String of Fate

Chapter Sixteen

I had always known that my family was a little different than the others. I didn't know anyone else that had two mums and two dads. It didn't bother me. It never had. All that had happened was that my dad's had fallen in love with each other and so had my mum's. When they had wanted children, they had spoken about it and planned it. I was the son of Janet and Robert but I had a little sister who was the daughter of Rachel and Oscar. Together, the six of us lived above a pub that my parents owned together and ran as one big family.

"Ben, can you come and help out, please?!" Janet called up the stairs to where I was in the living room. I wasn't very social but she had been calling for my help when they were busy because Sarah was less social. She was very shy, even around the local guys in the bar.

"Do you want me to go?" Sarah asked from the chair as I shut my laptop. She was doing her homework while watching a movie on her laptop with one headphone in. I set my laptop on the table.

"No. It's fine. You need to prepare for your GCSE's. Since you're so smart, our parents are expecting you to get better grades than me." I answered, ruffling her hair as I walked past. Had her hair always been that soft?

"Well, three can't be hard to beat." She commented.

"Six!" I yelled as I headed down the stairs. I checked my left hand just in case a string had appeared since the last time I had checked it. Still nothing yet. I headed into the bar, seeing both of my mum's serving the people at the bar. My dad's had gone out of town for the weekend to have some family time. They alternated every month. I stood in between the two of them, who were both shorter than me. "What can I help you with?"

"Can you go and change the Foster's?" Rachel asked. She was now pouring a Carling's for someone. I squeezed past her and headed down to the cellar. I changed the barrel and mum called down as I just finished. "We need Carling's too!"

"On it!" I yelled up. We really should work out a system to save on yelling. I changed that barrel, too, and headed back up to the bar. I put the dishwasher on and then went around the room to collect empty glasses. I hated how busy it got on Friday and Saturday's. Our only other busy night we had was the Tuesday when we had our darts team in. I stood next to Rachel as I put the pint glasses on the shelf. "Are we doing something on Friday for Sarah's sixteenth?"

"Yes. We've invited her friends over and we're having her favourite band in. It's not going to be a private party but we are decorating the place." Rachel explained. She handed the girl her glass of wine and looked at me. "Are you going to be working the weekend at the restaurant?"

"No. I quit that job since it started getting really busy her on the weekend. I thought you guys might need my help here more. Besides, I like working days in the shop more than the weekends in the restaurant." I responded. It was true. Working in the restaurant had been bugging me since it had been full of snobs. I preferred the nine until six Monday to Friday. I could interact with nicer people, anyway.

"Just don't overwork yourself." Janet said from my other side. I nodded and the three of us went back to work.

My dad's came back in the early afternoon. They'd timed it perfectly as the Sunday dinner was being dished up. Luckily, mum had cooked for them but she had been expecting them to have it for tea, or even dinner the next day. Janet looked over to them as they came in. "Good timing, boys. I'm just dishing up."

"Oh, great timing. I love your cooking. I can smell that Sunday dinner. I knew it was a good idea to come home in time for it." Oscar said, walking over to Janet. They had been best friends since they were younger and had planned this family. "Remember when you cooked that lasagne in school?"

"And you came over to make me cook one every Sunday?" My mum finished. "Yes. I remember. Now, take the food over for the kids and go and sit down before it gets cold. I'll fetch yours over for you."