A few days later, Miles tells me that he is going to have a party. I groan. This seems like the kind of thing my mom would do though Miles is so different from her

"You'll have fun, Micah," he reassures me. "You can meet my family."

Personally, that's never something I look forward to.

The first person who arrives is Miles' cousin, Natalie. She is fifteen minutes early, but she starts to help Miles with last-minute cooking. Miles had already prepared a casserole, two salads, a plate of delicious-looking fried chicken, a pasta, and has begun to bake a cake.

Soon after, 3:00 hits and more relatives begin to arrive. Miles' parents, Elise, and Aubin ask who I am. When he tells them I'm his daughter, they get very upset.

"I thought you left Lauren!" Elise says, eyebrows furrowed. "That woman never was good for you, dear."

"I know," Miles replies. "But after reading so many articles about her and how tough her life is, I decided that I needed to go back."

Aubin narrows his eyes. "Are you getting back together again, then?"

"No, I'm just taking care of Micah. It seemed like they both needed a break from each other."

That is very true. My mother and I have always needed a break from each other, for my entire life, I have wanted - needed - to get away from her. I'm never should have had to be with her in the first place.

More of Miles' relatives show up: uncles, aunts, grandparents, etc. They mingle in the living room, eating and chatting about family affairs. Someone turns on the squeezebox, a music player, and a few people start dancing.

"How are you doing, Micah?" Miles asks me. I have been seated in a chair in the far corner of the kitchen, watching the party unfold.

I shrug, popping a tart into my mouth. One of Miles' aunts brought a whole plate of store-bought pastries, and I have been snacking on the whole time.

"Have you met anybody?"

I shake my head.

"Well, I can fix that." Before I can protest, Miles grabs my hand and pulls me up. She drags me into the living room and shuts off the music. "Everybody? I would like to introduce my daughter, Micah Tanner."

Everyone smiles at me, and I feel my cheeks flush red. "Um, hi," I say feebly.

"Is she Lauren's child?" An extremely elderly-looking woman asks. She must be a grandmother of Miles.

Miles nods. "I have been taking care of her for a few weeks now. And I think she plans on staying for longer."

"How old is she?" The woman questions. She peers over her purple-rimmed glasses at me, with a stare that makes me feel like some piece of dirt she found on the bathroom floor and intends to sweep up promptly.

Miles nudges me, forcing me to speak. "Sixteen," I mumble.

He laughs."She's quite shy."

I bite my lip. After returning to my seat, I glare at Miles. "Why did you do that?"

"I figured we could bond more once you know my family." He keeps his eyes to the cake which he is decorating with flowers. Natalie had fetched it from the oven before she went out to dance, and now Miles is finishing it up. I can't wait until he is done so I can eat.

I roll my eyes.

Fifteen minutes later, the whole family sits down together at the dining table. Miles has that kind of extendable table with wooden segments that you place in. He was going to make me help him, but Aunt Rose's three children volunteered.

The table is pretty much a buffet. Almost every person brought something, even though Miles had told them that he would take care of food. There are about five salads, two casseroles, three pastas, and someone even brought a tray of mac and cheese.

After Elise insists on saying grace, I dig in, shoveling food into my mouth. I realize I haven't eaten since breakfast, which I had had at six o'clock before going to school. I hadn't gone to school for the first week of being at Miles', but he decided that I should go back. Fortunately, nobody has bothered me, except for Austin, who is using my mom's affair as more ammo.

I still haven't seen Nick.

At around 3 pm, the doorbells rings. Miles gets up first to go check. He says hello, but I still can't tell who it is.

"Micah!" He shouts. "Come here, I want you to meet my half sister, Marisa. You can also meet my nephew!"

Grumbling, I push my chair back and stand up. I trudge over to the door, and as soon as I see them, my breath catches.

Standing in the doorway, next to a tall woman and smiling at me, is Norman Dashing The Second. Then I panic.

Later that night, I lie on my bed, eyes open. Norman is my cousin. And he kissed me.

This is both good and bad. Good because that means I can be with Nick and not feel guilty about ditching Norman. Bad because.......well, there's a lot of reasons why this is bad.

After Norman and his mother, Marisa, arrived, I ran straight to my room. Miles hadn't tried to stop me. A few minutes later, he came in, and I told him everything. And I mean everything. I told him about Nick, our date, meeting Norman, the prom, and everything in between. I even explained to him everything about my anxiety.

He had nodded and told me that I should sleep. Then he closed the door and rejoined the party. I tried to sleep, but it's hard when I've go so much stuff coursing through my brain.

I stay there for quite a while - maybe an hour - until I hear the guests leaving. Miles says his goodbyes, then I hear his phone ring. He picks it up, and I can't quite tell what he says.

"Oh my......" He says. Then pauses. "Oh - okay, I'll go tell her now."

I hear footsteps and my door opens. Miles stands in the doorway, his phone to his ear. He is slouching, and his eyes have lost their sparkle. This can't be good.

"Micah, that was Alex. You're mom is pregnant."

A/N

This was a tough chapter to write but the next couple of chapters including this one are the pinnacle of the book to yeah. Have a great and loving Valentines Day or Singles Awareness Day. Eat chocolate pizza and cry. We love you guys like crazy. Thanks for being amazing supportive people.

xoxo

Kat & Mia

Feb 14th 2016