Call It What You Want To

Chapter 26: Kyler

March 16th was a loaded day from the minute we woke up, which for everyone except Mila and Mark was at 5 AM. While Taya was getting dressed and checking her bag for the meet, Carrie and I were decorating the hotel room with bright pink balloons and streamers, and sparkling the last few rhinestones onto an "I'm ONE Today!" birthday onesie. Mark was only exempt from all this because he was up half the night trying to find a store that was open and carried rhinestone glue.

When Taya got the announcement that she was going to Nationals, we didn't realize that not only did the weekend fall at the same time as Mila's first birthday, but they were actually on the same day too.

At first, I could tell Taya was upset when the realization clicked. She shared her birthday with a holiday, and now one of, if not the, most momentous moments of her high school career was gonna be overshadowed by her sister's birthday. We stayed up that night and I let Taya voice her worries about how she thought that her family was gonna stay behind from Nationals to throw Mila's first birthday party.

"They've been talking about her first birthday since she came here! They're not gonna just skip it," Taya had told me, obviously fighting back the tears of feeling overlooked again.

All those concerns were washed away the next morning, when Carrie had mentioned that she bought plane tickets for all five of us. "With how sick everyone's been getting lately, I wouldn't want a bunch of people that Mila's not always with around anyways! This works out way better, now I don't have to come up with an excuse for not wanting cousin Val up my ass all day," Carrie had chuckled as she explained it all to us. Taya was elated.

The plan became that the day was about Taya, then when the meet was over we'd have our party for Mila in the hotel room. The rest of "the Greyhaven crew" had caught wind of our little party and asked if they could come join, and Taya said that they were more than welcome to come hang out if they wanted to. Hearing that there could be the potential of six teenagers at one time in our hotel room, Mark upgraded to the apartment style hotel room.

The plan with more detail was that I'd ride with Taya in Coach Hannah's rental SUV to the gym for check-in at 6:30, then the rest of the Beckett family would follow in at 8:00 when the meet officially started, we'd all be there for the meet and awards, and then we'd keep the party going in the hotel for Mila's first birthday.

"Babe? You ready?" I tapped on the bathroom door at a quarter to six. I could hear her talking to Hallie on a FaceTime call through the door. The two of them had been talking over dinner last night about what they wanted to do as far as hair and makeup. Their conversation reminded me of when Milana would play "fashion show" in front of me and ask for my opinions on things, as if I knew any idea of what she was talking about.

"Yes! Hal, I'll see you in five," Taya said through the door before she popped out. Her black "Greyhaven" sweatpants were pulled over her singlet and t-shirt, with her hair in its signature braided and curled ponytails.

"That whole conversation, just to go with the OG?" I teased her.

"Ain't failed me yet!" Taya smirked, a new bounce in her step as her first energy drink started to kick in. "Mom?" Taya called out, careful to not wake up her dad or sister. "We're gonna go."

"Okay," Carrie whispered before stepping over a bag to come over to the door. "Bye girls, love you both," Carrie said before pulling each of us into a hug and giving a quick kiss to the side of both of our foreheads. A mom that really shows affection was something I wasn't super used to, and Carrie had asked me a few weeks ago if I was okay with it. We had settled into the routine of me calling them Carrie and Mark instead of Mr. and Mrs. Beckett, and I slowly adjusted to the hugs and occasional parental kiss. I honestly loved it. It was all a nice change from feeling like my parent's show dog instead of their daughter.