Lightning.
A/N: At first I had chapters 11 and 12 in one chapter, but it got ridiculously long so I cut it. Here's the rest.
Chapter Twelve: Thanksgiving Ð Or Whatever, Part Two
"Mom! I have to go!" Rory called from the bottom of the stairs. She was wearing black, dress pants, a blue sweater, and a pained expression. She couldn't wait to see Tade, but she was a little afraid to meet the brothers. A little afraid was an understatement. Why had she made such a big deal about wanting to meet them? She asked herself. Oh yeah, because she loved Tade and he loved these people.
"Ok. Do you have everything?" Lorelai asked after hopping down the stairs and looking her daughter over.
"I guess so." Rory sighed deeply.
"Are you freaking out? Would you like to call up Grandma and swear some more?" Lorelai asked with mock tenderness.
"I still can't believe I did that. She is never going to forgive me." Rory cringed at the memory of the previous night.
"It'll be fine. When I was a teenager the occasional curse would surface in our arguments. It's just one of those things. I mean if we were never supposed to say them they wouldn't have been created." Lorelai shrugged.
"That's not what I remember being taught." Rory smiled.
"Well, rules change. Now get out of here so you can go see your dangerously charming boyfriend." Lorelai smiled and pulled her daughter into a hug.
"I'm going." She hugged her mother back and headed for the door. "Dangerously charming? What the hell does that mean?" Rory rolled her eyes and stepped out the door.
Two hours later she turned off of FDR drive at 14th street. She stopped at a florist shop and bought a bouquet of Lilies for Essien. She would have brought a bottle of wine, but she couldn't legally buy one. The flowers would have to do. She got back in her car and looked at the address she had written down. Prince Street. Perfect.
She drove down the winding streets of lower Manhattan until she reached Prince Street. She drove down the street until she spotted Tade sitting in a beach chair and reading a book in an empty parking space. When he saw her car coming he stood up and moved the chair. Rory pulled into the spot, got out of her car, and pulled Tade into a kiss.
"Saving me a spot?" Rory asked with a grin.
"You've always got a spot with me." He smiled before pulling her into another kiss, which was rudely disturbed when Fayez leaned out the window and shouted at them.
"Hey! Stop smooching in the road and get your asses up here!" Fayez called before pulling his head back through the window.
"Let me guess, that was Fayez." Rory said with blushing cheeks.
"The one and only." Tade shook his head with a smile. He took her overnight bag from her, slung it over his shoulder, wrapped his other arm around her waste, and led them inside. "Everybody get out here and meet Rory!" He called to the scattered occupants of the apartment as he took Rory into the living room. It smelled like the airy remains of leather and cedar wood. Slowly, the various men filtered into the room with expectant looks on their faces.
"Everybody, this is Rory. Rory, this is Essien." Tade gestured to a handsome man of medium height, wearing a diamond ring in his right ear and a hot pink sports coat over his black t-shirt.
"Hello Rory." Essien gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Oh, look at those eyes. You look just like Elizabeth Taylor." He said with a large smile.
"Thank you." Rory blushed deeply. "These are for you." She added handing the bouquet to him.
"Oh these are lovely." Essien said sincerely in his deep voice. "I'm going to go put these in a vase." He smiled before exiting the room.
"This is Mark." Tade indicated the tall, red-haired man, with milky skin. He had a matching diamond ring in his right ear and was wearing jeans and a green sweater that matched his eyes.
"Nice to meet you." Rory greeted Mark with a handshake.
"You too Rory. Just so you know, Essien meant Elizabeth Taylor forty years ago, not now." He explained with a thick, Brooklyn accent.
"Good. Because my hair and I have some arguments, but it hasn't gone full-on Liz yet." Rory joked.
"Over here is Fayez." Tade continued the introductions with a gesticulation towards a very young looking man. He was average height with light, brown skin, big, brown eyes, feminine lips, and a tiny, button nose. There was something familiar about his face that she couldn't identify. He wore baggy jeans and a black polo shirt. He did not fit his description at all
"Hey there. You know you just earned about thirty faggot points in Essien's book of queer with that Liz Taylor joke." Fayez informed through his heavy accent. His personality fit the description.
"Cam!" Tade moaned at his friend.
"Chill out man. I'm just joking." He stood up and shook Rory's hand. "It's very nice to meet you. I've heard nothing but wonderful things." He greeted politely before rolling his eyes at Rory in a good-natured way that brought a smile to her face.
