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My parents are happy to see us.
Mom isn't teaching summer school this year, and Dad has a couple days off from the hospital, so we spend the long weekend exploring the Fakahatchee Strand Reserve. The guided tour left a lot to the imagination, so we went back the next day to do our own hike.
It's mostly swampland, and mosquitos are inevitable. I have to douse myself in bug repellent and still get swarmed by them.
Bella jokes that it's because my blood is so delectable.
Alice gets some great shots for her Instagram, and Angela is happy to soak up the knowledge. You can take the girl out of school but not the learning out of the girl.
By the end of the tours, they practically fall into bed, and Bella and I spend a lot of time with my parents. We catch them up on our lives, and Bella shares her plans for the girls' birthday.
She wants to buy them new cars, but I think they'll be fine sharing the Bug I'm still making payments on.
As seniors, they can rent parking spots and decorate them however they want, so I have a feeling I'm going to lose the battle. That doesn't mean I can't fight tooth and nail before Bella inevitably gets her way.
Mom and Dad plan on coming up for the party Bella wants to throw, despite their insistence that they don't need some grand affair.
"I haven't celebrated my birthday in fifty-two years, so I want to spoil them," she argues and glares at me. "Edward's been reining me in though."
"I'm trying to tell her they're too old for petting zoos and bounce houses."
Mom just laughs. "The petting zoo wouldn't be much fun, considering how many vampires are going to be there. Animals don't really like our kind."
"That's what I'm saying," I agree. "Thank you."
"But you're never too old for a bounce house," Dad pipes in.
I give up.
The vampires in my life have lost their damn minds.
At this rate, Alice and Angela are going to skip their own party.