I hadn't known it but I needed that too. I wanted to be more than the friend parents loved to have around, the tag-along kid they didn't mind setting an extra place for at the table. I wanted to belong somewhere and to someone, and it had to be more than temporary.
After the final toasts were made and most of the guests were on their way back to the hotel, Ash looped his arm over the back of my chair and leaned in close, his lips almost on my ear. "We stayed for the entire event and now I'd really like to get you alone."
The words were no sooner spoken than Ash's father Carlo cleared his throat behind us. "Your sister is looking for you out front."
"This ought to be good," he grumbled, his arm shifting to my waist as we stood.
We followed Carlo outside and found Magnolia barefoot on the sidewalk, Rob and Diana flanking her. The street was still wet from the storm and now a warm mist moved in lazy swirls through the quaint downtown. It walked the line between spooky and dreamy which made it my favorite thing ever.
"My presence was requested," Ash said by way of greeting as he checked his watch.
"We need to have a sleepover," Magnolia cried, shooting her arms in the air and wiggling her fingers at the stars. "Just like we did when we were little. Oh my god, do you remember when we were small? Like, tiny humans." She cupped her hands in front of her. "Our feet were this big."
"What is happening to you right now?" he asked.
"We'll go back to the house we rented for the weekend," she continued at a volume that far outstripped the needs of this conversation. "The one Rob wanted so no one would hear me being slutty on my wedding night."
Rob ran a hand up the back of his head. "That…is not what I said."
"Just think, we can hang out together, just the three of us, the way it used to be," Magnolia said. "We can watch a movie and eat the kind of candy Mom never lets us have. Come on, please? Please, please, please."
Ash shifted to face Diana. "On a scale of one to Woodstock, how high is she right now?"
Diana offered a non-committal shrug. "She needed to calm down so I gave her a gummy."
"Two," Rob added. "This is what you get from two gummies."
"And how many have you had?" Ash asked Diana.
She smiled. "No more than usual."
Magnolia shrieked when Linden joined the group, throwing her arms around his neck. "Lin, we're having a sleepover. Isn't that great?"
"Oh my god." Ash rocked back on his heels. "Rob, you need to get this under control."
He shook his head. "I've been banished for the night. It's the one tradition she's holding on to and she's doing it with fists of fury."
Ash turned to his mother while Magnolia rambled off popular teen movies from twenty years ago. "Mom. Deal with this."
Diana held up her hands, saying, "She wants some time with her brothers. What would you like me to do about that?"
I patted Ash's chest. "You should do this. I'll find my way back."
"Zelda," he started, a warning in his tone, but Carlo was quick to jump in.
"I'll walk you there myself," Carlo said, offering his arm. "I'll look like a real cock of the walk with a fine pair of ladies with me."
"Oh my god," Ash muttered again.
"Did my father just say cock?" Magnolia yelped. She clung to Linden's arm as a fit of giggles vibrated through her. "Cock. He said cock."
Linden nudged Ash's elbow, saying, "She's gonna crash in an hour or two. We'll watch something from Sarah Michelle Gellar's catalog while Maggie laughs herself to sleep." He tipped his head toward me. "We'll be back where we belong soon enough. Then you can have all the soulful eye-gazing missionary sex you want."
Ash stared at his brother. "How many gummies did you have?"
"What?" Linden asked. "Why?"
Ash shook his head. "Never mind. Isn't this what bridesmaids are for? Like, by definition?"
