The waffle iron beeped and I took the deliciously steaming waffles off and onto plates, adding a side of scrambled eggs to some of them.

"For you, you, you, you, and you," I said, placing a plate of food in front of each member of the household. I sat down across from Levi, at the other end of the table.

"It's great that you're home," Danny talked as he stabbed his toy dinosaur into his eggs. I grabbed the dinosaur and smiled, throwing it into the living room. He stabbed his eggs with his fork now.

"My girlfriend Gina is coming over tonight to meet everyone, make sure you're home," Levi proudly smiled.

I bit down onto my lip, looking directly across to him, unsure of everyone's reaction, "Caspian is coming over, too."

Levi tilted his head in confusion, and so did everyone else.

"Why?" Joyce asked, looking a bit fearful.

"Just to hang out," I answered.

Some of my cousins rolled their eyes, but Danny just stabbed his scrambled eggs.

"Okay, cool. Just don't bother us, we'll probably be having sex," Levi laughed.

Lilly covered her ears and shut her eyes at the word sex, which made me chuckle.

Danny was still stabbing his eggs.

Later in the day, Gina walked into our house wearing short shorts and a crop top, exposing her bellybutton ring. Her ass was hanging out, too. She had her brown hair in a high ponytail, swinging with every step.

"Hey, Hale," Gina spoke smoothly, smiling wide as she peeked into the kitchen to find Levi cooking dinner.

"Hey sexy," I heard her talk to Levi, a bit of a foregin accent hinting in her voice. No wonder he likes her.

Caspian came booming into the house next, through the kitchen door this time.

"What the fuck, is this a prostitution site now?" He looked Gina up and down a few times, scratching his head in confusion.

Levi looked up from the stove, glaring at him. Gina narrowed her eyebrows, stomping her foot against the tile like a toddler, "I am not a prostitue!"

Caspian chuckled and ignored her, walking right by the two lovebirds.

"Yo," he said to me. He sent a smirk my way, gently slapping my cheek when he came close enough. I moved my head away naturally, my bruises almost cleared.

"Hey, I'll bruise again," I told him with a frown.

His hands dropped to his sides, and I noticed his teeth biting down onto his lower lip. He was hiding a smile, looking right at me. I nudged his side with my elbow, walking past him to sit down in the kitchen. I felt his eyes turn around to follow me the whole way.

"I don't want this boy eating dinner with us," Gina said to me, pointing to Caspian who was now standing next to me in the kitchen.

"Who is he anyway? Your date?" Gina's accent was coming through, but I couldn't pinpoint where exactly her family was from. She was talking faster than I could listen.

"You think he's my fucking date?" Caspian emerged from my side, standing directly in front of Gina, "you think I'm gay?"

His temper was heating up, and Gina just stared back at him with an angry expression, her eyebrows narrowed. Levi's hand was against his head in despair, his whole body leaning against the counter.

"Caspian, shut up. It's okay," I reached out to grab Casp's arm, an attempt to pull him away.

He obliged and moved away from Gina, but they still stared at each other like enemies. I pulled him into the living room, placing him directly in front of me.

"What's wrong?" I asked, my hands holding both of his arms down.

He looked at me blankly, quickly glancing inside the kitchen where my cousins were now making their way to the table.

"Nothing's wrong, Dr. Phil. I'm fine," he squirmed out of my grip, glancing into the kitchen once more.

"It's just the girl. Don't particularly like her," he looked back at me, chewing on his lip.

"You don't like anyone," I quickly reminded him.

"Why don't you just admit that you're gay?" I questioned him, running my hands through my hair as we whispered back and forth.

I was no longer holding him back—I could tell he didn't like that.

Caspian laughed loudly at my question, glaring at me as he went inside of the kitchen again.

I followed and we both sat down at the abnormally huge table.

Gina snickered when we sat down, but Levi nudged her leg which made her shut up.

My cousins stared at Caspian, silence surrounding the table. They all look terrified.

Caspian managed a smile and said hello, awkwardly placing some lasagna onto his plate as four kids stared at him.

Melanie and Joyce smiled back, hesitantly getting food after him.

They were older than Lilly and Danny, obviously knowing that Caspian probably wasn't as scary as he looked. Or was he?

The table was so quiet and awkward, Gina started picking at her bellybutton ring.

Melanie crinkled her face in disgust, watching the girl across the table fiddle with her jewelry.

Caspian looked at me from the corner of his eyes, shoving lasagna into his mouth. He chewed slowly, glancing back around at everyone else.

"This is good," he said, half his mouth chewing lasagna.

Levi didn't say anything, but he nodded and kept his arm around Gina's shoulder.

"I'm going to do my homework," Danny mumbled quietly, setting his fork down. He didn't eat any food, just stabbed it. He looked at me for approval which I did not give, but he left anyway.

Lilly followed him upstairs, quietly like a shadow.

"Guys, you're not eating now?" Levi yelled to them as they rushed up the steps. No response.

"They're fine," I told Levi. If they were really hungry, they would have ate.

"Thanks for the meal," Caspian suddenly said, slapping 10 dollars onto the table, "for the food."

I looked at him, shaking my head, "You don't have to pay."

He pushed the bill to the center of the table.

"Yeah I do. Stop complaining."

Gina and Levi looked at him, shocked. So did Melanie and Joyce. They didn't know half of this food came from Caspian to begin with.

"Do you wanna take a walk or somethin?" Caspian looked at me, standing up from the table. I could sense the uneasiness roll off his body.

Gina rolled her eyes, dramatically leaning back against the chair, "And you say he's not your date."

She stared at Caspian.

Caspian shot her a glare again, walking out the back door.

I shrugged and followed him. He leaned against the wall of the house, already smoking a cigarette when I got outside.

"A date," He laughed as smoke drifted from his open mouth. I stood next to him, leaning against the wall too.

"Well, it kind of was," I looked over at him, and he shot the look right back.

"Was not, I just ate fucking dinner with you and your family," he mumbled angrily.

I laughed and then took a deep breath.

"Just admit you're gay and that you've already had two dates with me. Admit it, Caspian."

He lowered his head and his cigarette at the same time. His eyes peeked over to me, and he spoke quietly but sharply, "You're about to get bruised again."

I leaned my head back against the brick exterior of the house, sighing once more.

He walked in front of me, dropping his cigarette at my shoes. "My dad gets out of jail soon."

He was still mumbling, pain showing in his eyes like normal. There was something I did not know, and that was a pretty bad subject change.

He turned around and started to walk down the pavement to the sidewalk.

"You're gay," I said to him, secretly wishing he didn't have to leave.

His middle finger raised in response to me. Caspian was okay.

***
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