Finding My Normal

Ch 53: Family Fun Time

The school week has finally come to an end and we are now in our backyard decorating for my party. Pink, pink and more pink are the colors I chose. Lily wanted to add at least one other color; she suggested plenty like orange, red, green, purple, silver, navy, black, light blue, even grey but I couldn't decide so I just stuck with pink.

My dads are manning the barbecue and it's getting kind of wild over there.

"Liam! GIVE ME THE TONGS!!" Henry shouts.

"NO! You burned the chicken last time. I'm not feeding Andy and Phil crusty rocks."

"It was supposed to be like that." Henry insists.

William walks over bringing more meats to grill and laughs, "Ha!! Sure it was! We all know that dish 'rock chicken' is all the rage right now."

John sits up from the reclining chair he's in, "Hey! Remember that potato salad he made?"

"You mean the mayonnaise soup?" Liam interjects.

They all start laughing and Henry if getting mad. "Lily!! They're making fun of me again!!" Henry whines like a baby. For all the toughness and composure he exudes he sure can be a brat sometimes.

Lily walks over and wraps her arms around his waist. "What are they saying to you?" She asks him.

"Well they're saying I can't cook."

"Non-sense!! We all know you can cook." She smiles up at him, "If it involves a microwave."

More laughter erupts and Henry tries to disentangle himself from Lily's arms, but she's holding on tight while still laughing. "Henry, dear, stop. We're not laughing at you."

"We're laughing with you!!" My dads say in chorus.

Henry finally cracks a smile and scratches the back of his head, "Yeah I guess the Academy can't teach me everything."

They go back to prepping the food and setting the tables when the door rings.

"I'll get it!" I call out.

I race through the house and to the front door where I find Andy. I almost didn't recognize him out of uniform.

"Sang! Happy Birthday!" He says while handing me a present wrapped in polka dot paper.

"Thank you Andy! Come on out back where all the food is." As I start walking with him the doorbell rings again. It's Dr. Roberts and I repeat the welcome process again.

Once back outside I set my presents down on the table and hang out with my family. They are talking loudly and reminiscing about me and the few times I've been trouble for my parents over the last five years.

"Andy! Andy, remember when Sang got stuck in the crawl space between our walls?"

"Yes! That was like four years ago, I was helping you with an assignment when Henry here gets a call from Lily! Oh, Sang you were tiny, but you weren't that tiny!"

I blush from embarrassment. When Liam asks, "Sang, I don't even remember why you were in there to begin with."

"I was measuring." I mumble.

"Measuring?" Lily asks, "Why and what were you measuring?"

"The crawl space. You had just started tutoring me in architecture and I wanted to know the dimensions of our house. When I found the blueprints in the basement I noticed there was a crawl space drawn on there so I went to check it out." I give a small shrug, "I didn't realize it got more narrow towards the other end."