"And this is Nyack." Tade finally introduced the very tall, skinny man who had been standing near by with a goofy look on his face. His hair stuck out in all directions. He had big ears. He was wearing khakis and a polka-dotted oxford shirt with Mickey-Mouse suspenders. He fit his description perfectly.
"Hi!" He greeted a little too enthusiastically in his squeaky voice.
"Nice to meet you." Rory shook his clammy hand with an almost invisibly hesitant look that Mark noticed and caused him to smile widely.
"Alright. I'm going to give Rory a tour of the house. We'll help you cook in a few minutes." Off of Rory's horrified look, "Ok, I'll help you cook, she will go nowhere near the food." He clarified. "So, this is the living room." Tade swept his hand in front of them in a Vana White fashion. Rory looked at the large living room with sunny windows, hardwood floors, black, leather furniture, a plasma TV, an art-deco coffee table, a grand piano, an assortment of other instruments, a humongous sound system, and a whole wall-shelf filled from top to bottom with CDs. She was amazed, to say the least. He led her down a carpeted hallway with walls that were covered in books. "This is the bathroom." Tade touched the first door on their right. "These are closets." He gestured towards two doors on the left. They walked farther down the corridor. "This is the guest room." He opened the second door on the right to reveal a sunny, picturesque room that looked as though it had come straight out of a Pottery Barn catalogue. "This is where the twins will sleep, if they ever get here that is." He shut the door and took her to the door across the hall. "This is mine and Fayez's room." He opened the door and let Rory step inside. It smelled like Tade, horses, cotton, Febreze, and cigarettes. She liked it. It was a large room with white, wall-to-wall carpeting. The large windows shed light throughout the room. On either side of the room was a twin-sized bed. One had a white comforter, the other a black one. Hanging above each bed was a large Sable D'Or flag and a large Saudi Arabian flag, respectively. On the wall adjacent to Tade's bed was a large poster of Frank Sinatra. On the wall adjacent to Fayez's bed was a large poster of Eminem. Against the wall that held the door there was a black, oversized couch with a coffee table made out of compressed soda cans in a glass case. She turned questioning eyes to Tade. "I made that in high school." He answered without requiring a question.
"Wow." Rory stepped farther into the room to look at the stuffed bookshelf behind the couch. "The Baby-Sitter's Club?!" she laughed hysterically.
"Those are Fayez's. He used them to learn English. You should have heard him when he first moved here. He sounded like a major sissy." Tade laughed at the memory.
"Why did he move here?" Rory asked.
"He kept causing a ruckus in the press back home and our parents are friends, so they sent him here. Family misfits always seem to end up here." Tade explained.
"It does seem sort of like a boy haven." Rory remarked.
"It just depends on which gender makes up the majority of the guests. Before I started living here my sister and Mark's oldest niece were crashing here for a bit. It was like girl world. Essien loved it." Tade laughed and Rory smiled too.
"I like him. I like Mark too. He's kind of like a gay version of Luke." This comment sent them both into a fit of laughter. "Fayez seems cool. He does not look the way I imagined though." She went on.
"I know what you mean. He hasn't changed at all since he was fourteen. There's something too-" Tade couldn't think of the word he was looking for.
"Cute." Rory filled in. "He looks like a cute little animal. I just can't figure out which animal." She wondered aloud.
"A camel. It took me two years but I eventually figured it out by looking at a pack of his cigarettes." Tade revealed.
"You're right." Rory's face opened up with that piece of information. She didn't have to spend her entire stay thinking about it. Wait, her stay, where was she staying? "Hey, uh, quick question: where am I staying?" For some reason she was a little embarrassed about having to ask this question. Some paranoid part of her brain came out and tried to convince her that she hadn't actually been invited to spend the night. Luckily her crazy wonderings were ended when Tade spoke.
"Don't worry. Put your paranoid thoughts away." Tade smiled knowingly at her and she blushed. "I got us a room at the Plaza for tonight." He revealed his surprise in a nonchalant tone as he looked at his hands. When he looked back up Rory was beaming. She reached her arms around his neck and pulled him into a short kiss and a hug.
"Oh, but that's too expensive. I can't let you do that." Her worries began to overshadow her joy.
"It's really not that bad. Plus, I don't think I could let a nice girl like you stay with my brothers." He said with a grin.
"They're not that bad." She grinned back.
"Ha. You haven't met the twins yet." He rolled his eyes at the thought of them. "They are major womanizers and for some peculiar reason that I have yet to discover, woman love them in return." He clarified.
