I'm Not Your Protege, Just Your Kid

Today was Thanksgiving and Devon and I were finally going to meet the rest of our family. Not only was it Thanksgiving, but in exactly one week, the guys were leaving for tour and I’ve yet to convince Zack to let me go with them. Hopefully if I get on his mom’s good side, she’d help me convince Zack to let me go.

I finally walked downstairs, dressed and ready to go. Devon saw me coming down the stairs and his eyes widened.

“Wow, you clean up pretty good,” he complimented.

“Thanks, you don’t look half bad either,” I said, taking in his outfit.

I sat down on the chair next to him and let out a breath of air. These heels were killing me and it’s only been three minutes since I’ve had them on. Hell, it took me five minutes just to put these death traps on my feet.

“Holy hell, is that pink?” Devon asked, taking his attention away from the T.V.

“Don’t even start,” I mumbled. “I’m only looking nice because we’re meeting the rest of the family today,”

Footsteps came down the stairs and we turned to see Zack.

I started looking at Zack and Devon and saw quite a few similarities between their outfits.

“Wow, are you guys trying to be twins too?” I snickered.

“Shut up, I got ready first,” Devon grumbled and slumped down in his seat.

I continued to laugh at him and Zack chuckled too.

“Shut up Jayden,” Devon said. “Where the hell is Gena? I’m starting to get hungry,” he whined and patted his grumbling stomach.

Just then, Gena’s heels started to click against the stairs as she came down.

“Alright guys, I’m ready,” she smiled at us.

My mouth fell open at her outfit and I heard Devon laughing behind me. What a coincidence, we were basically wearing the same colors too. I thought I’d be safe with the color pink, but I totally forgot that pink was her favorite color.

“Wow, Gena, you and Jayden are matching,” Devon commented with a smug smile on his face.

She looked at our outfits and a smile broke out across her face. “You’re right, we are!” she squealed. “Well, come on let’s go,” she said and walked out the door.

Zack, who came out of the kitchen carrying the dish that he made, started laughing along with Devon and I kindly told them to ‘fuck off’.

“Are you and Gena trying to be twins too?” Devon asked as he slung an arm around my shoulders.

I balled up my hands and followed the guys out the house. Did God hate me today?

We reached Zack’s parent’s house in about an hour and we already saw some other cars in the driveway. We all got out of the car and walked up to the door where Gena rang the doorbell for Zack seeing as how his hands were full. A second later a girl who looked to be in her early 20s answered the door.

“Hey big bro’!” she greeted and wrapped her tiny arms around Zack.

She pulled away and saw Gena standing there. “Gena,” she said in a bored way.

Devon and I grinned at each other and immediately liked Zack’s sister. She opened the door wider and she let us all in. She looked up at Devon and I since we towered over her and her eyes opened a little more before she collected herself.

“I’ll get Matt and the folks so we can all meet these two,” she told Zack as she nodded at us.

“Okay, but where should I put this?” he asked, referring to the hot dish in his hands.

“I’ll take that,” she said and grabbed it before walking off.

I walked over to the wall by the stairs and looked at the pictures that hung on the wall. They were mostly pictures of Zack and his family. The one at the end of the wall was different than all the rest; it was a picture of the gang with their significant other. The girl in front of Zack wasn’t Gena and when I went to look closer Zack called me over.

“Come on Jayden,” he smiled and I walked over, completely forgetting about the picture all together.

Devon and I followed Zack and Gena into the living room that was right next to the family room where a football game was blasting on the T.V. A boy who looked to be in his mid 20s was sitting on the couch and I figured this must be Zack’s brother. The girl from before came out of the kitchen with Zack’s parents in tow.

“Hey mom, hey dad,” he greeted and hugged both his parents.

“Hey retard,” he greeted the guy on the couch.

“Hey fatass,” he chuckled.

“Boys,” their mom warned with a dark expression on her face.

“Sorry,” both of them said.

I shifted uncomfortably in my heels and was dying to take them off. It’s not like I needed them anyways, I was already taller than everyone in this room, except Devon, even without the heels.

“Guys, I would like you to meet two special people,” Zack started to say.

“He called you special,” Devon chuckled in my ear.

“He called you special too fucktard,” I whispered loudly and punched him in the shoulder.

He gasped and rubbed his shoulder. He gave me the middle finger and I stuck my tongue out at him. Someone cleared their throat and we both saw Zack giving us a stern look while his siblings giggled in the back.

“Everyone, this is Jayden and Devon, my kids,” he introduced. “Jayden, Devon, this is your uncle Matt, your aunt Zina, and your grandparents,” he said.

The first one to come over was Zack’s mom and she yanked me down to her level, which hurt my back, so she could kiss me on the cheek and hug me. She did the same thing to Devon and I laughed at his expression. Zack’s father came next and he didn’t have to pull us down that much, well with me we were about eye level.

