Welcome to the Family

"You can't hide in my bedroom all day, you know," Matt said, lingering in
the door way. All of the lights were off, and the blinds pulled, and he could just barely make out Danii's silhouette on the bed. "You also can't hide from your sister forever. So, I either want you to get up, right now, and talk to her. Or I'll have her come in here. But if you don't make a decision quick, I'm going to make it for you. Got it?"

Danii squirmed around a little bit, before sitting up. She had been sleeping on and off for the majority of the day, but it was hard to get any real rest when all she could do was replay the scenes of the night prior over and over again in her head. "Send her in here, I guess. I don't really want to get up."

Matt sighed, his heart breaking a little bit. "Alright. I'll go get her. And whether you like it or not, you need to get up soon. Dinner's gunna be ready."

“You made dinner?" she asked, incredulous.

Matt just scoffed and walked out of the room to go get Emily.

About an hour later, Danii and Emily came out of their big brother's room, both of them giggling and shoving each other a little bit. Although that conversation had been a hard one to have, and Emily wasn't exactly pleased with her sister, but hey, she also knew there was no use holding a grudge this time. Especially since her sister was clearly beating the crap out of herself over what happened.

"Mattie," Danii whined, as the girls walked into the kitchen. "Is dinner ready?"

"Yeah," Emily chimed in. "We're hungry."

"Yes, dinner is ready," Matt said with a chuckle. He turned to Brian and Zacky, who were sitting at the table, "Do you two see what I have to go through when you're not around to keep them quiet?"

The guys chuckled, rolling their eyes at Matt. Both of them knew from their own personal experiences that the girls were a lot to handle.

Collectively the five of them decided to eat in the living room, this way they could eat and talk and be merry instead of being miserable and standing all crammed into the kitchen.

"So Matt," Brian said between forkfuls of food. "You seem to be the only single man in the room."

"Yeah," Emily agreed. "Why's that?"

"Probably 'cause the last girl he dated was that hooker. Remember, Emie? He even wrote that song about her when they broke up," Danii giggled.

Matt shot her a dirty look, but the girls just continued.

"I remember that! It was a catchy song, even if he would just mope around the house, wailing it. How did it go?"

"Let me tell ya 'bout a girl I know, that comes alive when you take off her clothes," Matt sang. "There's no tellin' just where she's been; Ask around, but no one seems to know, is how the beginning went."

"Why didn't you ever sing that to us?" Brian asked, laughing. "It's catchy."

" 'Cause it's personal," Matt muttered.

"Aww, Mattie's gone and gotten all sentimental on us," Brian teased from across the room.

Matt scowled, "Knock it off, man. It's not funny."

"It kind of is," Danii giggled. She knew it was safe to poke fun at Matt for the moment, since she seated comfortably in the safety of Zacky's lap, his arms protectively around her waist.

"No, it's not," he replied, his voice almost whiny.

"Yeah, Matt, it really is. Only you would date a prostitute," Emily said, smirking deviously.

"Can we just change the subject?" Matt asked, almost begging.

"What else would we talk about? You seem to be the only interesting thing as of right now," Brian taunted, a playful glint in his eyes. He could remember when he and Matt were in high school and they would just sit around and pick fights with each other. Sort of like right now, except when they were young and stupid, it’d usual start out verbal, get physical, and then end with a round of drinks.

“Let’s play a game!” the twins shouted. They then shared a look and erupted into giggles – the whole unison thing never ceased to amaze them.

Matt, Zacky, and Brian looked back and forth between each other, none of them sure if that was a good idea or not. “What sort of game?” Matt asked, giving his sisters a quizzical look.

Danii shrugged. “I don’t know, I didn’t think that far ahead. Usually games with you people involve booze of some sort. But isn’t the house empty right now?”

Matt gave her a parental glance, but quickly shook it away. “No, it’s not. But it’s only like four in the afternoon and we have all night, so let’s hold off for now. So, what game are we playing?”

“I don’t know, man, but I think you’re getting boring in your old age,” Brian said, snorting. He had known Matt for years and had never once seen him pass up an opportunity to get trashed. Then again, considering the night prior’s events, it made a little sense.

“Shut the fuck up!”

“Enough!” Emily snapped, keeping the guys from bickering again. “We’ll play Confessional.”

