It was the day of Alice's step-dad's barbeque and Alice wasn't looking forward to it. This meant her step-dad was probably going to bombard her with questions and judge her like her mom does.

Right now Alice was texting her mother about what time she needed to show up.

'What time do I need to get there?'

'Be here by 12, and bring that cat boy you had here last time, you don't want Derek to keel over if you bring a different boy.'

'Fine.'

Soon Alice pocketed her phone and looked at her clock, it was 10 in the morning. That means she only has an hour to eat, take a shower, get dressed, and explain the situation to Cole. She sighed, time to get the day started.

Alice quickly went down stairs and grabbed ingredients to make a quick smoothie, she grabbed a banana, peanut butter and some milk and put it all together. As she blended up her smoothie, coming up from behind was Cole, he took notice that she was up and wanted to give her affection. As he hugged her from behind, Alice smiled and rubbed his head.

"You actually have perfect timing! There's something we gotta do today." She said.

"You remember how my mom said I was invited to Derek's barbeque? Well today's the day and she basically told me if I'm bringing anyone, I have to bring you because god forbid I try to bring anyone else." She explained. As she drank her smoothie, she spoke again. "I don't know if I want to bring anyone this time, I'd hate to be a bother.." She mumbled, mostly to herself.

Cole growled as he bit her neck. "What have I told you about being a bother?" He growled.

Alice blushed as she stifled a moan. "S-Sorry…Would..you like to come with me then?"

Cole purred as he trailed his tongue against her neck, making her tremble. "Anything for you." He murmured.

Soon, Alice finished her smoothie. "I'm going to take a quick shower." She told Cole as she began making a beeline for the bathroom.

Cole began following her, but Alice took notice and tsked. "Oh no, you're not coming with me, you know we're never going to get out once we go in together." She chastised as she stopped in her tracks.

Cole almost made a face, but instead he went to watch crime documentaries.

XXXXXXXX

-11:30 A.M.-

Alice was dressed in a pretty white and yellow dotted summer dress and went downstairs to where Cole was, he glanced over and saw her and was immediately captivated by her beauty. He came up to her and gave her a deep and passionate kiss. Alice blushed heavily as she returned the kiss.

"I-I take it, you like the dress?" She asked shyly as they pulled away.

Cole stroked her cheek with his thumb as he nodded. Alice smiled shyly.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked her.

Alice sighed heavily. "Not really, but whatever. Let's just get this over with." Alice said as they began to walk out of the house.

The two went into the car and began driving over to Alice's moms house.

=At Angela's house=

The two pulled up to Alice's moms house and parked. Cole glanced at Alice, and Alice looked like she wanted to go home already. Cole put a hand on her leg.

"Should you want to go home at any time, tell me. I'll take you home at any time." He said to her.

Alice nodded. Soon the two left the car and knocked on the door, soon it opened and revealed Derek. He looked at Alice and Cole as if he was better than them.

"So you came." He merely said, he looked at Cole up and down. "And you brought one of your many men I see."

Alice tried not to roll her eyes. "He has a name you know, it's Cole. Not whatever you're thinking." She snapped.

Derek didn't say anything as he let them in, the two made a beeline for the backyard. As they went out to the backyard, they immediately got bombarded with Alice's sister.

"Heyy!" Lilian greeted as she hugged Alice, she moved to hug Cole, but he backed up.

"Not a hugger, huh?" She teased as she flipped his red tie. He smacked her hand away as she played with his tie.

"You're no fun!" Lilian laughed as she went over to Alice. "Come with me, Elise and Alexis are waiting for you!" Alice gasped as Lilian grabbed her hand and began to drag her away, luckily Cole had his eyes locked onto Alice so he followed her fluidly.

The three of them ended up at a table where Elise and Alexis were, they were eating some hot dogs and cheeseburgers. The two noticed Alice and Cole and waved at them. Soon the three of them sat at the table.

"So Alice, when are you bringing us over to meet them?" Elise teased her.

Alice turned bright red. "U-Uh…I don't know.." She muttered shyly.

The three sisters giggled at Alice's shyness. "Are you afraid they're going to like us more than you?" Lilian laughed as she winked at her.

Alice felt her heart thud at that mention, would they actually like them more than her? Alice couldn't help but start overthinking about it.

Would they have a more keen interest in her more extroverted sisters?

Would they find her boring after meeting them?