"I see. You're worried I'm going to get one look at the double-fun and drop you like a bad habit." She joked with a wide grin. "I get it. I guess I can stay at the settle for a night with you at the Plaza." She shrugged in a mocking way. Tade just shook his head kissed her. He picked her up with one arm around her waste and began to tickle her mercilessly. "Tade!" She giggled breathlessly. "Stop. I give." He stopped tickling her with a mischievous smile.
"Who do you like more than my brothers?" He asked in a deep voice with a hand ready to tickle again.
"Hm." Rory pretended to think. And he tickled her again. "Fine! Fine! I love you the most!" She smiled at him as he pulled her into a hug.
"I love you the most too." He whispered into her ear. They pulled apart and left the room hand in hand with big smiles on their faces. When they reached the end of the hallway they were met with the sight of Fayez, Nyack, and Essien staring at them with raised eyebrows. "What?" Tade asked.
"Do I need to keep a chaperone with you two?" Essien asked with a smirk.
"Huh?" Tade seemed to be out of the loop.
"Our bedroom isn't sound proof." Fayez said, but only received blank stares from Rory and Tade. "No noisy fucking in there please!" He spelled it out for them. Rory's face instantly went red and Tade's hand flew to his forehead.
"We weren't fucking!" Tade explained with a groan.
"Sure you weren't." Fayez said skeptically.
"He was tickling and then-" Rory tried to fix things but was much too embarrassed.
"There was no sex." Tade stated. "And what the hell is with you guys coming out here to listen? You perves." He shook is head at the group.
"Well it was just so bizarre to hear Tade the Prude getting it on." Fayez justified in his coarse way.
"For the last time, we weren't "getting it on" you creep!" Tade shouted without anger at his friend. "And you shouldn't be talking about sex in the room. I have caught you in many a compromising situation in that room." His eyebrows showed him turning the tables.
"Name one." Fayez dared.
"Tina Swistel." Tade countered.
"Who?" Fayez truly didn't remember.
"Big Titty Tina." Nyack interjected with a cracking voice.
"Oh yeah." Fayez smiled at the memory. "Those were some big knockers. Whatever happened to her?" He asked with a far away look.
"I heard she became a porn star." Nyack answered.
"Nah. She married Dorky Dan last year and works at Bergdorf's." Tade cleared up.
"Boys! This is not exactly a topic for company." Essien broke into their reverie as he sent a warm smile in Rory's direction.
"Sorry." Tade shrugged with his lips.
"Yeah. I heard you're not big on swearing and, unfortunately, I have a tendency to flavor my speech with the occasional curse." Fayez explained in his polite voice.
"Don't worry. Tade does that too sometimes and it seems to be rubbing off on me." Rory rolled her eyes at the memory of the previous night.
"Uh-oh. What did you do?" Tade asked with a mockingly stern look.
"I said fuck in front of my grandma." Rory looked at Tade with a cringing smile.
"Alright people! Let's get this girl a soda. She said the F word in front of her grandmother!" Fayez ordered jokingly as they led her into the kitchen. "Take the good stool." He continued the joke as he led her to a stool at the kitchen counter.
"Would you like diet or regular Coke?" Essien asked Rory.
"Regular please." She answered.
"Good." Mark said as he fidgeted with the stove. "Diet is for chumps." He grumbled.
"Hey, sometimes a girls got to take drastic measures to keep her figure. Even is it means drinking tasteless cancer juice." Essien said as he handed a regular Coke to Rory and took a diet for himself. "Have you tried this new Coca-Cola C2 thing with half the carbs?" He asked her.
"No, but I've been meaning to." Rory said. She and her mother had just seen the commercial and hadn't gotten around to buying any yet.
"I had some yesterday." Tade broke in. "It tastes like regular Coke, but a little fruity with a little something else in there too." He informed.
"Hey, that's just like Essien." Mark interposed, giving Essien a nudge.
"Indeed." He joked back with a smile.
"Hang on here!" Nyack stopped them all. "Why did you say fuck in front of your grandmother?" He asked Rory.
"Lord, I don't know. We were fighting and it just came out." Rory illustrated this with a flick of her wrist near her mouth.
"What were you fighting about?" Tade asked with his brow slightly furrowed. He didn't like when Rory got into fights with her grandma because it always made her upset.
"Uh," She blushed deeply. "You." She said quietly.