“Isn’t that when you talk to the priest and all that jazz?” Zacky asked, speaking up for the first time.

Danii snorted. “No, dear, not at all. Care to explain, Em?” The two of them had been playing this game since they were younger, although the older they got, the more fun it was. Probably because they kept changing the rules, but oh well.

“Confessional is one of those stupid games that’s sorta like Never Have I Ever. Except instead of saying never have I ever, you start off saying something along the lines of Dear God I’m sorry for… But the whole point of the game is to piss off other people in the room,” Emily explained, smirking. Her and her sister got hours of entertainment out of pissing off Matt with this over the years.

“I’ll start,” Matt said, smiling innocently. “Dear God, I’m sorry for the time I slashed Brian’s tires.”

“That was you, you stupid fuck?” Brian asked, completely shocked. Back when it happened, he completely believed Matt’s story that Johnny did it. “What else have you done to me that I don’t know about?”

“Can’t tell ya,” Matt grinned. “It’s not my turn anymore.”

“Fine then, be that way.” Brian stuck his tongue out at Matt, before thinking about what he was going to say for his turn. “Dear God, I’m sorry for the time I broke Matt’s aviators.”

“When did that happen?”

Brian bit his lip. “Uh, like an hour ago… While you were in the kitchen.”

“What the fuck; and you didn’t even tell me?”

“You didn’t tell me you slashed the tires to my car!”

“That was years ago! You broke my sunglasses, like, five minutes ago!”

“It was not five minutes ago! It was like an hour ago!”

“Don’t be a manipulative bastard! You still broke them!”

“You slashed my tires!”

“Enough!” Emily and Danii shouted.

“No wonder you’re single, Mattie. It’s ‘cause you and Brian act like you’re married,” Danii said with a giggle. Emily shot Danii a dirty look, but she didn’t care.

“By the way, Matt,” Emily said, giving him a deviant look. “After tonight, I’m not talking to you for three days ‘cause I’m mad at you now.”

“Now what did I do?”

“It’s your fault that Brian beat up Johnny. And Johnny is my best friend. So, I’m mad at you.”

Matt sighed. “Thanks for lettin’ me know. I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

“Following the theme of the evening, Dear God, I’m sorry for the time I broke Matt’s X-Box.”

“I told you!” Danii shrieked, before Matt even had a chance to say anything. “I told you she did it! But no, you believed her. When I didn’t even know how to work the damned thing!” This feud had been going on and on between the three of them since when they were much younger and still living in New York.

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” he asked, looking at Emily.

“ ‘Cause then you would have beat me up!”

“So you let me beat up your sister?”

“Well, sure. You guys fought all the time anyway.”

“Gee, thanks, Emily,” Danii butt in. “It’s my turn now. Dear God, I’m sorry for the time I forgot to take care of Matt’s bunny, and it died.”

“Why the fuck is everyone picking on me?” Matt asked, pouting. “And I can’t believe you, Danielle. Mom told me it ran away.”
“Get real, Matt. How the fuck could a caged animal run away?” Danii rolled her eyes.

“I don’t know. I can’t believe you killed my rabbit.”

“I didn’t kill it, I just didn’t feed it. There’s a difference.”

“Don’t talk to me, Danielle, you killed my pet,” Matt sneered, turning away from her.

“It’s your turn, Zacky,” Emily said, trying to contain her laughter. She couldn’t believe that Matt had believed the ‘it ran away’ thing either.

Matt made a ‘psht’ noise. “There’s no way he can aim his at me, I haven’t known him long enough.” He had a triumphant grin on his face, glad he was no longer the easy target.

“Actually…” Zacky began, “Dear God, I’m sorry for the time I slept with Danii in Matt’s bed.”

“Now I’m not talking to any of you. You’re all horrible and mean.”

“Even me?” a voice asked, from the direction of the stairs.

“Uncle Jimmy!” the girls shouted, running over to him. “And Johnny too!” they yelled, once they realized Johnny was on the stairs behind him.

“Why did no one tell us there was already a party going on here?” Johnny complained from behind Jimmy.

“It isn’t so much a party as it is a pick on Matt fest,” Danii said, giggling as she grabbed Jimmy’s wrist and pulled him inside.

“Why are we picking on Matt?” Jimmy asked once every one was situated again.

