Love Will Never Tear Us Apart, but Life Might

As it turns out, the baby is just fine and 100% healthy, even after the fall. It’s so different now that everyone knows that I’m pregnant. Like, Janet keeps showing me all these baby catalogs she suddenly got and asks me which colors are the cutest, and stuff like that.

“Janet,” I sighed, “we don’t even know if it’s a boy or a girl. How can we talk about colors and stuff?”

She rolled her eyes, “Please, Sammie, in that case just go with the neutral colors!”

“Neutral colors?” I asked, confused.

“Yeah, you know like yellow…and yellow!”

“Oh hell no,” Zacky said interrupting. “Yellow is a pansy color. If it’s a boy, that won’t work out.”

“Yellow is not pansy, Zacky! It’s neutral.”

“Did someone just say that yellow was pansy?” Johnny asked, sounding concerned and sticking his head in the room. Oh yeah, I forgot that Johnny’s favorite color was yellow…

“Oh my God, that’s your favorite color, isn’t it? Haha that fits you perfectly Johnny!” Zacky laughed, falling off of my bed.

Johnny said quickly, “Um, excuse you but yellow is the best color ever.” And then he ran down the hall to his room. We all laughed at that, but I was just happy that Johnny was able to change the subject – baby planning is driving me slightly crazy.

Luckily, Zacky and Janet started up some movie on the TV in me and Brian’s room, and I was just on my laptop, browsing the online Hot Topic store. So, it was pretty quiet upstairs.

All of the sudden, it sounded like a stampede was coming up the stairs, and since I wasn’t totally engrossed in the movie, I think I was the only one who heard it. “What the hell is going on out there?” I wondered out loud.

I sat up on my bed a little, and Brian burst in through the door looking around the room, frantically. Apparently, he didn’t see me on the bed…well, I guess that could be because the lights were off. “Where’s Sammie…and why are you guys in here?!” he asked, sounding out of breath.

Zacky paused the movie and said, “We’re in here watching a movie, clearly. And dude, maybe you should lay off the smokes, you sound out of breath.”

“And I’m right here, Brian,” I said standing up and turning a lamp on.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ok, well my dad just called and said that he wants us to spend the weekend at his house, so the rest of the family can get to know you or something like that.”

“So, what’s the problem, then?” I asked, confused as to why he would be freaking out about that when it sounds so fun.

“Well, they’re expecting us to be there in less than an hour,” he said, “and they live about 25 minutes away.”

I shrugged, “Alright, so we’ll just pack a few quick things and hit the road. I don’t know why you’re freaking out so much.”

He took a deep breath and said, “Well to be honest, I thought you might be freaking out because of the short notice and everything, but I’m so glad to see that this is gonna work out.”

I nodded and went to go kick out Janet and Zacky. “I’m sorry, but the movie has been canceled. Please come back at a later time,” I said, sounding like someone who worked at a movie theatre or something. They complained the whole way to the door.

In a record ten minutes, Brian and I had all our stuff thrown into a black duffle bag and we were out the door in his convertible Mustang, my favorite car. Since there was absolutely nothing good on the radio, I popped in Bullet for My Valentine’s latest CD and turned the volume up to the max. Brian and I definitely knew all the words to the entire CD, so we sung along to every song.

Well, that is, until we pulled up to this private driveway, which led to a stunning two-story, sprawling house…complete with a pool, a field and stable for a couple of horses, and a small stage in the backyard. “This house is amazing!” I said excitedly to Brian as we walked up the cobblestone path leading to the veranda-style porch.

“I know, it is pretty sweet,” he said in agreement as he rung the doorbell.

“Now, I have to warn you…my family can be a little crazy sometimes, so just be aware of that and I’m sorry if they freak you out.”

I laughed, “They can’t be that crazy.”

The door slowly opened in front of us, and normally when that happens you would expect someone to be standing there…well no one was there. “Does your door always do that?” I asked, laughing a little.

“Probably not,” he said holding my hand as he slowly walked inside. “Dad? Suzy? We’re here.”

We walked through the foyer, and it really looked like no one was home. All the sudden, someone jumped out of the coat closet shouting, “BOO!” He kept trying to make scary faces, but that only made me laugh harder…Brian, on the other hand, was a little startled.

“Brent! What the hell man?” Brian asked, trying to sound mad to cover the fact that his brother scared him.

“Dude, I didn’t think that I’d end up scaring you! I was aiming for your girlfriend,” Brent laughed, extending a hand to me. “Hey, I’m Brent, Brian’s brother.”

I smiled, “Nice to meet you, I’m Sammie.”

“AHHH! BRIAN IS THAT YOU?!” a girl shouted as she ran down the stairs. She looked like she was about 16.

As soon as she had about 5 stairs to go, she decided to just jump, landing perfectly on her feet. Then, she proceeded to jump, yes jump, on top of Brian, who easily caught her in his arms. “Haha, hey McKenna, miss me much?” Brian laughed.

“Um, yeah! I mean, you always leave me alone with that guy,” she said pointing over to Brent, “so how could I not miss you?”

“I am so offended right now, words cannot describe it,” Brent said, looking sincerely shocked.

McKenna just stuck her tongue out at him, and then noticed that I was there. “Oh my God, are you Brian’s girlfriend?! You’re so pretty,” she said.

I laughed, “Oh, thanks. And yes, I’m Brian’s girlfriend, Sammie.”

“Wow, I’m so glad I finally get to meet you!”

“Hmm, you wanna know what else is gonna be exciting?” Brian asked.

“What?” she asked, with her eyes wide open.

