𝗦𝗣𝗔𝗖𝗘 𝗕𝗢𝗬 | 𝑒𝑧𝑟𝑎 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑔𝑒𝑟

xi. aaaaand more aliens

꧁꧂

God, I couldn't remember the last time I was that nervous.

Why was I that nervous, you ask? Well, it was the day of our bimonthly family reunion. We'd invite over our aunts and uncles, our cousins and our grandparents for a big cookout in the backyard. Dad and his dad would cook and grill all day while mom, me, my brothers and my aunts, -well, the two reliable ones, anyway- would all help put the decorations out. String up lanterns, set the bench tables in the huge deck out back, and pick out the music. Aunt Jill would just be sitting around making a pb&j.

Unfortunately, on impulse, I'd asked my mom if my new friends -meaning Ezra, Sabine, Zeb and Kanan- could come to the cookout as well. Before I could take back what I said, she agreed. 'The more the merrier!' She replied. I was pretty worried about this for multiple reasons.

First and foremost, Zeb. I'd told my family he was an eccentric cosplayer named Phil that didn't take his costume off. Ever. Who knows if he'd blow his cover? I mean, I'm pretty sure everybody would steer clear of a fairly pungent giant 'dressed up' like an alien, but I was still gonna keep a close eye on him.

Secondly, Brent and Daniel were coming to this thing, too. They always did. And I'm not stupid, I felt the tension between Ezra and the other two. While I wasn't too sure why they seemed to dislike each other, I knew I needed to keep them as far away from each other as possible. The last thing we needed was those three getting into it and causing a scene.

And lastly, my dad. I love him, don't get me wrong, he's probably one of my best friends, but he absolutely does not take kindly to new friends I make and it drives me crazy. Namely, new guy friends. He doesn't like or trust Ezra very much. He doesn't know him well enough, and he doesn't think he has good intentions with me.

He genuinely thinks Ezra like likes me, but we'd only known each other for about two weeks. Crazy, right?

I sighed as I set plates out on one of the four bench tables, looking out over our deck and spacious backyard. Mom and her brothers and sisters -minus Jill- were all busying about, hanging fairy lights along the edges of the awning. I wasn't sure where aunt Jill was. Probably on our phone, talking to her new boyfriend for two hours, running up our phone bill. I watched as my little sister, Aidan, chased the baby of our family, Sadie, around the yard. Sadie had Aidan's Nintendo switch in her hands and a mischievous grin on her face, while Aidan look ticked. I chuckled to myself, she must've stolen it again.

I hadn't spotted my older brothers, though. I grimaced at the thought of those knuckleheads being alone somewhere, possibly setting something on fire. I didn't have the time to keep an eye on them, but I would assume the fire alarm would tell me if they were doing dumb stuff or not.

Though my suspicions were quelled when I saw Liam and David sitting at a table on either side of Ezra, sandwiching him in. He looked pretty scared, so that probably meant they were doing their little 'protective big bro' act, and I made a mental note to kill those two losers later. Ezra had David's phone in his hand, and they appeared to be watching something on it.

I set the last place setting on the table quickly, then jogged over to the three boys to see what they were watching. "Hey losers, what're you-" My words got stuck in my throat as I saw what was on the screen, eyes widening. I immediately slapped both my brothers in the head before snatching the phone out of Ezra's hands. "Why are you idiots showing him this?"