"Oh!" Fayez shouted. "I knew my boy was getting some!" He laughed and patted Tade on the back. Tade shook it off and sent a death glare at him. Mark smacked Fayez in the back of the head. Rory just turned red. "Sorry. I just can't control what I say sometimes. Shit, I got kicked out of my own country because of that." He shrugged.
"Tade told me about that." Rory got her embarrassment under control. "What exactly happened there?" she really wanted to know.
"Let's see, I mooned the paparazzi, I gave the finger more times than I can count, I had an affair with the editor of one of the top gossip magazines when I was fourteen, and just a bunch of other stuff like that, but it was the affair that got me a plane ticket here." He raised a shoulder in indifference as Rory's eyebrows raised in amazement.
"All of that does sound rather rebellious, but why was the paparazzi following you in the first place?" Rory asked.
"Oh, sorry, I forgot to introduce him completely." Tade jumped in. "This is Prince Fayez XIII." He introduced again.
"Unlucky Number Thirteen, that's what the press called me. That is, of course, until I got lucky with the editor." Fayez smiled.
"Another prince! Mark, are you a prince too?" Rory didn't see that coming.
"Nope. I'm just Mark Alexander from Brooklyn." He said as he opened a large can of pineapples.
"Thank God. This was getting ridiculous." Rory shook her head with a smile as they heard the front door open.
"Hey you bitches! The party can finally begin cause we're here and we're fuckin' hungry," Thembi hollered as he and Dinari dropped their bags and trudged into the kitchen. Rory looked at the one who had spoken first. He had a lighter complexion than Tade. He had a triangular nose, a stubble-covered chin, big, shiny eyes, and thick, harsh, eyebrows. He wore a black bandana on his head, a worn, brown leather jacket, a torn, black t-shirt, ripped jeans, and brown boots. The other one had identical features, but his face was clean-shaven, his left eyebrow was pierce, and his dark hair was pulled into a short ponytail at the base of his neck. He had taken off his black, leather jacket and he held it in his large, muscular hands. He wore a black t-shirt with a pack of cigarettes rolled into the right sleeve. His arms were muscular and his veins were raised in his skin. On his left bicep was a tattoo of the Sable D'Or flag, and on the other was a tattoo of the letter D wearing a crown. His jeans weren't ripped, but they had a large, black oil stain across the left knee. On his feet he wore a pair of black penny loafers that made one wonder what his story was.
"Guys, this is Rory. Rory, this is Thembi and this is Dinari." Tade indicated with a respective gesture.
"Nice to meet you." Rory said politely. Dinari nodded his greeting, while Thembi stepped forward and pulled her into a hug.
"So you're the girlfriend." Thembi greeted a little too loudly. "God, you're gorgeous." He said, stepping back to look her over. "Damn bro, you did good." He said, slapping Tade on the back.
"See what I told you." Essien said to Tade. "Nothing can keep these knuckleheads from being rude, not even the presence of a nice girl like Rory." He shook his head at the twins.
"He's right." Thembi conceded. "Anyway, when are we eating?" He asked as he looked towards Mark who was mixing peanut butter, Tabasco, and cilantro in a saucepan.
"Three minutes. Go sit at the table and stop crowding me." Mark answered.
"I see Mark's still got a bug up his ass. Nice to know there are some things you can count on." Thembi turned to Nyack. "Nyack the Ass-Crack, how's MIT treating you?" he asked as he wrapped an arm around Nyack's neck.
"It's treating me very nicely." Nyack answered with some fear in his voice.
"Good." Thembi turned to Fayez. "Fay, sleep with any older women since I last saw you?" he asked as he bobbed his eyebrows playfully.
"You know it man." Fayez smirked.
"I love that nothing ever changes around here. Except of course," Thembi spun on the heels of his boot so that he was facing Tade with a cocked eyebrow. "For my baby brother. We were really thrown for a loop when we heard you were bringing a girl. I was beginning the Ntekim charm only made it to the first eight children cause God knows Ass-Crack didn't get any, but I guess I was wrong." Thembi gave Tade a light punch in the jaw. "Tell me Rory," He sent a sexy smile in her direction. "Did my baby brother get his fair share of charm?" he was blatantly flirting now.
"More than just a fair share." She answered as she wrapped an arm around Tade's waste and pulled him close to her. She saw that Tade was beginning to look sad as he watched his brother flirt with her. He sent her a large smile when she pulled him close. "Some might even call him dangerously charming." She echoed her grandmother's words and sent a triumphant look at a dejected Thembi as Tade kissed the top of her head.