“Geez, you guys are tall,” Matt commented before coming over and giving each of us a hug.

“I can see you didn’t get that from Zack,” Zina chuckled before hugging us as well.

We were ushered over to the table where all the foods were, except for the turkey, and Devon and I sat down. Before I sat in my seat though, I stumbled a bit in my heels. Devon laughed at me and I turned to him with a scowl on my face.

“I swear Devon, I’m about an inch away from shoving these heels up your bony ass,” I snapped.

I turned back forward and saw Matt and Zina laughing at us. Zack sat next to me and Gena sat across from him, next to Zina. Zina scowled and looked at Gena’s outfit before gagging. She looked at me and I mouthed, ‘I know’.

“Sweet fuck Gena, you couldn’t wear something better than that?” Zina asked.

“What’s wrong with my outfit?” Gena asked.

“Your bare ass is hanging out for the world to see,” I mumbled, but the whole table heard me.

I got elbowed by Zack and he gave me a warning look. I shrunk in my seat and I saw Gena huff before walking away to answer her ringing phone.

“Hey, do you know that you and Gena are matching?” Matt asked from across the table.

“Yeah, don’t remind me,” I sadly said.

“That fucking sucks,” he said right when his mom walked in.

“Matthew! No cursing at the table! What kind of example are you trying to set for your niece and nephew?” she scolded him.

“Sorry mom,” he said.

Over all dinner went good and now we were just sitting around, watching the football game. The guys sat down and concentrated on the football game, Gena sat in a separate chair texting someone and I got up to help Zack’s mom and Zina in the kitchen. Before leaving though I turned to Devon.

“When the next commercial comes on, start talking to Zack’s dad and Matt and try to convince them to let Zack take me on tour,” I told him in a hushed whisper.

“Okay, got it,” he said.

“Okay, I’m going in the kitchen to work on the women,” I said.

I walked into the kitchen and saw Zina putting food away in containers whileZack’s mom Grandma washed up the dishes.

“Hey, can I help with something?” I asked.

“I’m guessing the football game isn’t interesting to you either,” Grandma chuckled.

“Oh, I like football, but I figured you two would want some help,” I answered.

“How thoughtful, well, you can start drying the bigger dishes, such as the pots, pans and stuff like that,” Grandma told me.

“Okay,” I grabbed a dish towel and got to work.

“I forgot to tell you this earlier dear, you look absolutely gorgeous,” Grandma said.

“I agree, you look so pretty,” Zina smiled at me.

“Thanks,” I said.

“A girl as pretty as you, should have a boyfriend, do you have one?” Grandma asked.

“Well there’s this one boy, but he has a girlfriend,” I started off.

“That sucks,” Zina commented.

“It does, and I saw her cheat on him and when I tried to tell him, he didn’t believe me and started yelling,” I stated, remembering that crappy day quite clearly.

“Boys are stupid, they don’t realize what they have until they lose it,” Grandma said. “Don’t worry, give it time,” she smiled warmly at me.

While we’re on relationships, maybe I should voice my thoughts on Gena.

“Do you guys like Gena? Because I sure as hell don’t,” I said and continued drying dishes.

“No, we’re not really fond of her either,” Grandma sighed and handed me a frying pan.

“Thank goodness, I thought I was the only one,” I chuckled. “Anyways, do you guys remember a girl named Gabby? She used to play with Zack as a toddler when you all used to live in a tiny Italian neighborhood,”

“Oh yes, I do, her mother and I always thought they’d get married,” she sighed and went off in her own little world, most likely daydreaming about those days when Zack was just a toddler and already flirting with girls.

“Well, turns out, she’s mine and Devon’s social worker and they started to catch up and one night I invited her over to dinner and Gena came home and basically told her to get out. That was like a month and a half ago and since then, Zack’s never really in a good mood and when I brought her up the other day, his face lit up and I told him to call her. Devon and I plan to break Zack and Gena up and get Gabby back in his life,” I explained.

“Wow, you’re one smart child,” Zina said.

“Hon, as much as we’d all like to see that happen, Zack’s been with Gena for years and he’s not going to break up with her out of the blue because you want him to,” Grandma explained to me.

“I understand that, but you guys have to see how happy he get’s when Gabby’s mentioned,”

“We know dear, we know,”

“If I ever need your guys help on anything, are you willing to help me?”

“Of course, that’s my brother we’re talking about,” Zina said.

I smiled at them both and went back to drying dishes. The guys cheered from the family room and we started laughing.

“Hey guys, I need your help on one more thing,”

“What is it?” Grandma asked.

“Well, Zack and the guys are going on tour next week and I need help to convince Zack to let me go with them,”

“No problem dear, we’ll take care of that,”

After that, we stayed silent in the kitchen the only sounds were the clinking of dishes and the occasional shouts from the guys.

All in all, I loved my new family and wouldn’t trade them for the world; and that scared the hell out of me.