As we walked outside the airport we noticed that neither of our families where waiting for us. We shared a look before bringing out our phones and trying to call them. No one from Alex's family answered while my Dad picked up.
"Gabe… what's up?" Dad says a bit groggy as we arrived early in the morning.
"Alex and I just landed. No one is here, did you guys forget about us?" I say with some faked hurt voice at the end.
"OH SHIT!!" Dad says screaming into the phone and I hear my Mom jump awake now.
"What?!" I hear my Mom say in the background.
"Gabe and Alex just landed and we forgot!!" Dad says with my Mom in the background cursing him off and telling him to hurry up.
"I'm on my way!" Dad says before hanging up without waiting for me to respond.
"So, my parents forgot. Did yours too?" I say looking over to Alex who has this very annoyed look on her face and tapping her foot.
"Most definitely, plus no one even answered my calls! Fucking assholes!" Alex says very annoyed at her family once again forgetting about her.
We then wait for about an hour, just trying our best to relax on a bench nearby with our luggage next to us. Then my Dad finally arrives while still wearing his night clothes, meaning just boxers with a robe and slippers. He quickly gets out and walks over hugging me, then turns to Alex and hugs her next.
"Sorry, guys! Totally forgot, was a crazy week. I'll tell you all about it on the way home," Dad says as I put our things in the trunk.
I sit in the passenger seat, with Alex sitting in the back with a still annoyed look on her face. While my Dad proceeded to tell us all about what happened this week, which didn't seem any different than a normal week for our families to me. After a little bit over an hour we finally arrived at Alex's house.
"Dad, I'll stay here for a bit. I'll come back home in a bit, ok," I say and then grab Alex's things from the trunk.
"Ok, sure," Dad says before driving back home.
"So… gonna give your family a hard time?" I ask Alex as we walk to her front door.
"Depends on why they forgot," Alex says with an evil smirk on her face.
"Ok," I say giving her a side look, glad I'm not the one who pissed her off.
Walking inside we see Luke skipping down the stairs smiling like he won the lottery. At the same time we hear Phil and what seems like Andy talking in the kitchen. No one else appears to be awake at this time, then again it is the first weekend of summer vacation so it makes sense.
"Hey Luke, what's got you in a good mood?" I say as he didn't seem to notice us right away even though we opened the front door as he was coming down the steps.
"Oh shit!... Oh hey guys, nothing much… Just got some good sleep is all," Luke says with a caught off-guard look that seems very suspicious but I really don't care.
"Whatever, why the hell did no one come to get us at the airport? I'm pretty sure I texted Mom, Dad, you, and Haley about it. Plus I even marked it on the calendar last time we were here," Alex says to Luke who shrugs indifferently.
"Don't ask me," Luke says walking into the downstairs bathroom, ignoring the fuming Alex.
"Alex–" I start to say but she marches into the kitchen toward the voices of Phil and Andy. With a sigh, I put down the luggage near the stairs before following after them.
"Alex?! Hey! What are you doing at home?" Phil says confused at first seeing Alex and then quickly hugs her.
"Seriously?! School's out! I'm home for the summer!" Alex says very annoyed as Phil looks at her awkwardly.
"You seriously forgot?!" Alex continues as she looks between Phil and Andy who is still here for some reason. They both then look at me as I nod my head in greeting to them.
"Uhm… Must have slipped my mind. I'm so glad you're back though!" Phil says trying to pass off his fuck up.
"Really?! That's it?" Alex says even more annoyed now. But before anyone can say or do anything else, Luck comes strutting into the kitchen with his goofy ass smile still.
"Hey, hey! Oh hey Alex, Gabe! This is a nice surprise," Luke says acting like he didn't just see us or somehow forgot. I just shake my head and roll my eyes at this.
"Was I too subtle with the way I put it on the calendar, or with my text reminders?!" Alex says while gesturing to the kitchen calendar that has a very obvious reminder of which day Alex is coming home.
Luke then begins whistling happily as he starts making himself something to eat. This catches Phil's attention along with Andy's, as they turn away from Alex. Now Alex looks ready to explode.
"Someone woke up in a good mood," Phil says with a very suspicious look on his face and a questioning voice. But quickly plays it off with a forced chuckle.
"And there is only one reason a teenage boy is ever like that," Andy says quietly to Phil, but Alex and I can still hear him too.
"Yep, because it's Family Camp training day!" Phil says in denial about Luke possibly having had sex last night.
"Oh, I was gonna say, 'The Harlem Globetrotters must be in town'," Andy says with a suggestive voice, as we all look at him very confused.
