Tea breaks

Background

So, my name is Reese Tea and this is my family. There's my dad, Axel, who's a economist. He seems cold and mean, but he's really caring and sweet. Then there's my papa, Holt, who does runs a radio channel and is a freelance artist. He's really loud and has no filter whatsoever, but he's funny and gives good advice. Next, my big brother, Sean, who's a sophomore. He can be kinda rude and snappy, but he's nice and helps me with my homework when I get stuck. I don't really know if he counts, but my brothers boyfriend, Tate, is a really important part of my family too. He's really smart and he's star runner for the track team, he wants to be an engineer at his brothers business. He's over at my house a lot helping with something; I don't think he likes being at his own house. Finally, my new baby brother, Erik. He screams a lot, probably picking it up from my Papa, and loves attention.
Now, me and my siblings are obviously adopted. My birth parents died when I was a baby and I had no other family members to take care of me. My parents adopted me when I was 2, roughly a year after my parents died. During that time, I was in a foster home with a really nice family who was happy to see me adopted. I still keep in touch with them, every weekend before Christmas we go out to dinner and talk about how our years went. Their names are Mr. Jone Dang and Mrs. Petunia Dang.
Erik's parents gave him up as soon as he was born, being that they had no money to take care of him. The couple didn't like that he was being adopted by two men, but after seeing me and Sean they changed their minds. They don't want to keep in contact and I haven't seen them since we adopted him 5 months ago. It was kinda sad to see that his parents wanted nothing to do with him and made me wonder if my own parents really cared about me. I can't ever ask them, but I guess they did care. Anyways, I think Erik's parents didn't want to get attached to him before giving him away.
Then there's Sean. Sean's parents were really mean to him. He told me that his mother used to hit him for no reason and his father would punish him by burning cigarettes out on his back. They were both alcoholics and really shouldn't have had a child. He told me that once he went almost 3 days without eating because his parents left him before one of his neighbors broke into the house after not seeing anybody leave the house for a while. They found him lying on the floor, passed out and weak, and took him to a hospital. His parents were notified that they were losing custody over him and they couldn't get him back. They apparently tried to take him back, claiming that they loved him and would die without him, even going so far as to try to convince their friends to adopt him. But no one did and he was placed in an orphanage when he was 5 years old. A few months later, my parents adopted him. They said that he was really skittish and quiet the first few months, only ever saying 'yes'. He didn't laugh until almost a year later when my Papa brought him to a zoo and he saw a penguin slip into the water. My Dad's still jealous about not being able to hear his first laugh. Sean says that he doesn't really think about his old family, but I hear him walking around because he can't sleep and when we go swimming I can see the scars on his back.
Now, Sean and Tate have only been dating for about a year. Before that, Sean had a girlfriend who's name I'm not even allowed to say anymore. She was the worst person I've ever met and made Sean miserable. She was demanding and bratty and never trusted my brother, always accusing him of cheating on her. Whenever she walked into my house, my Dad had to leave the room because he couldn't stand her. Apparently, she yelled at him nonstop and wanted him to be obsessed with her, wanting him to worshipping the ground she walked on. That only lasted a few months, but it was enough to mentally damaging my brother. He finally worked up the courage to break up with her after she thought that he was cheating on her with a band teacher. He told her that they were through and that he did have feelings for someone else, the fastest runner on the track team. Me and my Papa heard everything, even the part where she tried to convince him that he was just trying to make her jealous to which he replied, very loudly, that he never loved her.I haven't seen her since that day and a few weeks later he started telling us about his new boyfriend. Ever since then, Seans' smile is brighter and his laughter is ecstatic.
Sometimes people ask me if I have a mother figure in my life and feel sorry that I have to grow up in a household filled with boys, and to that I say no. I don't live in a house will all boys, we have a girl cat! She's a Ragdoll that was a gift from my papa's sister, named Missy. She loves being pet, laying in the sun, and looking over everyone from her cat tower. She loves my Papa and Tate, mostly because they brush her the most. Missy also likes stealing chicken from our plates when we're not looking.
But on a more serious note, it's true I grew up with three male role models but that doesn't mean that no women were in my life. Like I previously mentioned, I have an aunt on my Papa's' side and my Dad's an only child. I have my Aunt Cassie, Aunt Lauryn, Aunt Grace, and Aunt Nichole. None of them are my actual aunts, they're just my parents friends who want us to call them auntie. They teach me about girl stuff and do things with me that I assume a mom would do. They're always there for me and my entire family, whenever we need a woman's help.
Sometimes adults ask me if I like guys or girls and I honestly don't know. I've never dated anyone and I've only liked people based on their hair. My family has made it clear that they don't care as long as my partner cares about me and is loyal. Sean tries to set me up with some of his friends younger siblings, but it never actually happens. My Dad doesn't care if I ever get married or not, but my Papa wants grandchildren. I don't really know what I want, but I want a relationship like my brother and his boyfriend.
My favorite memory of Tate was when he walked into my house one morning, like every other morning, and asked me if Sean was up yet. I told him no but he could wait for him to wake up, and he smiled, stole some cereal, and joined me in watching morning cartoons. I don't think he watched cartoons when he was younger because he always likes to watch them when they're on. The show gave both of us an idea on how to wake Sean up. I grabbed my princess crown and we snook into his room. He was sound asleep as I placed the crown on his head and Tate carefully scooted close enough to plant a big kiss right on his lips, like a prince waking up a princess. He woke up, stretched, and groggily said good morning to both of us. Our mischievous smiles gave away the crown on his head, to which he took it off and called us dorks. I left to put my crown away but when I peeked back into his room they were cuddling on his bed and whispering to each other. I remember that they were holding hands and I knew from that day forward that I wanted a relationship like theirs.
You might be wondering, why don't you want a relationship like your parents have? Well, I'd like their relationship, too. But Sean and Tate have the dream relationship. Papa and Dad don't see each other often because Dad has to go on business trips and Papa's radio show lasts a while; he sometimes doesn't come home until midnight. They text and call each other when they have the time, but they wish they could spend more time in person. Every few months they try to make enough time to go out and have a date night, but they have to reschedule a lot. Dad's more private about his disappointment while I've heard my Papa complaining about it on his radio show multiple times.
When my parents got married, they took my Dad's last name because my Papa's parents weren't happy about him marrying another man. The only person in my Papa's family that still talks to him is my aunt Clare, who shows cats. Papa tells us that he had 5 siblings including himself and they used to be really close. But his entire family was so mad at him for getting engaged to my Dad that they disowned him. My Grandma and Grandpa, my Dads parents, where skeptical until my parents told them that my Papa was disowned from his own family, then they happily accepted him into their family. Every once in a while, Papa will miss his family when it's one of his siblings or parents birthdays but he says that it was worth it all to be with his true love.
So, all in all, I love my family. I heard a lot of people saying that my family isn't 'natural', and I don't know what that means. Kids are adopted everyday, does that mean their family isn't real? It doesn't. Family doesn't have to be related to love each other. Being adopted doesn't make me different from other kids, I have a loving family just like they do. And don't judge a family that you don't even know; my dads love me and so do my brothers and all of my other family members. I don't like people who call my dad's names because they're married and I hope that when I'm older people won't care that I have two dads. That is my family and I don't want them to be made fun of just because they love each other. We're a family, almost everyone has a family and no one should feel bad for that. We love each other, that's what should matter.