The indescribable feeling
was still there when we were both on the doorway. But when I heard my cousins,
I knew this wasn’t a good idea to begin with.
“Avery!” the twins
chorused from the couch. They were eating cookies and it was obvious that they
just woke up from their identical sleep-filled eyes – eyes like their father’s
– and their tousled blonde hairs.
“Hey, guys.” They were
looking at me expectantly and gazed at Travis like he was a new toy from
Christmas. I looked at them, then to Travis – who seemed adorably uncomfortable
– and then to the dining table, where they were speaking and it’s obvious they
haven’t seen us yet.
I gripped Travis hand and
smiled at him encouragingly, “I think it would be better to meet the adults
first.” He nodded his response and smiled to me as well. I turned to the
pouting twins and mouthed later. To
them and made our way to the dining table.
“Mom?”
They all turned around
and I bristled from their stares. They were looking at me like I’ve done
something forbidden yet, they approved of it. Mom, being the savior, stood up
immediately and faced Travis. He smiled shyly and said, “Good morning, Mrs.
Allton.”
She laughed, “Please
don’t call me Sylvia; it makes me feel younger. So, you must be Travis.” She
appraised him for half a second and said, “Why don’t you sit down?” she
gestured at the seat on Dad’s left and I pulled him with me. When I seated
myself beside him, from across the table, I mouthed a thank-you to my Mom and
she winked back. Then I saw my Dad.
“Uhm…Dad? Daddy, you
okay?”
He was staring off to
space but when I called him twice he blinked and focused on me properly. He
smiled and after a second, looked at Travis. He offered his hand.
“Travis Warner, if I’m
not mistaken?”
“Yes, sir. That’s me.”
They shook hands.
That explains it.
Mom arched an eyebrow
which I responded with a shrug and Uncle Zed regarded me as if he’s seeing me
in a different light. They all are. I only smiled at Travis uncomfortably to
avoid the stares and Dad said, “Travis, why don’t you introduce yourself
properly to everybody?”
“I think Avery should do
it.” Uncle Zed piped up. He smiled wide and looked at me, “Right, Ave?”
I met his gaze head-on,
“Actually, I – ”
“Travis?” Mom said,
breaking up the little argument. Picking up the cue, he faced the table in
general and said in a perfect voice, his charm and smile in full mode, “Hello,
everybody. My name is Travis Anthony. It’s nice you meet you all.”
I released a breath I
didn’t know I’d been holding.
Uncle Rence’s brow
furrowed, “Does your family own the GI? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“Yes, we do. Mom and Dad
wanted to be here but they’re on a business trip at Singapore, so it’s just me
for now.” He smiled winningly.
“So what had you going
after our Avery?” Grandpa asked. Aaargh. This situation is complicated enough,
thank you Grandpa. Travis chuckled and under the table, his thumb traced
soothing patterns against my skin. He said, “I could give you a list, but I don’t
think I want to spend my entire life holding a pen and a paper.”
The others on the table chuckled
and one by one, everyone introduced themselves and started firing their
questions. Unsurprisingly, Travis answered them all with complete ease and he
relaxed against his chair, lightening the awkward tension in the room.
Ten minutes passed and
everyone was now laughing, telling stories of their own. The atmosphere became
more light and comfortable and Travis just seemed to fit in perfectly with
everyone else. In the midst of it all, Travis glanced at me and raised an
eyebrow, as if to say, You okay?
I smiled tiredly in
return, not bothering to answer properly and then I heard the twins. “Daddy,”
Harvey and Nique said in unison as they went up to the table and tugged at each
of Uncle Rence’s arms, “Why do you meet him? We want to talk to him, too.” They
said, still synchronized. All attention were on them now as they pouted at
exactly the same second and whined, “But that’s not fair!” Uncle Lawrence regarded
and smiled at them patiently – I marvel at how he does that, seeing as those
two can be quite evil as much as they appear to be cute. “But you have to
promise not to pull any pranks on Travis, okay? Avery will not bake you cookies
again if you do that.”
“Oh, no. We’ll be nice.”