"Luke and I are training for the big… Famcathlon. You're, uh, carb-loading. Good idea, buddy! Hungry dude! Hungry for Family Camp!" Phil says still in complete denial, then walks back upstairs.
"Fuck all of you," Alex says stomping up to her room.
Andy, Luke, and I all just stare at one another for a second awkwardly before we each walk our separate ways. I walk into Alex's room as she appears to be grabbing some things.
"Hey… so what are you doing?" I say to Alex as she looks like she is ready to burn the house down.
"My family is the same as always! Forgetting about me! 'Oh, it's just Alex. She can handle herself'," Alex says while mimicking some things her family says.
"I thought that being gone for a long while would make them at least miss me! Maybe throw me a welcome back home party! But nooo! Fuck me I guess!" Alex says before throwing what she grabbed onto her bed.
"So what are you doing?" I ask her seeing her acting very angry.
"I… I don't know… I just wish they'd show me some appreciation once in a while," Alex says with a defeated sigh and sitting on her bed.
"Want to stay with me for a bit?" I ask her and she nods her head sadly.
"Come on," I say grabbing her in a princess carry as she puts her face into my shoulder.
"Alex?! Oh my God! I forgot! I'm so sorry!" we hear Claire say as we walk out of Alex's room. Claire runs over and hugs Alex while I'm still holding her.
"I even set a reminder on my phone! But last night your Dad woke me up in the middle of the night. He must have used my phone for the light and messed up the reminder of something," Claire says trying to justify herself. Alex nods her head accepting the apology and hugs her Mom again after I put her down.
"Tell me everything that you've been up to at school!" Claire says and the two begin talking.
I take that as my leave, so I grab the rest of Alex's things putting them in her room, before leaving Dunphy's house. Walking home, I arrived to see my sister and Rome running over to me after I entered the house. I hug Olivia and pat Rome's head, then my Mom pokes her head out from the kitchen, while my Dad comes downstairs.
"Gabe!" Mom says running over and hugging me too, which I return. Dad just smiles at the reunion since he already welcomed me back.
"I put your things in your room," Dad says to me and I nod my head in thanks to him.
"Come, eat! There is a lot of breakfast I'm making!" Mom says having started after hearing I returned.
We all then catch up while eating breakfast together. I even tell them the awkward things that just happened at the Dunphy's house. They give me an awkward look too hearing what Alex just went through. Later Alex texts me she is going to hang out with her Mom and sister today. So I relax at home, with my extended family coming over later to welcome me back home.
Like that, the first few weeks went by of summer with nothing interesting happening. However, I learned that Andy would no longer be going to Ohio and instead be staying here working alongside Phil. It seems Andy is placing his relationship with Haley before anything else.
None of our families had anything planned for this summer, except for Jay, Gloria, Manny, and Joe would be going to Columbia to visit Gloria's family. Though no one else would be doing anything of importance.
Alex decided to spend her days with Claire who was now running the family business. During the times Alex wasn't around, I decided to go to the hospital as a volunteer again. Plus it let me pass the time and see the work my Dad does.
"So, want to watch the surgery I'm gonna be doing today? You can observe it along with some other med students. I think you should since you will be doing it one day anyway," Dad says to me as we drive to the hospital in the morning for his shift.
"Sure," I say with a shrug since I only volunteer for four hours and then just hang out with the staff there who have gotten to know me.
After helping out with my duties as a volunteer, one of the nurses told me Dad was doing his surgery soon. So I walked to the observation room, and I saw a handful of med students waiting for it to begin too. Then as we were waiting someone I never expected walked into the room.
A man in his late forties, or early fifties with short, curly brown, greying hair. Came walking in with a limp leg and cane, and then he popped out some pills before downing them. He looked around the room to the students, the teacher with them, and then me. He gave me a confused look before ignoring me and looking down at the surgery which was about to begin.
"Doctor House, what are you doing here? Not going to bother my students again?" the teacher says as House just rolls his eyes.
"Nope, not unless they bother me. I'm here for the show, same as everyone else. Including this random kid," House says while pointing to me with his cane, I just raise my eyebrow while ignoring his goading.
'Holy shit! No way, House is real and here of all places…' I think to myself trying not to freak out at his sudden appearance.
"Now could you all please pay attention to the surgery, as Doctor House should be ignored," the teacher says making House grunt at hearing that but focusing back on the surgery instead of commenting or snarking back to her.
"Can anyone tell me what they believe is wrong with the patient and why they are getting this surgery?" the teacher asks since they only know what type of surgery it is, not why it is being performed.