"Shot down!" Fayez boomed. "Nicely done Rory." He held his hand out for a high-five, which she gladly received. "You shot down that flirting bastard." He sounded genuinely impressed.
"Me? Flirting?" Thembi scoffed.
"Don't do it again." Dinari's deep, scratchy voice left the room quiet. "Tade's a good kid. Leave Rory alone." He ordered his brother before placing a cigarette between his lips, lighting it, and returning to silence.
"Thanks D." Tade said softly. Dinari sent a slight nod before returning his gaze to the curl of smoke that he released from his lips. Tade had an immense respect for Dinari, but he was more afraid of losing Rory to him than to Thembi. Dinari had a sex appeal that was known in every corner of Sable D'Or. He got anything and anyone without even wanting them. Tade noticed a small, stunned smile sitting on Rory's lips and a weight fell on his heart. His thoughts were disturbed, however, when Mark spoke.
"Alright you animals. Grub's ready." He shoed them towards the large, wooden table, with the pot of food in hand. Essien took a seat at one end. Rory, Tade, and Fayez sat on one side, and Thembi, Dinari, and Nyack sat on the other. When Mark finished serving the food he took his place at the empty end. Rory hadn't really had time to register all the strange ingredients that had been put into this dish, so when she was served a bowl of brown goop she put on a brave face.
"So what exactly is this?" She asked with an oversized smile.
"This is an old recipe from back home." Essien explained.
"Not my home." Fayez pushed his spoon through the brown slush and made a sound of disgust as he let his breath out of his pursed lips.
"It's Pineapple Peanut Stew." Mark said as he pulled the cork from a bottle of champagne and poured a glass for everyone. "Honey, will you do the honors?" he asked Essien.
"Of course babe." Essien stood with is glass raised. "May the kings of Sable D'Or live forever. Vive Le France. Vive L'Italia. Long live the Queen. God bless America. And fuck George W. Bush." He finished.
"Cheers!" Everyone said as they clinked their glasses together. They all sipped their champagne, sat back down, and took a bite of the stew. Rory had never tasted anything as bad as that stew in her entire life, but she hid her grimace to be polite. She didn't notice the similar grimaces on the faces of those at the table.
"Ok. We've paid homage to Sable." Mark said putting down his spoon and standing from the table. "I'll be back with the pizzas in ten minutes." He announced before walking out of the kitchen. Everyone else put down their spoons and gathered their plates to bring to the dishwasher.
"What the hell was that?" Rory asked Tade in a hushed tone.
"That was patriotism, Sable style." He answered as though this were normal. "What? You didn't think I expected you to eat that shit?" He asked her with a smile. "Do you know what's in that crap? Onions, garlic, vegetable oil, Swiss chard, pineapple, peanut butter, Tabasco, cilantro, scallions, and salt." He listed. Rory let her face contort in repulsion. "Exactly." He smiled before taking her dish and bringing it to the dishwasher.
"Let's all adjourn to the living room. Shall we?" Essien suggested before grabbing the champagne bottle from the table and prancing out of the kitchen.
"We shall!" Fayez called after him before leaving the room as well.
"Is it just us or does that shit get grosser every year?" Thembi asked no one in particular before exciting.
"It's not just you." Nyack croaked before following the others.
Dinari merely shook his head at the thought of the whole family and left to stand in the far corner of the living room.
"How are you holding up?" Rory asked as she entwined her fingers with Tade's. She had noticed the smile slip from his face when he watched Dinari.
"I should be asking you that." He smiled again as he looked at her. "This place is like the outpatient zone of an insane asylum." He grinned as he rested his head on her shoulder.
"Hey. I'm from Stars Hollow. This is totally doable." She smiled and kissed his cheek before leading him into the living room to join the others.
"We are not singing that." Thembi stated with a wild gesticulation in the direction of Essien.
"What aren't we singing ?" Tade asked as he took a seat in the black, leather armchair and pulled Rory into his lap.
"Tiny Dancer by Elton John." Thembi moaned.
"You suggest that every year." Tade waved a hand of dismissal at his brother.
"I like that song." Rory put out there.
"That's all well and good, but little kids don't like that song. It's not fast enough." Thembi explained.
"Oh. Wait, what are you guys talking about?" Rory asked. For some, reason she was starting to feel more comfortable around these people.
"They're planning what we're going to sing for the Spring Concert for the Kids at home." Tade explained. "We end up talking about it every Thanksgiving and they ignore the fact that we've been singing pretty much the same thing for the past five years." He said with a roll of his eyes.
