"Where are you going?" she asked, her tone snippy.
I stopped tying my shoe as I looked up at her. "A friend's house."
"No, no you are not."
I internally sighed. Why did she have to choose today out of all days to be on my case? She had been doing a decent job at letting me do my own thing lately, there was no need to ruin it now.
"You and the others will be here tonight so that we can all have a nice family dinner." Her tone was oddly chirpy as shespoke. "We are having a special guest, and we need to look like one big happy family.”
Oh, a special guest. Aunt Macy did this at least once a year. She would find a man and put him under a spell to make him like her, and then she'd introduce us to him when she felt their relationship was getting serious. She wanted him to think that we were a perfect, happy family.
These relationships of hers would never last. She was a bitter person and all the men she dated would eventually realize it. The crazy side of her eventually came out.
"I think Easton has work today," I mentioned. Easton normally had work on Sundays.
"Oh well." Macy shrugged carelessly. "He'll call in sick. Call your siblings and tell them to be home before five. Go take a shower and make yourself look decent for once in your life."
Life had been going decently for me, and I was two steps from being on my way to see Javier—someone that made me feel that they genuinely wanted to be around me—and Macy had to ruin it. Well, making me feel like shit was her specialty.
I shrugged my bag off my shoulders and it dropped on the floor. I kicked my shoes off and left them on the floor as I stormed off, too pissed off to keep a calm attitude.
"And you're grounded for your bad attitude!" My aunt shouted as I shut the door. I had barely kept myself from slamming it.
I took a couple of deep breaths before taking a sip of whatever I had left in a cup on my nightstand. I didn’t even know exactly what it was, but I didn’t care. I needed something to take the edge off.
I couldn’t wait until college so that I could be as far away from Macy’s house as possible.
I told Javi that a family thing had come up, so I wasn’t going to be able to make it. He said it was fine, but I was afraid hewould think I was lying and ditching him for no reason. That he would think this was just a way to be a dick to him because of our rivalry.
It wasn’t that at all.
If the dinner went perfectly, then Aunt Macy would be occupied for a while and leave me alone. If the dinner went terribly, she’d take it all out on us. I didn't have much hope for it going smoothly because we had a horrendous track record.
I called Easton’s phone twice and he did not pick up. It wasn’t until I blew up Emerson’s phone that I got a response from my siblings. They were not thrilled about having to sit through another tortuous dinner with the next man on Macy’s list, but they knew there was no way around it.
It didn’t take them long to get home. Where had they been all of this time? I didn’t know. They spent most of their time together and I learned a long time ago that I was never going to be part of their sibling adventures. Their bond was tight, unbreakable, the two couldn’t live without each other. They did not share that same feeling about me.
The three of us were sitting on the couch beside each other and giving our undivided attention to Macy. She insisted that we sit quietly and listen to her lecture, the same one she regurgitated to us every year.
"I have been going out with Daniel for three months and it's been going really well," my aunt paced before us as she spoke. "You three will not mess it up."
"You are going to keep that mouth of yours shut at all times." She pointed an accusatory finger in Easton's face. "I don't want to hear you utter not one word unless you are spoken to, understand?"
Easton tended to ramble to our yearly guests. I believed it was his way of dealing with not wanting to be there in the first place. He would often take up the entire conversation, noteven leaving my aunt enough time to speak herself. It was quite funny, actually. He spoke high nonsense, and it made the dinner a little more enjoyable.
"Aye aye captain," Easton mimicked a pirate's voice, saluted, and then laughed at himself afterward.
My aunt took a deep breath and ignored his antics. She then shot a glare at Emerson. "You are going to lose the attitude that I can already see brewing. I can't have him thinking I raised a brat."
"But you didn't raise me," Emerson sassed with the same attitude that Macy had just mentioned.
"See? That's what I'm talking about," Macy spat. "If any of your bitchiness comes out tonight you will regret it. Understand?"
Emerson shrugged carelessly, her eyes dull and bored. My sister was known for having an attitude throughout the entire dinner. She hated being forced to pretend like we were a happy family that ate dinner at the table every night. I also believed she upped her attitude because she wanted to run away our aunt's new boyfriends.
"And you." Her eyes were dark as they glared at me. "Quit looking like your dog just got run over. The sulking is annoying, and it will give Dan the wrong impression. He'll think I abuse you or something, that's how damn miserable you always look."
Being in the house in general made me feel miserable, but having to act like a happy family made it even worse.
