Not So Bad - A.M.

37. Celebrate

"I'm sorry, Ava, I wish I could be there." Jordan said over the phone.

We're talking about this ridiculous barbeque my mom is forcing my family to have. It's to celebrate my coming home from the hospital, which I told her wasn't that big a deal. She only said "My baby's alive and well, and we're celebrating." Jordan can't come because her and her parents are out of town visiting her brother in college.

"It's fine, I told you." I laughed.

"I know, I know, I just feel bad."

"Well don't. Look I've got to help my mom with stuff, but we can just hang out when you get back, sound good?"

"Yeah, sounds fun. I'll talk to you later." She said.

"Bye." I hung up.

I went back into the kitchen to help my mom with cooking. "Austin's coming, right?" She asks me.

"Yeah, he's coming. He should be here soon." I answered.

"Well, good. The rest of the family should be here soon, also." She smiled.

She invited all my family that lives close enough to come. I tried to talk her out of it, but she insisted.

"Mom, is this really necessary? We could've had just a small dinner or something. Just me, you, Dad, Blake, Taylor, and Ian. That would've been perfect." I said.

"Ava, I thought I was going to lose you. You can't imagine my relief when I found out you'd be okay. It made me realize that any of us could go at any time. I don't know about you, but that terrifies me. So, I figured we should spend as much time with our family as possible. Make as many good memories as we can. I just want to celebrate the fact that you made it out of this terrible situation. And, anyways, the family's been asking about you. They wanted to visit you, so I thought why not have a barbeque where you can see everyone at once." She explained.

I nodded in understanding. "I get it, Mom. I guess I should stop complaining and thank you. Doesn't matter why we're doing this, all that matters is that we'll all have a good time." I gave her a quick hug and then went back to helping with the food.

The doorbell rang cutting our moment short. "You go get that, I'll finish up in here." She told me.

I smiled then went to go answer the door. Austin stood on the other side of it, smiling at me.

"Hey." He greeted.

"Hi." I responded, moving aside so he could come in.

"Need any help with anything?" He asks.

"Not in here, but we can check outside." I started walking towards the back door, but Austin had made a pit stop in the kitchen to say hi to my mom.

He met my parents and my two little siblings shortly after I met his mom. They all loved him to pieces which was great, because it made things like this so much less awkward. And plus, it feels good to have my family's approval. The only person left to introduce him to is Blake.

Austin was back at my side and we started towards the back door again.

"Blake's outside. You can go meet him." I smiled.

"Yeah." He said nervously, causing me to smile even more.

I grabbed his hand and led him outside. I spotted Blake, and then looked up at Austin.