"Yeah. We used to have a much wider selection before that. You completely blew it for us Tade." Thembi said with mock anger.
"How did you blow it?" Rory asked Tade with a smile.
"Dirrrrrty." Essien rolled his Rs and he and Rory shared a light laugh. She really like him, and, for some reason, felt a strong desire to introduce him to her mother.
"Anyway, I didn't blow it," Tade looked at the giggling face of Rory and Essien. "I mean, I didn't screw it up, puberty did." He stated to the confused look on Rory's face. "We used to be able to do a lot of Jackson Five songs, but I can't hit the high notes like I used to." He explained.
"You are a total failure." Fayez joked.
"Thanks." Tade said sarcastically in return.
"Anyway, what have we got lined up for this year?" Essien asked.
"Ok. We open with Queen's "We Will Rock You", then we do Frank's "Swinging on a Star", then the Beatles' "Twist and Shout", then Bobby Darin's "Don't Rain on My Parade", and those are all the regulars." Tade listed.
"I say we do Dusty Springfield's "Put a Little Love in Your Heart"." Nyack suggested. In response he had a pillow chucked at his head by Thembi.
"They're never going to let you do that song man." Fayez said with a shake of his head.
"Why do we always have so much Frank Sinatra in the line up?" Nyack whined.
"Why do we have so much Frank? Why do we have so much Frank?!" Tade hollered at his squeaky voiced brother.
"Uh-oh." Mark whistled. He had come in the door in time to hear the last bit of this exchange. He set the pizza boxes on the coffee table, took a slice, and prepared to watch the fight unfold.
"Frank was the greatest singer to ever live! And considering I do most of the singing at this thing, I say we sing Frank! Got it?!" Tade got very defensive when it came to Frank Sinatra.
"You said it boy." Mark approved.
"In fact, I'm going to throw "High Hopes" into the line up because Frank is just that great and you are not!" Tade shouted. He took the slice pizza that Rory passed to him. "Thank you." He smiled at her. As the group fell into silence and ate, Dinari walked to the piano and took a seat on the bench. He propped his cigarette on the music stand and began to play the harsh, thumping notes of the Tom Waits song.
"I like my town with a little drop of poison.
Nobody knows they're lining up to go insane.
I'm all alone. I smoke my friends down to the filter,
But I feel much cleaner after it rains.
And she left in the fall, that's her picture on the wall.
She always had that little drop of poison.
She left in the fall, that's her picture on the wall.
She always had that little drop of poison." His shoulders were hunched as his muscular arms and hands pounded out the notes. His scratchy voice sounded remarkably like Tom Waits'. It was sexy with just a little drop of poison.
"Did the devil make the world while God was sleeping?
You'll never get a wish from a bone.
Another wrong good-bye and a hundred sailors.
That deep blue sky is my home.
And she left in the fall, that's her picture on the wall.
She always had that little drop of poison.
She left in the fall, that's her picture on the wall.
She always had that little drop of poison.
Well a rat always knows when he's in with weasels.
Here you lose a little every day.
I remember when a million was a million.
They all have ways to make you pay.
And she left in the fall, that's her picture on the wall.
She always had that little drop of poison.
And she left in the fall, that's her picture on the wall.
She always had that little drop of poison. " He finished pounding the keys, stood up, put his cigarette back in his mouth, and propped his elbows on his knees. He was done. Everyone in the room had stopped to watch and listen as the quiet one sang. They stared in silence for a moment.
"I say we whip out the Beastie Boys with "Fight for Your Right to Party"." Thembi ended the silence and the group broke into chatter again.
"Does this sort of thing happen often?" Rory whispered her question into Tade's ear. He had to think about this for a moment.
"Only every time we all get together." He gave her a brave smile. She saw that he really missed his brothers when he was at school. She kissed him lightly on the cheek and his smile grew.
"You guys should do this more often." She leaned her head on his shoulder.
"No way." Mark broke into their private conversation. "I'll die and early death if I have to see these boys all at once more than three times a year." He shook his head at his pizza.
"Well, start preparing your will cause we're moving back to the Big Apple." Thembi slapped Mark and the back and grinned widely.
"I hate you." Mark said in a flat tone.
"That's what all the ugly girls say." Thembi joked in return as he pinched Mark's cheek.
"This is my family." Tade whispered to Rory. She smiled and kissed his cheek.
"Thank you." She whispered. He nodded. He knew what she meant. She leaned back into his chest and watched the family in front of her. It was something special alright.