It was late in the evening when the door to the Holt household slowly opened, and the youngest member of the family stumbled inside with a happy sigh. Katie Holt, known to some as Pidge, had just returned from a local trinkets shop with a few more spare parts that she could hopefully use for her current project. Of course, she'd made the excuse that she was picking them up for her brother. While Matt would probably be interested, she mostly intended to keep them for herself-she just wouldn't let the shop owner know that. People tended to get confused when a girl like her said she ever wanted to do something interesting.

Pidge was hoping that she'd been sneaky, but apparently her parents knew her better than she thought. As soon as she closed the door, she was met with her mother and father's patient, but obviously displeased, expressions.

"Good evening, Katie," Colleen Holt greeted when her daughter appeared. "Did you have a good time?"

Pidge hesitated. It wasn't as if her parents didn't know about her hobbies, but usually the most they would give her is a passing sigh. This, on the other hand, felt like an intervention and she didn't like it.

"Yes...?" Pidge relied hesitantly. "Um, I managed to find those gears I was looking for. Hopefully they fit into Rover."

Pidge's father Sam nodded with a slight smile. "Yes, of course, your mechanical man." He paused. "You're still working on that thing?"

"Well, yeah, he's obviously not going to be done in a day," Pidge hurried to take off her shoes as she spoke, hoping to convey that she wasn't in the mood for this right now.

Her parents didn't get the message.

"Of course," Colleen replied. "But, now that you're back, there's something we would like to talk to you about."

Pidge rolled her eyes. They'd had this conversation plenty of times before. "Are you going to tell me about how I should quit building things and focus on becoming more like a lady?"

Colleen seemed surprised. "Well, I-that wasn't quite what I meant..."

"You are an adult now, Katie," Sam picked up for her. "We don't want to stop you from having fun, but there are some, uh, responsibilities you should be thinking about now."

Pidge just frowned further. "What responsibilities? I have my job. I do my part to support the family. I should be able to do what I want in my free time."

Her parents glanced at each other, suddenly looking very nervous.

Pidge sighed. "Look, I'm sorry, can we maybe just...have this conversation later? I just got home, and I'm tired. I need some rest if we're going to argue about my future."

This drew a chuckle from Sam, but his wife silenced him with an annoyed glare. Sam cleared his throat. "Okay, okay, fine, Katie. You go ahead and sleep. We'll talk tomorrow."

Pidge nodded at them gratefully and bid them good night. Then she disappeared in her room.

Colleen once again turned to Sam with a frown. "Dear, the Reyeses are coming over here tomorrow. When exactly do you plan on telling her? I don't think she'd react too well to this being a surprise."

Sam gave a half hearted shrug. "Hey, maybe we don't have to tell her right away. Maybe if she meets the boy first and likes him, the whole marriage thing won't sound so bad to her."

"And if she doesn't? Our finances are as good as sunk."

"Now, darling, no need to jump to conclusions. We'll see how tomorrow goes and then we'll panic if we need to."

Pidge had fallen asleep too quickly last night to get any work done on Rover, which was a bummer. She'd wanted to get some work done so she could show Matt when he came home for the weekend. Maybe she could get some work done tonight. Her father had sprung some news on her at breakfast that he had some friends coming over this evening, but if she played her cards right, she might be able to weasel out of it and retreat to her room.

And so, as soon as Pidge left her job at the local diner, she headed straight home. It was still pretty early in the evening compared to the usual time she got out, so maybe she could squeeze in some time to herself.

Rover was a mechanical man that Pidge had started work on after the family dog Bei Bei had died a few years ago. Pidge had always liked tinkering with machinery, but after their dog's death, she'd gone all in on building a new companion. As far as she knew, this had never been accomplished before, which only motivated her even more.

Pidge got to her room and immediately started working. Her parents would come ask her any minute now why she didn't have any friends to spend time with after work, and she would ignore them, just like always. They didn't get it.

She got some decent work done in the hour she had, and then she started hearing voices from out in the living room. Must be those friends that her father had told her about this morning. Pidge sighed and stood up. She covered Rover back up and changed into something more presentable, just as she heard a knock on the door.

