip to Mexico she's taking with Sam and some of their other friends. So, obviously, they don't get an invite to the party.

"Hey, Damien, weird thing," Shayne corners him, a couple weeks out from the party, "so like – Court and I toyed with the idea of inviting friends to this little party we're having too, and both our Dads specifically asked if you were coming, but like- everyone else we were going to ask is otherwise busy, and I know you aren't planning anything, so I guess... open invitation if you want to drop by, but no pressure if you wouldn't be comfortable just with us and family."

"I mean, I get on pretty well with Chris and I've spent time with both of your parents – it's at her Dad's place, yeah?" Damien answers, Shayne simply nodding, "I'll let you know, but I might drop by if you truly don't mind. Don't let your parents force you to invite me."

"It's not that at all, we'd be cool with you being there," Shayne replies, with a laugh, and Damien grins.

"Is our best friend Nathan going to be there?"

"Of course."

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"What's got you all nervous?" Courtney's Dad asks, walking into the kitchen where she is running her hands through her hair as she sits at the bench eating breakfast, a couple of hours before their party is due to start on the 4th. Her and Shayne had made the decision to stay over at her Dad's place the night before, and while one of her older siblings was also there with their kids, they seemed to be sleeping in. Shayne, for his part, had popped out to go to the gym early.

"I dunno," she tries to brush him off, but instead of continuing through the room, Roger pauses opposite her at the bench, arms crossed in front of himself.

"You know today's going to be great, right? It's all chill, I know we're all looking forward to hanging out with Shayne's family and from what I've heard they're the same," he reassures her, and Courtney nods.

"Oh, I know, I'm not really worried about that. And LA is being stereotypical as ever and giving us a great day for it but I just..." she trails off, "ugh, so I didn't tell you at the time, but Shayne's oldest brother Brian isn't super liked by their family, and he made a really gross joke about me just being Shayne's random drunk hookup from a work party when I was up in Seattle last Christmas. And like, his family were so behind me, Rob and Dianne got super angry at him and he apologised and all. But he lives off in New York and never goes to family things, so we were a tiny bit surprised he actually said yes to our little 4th of July lunch thing."