She's Kind of a Disaster

21- Just Like High School

"Happy anniversary!" We all shout at my parents as they come into the room and a banner with the words 'Happy 30th Anniversary!' is hanging from the ceiling of the bowling alley, which is where the family had decided to have this party. My parents' aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, my cousins, and their children. Altogether, it's about 35 people.

"Thank you, everybody," My mom smiles at the crowd. She has such a kind smile. My father's smile is a bit rougher around the edges, his crow's feet make him look older than he is. "We really appreciate all of the amazing gifts but most importantly, we love that we have you here to celebrate this day with us."

"Let's pray so we can get lunch started," My Aunt Janette suggests. She's the one who put this whole party together. Jesse, Brianna, and I used to do it but then we all moved away and didn't have the time to plan the party so Janette took over. 

Everybody gathers around and listens to my father give the prayer, thanking the lord for his family, his beautiful wife, and his brilliant children. At the end, he ends the prayer with an 'amen' and everybody follows. Although Jesse and I have fallen out of Christianity, we still pretend around our family to have faith. Or maybe Jesse does still believe, he just pretends not to around me. Wouldn't be the first time he's lied to me.

So we eat lunch, which is a buffet style of all of my parents' favorite foods. My mother loves seafood so there's crab cakes, scallops, and fish fillets. My father is more of a barbeque man so there's also ribs, steak medallions, and pulled pork. 

Before I went off to college, I would cook the meal for them for their anniversary but since I only got into town yesterday, I wouldn't have had enough time to get it all together so Janette had to outsource.

I sit at a table with my parents, my siblings, and Brianna's boyfriend. I'm hoping that we can get through the entire lunch just talking about Brianna's life. She does love to talk, especially about herself, so I'm relying on that to get through this. I know that if they start asking Jesse and I questions about how school is going, we'll have to lie our asses off and I'm not in the mood to have to keep track of all of the lies that we've been telling.

"So we are thinking about getting a house later this year," Brianna is telling us. "The housing market is good and if we get a house, that means that we can get a dog. Anyway, Portland is just gorgeous, you know. You guys should come visit, I'd love to show you around the city."

"We've already got our eye on a dog at the pound. They call him a boxerman, he's a boxer mixed with a Doberman pinscher," Joel tells us as he pulls out his phone to show us pictures. He is a very cute dog.

"If you adopt that dog, we'll definitely have to come visit," I promise her because there's no way that my sister can have that dog without me meeting him.

However, me speaking up was a bad idea because it got their attention on me. I could see everybody's eyes turn toward me and before anybody could say anything to me, ask me any questions, I shove a big bite of mashed potatoes in my mouth.

It doesn't work, they still change the topic of conversation onto me. "So, Wren, are your classes going well?" Joel asks me, putting his phone away now that we're not talking about the dog anymore.

"Oh, classes are fine," I confirm. "Starting to prep for the LSATS, so I'm pumped."

"You're going to do great, honey," My mom smiles at me, looking very proud. "You always do."

"Thanks, Mom."

"How's Clayton doing?" Brianna asks me but she isn't asking with the friendly smile that usually accompanies a question like that. She's looking at me with what kind of looks like suspicion. Like she's about to catch me in a lie or something.