Chapter 56: Long Thanksgiving III
I walked toward the entrance since the most awaited guest had finally arrived.
"I like what you've done with the place," Lisa remarked to Charlie.
"You picked out everything here," he answered.
"I know," she gave him a quick look. "Just wanted to make sure you did."
Then, noticing me, she said, "You must be Francis!" She gave me another once-over. "He's so much like you, Charlie," she observed, stunned.
"Are you sure, Lisa? Grandmother said I'm way more handsome than Dad was at my age," I smirked.
"Charlie," she lightly scolded him, "you're already teaching him your bad habits."
"No," he placed a hand on my shoulder, "that came straight from the factory."
"She's a good one, Dad," I muttered.
Lisa was very beautiful, and didn't look like your typical bimbo I sometimes saw around here.
"Told you so," he murmured back.
I then introduced, "This is Summer, my girlfriend, and Marissa, my friend."
After that, Charlie went to introduce Judith and her family to Lisa.
"She's soo beautiful," Summer commented. "Good taste clearly runs in the family," she added shamelessly, also complimenting herself.
Marissa rolled her eyes while I laughed, pulling her into my arms.
We went back to the deck where Grandmother was talking to my cousin.
Jake was saying, "Dad's a doctor"
"No, sweetheart," Evelyn corrected, "Your father's a chiropractor. That's like a masseuse without the hot oil."
"Here," I handed a small box to Jake. "Go play this new game."
"Ohhh cool! Thanks, Francis!" he shouted and ran off to the living room.
Grandmother chatted with us for a while before Dad and Lisa joined us outside.
"Hi Mom, you remember Lisa, right?" Dad gestured toward her. "We used to live together."
"No, I don't. I'm sorry," Evelyn replied, looking at Lisa as if seeing her for the first time, and shook her hand. "Hello, dear."
"My son has had so many little roommates," she added casually.
I winced.
Then she pointed toward the living room. "I just hope you've got better taste than whoever picked out his hideous furniture," Grandma smiled at both of them before heading to the kitchen.
From Summer's and Marissa's faces, it was clear they had also heard Lisa mention earlier that she was the one who decorated everything here.
Before Charlie or I could say anything to smooth things over, Rose appeared on the deck with a pie in her hands.
"Sorry, I'm late, but I didn't realize you were having a party," she smiled brightly.
Then she introduced herself to Lisa. "I'm Rose. Don't worry, Charlie and I had sex once, but now we're just friends."
"Who's ready for mystery pie?" Rose announced as she walked into the living room.
We all gave an awkward smile. Lisa was glaring at Charlie.
I placed a hand on both girls' shoulders. "We'll give you guys a moment alone," I spoke, "feel free to drink all the champagne"
We headed for the living room as well.
Alan was talking to Judith's parents. "I really think your daughter deserves a lot of respect," he began, continuing, "It takes real courage to make changes in your life and not care about what everybody thinks."
"Thank you, Alan," Judith replied.
"That's true," Evelyn joined in. "The lesbians of my generation were too scared to come out of the closet."
Judith's mother widened her eyes and turned to her husband. "Does that mean what I think it means?"
"You haven't told them?" Alan asked.
"No," Judith answered sharply, "I thought it would be more appropriate coming from your mother."
"I'm sorry, did I make a faux pas?" Evelyn placed her hand on her chest.
Chaos once again took over.
Marissa murmured next to me, "This is more messed up than my family."
"Hey," I exclaimed, "don't exaggerate it," earning a glare from her.
But soon, the three of us started laughing.
Summer leaned closer, "Aren't you going to help your dad?"
"I'm trying to figure out how. There are so many unreliable variables here that the easiest thing would be to kick everyone out and leave just the five of us," I stated.
"I'm a genius, not a loony bin director," I thought out loud, and went to grab another bottle of champagne for the three of us.
-----------------------------
We sat down at the table to finally have dinner, the atmosphere still tense after all the chaos. I was a little tipsy.
"There it is!" Berta slammed the giant turkey down at the end of the table, near us.
Seeing that no one said anything, she sarcastically added while sitting on the other side, "Berta, nice looking bird, thanks for blowing off your family and cooking for ours."
"See, Lisa," I remarked, "at least with my dad, you'll never have a boring moment."
Evelyn joined the conversation. "Just make sure you're not the cause of the awkwardness," she said - quite ironically, since she was the main source of it today.
"Don't worry," I looked at Lisa again, "we have Uncle Alan living here. You couldn't compete with him even if you tried."
Alan glared at me. "Thank you, nephew."
"Are we gonna go around the table and say what we're thankful for?" Jake asked, probably at my dad's request.
Rose quickly raised her hand. "Me, I got one," she said and began, "I'm thankful for the food we eat, and thankful for the friends we meet."
Then it got weird. "I'm thankful for my comfy seat. I'm thankful for the birdie's feet," she finished singing, "White with foam, God bless America."
Good Lord, this chick is crazy
Charlie cut her off, "Pull up, Rose."
"Sorry," she stopped.
-----------------------------
If you enjoy it, please leave a Review and Power Stones
You can also support me on patreon and read up to 30 chapters ahead: https://[email protected]/Japa_Madrid