"Katie," Colleen's voice called gently. "The guests are here. Come out and say hi."

"I'm coming," Pidge replied. "Just give me a second."

Once Pidge was done, she quietly exited her room. The living room was already occupied with five other people-her parents, and a family of strangers she'd never seen. Pidge's dad smiled and waved her over.

"This is my daughter Katie," Sam introduced her, and she shook hands with them, a polite smile on her face. "Katie, this is Miguel and Elena Reyes, and their son Lance."

The couple greeted her joyfully. They seemed nice enough. Lance appeared to be around her age, but taller, with floppy brown hair, blue eyes, and a confident grin.

"Katie Holt," Lance greeted. He took her hand and kissed it, to the amusement of their parents, that cocky smile still on his face. "It is a pleasure."

She hated him already.

Pidge sat quietly on the couch, talking as little as possible without seeming impolite. The Reyes family was loud, almost to the point of obnoxious, and her own parents didn't seem to have a problem with it. Lance was bragging about various adventures he'd gone on in the last year, and Pidge managed to tune him out. He didn't seem like a bad person, per se. He was probably friendly, but he wasn't someone she wanted to hang around for too long. Pidge wondered when she could drop this whole thing and go back to her room without making it too obvious.

Miguel and Elena were now discussing something about finances with Pidge's parents, which just made everything more awkward. Pidge's eyes were darting around, looking for any excuse to escape, when she caught Lance glancing at her.

She raised an eyebrow, and he responded with a sheepish but still wide, grin. Pidge forced herself to smile back.

"You know, it is getting a little stuffy in here," Sam suddenly piped up. "What do you say we take this conversation out to the yard?"

"Sounds like a plan," Miguel replied. "The weather is great outside anyway."

Oh, thank goodness, this could be Pidge's chance to escape. "Mom, I'll catch up with you guys in a little bit, I just need to go grab something from my room-"

"Oh come on now, sweetheart, you can't walk out on our guests," her mother insisted. She grabbed her hand and led her outside, with Lance following in tow. "I know the old adult talk is pretty boring for you, but just give it a few more minutes." She turned to Pidge with a sweet, innocent smile. "Why don't you and Lance get to know each other better? You'd probably have more fun talking to each other than to us."

Pidge hoped her desperate expression got across that no, I don't want to talk to Lance, I don't care about Lance at all, I don't like him, but her mother seemed oblivious. What had Pidge done to deserve this, exactly?

Lance himself, on the other hand, seemed to love the idea. "Yeah, that sounds great," he said. "I don't think you've said anything at all to me, Katie."

There's a reason for that.

"Although, for the record, Mrs. Holt, I don't think listening to you talk is boring at all."

Colleen chuckled as they walked outside, before practically pushing Pidge and Lance together and joining the others.

Pidge tried not to scream as she turned to look up at Lance. Just a few more minutes, she told herself, and he'd be gone from her life forever.

Lance was apparently looking her over, and gave her that stupid grin again. "So...Pidge, right? I've heard that people call you Pidge."

"Only my friends," Pidge replied.

He smiled wider. "Of course. So, Pidge-"

"Call me Katie."

That one seemed to catch him by surprise, and Pidge had only a moment to feel satisfied at his expression before he quickly bounced back. "Right, right, sorry. We barely know each other, after all. Tell me about yourself."

Pidge crossed her arms across her chest and looked at the ground, shrugging. "I mean. Not much to tell. I work at a local diner. I have a brother who comes to visit on the weekends. I, um..." Should I tell him about Rover? Nah, he doesn't need to know. "I like to...take...walks."

The words coming out of her mouth were completely dull, but somehow Lance at least seemed interested. Either he was an amazing actor, or the idea of going on walks was the most exciting thing this boy had ever heard. Considering the supposed dazzling adventures he'd been bragging about earlier, Pidge supposed it was the former. He must think she's boring. Not that she cared what he thought of her.

"Hmm. Sounds like fun," Lance said simply. "Going on walks, seeing the town, meeting people. I enjoy that too." He was still staring at her. "What else? Got any hobbies? Dreams? Aspirations?"

Pidge blinked, hoping that her weariness of this conversation wasn't showing on her face. "Um. People don't usually ask me about that."