Harvey said with a huge grin on his face. That boy’s an excellent liar, trust
me. I had my experience and I’ve known forever since that I need to be careful
with what he says. Without another word, Nique dragged him by the arm and their
Dad said, “Nique, what did I say about dragging your older brother?”
She slowed down. “Sorry,
Daddy.” She sent him an irresistible smile and a flying kiss and they both
stood in front of Travis and to Dad’s left. They were just smiling like Travis
is a new package from Santa or the Easter Bunny.
I have a really bad feeling
about this.
“Uhm…I’m sorry, but
pranks?” Travis whispered in my ear as the twins spoke to Aunt Laine and he
gazed at the twins with something close to skeptism. “They look awfully cute
and innocent to be pranking someone.” That’s exactly what I thought before.
“Just be careful. The
last time they pulled a prank, it was quite, uhm, unexpected.” I hope he
survives.
“I’ll give you a kiss
goodbye if I live long enough, then.” He winked at me confidently and faced the
twins. I whipped my head to Uncle Lawrence with my eyes screaming panic and he
just shrugged helplessly and mouthed, Sorry
in advance.
That’s helpful.
“Hi, I’m Travis.” he
smiled at them. The twins smiled sweetly in return and said, “Hello.”
“Hi, I’m Harvey. I’m five
years old and seven minutes older.” He smiled swiftly. “I like you already.”
Travis laughed and responded, “Well, I’m flattered. Thank you, Harvey.” Harvey offered
his hand in a casual, but unmistakable way.
“Harvey.” Everyone on the
table mildly scolded. I immediately grabbed both of Travis’ hands away from my
cousin’s reach and he looked extremely baffled.
“What? Did I do some – ”
“It’s not you.” I looked
at Harvey while he pouted and let his hand fall limp to his side, “But Daddy!”
he whined loud enough so he can hear, “I was being nice!” Then the little devil
looked at me, still pouting. “Avery, you’re not sharing.”
I don’t even own this
guy.
“Please remove that
thing, whatever it is, from your palm, Harvey.” I smiled in I’m-good-so-listen-to-your-big-cousin
way and not end up looking electrocuted myself. “I know you have one of those
freaky electronic skins. You too, Nique.”
Pouting terribly. Harvey slowly
started peeling the skin-like pranking tool from his palm and then I turned to
Nique. Grandpa Ian said, “Put it away now, darling.”
“You don’t want Travis
getting hurt.” Dad supplied. Speaking of Travis, he was looking incredibly at
Harvey, struck speechless.
“Nique.” Prompted Uncle
Rence.
“But I don’t have one!
Promise, Daddy. I really don’t. You believe me, don’t you, Travis?” she turned
to him with her puppy dog eyes look that melted even my heart. Little scumbag.
“Whatever you wanted to
use Niq, please put it down on the table.” I said to her, hoping for the best.
The good thing about here is that it’s still early and they just woke up, so
they’re still kind of mellow. Mellow equals more chance of avoiding disasters.
She heaved a little sigh
and put her hand to her pocket and retrieved from it a Ziploc filled with
black, crawling spiders.
Travis blanched.
“Goodness, gracious.” I
heard Aunt Laine murmur.
“But, Aunt Laine! I was saving
these for later. I’m not going to use it now.”
“You…you little…” I can’t
even describe the words I want to say to her. I looked at Travis pale face as
he regarded the transparent plastic with wide eyes, his entire frame frozen.
I turned to Nique and
scowled, “Could – could you please keep that away, Niq? I’m serious, okay? I
don’t want to see that ever again.”
“Okay, Ave.” she put the
cursed things away from sight and she and her twin brother raced up the stairs
with barely concealed glee. Everyone made small talk again and I faced Travis,
pursing my lips. He was looking at me as well, confusedly shaken.
“I do hope that didn’t
freak you out much.” I said in a hush tone, “It’s just them, you know. But they’re
really adorable when they’re not pulling those little games.”
“Little.” He muttered, “Yeah,
I’m okay.”
“Travis?” Uncle Rence
spoke in an apologetic tone, “I’m so sorry about my twins. I don’t know where
they got that but they’ve always liked to…play
as long as we can remember.”
