Crash and Burn
“Honey, is everything ready?” my mom walks out of the small kitchen, the smell of turkey filling the air.
“Yep! The blanket fort is almost done, the food is all cooked, I have plenty of snacks and drinks ready. Did you get the diet lemonade?”
I lay another blanket on the chairs, finally finishing the fort I'd been trying to construct for 20 minutes.
“Yep, got that, some different sodas, more milk for tea, and some fun little cups for everyone too. I hope everyone likes the food.” They lean on the back of the couch, carefully so as to not disrupt my hard work.
“And momma Jade’s all done with her desserts?”
“Yep. Everythings all set, just gotta wait for everyone to show up now.”
And with that we wait for a few minutes before the first person arrives, Dacry and Tara are the first to knock on the door. I very eagerly open it, Darcy excitedly hugs me and then pushes past me to take her spot in the fort.
“Ah, that smells amazing. Did your moms cook?”
Tara shakes her head at her girlfriend before entering and setting her stuff down next to Darcy’s.
“Yea! I helped, My mom’s not the best at cooking, but they try. Mama Jade made the desserts!” Another knock at the door tore my attention away from the very hungry looking Darcy.
I open the door to see a slightly nervous Charlie, a fairly unenthusiastic looking Tori and a tall, light brown haired man with thick square glasses and heterochromia.
“Hi Liz! Uh, this is Tori, my sister and Micheal, Tori's friend. Nick will be here shortly.”
“Nice to meet you Tori and Micheal, come on in! Dig into the food if you so wish.” I step aside to let the three in, just in time to see another car pull up.
“Hi Nick!!” I yell out, waving my arms around like a mad woman as he gets out of his moms car.
“Hi Lizzy!” he waves back as he walks up to the door. “Am I the first one here?”
“Nope, We’re waiting for Tao, Elle and Isaac now.” I step aside as he walks past me and sets his stuff down.
“Ah, okay. Cool.” As expected, Nick walks up to Charlie and wraps his arms around him.
“We have arrived!” I flip around to see Tao standing in the doorway, arms raised in triumph.
“Really Tao?” Isaac rolls his eyes, smiling as he walks past the tall man. Elle’s standing behind her boyfriend, smiling wildly and pinching the bridge of her nose.
“I wanted to announce our extravagant arrival.” he steps aside to let Elle walk in first.
“Everyone here?” Mom says, walking down the stairs.
“Yeppers!”
“Okay! Well. Jade and I already helped ourselves to the food, so y’all can help yourselves! Liz knows where everything is, we’ve got netflix and few others courtesy of my parents. And whoever wants the diet lemonade, it's in the fridge with the other drinks. We’ll leave you lot to do whatever you want really. If you want any alcohol or something just ask me, or have Liz ask me.” They start up the stairs again, “Just uh, don’t kill each other or do anything too stupid.” and with that they’re gone. Everyone looks at me a bit shocked.
“Will they actually just, let us drink?” Nick spoke up first.
“They know the drinking age, and they don't really care as long as we’re not black out drunk or leaving the house with it really.” I shrug and walk to the kitchen, getting a plate of turkey and cranberry sauce with some stuffing and green beans.
“Y’all don’t have to try anything you don't wanna. I know a lot of this is very American, so we have some general snacks and stuff too.”
“Okay, first movie. What should we watch?” Nick shouts out, his hands in the air for further emphasis.
“Hmmmm. Liz, any ideas?” Charlie looks at me, in the middle of a mouth of turkey.
“Um..” I cover my mouth and finish chewing. “Oh, a classic! Marvel's Captain America: Winter soldier!” I grab the remote from Nick and begin to pull up Disney plus.
“Absolutely not!” Tao crosses his arms in objection. “I will not be forced to watch a rubbish superhero movie!”
“C’mon Tao! Just this once and you can pick the next movie!” I fold my hands together and look at him with the biggest puppy dog eyes I can muster.
“Deal.” he nods. Charlie laughs and Elle rolls her eyes but smiles.
“Okay deal, you look up what movie to watch next then-” Loud stomping is heard running down the stairs.
“DID I HEAR WINTER SOLDIER?” Mama Kai is in the living room within the blink of an eye.
I roll my eyes and laugh a bit. “Yes mom. You heard right. Wanna watch with us?”
“Hey! I thought this was a no parents allowed thing?” Darcy pipes up, only half joking.
“Hey! I’m only 19! Plus I bought the food. So scooch Liz, I love this movie.” they cross their arms then shove me over on the couch, covering their legs with my blanket.
“YOU’RE ONLY 19?” Basically screams everyone except Nick and I.
“Yes, I am. Liz is my adopted younger cousin. Now play the moooviiie!”
I press play, leaving everyone speechless at the reveal of my Mothers true age. Not that it was really ever a secret.
