Mismatched Socks

Renée - Chapter 34: Monopoly

Mathieu and James invited everyone to dinner at their home. I am finally going to meet my stepmother and new brother-in-law. Sophia takes my hand and kisses my cheek before I ring the bell. My father and his girlfriend are already here. Sophia had to work a little later, so I waited for her to go. 'Renée!' James says happily and he hugs me. He then greets Sophia with a welcoming hug.

James takes our coats and guides us to the table. Sophia and I take a seat at the empty seats. Once I am seated, I look at the woman in front of me next to my father. She smiles softly and sticks out her hand.

'I am Marjorie. It's so nice to finally meet you', she says and smiles friendly. Her smile makes me smile and I shake her hand.

'Renée. Nice to meet you', I introduce myself. My father smiles happily and gently takes Marjorie's hand on the table.

I then look at the young man sitting next to my sister. He's holding her hand too. Juliette's skin seems paperwhite next to his darker skin. I smile at him, he is too far away to shake hands.

'I am Issa', he introduces himself and nods with a smile.

'Renée', I silently say as he probably heard me introduce myself to Marjorie.

'Nice to meet you.'

'Yes! Nice to meet you too! Juliette can't stop talking about you', I chuckle. Issa starts laughing and then hugs the blushing Juliette with one arm.

Mathieu and James put dinner on the table. We start to eat as James and Mathieu scrape their throats. 'We actually want to say something first', James says. Matt looks at James lovingly, letting his partner say what they want to announce. James starts smiling. 'We are getting married!' he shouts. A lot of happy sounds response to his news. 'But nothing big, a small wedding.' Matt nods agreeing.

~~~

Later that evening, my father and Marjorie leave. 'It was so nice to finally meet you!' Marjorie smiles and gently hugs me. I smile and briefly hug her back. Sophia and I put the plates in the dishwasher as Juliette and Issa come to say goodbye. Jules hugs me tight. 'He makes me so happy', she whispers. 'I noticed', I whisper back. She lets me go and smiles at me. They leave and now we are with four people left.

'You need to say so if you want us to leave too', Sophia says. 'Okay. But you can stay for now', Matt laughs. We end up playing Monopoly. Matt and I love playing board games. 'Ah, you owe me 500 euros!' Matt exclaims happily. James sighs and pays his boyfriend. I have always wondered what the currency of Monopoly money is. Sophia turns out to be a businesswoman and wins the game with almost all the money there is. 'Damn.' I say and take a sip from my coke. Sophia chuckles and kisses my cheek.

'I am a little tired. Do you mind going home?' Sophia whispers subtle in my ear. 'Not at all', I whisper back. I look at my brother and friend. 'We have to go home now, it's getting late.' There's no protest from them. Sophia and I make our way to our coats and then say our goodbyes. They hug us both at the same time.

Sophia and I leave the house and get on the bus that arrived as we approached the bus stop.

'Did you take a look at the apartment I forwarded you?' Sophia asks as we take a seat on the almost empty vehicle.

'Yes, yes. I took a look at it', I say and smile. Sophia starts smiling too.

'And? What did you think of it?'

'I think it's perfect.'

'Me too', Sophia says and kisses my cheek.

~~~

And two weeks later we are moving into our very own apartment. Colin and Elton are helping us move. All the other people we know are "too busy", probably some of them actually are.

'I thought Elton had a lot of stuff, but damn Sophia how many boxes do you have?' Colin lets out surprised as he opens the moving van we rented.

'Hey! There are boxes from Renée too!' Sophia lets out in a surprise.

'And hey! You have a lot of stuff too', Elton exclaims.

After a lot of walking back and forth between the rooms the boxes belong in and the van that was containing the boxes, the four of us sit down on the floor to eat our dinner. We ordered Chinese food.

'So when can we expect to be eating at a table?' Colin asks.

'When we buy one', I chuckles. The three of them talk about little things.

I get this weird feeling inside of me, it's good weird. I take a look around and end up looking at Sophia who laughs at something Elton said. For the first time in a long time I start to feel less lost, like everything is supposed to be this way. I like this. I start smiling, knowing everything will be alright.