“It’s okay, sir.” Travis
responded with a smile, “I’ll keep that in mind.” Before anyone else could say
anything, we heard footsteps on the direction of the stairs and before I saw
her, I heard Elaine say, “I’m telling you, that car on the driveway gives me vibes.
I think’s something’s up, but I’m not really sure…”
“You’re still on hangover,
El. I think you’re just imagining things.” I heard Lorraine say. Then a second
later, all four of them came to view – Delsey, Elaine, Lorraine and little Kat –
and they stood transfixed, looking at Travis on the table.
“Uhm…” Elaine was at loss
for words and decided to just come forward and say, “Good morning, Daddy.” She came
up to Uncle Zed and pecked him on the cheek and the rest started to follow
suit. I heard Unle Lawrence demanding Delsey how many bottles she’d downed last
night and the table was buzzing with conversation again. I smiled encouragingly
at Travis who seemed to recover fully from his phobia attack and he smiled back
at me, his eyes shining. I was tongue-tied for a moment but I managed to say, “Those
are my other cousins. You’re safe from them.” He chuckled, flashing his all-too-perfect
smile, “Thanks a bunch.”
“Hi, Travis.” Delsey
smiled at the time she’s in front of him, “Avery told me all about you.” Her eyes
twinkled.
“I did not.” I said
through clenched teeth. She ignored me playfully and offered her hand, “I’m
Delsey.” I saw Travis hesitate for a fraction of a second before shaking her
hand, “Nice to meet you.” He smiled, winning her easily.
“Same here.” Then surprising
us both, she said, “Let me guess, you have arachnophobia.” My brow furrowed and
Travis looked stunned, “Wha – how did –”
“My sister’s upstairs,
fiddling with the creepy little things. Just a little tip – don’t use the upstairs
bathroom.” She smiled, “Speaking of which, I’ll have to check on her, please
excuse me.” She sent me a wink and went upstairs.
We could all use a sister
like her.
Then I saw Elaine and her
two younger sisters come from over Travis’ shoulder. El mouthed, What the bloody hell, Ave? Lorraine gave
me the thumbs up and mouthed as well, He’s
hot! Nice work.
Aaargh.
I cleared my throat and
nudged Travis with my shoulder. “Travis, meet the Charlie’s Angels.”
“Shut up, Ave. I’m
Elaine.” She stepped forward and put in a happy grin. “You can call me El. It’s
nice to finally meet you.”
Right, El.
“I’m Lorraine.” As they
shook hands, she said, “Don’t bother with a nickname, I don’t have one.” He chuckled
in response and lastly, Kat appraised him with open, guileless eyes. She
smiled. “I like you already.”
She is so cute! With her
silky brunette hair and huge eyes and those cheeks!
I didn’t notice that I was gaping at her when Travis laughed at my expression
and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. He turned to Kat.
“What’s your name,
darling?”
“Kat.”
As I saw the exchange, my
mind flew elsewhere. My cheeks were flaming and I can’t believe what happened
or why I’m even feeling like this. It’s just a kiss on the cheek.
But my mind reveled on
the fact that the gesture was more natural than not.
“Do you want to play with
me?” she started tugging at Travis’ sleeve while El and Lorraine circled the
table to grab some cookies and other biscuits. He smiled, “Sure, just wait a
second.” He excused himself from the table and we both got up. Unexpectedly, he
picked up Kat and carried her to the living room. She was giggling delightfully
and I sat on the rug across from them, bewildered.
“Correct me if I’m wrong,
but I think you have a thing for children.”
He winked at me. “I
actually do.” He turned to Kat who was standing up, eye level with him though
he was squatting down. “What do you want Kat?” he asked and her face scrunched
up in cute concentration and her little fists gripped his chocolate colored
hair, “Why do you look so pretty?”
Travis laughed and said, “I’m
not pretty. Your cousin Avery is.”
I burst out laughing as he
looked at me and reached out for my hand. “Please tell me what’s so funny.”
Unconsciously lacing my fingers through his, I replied, “It’s just funny.
Considering the fact that I probably look like garbage because I’m still on
hangover.”
He smiled gently and
leaned forward. In an act so uncharacteristically unlike his, he kissed my
temple softly and whispered,
“You’re not. You’re
beautiful.”
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