The Holiday

4. Meet the Robinsons

"First of all I think we should brush our teeth, we can't go in with bad breath"
"Ooo and deodorant, you girls are smelly" my dad says
" have you smelt yourself Marcus, I'm surprised nobody hasn't passed out yet" my mum starts fumbling in her magical Mary poppins bag for tooth paste and deodorant while we search for anything we can use as a tooth brush.
"Now quickly, we don't want anyone thinking we're weirdos, do we?" Mum jokes, and from afar anyone would think we're absolutely bonkers; all of us brushing our teeth, Tillie applying makeup and my dad spraying half the aerosol can causing mum to have a coughing fit, to say we stick out like a sore thumb is an understatement, but I'm sure if Jamie gets along with them we will as well.one by one, each one of us emerges from the comfort of the car, dad first, then Tillie and mum and finally me. A woman looking a little older that my mum comes running out of the house with no shoes on, she's wearing a big smile from ear to ear.
"OMG! YOU MUST BE JAMIE'S FAMILY" she screams in a sweet American accent
"You must be Lilia?"she gives my mum an excitable bear hug, before turning to my dad
"And you must be Marcus?"she shrieks
"Yeah" my dad croaks out, too overwhelmed to say anything more
"And you girls...my boys are going to love you"The woman turns toward the door gesturing for us to follow her inside.
"MUM.DAD.TILLIE.JENNA" Jamie yells, an enormous smile on his face.
"Son!" You can see how hard my dad is trying to hold back the tears welling in his eyes.
" I missed you guys so much" Jamie sobs, giving us all a big hug
"And the men are crying already" my mum teases before kissing my brother on the forehead and whispering something in his ear.
"GUYS,THEY'RE HERE.COME SAY HELLO" The woman shouts up the large marble staircase
"Oh you met Emily? She's joes mum!" Jamie explains, putting an arm around her shoulder.
"Yeah, we met"my mum smiles at Emily, Suddenly people start coming down the stairs, my heart starts thumbing against my chest,but I'm too overwhelmed to think about it too much, Emily introduces us to them all; "This is June and Michelle They're 8 and 14"-they both look as shy as I do, but I guess that's acceptable when you're their age, when your 18 not so much. June has strawberry blond locks of hair spooling down her shoulders and is wearing a neat little red dress to match, Michelle's eyes leave her phone for a moment to give us all a smile before turning back to her devise,Some how I know Tillie and her will get along just fine. " And this is max he's 17" Emily continues, max gives us all a hug, When it came to me, I do the whole-"lets make it the most awkward it can be" thing and go for a hand shake, the result as you can imagine ended in a whole lot of laughter and me red faced-Great first impression Jenna, i mentally scold.
"And finally this is Tommy,but not finally because Nick and Joe have gone grocery shopping" Emily laughs "I like kids" she jokes
"And they're all yours?" My mum asks, a mixture of disbelief and shock in her tone. " Yeah" Emily laughs again, a proud, beaming smile appearing on her lips "well... you look great!" My mum states " I mean I thought I was doing ok after 3, but your like... wow!!" My mum furthers " well, that's what plastic surgery does to you" Tommy jokes. Everything goes silent because no-one knows whether to laugh or not.
"I made dinner!" Emily announces, obviously pretending not to of heard Tommy's remark.
My mind instantly fixates on dinner, the thought of food right now makes me feel sick, I'd eaten 2 whole sharer bags of m&ms on the plane and the thought of me consuming anything else in the next 24 hours makes me feel nauseated, not that I don't want to eat a delicious home cooked meal. I just can't imagine how many calories were in those chocolates and eating more on top of that is just not an option, if I want to fit into the clothes I bought myself.
"But first we'll show you your rooms" Emily says clapping her hands together " tommy you show Jenna her room, Michelle you show Tillie were she'll be staying, max you show Marcus and Lilia and June you come with me to set the table! Oh and Jamie will you please give Joe a call and see when they'll be back??" Emily gulps and everyone gets to work. Tommy leads me up the stairs and down one of many hallways "Jamie said joe had 7 siblings, but if I've counted correctly with what your mum said there are only 5 of you!" I point out before I realise I could have just stumbled into some personal business, I shouldn't have "oh yeah, he does. Nick and Joe have 2 other siblings, my mums first husband has 2 other kids with his current wife. It's complicated, not many people understand our family, then my mum married my dad and had the rest of us, then the son of a bitch left her, I guess he thought 6 kids was too much" tommy explains, the sadness in his voice, so raw and vulnerable. " so this is your room" he opens the door to the left of us, to reveal a big bedroom full of beautiful cream furniture, there's an enormous bed fitted with silk sheets and a flashy mirrored vanity next to it. I drag my suitcase into the middle of the room and fall back onto the bed "Thank you so much" I squeal, I suddenly realise what I'm doing and sit up. I can see my messy hair in the mirror and flatten it out "thank you" I repeat, but in a more normal manner. Tommy gives me an awkward smile before backing out of the room "dinner will probably be ready soon, I'll meet you down there?" He calls and I nod even though I know he can't here me.

Shine a light- BANNERS
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