Three days before Christmas day and mom wanted to have a family dinner before we were off on our way to spend our own Christmas. This also meant Dean could present and show off his new 'wife' to our parents. I'm expecting some horrid reactions, but my parents were known for surprising us.
It was exactly 7 pm and I had just arrived in my long black coat that Riley had bought,I never leave the house without it. Most of my brothers were here except Dean and Eli. I understand why Dean's gone, he's probably checking out his appearance. Eli on the other hand is always early to family dinners, he's early to anything that gives out free food.
Since he came to my house that day, I've been a lot more worried about him than I usually do, and normally I don't seem to care that often, it doesn't sound as bad as you think. I made myself comfortable in my seat where Jay sat. Dad was sitting at the end of the table reading a book. He didn't have his usual angry face and he actually look more calm.
Should I be worried?
A few minutes had gone by and I was now listening to Mom and Jay talk about issues in the world I wasn't even aware of. Suddenly a tall figure waltzed into the room and all the attention was on him. Eli had walked into the room with his read hair pushed back, and dressed nicely in a long coat and a turtle neck. Everyone's faces looked visibly shocked, and so did mine.
It was like a whole different person.
My mom had a proud look on her face while my dad didn't even bother to take a glance at him."So I'm guessing something good happened right?" Sean said as he picked up his wine glass that was half empty.
"More or less." Eli said as he sat himself down right next to mom. He didn't spare not one glance, I'm guessing he wants to forget that he poured his heart out to me. Soon Dean waltzed into the room with a blonde woman clinging to his arm. She wore an all dark blue coat and matching turtle neck dress. I watched as my moms face lit up as she got up from the table to greet them.
"What a lovely surprise! Come sit," She says as she leads Deans 'wife' to sit next to her leaving Dean to sit on the other side of me. I am feeling extremely uncomfortable right now."I told you she was pretty." He said proudly and grabbed the wine glass in front of him. I watched as my mom talked loudly to the woman. Then she turned her head towards everyone and smiled,"My names Julia nice to meet you all." She said and Eli clapped dramatically.
"You should run while you can." Jay said as he crossed his arm."I advise you to brace yourself." Sean said as he sipped his wine again. He acts like he has everything under control."Well, welcome to the family Julia, it's lovely to have you, I'm sure my son can be a pain." She said and smiled at the blonde haired woman. Julia smiled at her warmly and all Dean did was admire her from across the table.
"This is my youngest son Liam, this is his older brother Jay, and his older brother Eli, and his older brother Sean, and of course there's Dean." She said as she pointed at each of us. Julia smiled brightly at each of us, she seemed nice so far. The dinner went by quickly and it wasn't unexpectedly 'ruined' as my mom liked to call it. We were all standing by the door with mom to see Dean and Julia off. "I told you guys she was pretty, she's wonderful." Dean said and Jay scoffed,"What if she only wants you for your money? I mean look at our house, look at your car."
Jay said as he waved his arms in the air," Your just exaggerating, she seems way too nice to do something like that." Sean said as held his arms in the air."Yeah, but that could also be the case." Dean immediately glared at me."Well what about you and that girl your seeing, doesn't she also want you for the money?" He asked and I sighed happily.
"Not at all, she didn't even know who I was at first." I said and they all gasped loudly. "She didn't confess to you first?" Jay asked with wide eyes." Don't they always recognize our last names?" Eli asked as he stared at the dimming sky."How lucky of you, are there more of her out there?" Sean asked he leaned close to me.
"Nope, because she's one of a kind." I said and Eli rolled his eyes."Oh please, we all know you guys won't last, no matter what kind of dramatic love story you went through." I laughed and Sean punched in the arm. It didn't look like he did it on accident either.
"Dean let's go!" We all looked up to see Julia waving at Dean who happily went towards her. Mom waved goodbye to her and Dean before walking back towards the large steps of the house."I'm so excited, I should've pressured you all in getting married, maybe then I'd have grand kids." She said and Sean scrunched his nose."I absolutely despise children."
"They can be cute...sometimes." Eli said and mom rolled her eyes."Alright whatever you boys say, now go enjoy the holiday, don't come back until January." She said before walking into the house and closing the door, but before she could even lock it Eli opened the door swiftly again."Can you ask dad to unfreeze my card?" He smiled innocently and mom sighed and rubbed her temples,"Fine, but only until you can get back on your feet." She said and finally closed the door.
Eli skipped happily down the stairs and into his rental car. "I don't expect any calls from any of you until January, goodbye." Sean said as he climbed into his expensive all black BMW. "I can't promise anything!" Eli yelled out of his car window and laughed loudly so that all of us could hear. I felt a hand being placed firmly on my shoulder, I looked to the left of me to see that Jay was standing next to me with a blank face.
"Look at you, all grown up." He said and I laughed,"I'm 24 now so you should've gotten used to it by now." He scoffed and ran his hand through his hair,"Yeah, but you were 16 years old yesterday, bringing home girls, finding you stranded on the side walk, and even coming home with bruises on your face." I shook my head as he recalled his 'memories' of me.
"You've changed a lot." I looked at the stars that started to appear in the sky." I guess so, but you've changed the most, you used to shorter than everyone, now you're shorter than everyone but me. You should be proud." I said and he slapped my arm."Watch yourself, I'm still older than you."
"You say that, but your sleeping around with women."
"I'm a grown man, I know what I'm doing, now stay outta my business. Also make sure to tell Eli to stop showing up at my house drunk." He said before walking off to his vintage car from the 70's. When the driveway was finally cleared of my brother's cars, I looked up at the sky again.
I picked up my phone when it rang and smiled when I heard Riley's voice."You're not standing out in the cold right now are you?" Her voice sounded worried and agitated."Ms. Glenn were you worried about me?" I asked and I heard her scoff through the phone."Yes Mr. Henry, I was so worried that I even drank hot chocolate and watched old Christmas movies on your couch." She said her usual sweet tone.
"I'll be back in ten minutes."