“You’re going to be the flower girl at our wedding!”

She screamed, “Shut up! No way…oh my God, I have to go call all my friends and tell them! Ahhh!”

She ran back up the stairs and slammed her door shut, already yelling on the phone. “Yeah, so I’ll go tell Dad and Suzy that you’re here,” Brent said running toward the kitchen.

A couple of minutes later, Brian’s parents came walking inside and to the living room, where me and Brian were chilling on the couch. “Aw, you must be Sammie! Brian’s said so much about you,” his step-mom, Suzy, said as soon as she saw me. I nodded and smiled. His family seems so nice.

“I’m Suzy and this is my husband Brian,” she said introducing herself and Brian’s dad.

“Nice to meet you. Wow, Mr. Haner, you really look like my old neighbor, Steve. Seriously, you guys almost look like twins,” I smiled, shaking their hands.

“Really? Wow, I don’t get that too often,” he laughed.

“Hey Sammie, do you like getting wet?” Suzy asked randomly.

“Uh, yeah I definitely do, especially on hot days like these,” I laughed.

“Well that’s perfect, because we were just to start up our annual battle of the sexes water-balloon fight!” Suzy exclaimed.

“Did you guys plan this or something – I mean, what are the chances you would just invite us over during the Battle of the Sexes weekend?” Brian laughed.

“How did you know?” Brian Sr. laughed.

We all walked to the driveway where a girl was setting out two rows of water-balloons. As soon as she saw that we had arrived, she wiped her hands off on her white t-shirt and smiled, “Hi Brian, nice to see you! Oh, and you must be Sammie. Hi, I’m Autumn, Brent’s wife.”

“Hi! Nice to meet you!”

“Ok, so since Sammie is new to the game, I’m gonna quickly go through the rules,” Brent said stepping forward, “the guys line up on the left side and the girls line up on the right. Everyone gets their own row of balloons. Last one standing wins.”

So, it was Brian Sr., Brian Jr., and Brent versus Suzy, McKenna, Autumn, and me. The guys claimed that they don’t need a fourth player, because it’s practically guaranteed that they’re gonna win anyway. But the girls laughed and said that just for that statement, we’re gonna play our hardest, and thus the games were on.

The game was basically like a wet version of dodgeball, which was perfect for me because I own that game. It seems as if Brent and Brian decided to team up against McKenna first, and she was easily knocked out, although she wasn’t too happy about it. “Mom they totally teamed up against me!” she whined as she sat on the sidelines of the driveway.

But Suzy couldn’t exactly reply because she was too into the game – wow, these people are super competitive, I guess I better step up my game. I quickly dodged a balloon that Brent through toward me, and as soon as I got back into a normal stance, Brian threw one at me that just barely missed my head. It seems as if Brian’s parents were basically facing off against each other, so that left me and Autumn against our men.

To my shock, the Haner brothers easily managed to get Autumn knocked out. “Ahhh Autumn! Don’t leave me alone with the evil brothers,” I complained, watching her walk away. She said she was sorry and shrugged. Great now I’m alone.

“You’re so going down, Sammie,” Brent laughed, aiming his balloon.

“Bring it,” I said confidently. Before he had time to attack, I quickly threw my balloon in his direction with perfect aim and it hit him right in the chest.

“What was that you were saying?” I teased him as he walked off.

“Don’t worry,” he shrugged, “Brian will get you.”

I hadn’t even noticed that Brian’s parents both were out of the game, leaving me and Brian as the last ones standing. This almost felt like it was set-up…but hey, I’m not complaining.

I bent down and picked up my balloon at the same time that he did and for a while, we just stared each other down. Neither of us were really wet yet, while the rest of his family were sitting on the side of driveway, soaking wet.

“I’m so gonna win this,” I told Brian, as I held onto my balloon tightly.

“I wouldn’t be so sure, Sammie. I’ve been playing this game since I was ten.”

“Well, I am the master of dodgeball, so let’s see who has more skill?”

He nodded and then I waited to see if he would make the first move. We each only had two balloons left, so it was hard to say when would be the right time to throw. Aw, you know what…screw strategizing! To win you have to attack head on.

Without warning, I threw my balloon as hard as I could at him, but he ended up using the balloon in his hand to block my attempt. Then he threw his balloon at me quickly, catching me slightly off guard. In just a short second, as soon as the balloon was nearly about to explode on my face, I bent my knees and pulled my back down as far as it could go – pretty much looking like I was on the Matrix or something.

Then, as soon as the balloon hit the concrete I came back up to see that Brian’s family was totally in awe and Brian was pretty shocked too. We both wasted no time getting our final balloons. And, as it turns out, we ended up throwing our balloons at the exact same time. They collided in midair right and then exploded onto the concrete. The water flew out of each balloon, and ended up soaking both of us.

“It’s a tie!” Brent shouted, jumping up off the ground.

“I still say I should have won,” I pouted as Brian hugged me.

“Please, Sammie, we know I would have won…” I stuck my tongue out at him and rolled my eyes, but laughed anyway.

“Alright, now who’s ready for some BBQ?” Brian’s dad asked as he ran inside to get on his apron that said ‘kiss the cook.’ We all shouted that we were ready and he fired up the huge grill they had on the back yard patio.

I don’t know what Brian was talking about…his family is great! I’ve already had so much fun, and we’ve only been here for maybe 2 hours. Actually, I always had a feeling that things would work out just fine with the Haners, but of course I know my family won’t be so welcoming. “

Hey, Sammie! Brian! Look what we have for you two!” McKenna shouted, bringing me out of my thoughts. I wonder what it could be?