YIPPEE! IT'S CHAPTER THREE! Hey, that rhymed! Cool! HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY! IT'S 2009! ALL YOUR T.V.'S ARE GONNA STOP WORKING ON FEBRUARY 17TH IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR DIGITAL CONVERTER BOXES! HURRY UP AND GET 'EM IF YOU WANNA CONTINUE TO WATCH T.V.! HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRY!
I own nothing. The Almighty Larson owns it all.
"Oh. My. God," Maureen said, staring out the window of the van at a rather large house. "This is where you grew up, Collins?"
"Yeah," Collins replied.
"If I were you, I would've never moved out," Roger said.
"Trust me, man. If you were me, you would've made the same decision."
"I can't wait to see what the inside looks like!" Maureen exclaimed.
"Ten bucks says she breaks at least one thing," Benny said.
"Twenty says she breaks more than one thing," Roger replied.
"Forty says I break absolutely nothing!" Maureen said.
"You can't bet on yourself, Maureen," Joanne told her.
"Sure I can. And I'm gonna win too!" The bohemians and Benny got out of the van and began walking up to Collins' childhood home. Once they were on the porch Maureen tried opening the door, but it was locked.
"Is there no one here?" Mimi asked. Collins simply reached under the welcome mat and pulled out a key.
"Is that always there?" Joanne asked.
"Yup," Collins replied. "It's been there for as long as I can remember." He led his friends into the house and immediately saw Jasmine sweeping the hallway. "Jazz?" His sister looked up and her eyes widened as the broom fell from her hand.
"Tommy!" she exclaimed, running to Collins and hugging him. Collins hugged her back, finding it funny that he was now taller than she was. Their hug was broken after a few moments. "I can't believe you're here! I haven't seen you in years! Mamma said she sent you a letter askin' you to come down for the reunion, but I didn't think you would!" She hugged her little brother again before noticing that there were people behind him. "Oh, who do we have here?"
"These are the people I met in New York," Collins said, turning to his friends. "This is Angel, Mark, Roger, Mimi, Maureen, Joanne, and Benny."
"Nice to meet ya'll." Jasmine stared at Angel for a moment as if trying to figure something out.
"Nice to meet you too!" Maureen exclaimed, hugging Jasmine, whose eyes widened.
"Sorry about that," Joanne apologized, pulling Maureen away from Jasmine. "She's a little excited."
"That's okay," Jasmine said. "At least I'll remember her now." A small girl ran into the hallway.
"Ma, I finished the dishes," she said to Jasmine.
"That's good, sweetheart," Jasmine replied. "Look who's here." The girl turned and looked at Collins.
"Uncle Tom!" she exclaimed, smiling.
"This is Tammy?" Collins asked.
"Yeah," Jasmine replied.
"She's gettin' big."
"Well, you haven't seen her in a long time." Tammy hugged Collins tightly.
"I've missed you, Uncle Tom," she said. She stopped hugging Collins and looked behind him. "Are these your friends?"
"Yes they are," Collins told her. "Their names are Angel, Mark, Roger, Mimi, Maureen, Joanne, and Benny. Everybody, this is my niece, Tammy."
"Hi everybody," Tammy said. "Ma, can I go outside and play now?"
"Go ahead," Jasmine said. Tammy smiled and practically ran out the door.
"She's your daughter?" Mimi asked. Jasmine nodded.
"Why's her name Tammy?" Benny asked.
"Cause she's a girl and I wanted to name her after my favorite little brother," Jasmine explained. "If she'd turned out to be a boy, I would've named her Tommy."
"I wanna meet Jesse!" Maureen said.
"No. You. Don't," Collins told her.
"Jesse ain't that bad," Jasmine said.
"He said the girls should stay away from him because he's so good looking," Mimi explained.
"Well, he ain't lyin' there."
"I still wanna meet him!" Maureen said.
"Why don't ya'll go in the livingroom and sit down?" Jasmine suggested. "I'll bring you some lemonade."
"Which way is the livingroom?" Angel asked.
