“Within the next two to three days. The home in New York is already furnished so we need nothing but our belongings. Of course some things we’ll have to leave here until the day we leave.” Sebastian puts his dish in the sink. “I’m so excited.” “Nobody needs your negative and sarcastic attitude right now. The rest of us are excited about this so you being like that is not helping. It’s annoying.” My voice comes out surprisingly harsh, making me recoil at my own words. Sebastian and Mom look at me with slightly shocked expressions. “You’re actually excited about this?” Sebastian frowns at me, “You weren’t just playing around yesterday when you said what you did?” “Yes! I’m going to bond with Lucas and make sure that living in New York isn’t a complete disaster.” Mom frowns. “It wouldn’t be a disaster even if you didn’t bond with Lucas.” Sebastian chuckles, taking a piece of bacon from my plate. “She’s going to try, Mom. She thinks she needs to change things and somehow that’ll make a difference.” “It’ll give us a better relationship. Of course it will make a difference.” My mom smiles but doesn’t say anything, putting me at ease that we’re not talking about it anymore. I sigh, now regretting not making waffles. Squinting, I look up at the house feeling suddenly overwhelmed. Compared to our house, it’s significantly taller and much more slim. A small grunt comes from behind me. I turn to see Devon struggling to carry his bag. He stops beside me, starting to examine the house just like I had done. I smile. “Looks like Gru’s house from Despicable Me, right?” Devon hesitates before smiling and nodding. “Not as evil. I hope she’s nice.” Nodding, I pick up his bag to help him carry it into the house. “Me too.” Sebastian comes out from the house, obviously annoyed for having to carry most of the bags in. He stops in front of us. “Devon, your Aunt is going to pee herself in the next two seconds if you don’t get in there. She made sugar cookies for you, bud.” Devon’s eyes widen as he rushes past Sebastian and on into the house. I hoist up Devon’s bag. “You make him feel like his family isn’t our family.” Sebastian doesn’t say anything in response and I’m not surprised, but it would’ve been nice to have a conversation with him. I continue into the house, the lavender painted walls and vanilla candles putting me at ease. A picture of a little girl and boy sit between two candles on a small table to the right of the door. I step forward to look closer, neither of the faces familiar to me. “Evelyn, come on.” Sylvia’s voice is soft but doesn’t fail to catch my attention. “Naomi really wants to meet you. She made cookies...” Nodding, I turn to my mom and place the bags beside the small table. “Food is great and all but it’s not going to make me move any faster, Mom.” We stare at each other, something we usually do until the other gives up in situations like this. I cross my arms in front of my chest defiantly. “Alright, okay. It’s just a little odd that all of a sudden she’s excited to see Devon and it’s been ten whole years. I get that maybe she didn’t care about her brother’s new step kids but when you had Devon, she should’ve been around. Devon is Lucas’s only child.” My Mom scowls at me. “Keep your voice down, Evelyn. I don’t have to explain that to you. She is allowing us to stay here for a bit and you need to be grateful for that.” “It’s not like I’m not grateful! I’m just saying-“ She raises her hand. “No, we’re not going to talk about this anymore. I want you to kindly introduce yourself then take your things upstairs to the room you’re sharing with Devon.”
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