A New Family (A Ghost Bird Story)

Dinner

A/N Thank you Ripley again for editing this for me! Thank you UPS man for not freaking out when I ran screaming out of the house and tackled you for the power cord to my computer after being without it for over a week! More than anything thank all of you for reading my little story and getting me to 10,000 reads and 1400 votes. I never thought I would get there. Onward!

Sang POV

I remember grilling out only a few times in my life. Mostly when I was little and my parents still had friends come over on a weekend. I am a bit embarrassed to admit how excited I really am about it.

The guys brought back half of the grocery store earlier it seems. We mix up hamburger patties with little bits of bacon and cheese in them along with grilling bratwurst. I help slice tomatoes, onions, lettuce, pickles, and three kinds of cheeses. Plus there is the bacon and the grilled peppers for the burgers. North grilled corn on the cob and we cut up enough fruit to feed an army. With ten of us here I guess there is at least a Special Forces unit.

I don't think I have ever seen so much food.

These guys are amazing, the way they work together in harmony. It is like a machine and a dance mixed together. They joke around all the time but the silences are comfortable, too. There is also this thing they do where they chop each other on the head with the side of their hand when one of them mouths off. I get caught up watching them all afternoon. Trying to learn about them.

Luke came back from the store with two cheesecakes, everything to make s'mores, root beer and ice-cream for floats. North grumbles but I tell him I have never had s'mores or root beer floats and he stops.

***

Dinner is like a party. We lounge around the pool and the patio enjoying the cooling evening weather. Everyone wanders in and out of the house with plates and drinks. Gabriel puts on some music and I recognize it as a freshly burned cd I just made last week. It has all kinds of music on it.

Luke dances over to me on a techno beat and then pulls me into him. "I appropriated some of your things I thought you may need or want for the next week or two. I hope you don't mind?"

Who are these guys?

Eventually after most of the burgers and Bratwurst are eaten we take a break for dancing. Gabriel dances with me constantly. Luke, Nathan, Kota, and Victor swirl all around me. When 'Can't Pretend' comes on and Mr. Blackbourne claims me most of the boys fade away.

He holds me with proper form, a hand on my waist and at least eight inches between us. I look up into his eyes and the silver of his eyes seems to melt into a liquid pool of mercury. As we dance the distance between us gets smaller and smaller until I am pulled close to his chest. My head tilts back so I can look into his eyes while they trace my face.

A swing song comes on next and Mr. Blackbourne releases me stepping back and running a hand down his tie. Sean slides seamlessly between us and starts to spin me. He is more gentle than he probably would be regularly and I appreciate it. I laugh and start to swing my hips not really knowing how to dance to this kind of music. I always wanted to learn but never had a chance. Luke hops over and joins us with legs flailing. They start spinning me back and forth between themselves and I am soon out of breath.

I collapse into a deck chair and take a moment to rest.

Kota comes over and perches on the side on my chair. I scoot over and give him room to spread out beside me.

Kota gazes at me intently, "We haven't gotten together and had this much fun in quite a while. Things have been kind of stagnant lately. We work, we hang out, but we don't really just play and see each other. You are our ten. You have made things whole for us."