Who Is Lucas Ryker O'Riley?

22. BOTH WAYS

It was now about mid-morning. I was walking out of the bathroom, when, just as we expected, the doorbell rang.

I took a deep breath, let it out, and entered the living room just as dad was opening the door. Mom and dad stepped forward through the open doorway and onto the porch. I cautiously hung back, behind Dave.

My heart pounded like nothing I had ever felt before.

Our first visitors were our neighbors to our right, and the ones directly across the street. They came together.

You could tell these neighbors were good friends with each other. When they began to talk, the wives were almost finishing each other's sentences.

My parents went first with the introductions; actually, Dad did the honors while mom received a warm apple pie and a bucket of ice cream from the other two wives.

"Thank you for the warm welcome to the neighborhood, let me introduce you all to my beautiful better half of nineteen years, Amelia. I'm, Lars. This here is our son, David. And this is our youngest, our other sssso-" Dad, looking back at me as he motioned with his hand, caught a glimpse of my teal painted toenails for the first time and realized he had been about to introduce me as good son.

He quickly corrected himself, "err our um, well that's our daughter, Carla."

Dad glanced at mom and the look he gave her was not an uncomfortable expression. It looked to be a mix of unease and embarrassment.

They all began shaking hands as the neighbors from across the street introduced themselves. There was Mr. and Mrs. Robert and Nancy Miller, their 15 year old son Jeremy, and their nearly 13 year old daughter, Lisa.

The other neighbor family then introduced themselves as Mr. and Mrs. Anthony and Marcia Harper. They had two adult children, one was away at college and the other married and expecting their first child.

"Jeremy's going to be a sophomore this coming school year. David, you look like you might play some ball. Do you have plans to try out for the team?" queried Mr. Miller, attempting to break the ice with us kids.

"Yes sir. Actually, my brr-uh-sister and I, we've played organized tackle football for three years now. We even made it to the league championship game two out of those three years," Dave proudly answered.

"Very nice. Now you say that your sister played ball with you on the same team?"

"Yes sir, absolutely."

"You don't say. I've heard of a few girls playing ball every now and then, in the news, but I've never actually seen any play around here. That sounds pretty impressive. Your sister and your parents must be very courageous. What positions did you two play?" Mr. Miller inquired with piqued curiosity.

"I started at nose tackle and tight end. Carla goes both ways, wide receiver and free safety."

Dave grinned, proud of himself for the subtle innuendo, while I put on a smile and nodded.

"Carla and I are going to sign up and try out for the freshman team this summer." He added.

"Yeah, I'm really looking forward to playing high school football." I enthusiastically chimed in.

"With three years starting experience and your size, Dave, you should probably skip the freshman team and try out for JV. I bet they'd be happy to have a guy with your size and experience." opined Mr. Miller.

"Yeah, last year two freshmen tried out and made the JV team, but I played on the freshman team last year," added Jeremy, eager to join the football conversation. "If I'd have tried out for the JV team, I'm pretty sure I'd have made it, though I probably wouldn't have played as much and I wouldn't have started. I'll be on the JV team this year, though."

Jeremy then turned towards me, and discretely eyed me up and down. "A chick that plays football, and on a team with boys at that. In-te-res-ting."

Soon the conversations broke down into separate groups, the dads began their own conversation, and mom led the other ladies into the kitchen when they began preparing bowls of ice cream and pie.

Dave paired off with Jeremy and they headed off to the family room to play a round of our football video game. I wanted to play too, that was my favorite game and I really was better at it than Dave, but it's only a two player game and I was left awkwardly standing with Lisa.

After a moment of silence, Lisa spoke, while looking around.

"I've never been inside this house before. It's beautiful in here. Let's go see your room."

No, we can't do that, I told myself in a panic. She'll see nothing but boy stuff and no girl's clothes.

"Um, it's a, it's an embarrassing mess. I've unpacked most of my boxes, but I haven't put anything away yet. I'll let you see it once I'm settled in."

Oh boy, this wasn't going to be easy. I knew I had to suggest something or else we'd be right back to awkward silence. I thought for a moment and the best I could come up with was suggesting to Lisa, "Let's go hang out in the family room with the boys, we can watch them play their video game."