"Just go down the hall about halfway and then turn to your left. Tommy, could you help me with the drinks?" Collins nodded and followed Jasmine to the kitchen. "I'm gonna assume you remember where everything is."
"Of course," Collins replied, opening a cupboard, taking out eight glasses, and setting them on the counter.
"Tommy, can I ask you something?" Jasmine was at the refrigerator searching for the pitcher of lemonade.
"What?"
"That Angel person . . . is she really a . . . she?" Collins stiffened as Jasmine poured the lemonade into the glasses. "Well?"
"No." Collins' voice was barely above a whisper, but Jasmine still heard him.
"I didn't think so. I have another question for you."
"Can it wait?"
"No, it can't."
"Yes it can. You just don't want it to wait."
"Exactly. Now, why'd you bring a transvestite in this house?"
"I-" Collins started.
"You know how Daddy feels about gay people let alone transvestites!" Jasmine interrupted.
"I know, but-"
"What were you thinkin'!?"
"I was-"
"I know, you weren't thinkin'!"
"Yes I wa-"
"Well, if you were thinkin', then tell me exactly what you were-"
"I was thinkin' that my family had a right to meet the love of my life!" Jasmine's eyes widened and Collins looked at the floor.
"Love of your life?" Jasmine said in slight shock. "Tommy, are you sayin' . . .?"
"Yeah," Collins replied. "I am."
"This isn't good."
"I know."
"This is not good. Daddy's gonna kill you!"
"I know! Stop reminding me!"
"You should've waited to bring Angel here."
"If I waited any longer, it'd be even harder to explain."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Did you happen to see the ring on Angel's finger?"
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with any-" Jasmine stopped herself in mid-sentence and her eyes widened. "No way."
"Way." Collins smiled slightly.
"Tommy, you're engaged?"
"Yeah." Jasmine hugged Collins tightly.
"Congratulations! God, I'm so happy for you!" she exclaimed.
"This isn't the reaction I thought I'd get." Jasmine stopped hugging Collins and gave him a playful punch in the arm before finding a tray to put the glasses of lemonade on.
"How long?"
"About a month."
"Have you picked a date yet?"
"No. Angel wanted to wait until she'd met the family." Jasmine picked the tray up.
"Well, I'd better go congratulate her too." She and Collins joined the bohemians and Benny in the livingroom. After passing out the drinks, they sat on both sides of Angel.
"Come on, Pookie!" Maureen was saying. "I didn't mean anything by it! I was just being nice!"
"Sure you were," Joanne said, rolling her eyes and folding her arms across her chest.
"Damn," Collins said. "They fightin' already?"
"Yeah," Roger replied.
"What about now?"
"Well, honey, when we got in here the first thing Maureen said was 'Am I the only one who noticed how incredibly hot Collins' sister is?'" Angel explained, making Jasmine's eyes widen.
"And then Joanne said, 'I knew there was a reason you hugged her!'" Mimi added.
"Then Maureen did her infamous, puppy-dog pout and apologized about forty times," Benny said.
"And Joanne kept trying to ignore her," Roger added.
"And that's where you two came in," Mark said.
"I won't say anything like that about anybody else!" Maureen told Joanne. "I promise!" Joanne slowly turned to her girlfriend.
"You mean it?" she asked. Maureen nodded.
"Kiss, Pookie?" Joanne sighed and gave Maureen a peck on the lips. Jasmine then turned to Collins.
"Did she just-" she started.
"Yup," Collins interrupted.
"I can only imagine what's gonna happen during your stay here."
"It won't be that bad . . . I hope."
"Oh please. You know how Daddy is."
"And how exactly is Daddy?" a man with a very deep voice said, standing in the doorway.
"You should know how you are," a woman said, appearing in the doorway beside the man.
Here we go, Collins thought, taking a deep breath.
NO COMPLAINING ABOUT THE CLIFFY OR I'LL DELETE THE STORY! Okay, no I won't. I'm just being strange. So, what do you guys think so far? Who has a prediction or suggestion about something? Tell me in your reviews or you can PM me.