“Cause he dated a hooker and believed that his pet rabbit ran away!” Emily yelled.

“You guys had a pet rabbit?” Johnny asked, looking at Emily.

“When we were like five,” Danii replied.

“Yeah, so I’m not talking to Matt, and Matt’s not talking to Danii, so it’s going to be a very quiet weekend in the Sanders’ household.” Emily explained to the newcomers.

“Why are you not talking to Matt if everyone’s picking on him?” Johnny inquired.

“Cause Brian beat you up and it was all Matt’s fault.”

“Wasn’t that like 5 years ago?” Jimmy snorted.

“Yes, but that doesn’t matter; it’s Matt fault that my best friend got beat up,” Emily pouted, crossing her arms.

“It’s really okay, Em. You can talk to Matt,” Johnny laughed, unable to believe she would actually go as far as to not talk to him.

Emily grinned. “Nah, it’s really okay if I don’t talk to him. Since it’ll really piss him off. He hates when we ignore him and act like he doesn’t exist.”

"Actually, that's when you don't talk to him, Emie. Matt would be thrilled if I stopped talking to him," Danii said, giggling.

"Join the club. You know how happy your big bro would be if-" Jimmy stopped mid-sentence since Matt was death staring him. "Nevermind, Danii. What I meant to say is, we should stop discussing ignoring Matt and talk about more appropriate subjects instead." Jimmy then gave Matt a cheeky grin, winking.

“So,” Zacky said awkwardly, “What’s in the bag?” He asked indicating the bag that was sitting in between Jimmy’s feet.

“Nothing but the best,” Jimmy replied pulling out bottles of Jack Daniels, Grey Goose, and beer. Then, Johnny pulled out a case of wine coolers.

“What, are you going to a party with a bunch of women?” Brian snorted.

“Hey! I like wine coolers!” Emily shouted, coming to the defense of her best friend.

“Yeah, Emily likes wine coolers,” Johnny repeated, sticking his tongue out at Brian.

“Stop arguing and LET THE PARTY BEGIN!” Jimmy shouted, blasting Pantera throughout the stereo speakers.

“Woo!” The twins shouted jumping up to grab their select choices of liquor.

“Only two drinks for you two,” Matt yelled at the girls.

“Yeah, okay,” Danii scoffed, shoving a shot of JD into his hand. “One shot for everyone to start off this night properly. Ready, one, two, three!” She yelled quickly before Matt could protest her downing the shot in one, swift motion.

“I can’t believe I’m drinking with my two baby sisters,” Matt mumbled under his breath.

“Oh, stop cryin’ about it and just have fun,” Danii said with a sarcastic roll of the eyes.

“Yeah, really, Mattie. You knew we’d grow up eventually,” Emily added, grinning at her brother. He just rolled his eyes and walked away from them. It was times like these that he found it best to just ignore them.

About an hour later, you would think that they had been drinking all night. But no, they were just sitting around doing shots, getting as drunk as possible in as little time as possible. They had gone back to playing their game of Confessional, only now things were getting more interesting, since the old saying ‘drunk mouths speak sober thoughts’ definitely held true with this bunch.

“Dear God,” Brian said, grinning as he swirled the contents of his drink around in his cup as he thought. “I’m sorry for the time I stole Danii’s make-up bag.”

“You stole my make-up bag? What the hell, when? Why?” Danii asked, her words slurring together as she giggled. She really had no recollection of this ever having happened.

“I don’t fuckin’ know,” Brian shrugged. He really didn’t remember the details; only that he had really needed it for something.

“The fuck could you have needed it for? Do you even wear make-up?”

“Only on Fridays.”

“Today is Friday, Bri,” Emily pointed out matter-of-factly.

“Well then,” he huffed, not really caring. The point was, he really had no idea why he had needed it.

“Johnny’s turn,” Emily said, quickly redirecting the conversation before it turned into an argument.

Johnny was one of those people who stuck out his tongue when he thought. So, for a few moments, he sat there looking like an idiot with his tongue out of his mouth.

“Dear God,” he finally said. “I’m sorry for the time I kissed Zacky’s girlfriend.”

“When did you kiss my girlfriend?” he asked, confused.

