Chapter 1

CORY

Cory didn't quite like her birthdays. Not usually, anyways.

But her 18th birthday had started out with every single one of her mother's friends wishing her a 'happy birthday' on Facebook, so it obviously had to be a good day.

Birthdays had always been a big deal in the Hall house. From the second Cory, the oldest of the three Hall kids, was born, her parents were obsessed with celebrating everything about them. She knew she sounded like a spoiled brat when she complained about that, but sometimes the attention was overwhelming. The expectations and work that came with all of that celebration was something that didn't help with her younger sister's anxiety and definitely didn't help with her youngest sister's inability to recognize that other people in the world existed outside of herself.

But Cory? She was perfect. She had to be perfect—she was the oldest kid. The oldest of three girls, born to a mother who only wanted girls and a father who was just over the moon at all times about the fact that he had three daughters. For real. No one had ever met a guy who was more obsessed with having only daughters than Connor Hall was about Cory and her sisters.

But anyways. 18th birthday. Today.

The entire family came over for birthday dinners. Even the family that wasn't technically related to them. Cory's dad's sister and her family came over, and then her husband's brother and his family came, since her husband's brother had been roommates with Cory's dad in college and his wife had been roommates with her mom. It was a whole big, interconnected thing that was occasionally hard to follow. But they all came over, along with her dad's parents, who drove the two hours north from Richmond to Arlington to come and visit for the birthday.

The only family that didn't come was Cory's mom's family that lived in California—so, her twin brothers and their families, her parents, and her favorite cousin and her family. In replacement of her mom's side of the family, some of Mrs. Hall's other friends from college came over...namely, her other two college roommates and their families. It was one big, happy family, and it really just meant that Cory got a lot more presents than she would have otherwise.

"Cory? I need you to come downstairs, everyone will be here soon."

The day of her birthday passed so quickly that I couldn't even remember half of it, but she remembered the fact that her mother had been cleaning the house when she left for school and she was cleaning it when she got home.

Cory walked downstairs slowly, trying to keep her pants from tripping her up. They were so cute and so her style, but they were just a tad bit too long for her to walk like a normal human being in them, even in heels.

A knock sounded on the front door as Cory walked down the stairs and she ran over to the door, shouting that she could answer it as she went. She whipped it open to find the one person she had been hoping would get there early: her boyfriend of six months, Houston Collet.

"Hey, baby." Houston grinned, walking in through the door and closing it behind him, "Happy birthday."

Cory blushed slightly as he gave her a kiss on the cheek. He was drop-dead gorgeous, and had already met her immediate family, but...not the rest of them. Not the bunch of people who she had been calling 'family' since birth, yet who didn't have any real blood relation to her.

Cory walked with Houston into the kitchen, hearing her phone ding loudly from the next room.

"Houston! How are you?"

"I'm doing great, Mrs. Hall. How have you been? How's that Rossini piece going?"

Cory's mother shook her head, smiling.

"I don't know how you remember these things. Cory doesn't even know the names of the composers we play."

"You play like eighteen songs a week, I can't keep up with them." Cory replied quickly, shaking her head and looking over at Houston with the eyes of someone who had never been quite that in love. "Houston can remember for the both of us."

"Well, in any case, the piece is going better than it was the last time you were here." Sydney laughed, "Although if I play one more wrong note during the pianissimo part, I think I'll be kicked out of first chair."

"You? Never." Houston grinned, popping a carrot from the tray on the table in his mouth, "So where's this crazy family that I've been getting warnings about?"

Cory heard her phone ding again from the other room and went to grab it before another knock sounded on the front door and she changed direction, forgetting about her phone as she opened the door to find both sets of Menck's waiting for her on the front stoop.

"Happy birthday!" Her aunt Aria grinned widely as the whole family filed in one by one: Aria and her husband Jason, Jason's brother Dan and his wife Brittany, and Cory's three favorite cousins: Annabelle, Julia, and Ryan Menck.

They were her favorites because they were all in college, the two girls had the best stories about dating and parties, and Ryan was so protective of his younger cousins that Cory was sure a man would never dare hurt her in her life.

"Happy birthday, Cor!" Ryan picked her up and threw her in the air as Cory screamed bloody murder. "Joining all of us in the adult club. It sucks!"

Cory laughed as Ryan set her back down and her uncle Jason closed the front door behind the whole group, only to have another knock sound on it. Before long, the entire foyer of the Hall house was filled with so many people telling her 'happy birthday' that Cory didn't know where to look next.

Eventually, they all filed into the kitchen, where the Hall's and Houston were waiting for them.

"So this must be Houston." Aunt Britt was the first to give him a hug, and the entire family seemed to forget about Cory immediately. She took advantage of the distraction to run to her dad's office and grab her phone, opening it quickly to see a message from someone she didn't recognize.

As her eyes scanned the message, suddenly all of the people cooing over Houston in the kitchen seemed to do nothing but mock her.

A/N: Let me know what you think of the first chapter!