Despite my family being so damn weird, I’m glad she’s here.
Chapter 24
Amaya
T
ate’s folks are awesome. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the way he was describing them. I was almost afraid I was about to walk into a swinger’s love nest or something. But so far, they all seem relatively normal and nice.
I offered to help, but they told me to make myself at home. So, I’m sitting in the living room surrounded by Tate’s family and friends. There are so many people. I’m not used to large family gatherings. My parents are great, but they were always busy at the hospital they work at. Every time we would sit down to eat one of them and sometimes both would get called in for an emergency. My dad is the chief of staff and my mom is over in the neonatal unit. They stay busy.
I’m thankful Tate invited me. It’s nice getting to see this side of Tate, away from his friends, and everyone else. I could’ve gone home with Courtney and spent the holiday with her folks, but her cousin, Dan was staying with them, and he is always after me. The thought of him makes me shudder. I don’t even know how he and Courtney come from the same family tree. The dude is a total spaz. He isn’t ugly or anything, but he’s a health fanatic and so self-absorbed. He is always going on about what people should be eating and how much exercise they should be getting.
“What are your plans for Christmas, Amaya?” Tate’s mom asks me.
I look up at her and she has Tate’s eyes.
“I’m going home. My mom is freaking out that she hasn’t seen me in three months,” I say with a groan.
“Oh, do you guys not get along?” She asks, sounding slightly worried.
“It’s not that, it’s just she’s too much. She constantly wants to be around me, always. When I first came to school here, she was trying to see if she could transfer, so she could be with me every single day.”
Everyone at the table laughs.
“Trust me, it’s not funny. She’s also a doctor, so if she had her way, I’m pretty sure she would find a way to attach us together, permanently.”
“What about your dad?” Her husband, Raul speaks up.
“Oh, he’s well, Dad. I love him, I’m a daddy’s girl, he always respects my choices. Even though he doesn’t approve of my decision to be a dancer. He actually helped me move out here peacefully by taking my mom on a vacation so she wouldn’t try to stop me or pack herself in my suitcase.”
I look around the table and give everyone a smile, they all seem to be enjoying my misery about my mom.
“Well,” Cindy, Tate’s stepmom pipes up, sharing a look with his mom. “The four of us are going away this Christmas, and Tate here will be home all alone. Why don’t you go home with Amaya, honey?”
My eyes go wide and Tate starts choking on his water he just sipped.
“Yes. That’s perfect, now I won’t have to worry about my Tatey-poo.”
Tate’s dads just grin at them and shake their heads.
“Uh, that’s uh, sounds fine. I just have to check with my parents first.” That was unexpected, but not entirely an unwelcome suggestion. I’m sure my dad would be okay, but my mom…she’s insufferable.
Tate squeezes my knee. “I don’t have to come.”
I can tell he’s uncomfortable. “No, I want you to.” I kiss his cheek and his family awes around the table. I’m just nervous about my mom more than anything.
We go back to eating and chatting about everything. Everyone wants to see my Frozen performance. Tate’s dads’ asking what kind of doctors my parents are, considering they are doctors as well. They’ve heard of my dad, and praised him even, so that was cool. Also, I found out that Tate’s mom, Randa knows Courtney’s dad, as she has gone up against him, and lost in court to him many times. She said out of four cases she only won once to him. I laughed.
I help myself to a third plate of food, piled high of course, and people start staring, mouths hanging wide open. I blush and start to push my plate away. I tend to get carried away.
“Baby, eat. I already warned them you eat double what I can, they are all just shocked I was being serious about it.”
I shake my head. “I think I’m full.” They probably think I have an eating disorder.
“Amaya has a high metabolism,” Tate offers as explanation. Everyone nods and hums with hmmms, returning to their smaller conversations.
After dinner wraps up, Tate and I help clean up. The rest of his family is in the living room playing cards. What won’t fit in the dishwasher we wash by hand. Well, I make Tate wash while I rinse and dry. When he isn’t looking, I get some of the soap suds and smear them across his nose.