Lance seemed to count that as a victory, as his eyes lit up. "Well, I'm interested."

She narrowed her eyes at him, once again wondering if he was sincere, and pondered how to answer the question. She could always just lie to him, it's not like it mattered.

"Well, I...guess I enjoy...creating things."

"Like what?"

"...Art."

Lance smiled again. "Ooh, I've never met an artist before."

"Yeah, I guess. But not the regular kind. Like...I like to take old things and tinker with them."

"That's pretty cool. I knew there was something interesting underneath your plain exterior. Show me your work sometime."

Pidge tried not to roll her eyes. "Yeah, sure, of course." She cleared her throat and swerved the conversation away from herself. "So anyway, you mentioned that you like to travel. Have you gone anywhere recently?"

Lance perked up at the chance to talk about himself again. "Oh yeah! This last summer an old schoolmate of mine offered to take me to Europe for some kind of food tour, I think. My parents refused because they didn't want me to go overseas, but then..."

Pidge nodded along, letting him talk and feigning interest until it was finally time for them to leave.

She was relieved. Having guests over was always a drag for her, even if they were nice. The sooner they were gone, the sooner she could be alone to do what she wanted again.

That night, Pidge had covered up her mechanical man and was getting ready for bed, when her mother came into her room.

Colleen was smiling as she came closer. "Sorry from keeping you away from your work," she began, slightly cheeky. "I hope you're not too mad at us."

Pidge shook her head in amusement. "I'm not mad at you, mom. It's not like I can stop you from seeing your friends."

Colleen nodded slowly. She turned toward the door, where Sam also entered.

"There you are," Sam began. "Done working for the night, Pidgeon?"

Pidge smiled back. "Only because you guys won't let me stay up past midnight."

Colleen scoffed, but Sam laughed. "Well, when you get married and move out, you can do whatever you want."

"Can't wait."

Her parents were quiet, glancing nervously at each other just as they had the day before. Pidge had a sneaking suspicion they were keeping something from her, and it was confirmed as soon as Sam cleared his throat.

"So, honey, I've been meaning to ask," Sam began. "What did you think of our guests?"

Pidge turned to him slowly, trying to decipher his expression. "They were...fine."

"That Lance fellow sure was something, huh?"

"I...guess he was okay. Loud and intrusive and self-centered, but at least he wasn't mean." She raised an eyebrow at them. "Why?"

Colleen clicked her tongue. "Well, the Reyes family and us, we've been...talking about something," she said slowly. "You know how times have been a little hard for us lately. They've been going through the same thing, and we've decided that a good solution for it would be, well, an arranged marriage."

"...what?"

"You and Lance."

"What?!"

Sam tried to dispel the situation. "Now, just think about it for a second, sweetie-"

"No!" Pidge cried. "No way! You didn't even ask me about this! I don't want to marry him! I don't want to get married at all yet! How could you do this?"

"Katie, it's really not as bad as you make it sound-"

"No, you can't just do something like that without asking me first! I don't even like him! He's annoying and cocky and obnoxious! A-and he doesn't even like me either, he called me plain! No, I refuse! The marriage isn't happening!"

Her parents stood back and let her finish ranting, apparently having expected this. Colleen shot a look at her husband.

Sam sighed. "Okay, fine, fine. We'll talk about this again in the morning."

"We won't talk about it again because it's not happening!" Pidge snapped. "It's over! Tell them it's over!"

"Good night, Katie."

Her parents swiftly left the room and closed the door, leaving a distraught Pidge behind them. "I'm not going to marry him!" She yelled at the door.

Her parents didn't respond, but she could hear them quietly arguing from outside her room. They weren't going to consult her about his at all, were they? They were just hoping she'd calm down and accept whatever they threw at her. As if their financial troubles couldn't possibly be solved any other way.

But no. She wasn't going to take this lying down. Katie Holt wouldn't be forced to do anything against her will. She'd convince them to call off the marriage somehow, but who would listen to her?

Pidge layed awake in bed for what felt like forever, when suddenly she remembered that she still had one last hope. Someone who had always had her back ever since they were children.

Matt.