Cole took notice of the panic in her eyes and put a hand on her leg, Alice glanced over to him and smiled her best smile, although it probably looked a little wonky. Alice took a deep breath and looked at her sisters.

"It's not that…I just don't know about having them meet anyone in the family…I mean look how mom took it when she found out, I'm just afraid that the same thing is going to happen." She explained.

"But we're not her! You can trust us!" Alexis said to her.

Alice took a few seconds to think, true, she could trust them to not freak out when meeting them. So then why was she hesitant? Was what Lilian said true? Was she afraid that they'd like them more than her? She looked at Lilian for a second, she could see that Lilian was looking at Cole with flirty eyes.

That's what she was afraid of. She was afraid of Lilian. Lilian, from what she could remember growing up was the flirty type, she flirted with all the guys that Alice was interested in, or just any guy in general. She was afraid that she would successfully seduce one or all of the guys.

Cole took notice of the distress Alice had on her face and put a hand on hers. "Are you alright?"

Alice nodded as she smiled nervously. "Y-yeah, I'm fine, just got too deep in thought." She replied. Cole quirked a brow, he knew she was full of shit but said nothing. Now was not the time to push her for an answer

"So! Are you going to let us meet them or what?" Elise asked.

Alice juggled the thought and decided to go with it. She could trust them after all. "Sure, we can pick a day where you guys can come over." She said

Elise clapped happily as she smiled widely. "Yay! I can't wait to meet them!" She said as she practically vibrated with happiness.

Alice chuckled at her sister's happiness. Elise was always the excitable type.

As all of them talked amongst themselves, Angela and Derek came up to their table.

"Girls." Derek greeted.

"Hey." They droned in unison.

"How are you all doing? You girls enjoying the barbeque?" Angela asked.

The girls nodded. "Yeah, it's good." Alexis replied.

Angela and Derek nodded. Alice took note of the fact that throughout the conversation, they failed to acknowledge Cole. It made her a little angry, why were they ignoring him like that? Was it because of the situation Alice was in or something?

"Alice. You look like you have something to say." Derek pointed out.

All eyes suddenly went to her, Alice tapped her fingers against the table as she sighed.

"I have nothing to say to you." She said as she glared to the side.

Derek's eyes widened at her snippy attitude and Angela grit her teeth.

"Alice!" Angela called out through grit teeth.

Alice looked at Angela with clear annoyance. "What?"

"Don't start with that attitude, not today. Derek here has a lot of important people here, don't embarrass him!" Angela Seethed.

Alice sighed. "Fine. Sorry Derek." She said with hints of annoyance.

Derek glanced at Cole and he could see that Cole was glaring at them both with venom. He then looked at Alice.

"And another thing, control your animal boy, I don't like the way he's looking at Angela and I. He obviously wants something from us." He snipped.

Alice glared at him. "I don't have to control Cole, maybe you two should be better people instead of worrying about me and my love life." She snapped.

Derek and Angela's eyes widened at her statement. The two looked at each other. How could she say that!? They looked back at Alice and frowned.

"I'm doing my best Alice! What do you want from me!?" Angela asked angrily.

"I want you to be more accepting of my love life!" Alice explained, looking completely done with her moms shit.

Angela huffed. "You act like I'm not trying to be! You know how hard it is to try and wrap my head around the thought of my own daughter being in a relationship with so many men! I get that you want me to support you, but please understand my point of view too!" She huffed.

Alice made a face. "What are you talking about!? In the beginning you weren't supportive! You kept trying to bring me home! Now you're telling me I have to marry one of them when they transform back! I understand that I had a dream, but for the sake of my boyfriends I'm willing to put that dream aside!" She exclaimed.

Angela grit her teeth and scoffed as she looked away. "Well fine! If you don't want to take my advice or suggestions to heart, then fine! I won't bother you with it anymore!" She said as she stomped away.

Derek looked at Alice disapprovingly. "I hope one day you realize all the things your mother is doing are for you. Maybe then you'll grow up a little." He said as he followed Angela.

After the two had left, the table was silent. The only sound that was being made was the loud music playing from the outside speakers. After a few minutes, Lilian spoke.

"W-well, I'm going to go mingle.." She said as she practically ran away from the table.

"I'm going to go see if there's any more food.." Elise said as also escaped the awkward silence.

Alexis put a hand on Alice's. "Don't worry about mom and Derek, we support you." She said before getting up and leaving to go mingle.

Alice glanced at Cole, he looked back. She smiled. She had a feeling everything was going to be alright..