Magnetic

SEVENTEEN

DANAI

Taking a deep breath in, Nai tried to calm herself down. A part of her wanted to hide and see what the two of them would talk about, but that didn't seem productive. Instead, she stood up perfectly, and walked right over to them. Everitt noticed Nai almost immediately, and he beamed as soon as his eyes met hers. He looked back at that woman, and tapped her arm.

"Perfect timing," He exclaimed, though Nai was still confused. Everitt put an arm around her shoulder, then gestured towards the woman with the ponytail. "Danai, this is my sister, Ella. Ella, this is Danai."

The relief was immediate, and evident in Nai's smile when she extended a hand out to Ella. Everitt's sister looked at the hand, then at Danai, before she laughed and pulled the slightly shorter woman in for a hug.

"Handshakes are for business. I am so excited to finally meet you," Ella grinned at Nai when she let her go. "Ev talks about you way too much."

The man in question furrowed his brow, "Is there such a thing? You ask how I'm doing, so I talk about my girlfriend. Maybe we need to have a discussion about how much you mention your husband?"

"Shut up," Ella shot back, glaring at her brother. When she returned her attention to Danai, however, that kind smile returned. Ella spoke in a posh British accent for a bit, "Anyway, the family is waiting for us!"

As Ella turned them around, Danai held back a laugh after seeing her boyfriend's expression. He had rolled his eyes, very dramatically, before he followed them towards the automatic glass doors that opened to reveal the outdoor golfing range.

"Your English accent sucks, by the way," Everett said, loud enough for everyone around them to hear.

Though Danai couldn't see what Ella did with her hand, because it was behind her head, she was pretty sure she'd stuck up her middle finger at her brother. Even before meeting the rest of the family, Danai had already started to rethink their similarities to her own. If her mom ever caught her sticking up a middle finger to her brothers, which she had a few times, Danai would not hear the end of it. Even as an adult, she had this looming fear that her mom would somehow be watching from a distance.

When they turned the corner outside, Nai noticed two tall, blonde men standing by some golf clubs with a brunette woman. One of the men looked older, probably in his sixties, and Nai noticed some grey in his hair as they got closer. The woman was older as well, and had several lines by her eyes when she laughed and smiled. They both had all white on, including their shoes, which almost sparkled in the sunlight that managed to sneak under the shade overhead. The younger man, however, had on a black shirt and shorts, as well as sunglasses over his eyes. His mouth seemed set in a frown, and Nai feared that he was the brother Everett spoke of so much.

When the woman noticed them, her face lighting up, Danai knew these were the other members of the family she had to meet. Her stomach filled with butterflies as the three of them approached the small group, and she wondered if her smile looked too wide to be natural. Nai didn't know what to do with her hands, either. Crossing her arms would make her look closed off, but she knew that letting them hang by her sides might make her feel vulnerable and pathetic.

The older woman went up to Everett and grabbed his cheeks. "I feel like it's been years since I've seen your beautiful face!"

Everitt smiled as his face started to turn red from the pinching. He let her kiss his cheeks, then enveloped the woman in a big hug. "I saw you two weeks ago, Mom."

"Once every other week is not nearly enough for me," she told her son before she let him go.

A feeling of loneliness creeped into Danai's chest while she watched everyone greet each other. Ella went to say hi to her dad and brother, leaving Danai alone, and Everitt went to join her. Eventually, their mom became part of their cluster, which left Danai as the odd one out, just as she'd feared.