Falling

08

Carson Hughes

It wasn't surprising that cars already lined the street by the time I got to Logan's house the next day. His extended family was always early for these events, effectively pissing the hosts off.

There was a chorus of noise and voices coming from the backyard, so I made my way into the house with the hopes of meeting up with Logan in there before having to greet the rest of his family.

The only one in the house was Val, who was in the kitchen still preparing food for her early guests.

"Need any help?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "No, I'm doing this as slowly as possible so I don't have to go out there."

I chuckled, leaning against the counter across from her.

"I don't blame you," I told her.

"They've been here for almost an hour already," Val said with an irritated expression. "And just expected us to be ready for them."

Even I was a little earlier than they told me to be here. It was still about twenty minutes before this thing was actually supposed to start.

Just then, Vinny tiptoed down the stairs, glancing out the window as if he was making sure he wouldn't be seen. He walked over to Val and took food out of the bowl she was preparing.

"Get your hands out of that!" Val exclaimed, swatting his hand away.

"Mom," Vinny hissed in a low tone. "Keep it down. I don't want them knowing I'm here."

"They already know," Val said, placing her hands on her hips. "Your grandmother asked about you as soon as she got here."

Vinny rolled his eyes, taking more food out of the bowl and running away to his room before his mother could swat him again.

"Is Logan outside?" I asked Val, glancing out the window toward the group of people and not seeing my best friend.

"I'm sure he and Dana are trying to hide somewhere," she answered. "I don't blame you if you want to hide out in here."

She picked up two different dishes in each hand, ready to bring them outside. I shook my head at her, grabbing one of the dishes and following her out of the sliding door and into the backyard.

As soon as we made it outside, I could hear the commotion of all the members of the Taylor family speaking at once. Jeff stood in front of the grill, cooking while his mother spoke beside him.

Jeff's three sisters were loud as always, just like their mother. Sometimes it seemed as if Jeff was the only normal one to make it out of this family which was probably why he felt so disconnected from all of them.

"Valerie, you've got Logan's friend doing work," Jeff's sister, Marcy, said when she saw us. "Vincent should be helping you. Where is he?"

Val kept a strained smile on her face, not even bothering to respond to Marcy as we set the dishes down on the table.

"Logan and that girl left a while ago too. Why aren't they helping you?" one of Jeff's other sisters, Carol, added.

I had to keep myself from rolling my eyes at her. That girl was Logan's girlfriend of two years, who he had been friends with for years prior to their relationship. They had all met Dana plenty of times.

"Maybe they got sick of you asking them questions as if you've never met Dana before," Jeff cut in as he walked away from the grill, his mother following him.