Crown-less Kings

I wish I was the turkey in this situation

Nearly two agonizing months have passed since my incredibly embarrassing club night. I can happily say that Rey and I's relationship has moved on to eye contact in the hallway and the occasional text. I nearly faint every time I see his name on my phone. Reagan and Riley don't know what happened and haven't got a clue how their brother is actually nice to me.

When I had gotten home I called Braden right away. I need the tea, and he was happy to supply. He didn't lose his virginity that night but did get cozy with that Freddie boy. They've slowly entered an adorable relationship that I and the girls like to coo over. It's cute watching him blush when we talk about his boyfriend.

Halloween went by with a boring party I opted out of. But, we did do the haunted house the school put on. I don't know why I agreed, I'm probably the jumpiest person. The haunted house only gave the Dyke twins ammo to laugh at me for. I made them watch The Nightmare Before Christmas because it was the least scary scary movie I could think of.

The 'bullies' have stepped up their game to nasty things written in chalk on my locker. Honestly, it kind of made me laugh. Chalk, as if they're little school boys or something. But Braden took it a little more to heart. I've spent all of November plotting how to get them back, but I haven't found the thing yet. It has to be something that will make them leave us -primarily Braden- alone.

"I hope they aren't like, creepy at home. You know those people that seem normal on the outside then have like 500 cats?" Sheppard whispers, his face lightly tainted in horror, "What if it smells like cat pee everywhere? I don't know how long I can stand that!" 

I roll my eyes at my brothers over imaginative mind. But I will admit, he has a good point being worried. None of us but Dad -respectively- have met Dad's boss and his family. Sheppard and I definitely shared a concerned look when he announced we'd be having Thanksgiving linner (he called it dinner, but we eat at two which is more lunch so I call it linner) with his boss's family.

I guess Dad's nervous. Probably more nervous we'll embarrass him in front of his boss, but I'm more worried it'll be the other way around. Mom tried to gently tell me not to wear makeup because 'your dad is nervous and he'd like to be as presentable as possible'. If I wanted to be presentable, I'll wear a whole Ulta on my face. 

"Brother, chill. If it smells like cat pee, just chop off your finger and then we'd have to leave," I give Sheppard a hopeful smile as we pull in front of a house but he scowls.

The house is big, which makes me nervous that this dude has like a billion kids. Ew, I'd rather not deal with all that. We climb the driveway and Dad rings the doorbell.

The man who answers is tall, bald on the top and sporting a mustache that makes me glance at Sheppard. We make eye contact and cringe at what we may be walking into.

"Welcome! Come on in!" The man ushers us in, and makes a girl a few years younger than Sheppard take our coats, "What a nice family you have, Doug."

Dad pulls out an Oscar-worthy smile, and glances at us, "Thank you. This is my wife, Erin, my oldest Barkley, and my youngest, Sheppard."

I give a small smile and I see Sheppard pull at his knuckles behind his back. Sheppard's always been shyer of the two of us. I'd always speak for him when we were kids because he'd hide behind someone. I guess meeting new people still scares him slightly.

"Well, come on in. I'll introduce you to everyone not in the kitchen," We smile along with his laugh and shuffle behind him. 

In a living room with a massive T.V. are three kids. A little boy, three or four, watching cartoons. We're told his name is Terrance. The girl who took our coats earlier plays on her phone, Lindsey. And a boy that look Sheppard's age texts on his phone, Jaxson.