“Right now.” And before anyone could register what was going on, Johnny jumped out of his chair, lunged across the circle, gave Danii a quick kiss on the lips, and then ran for his life. No one knows who was more shocked, Zacky, Danii, or Emily. After Zacky registered what had happened, he quickly jumped out of his chair and chased after Johnny. Everyone still sitting in the circle was almost peeing themselves from laughing so hard. Once Zacky had chased Johnny into the kitchen, Johnny threw himself onto the ground essentially body surfing across the floor. Zacky, being the ungraceful person he was, attempted to do the same, but tripped over a chair in the process and breaking a leg off of it.

“Emie stop him!” Johnny screeched, running full speed at her. Emily giggled and jumped up throwing her arms around him, since they were both so intoxicated the force of Johnny slamming into her caused them both to topple over and land with a resounding thump on the living room floor. Zacky was presently rolling around on the kitchen floor seeming to be in pain, Danii noticed and pulled herself out of her chair and stumbled over to him.

“Come on, Zacky,” Danii laughed, trying to pull Zacky up of the floor, but Zacky had other plans. Danii was holding both of his hands, but as she went to pull him up off the ground, Zacky pulled her down on top of him.

“What’d you do that for?” Danii whined as Zacky rolled them over.

“Giving you kisses,” Zacky mumbled against her cheek, placing soft kisses across her face. Danii was giggling under him, obviously finding something funny in what he was doing.

“Stop having sex on my kitchen floor!” Matt shouted from the other room.

“No,” Danii stated, grabbing Zacky’s face in both her hands, and pulling his face down to place a kiss on his lips, “I had to get the icky Johnny germs off,” she giggled sticking her tongue out to show her disgust.

Zacky nuzzled her cheek with his nose, “I won’t ever let him come near your beautiful face again,” he said placing a kiss on her nose.

“Good,” Danii replied smiling up at him.

“I can hear you! I do not have icky germs!” Johnny shouted at the couple on the kitchen floor, as him and Emily were trying to use each other the stand up off the living room floor.

“Yes you do!”

“No he doesn’t!” Jimmy butted in.

“How the hell would you know?”

Jimmy avoided the gazes of everyone in the room. “Uh… Just kidding… Johnny’s gross.”

For a split second, a look of hurt crossed Johnny’s features, but you never would have known it was there if you weren’t looking for it.

Brian looked at Matt, giving a mock googly-eyed look. “Is it our turn to roll on the floor?”

“I guess so, man. It seems like all the cool kids are doin’ it,” Matt snorted.

“Yeah, I guess. But I mean, is it really worth it?”

“Yes!” Emily hollered from her place on the floor. “Help me up, ya lazy shelp.”

“I am not a lazy shlep!”

“Well, then get off your fucking ass and get me off the floor. It’s what a good boyfriend would do. And beat up Johnny while you’re at it.”

“Okay,” Brian shrugged, getting up off the couch and helping her up. “Are ya sure you want me to beat him up? I mean, you got mad when a found out about it the last time.”

“I’m sure,” Emily grinned, before kissing his cheek. “Go get him, babe.”

Within seconds, Brian and Johnny were brawling it out on the Sanders’ living room floor. There was manly grunting and fists flying as the guys battled it out on the floor. A split second later, Brian had Johnny’s arm bent backwards at an odd angle, and Johnny was squirming around to no avail.

“Tap out, bitch,” Brian demanded, not really caring if he was about to break one of his best friend’s arms.

“Never!” Johnny yelled, still not giving up. He figured if his arm broke now, he’d just drink some more and worry about it in the morning.

“Do it!”

“No!”

“Do it!” Brian demanded again, pulling Johnny’s arm just a little bit further.

It put the icing on the cake, and Johnny used his free arm to to tap out on the floor.

“Fuck yeah!” Brian shrieked, letting go of Johnny’s arm to do a victory dance around the living room.

A second later, Brian had bolted down the stairs and out into the courtyard, screaming, “I am the Punisher and I will conquer!”

“You need to control your boyfriend,” Matt said, scolding his sister.

“He’s your best friend,” she remarked, cocking an eyebrow in defiance.

“You know, you have a point,” Matt said. Then, a wicked smirk crossed his lips. “Ya know, he’s gunna pass out soon. Why don’t we just lock the front door, call it a night, and get him off the grass in the morning?”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

Within the next hour, all seven of them were dead asleep – even Brian, out on the front lawn.