“This movie is already so dumb.” Tao points at the screen, then crosses his arms.
“We’re not even 5 minutes in, dude. Shush.” I practically whisper, shoving my mouth full of turkey and mashed potatoes.
“I love this movie, other than Endgame and the spider man series it's my favorite.” Mama Kai takes a drink of their hot coco, it’s probably spiked.
“Oh, can I have a drink of your hot coco mom?” I reach my hand out, trying not to drop my already half empty plate.
“Sure, it’s got a lot of fireball and whipped vodka in it though.”
“Sounds delicious.” I take the cup and take a long drink from it. I love when mom makes coco, spiked or not.
“Natasha Romanoff could kill me and I’d let her.” Darcy swoons.
“She is really pretty.” Tara chimes in.
Everyone was silent for a while, sometimes getting up to grab food or refill a drink. I think Tao fell asleep for a bit before Elle shook him awake.
During the scene where Furry shows Cap Project Insight, Tori piped up.
“Kai, why do you take care of Liz?” Charlie turned towards her and whispered for her to shut up.
But, Mama Kai had already sighed and drank the rest of her now cold coco.
“I legally adopted her. Took forever though. Not to mention all the paperwork.” they chuckled, setting their cup down on the old coffee table.
Cap is talking to old Peggy now, “Something happened back home, a lot of things happened. So after the adoption went through, I got accepted to the University here, I took her here. A change of scenery, change of pace, new friends. I thought it might help. And it has. Never thought I’d be a parent, but this little gremlin stole my heart and ran away with it.” Kai wrapped their arm around me. It was silent for the rest of the movie.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Okay, I guess the movie wasn’t terrible.” Tao groaned, he stood and stretched his arms.
“I thought it was rather cool.” Darcy shrugged, eating more of the bag of cheetos she grabbed off the counter.
“I think I’m in love with Bucky.” Elle smirks, leaning back further into the couch.
“Why I never!” Tao gasps while clutching his chest.
“Bucky is sooo hot.” Charlie retorts.
“Sorry, Steve Rogers is the only super soldier for me.” Nick jokes, wrapping his arm around Charlie.
Laughter filled the quiet house as the group played games, ate and snacked as well as tried a few “spicy” drinks courtesy of Kai. As we all laid down, speaking softly as to not disrupt the few that had fallen asleep, we joked about funny stories, ghost stories the like.
“Hey liz?”
“Yea Darcy?”
“What did Kai mean when a few things happened back home?”
I didn’t know what to say at first, just stared at the ceiling.
“A lot of things happened. One day while I stayed at Kai's place, my family all got into a really bad car crash. My dad was drunk like always, and arguing with my mother while he drove. He swerved into oncoming traffic and after they got hit they went off the road. The road to where we lived had a big cliff next to the windy road, so when they were found, my mom was found dead and killed on contact. My brothers were barely alive, one flew out the windshield and the other was..” my voice caught in my throat, tears bubbled up while I spoke.
“Okay, anyone ready for-? Liz, what's wrong?” Mama Kai had come back out of the bathroom, wiping her hands on their shorts to dry them off.
“It's nothing. I just-.”
“I asked her what you had meant when you said some stuff happened back home and I didn’t mean to make her cry. I'm so sorry!” Darcy had scooted towards me, wrapping me in a hug.
Mom smiled, a clear bit of sadness in their eyes.
“Come here kid. Want me to finish the story, or do you wanna just drop it for now?’’ They sat down next to me, pulling my blanket around me and laid my head in their lap.
“You can finish it mom.” I mumbled, the blanket muffling my voice and my crying. They nodded, rubbing my back.
“Well, her brothers were on life support for a while, and that deadbeat she calls a father survived but was arrested after his recovery.
He died later in prison due to complications with his injuries and he also got beat to near death in prison. He had only been out for nearing a year at that point due to being in prison previously. Her brothers, sadly, didn't make it. Dakota seemed promising at first but more complications made him brain dead, he had been out of oxygen for far too long before they got to him and Dom died nearly on impact after going out the window. Liz would either have had to stay with her grandmother or go into foster care, so when I stepped forward offering to adopt her and become her legal guardian her grandma was fairly okay with it; but after I mentioned we’d be moving here for my college and to get Liz a change of scenery, the family wasn’t too happy.” Kai always spoke with their hands, waving them around; but with how serious this topic was, they didn't. They couldn’t make eye contact, and I knew it was because they were trying not to cry.
“What do you mean ‘the family wasn't happy’?”
“Well Nick, when something traumatic happens in a manipulative, controlling, narcissistic family, they don't take too kindly to you wanting a ‘change of scenery’. That wasn't the only thing that happened. Alot of screaming and some crying but I think that's enough for one day. Anyone want some dessert?” Mama Kai stood up, turning around to hide the few tears that had escaped.