"Can you chill?" I ask Giada, making her look at me. She's been anxious all day, changing outfits a thousand times and never standing still. "It's fine."

"I'm chill," she says, staring at the door to my parents' apartment as if it is poisonous.

"I'm going to open the door," I warn. "Let me know if everything starts to burn or something."

She takes a deep breath and intertwines her fingers with mine. "It's fine. Let's go."

I jab the key in and open the door, tugging at Giada to get it. She moves slowly, as if her feet have turned into jelly and she can't really stand. I'm starting to wonder if this was a good idea.

"Are you okay?" I ask, hanging my jacket on the coat hanger and kicking my shoes off before moving to help Giada out of hers.

"I'm fine," she says, but shudders at a loud noise from the living room. It's only the TV, but it's enough to make her anxious.

"Giada..." I start, but she doesn't let me say anything.

"I'm fine, really. I just want to cause a good impression."

"And you will. They're not going to bite your head off. I think."

She nods and tightens her grip on my hand. I lead her into the leaving room, shouting a quick "I'm home". They always hated screaming in the house, but I'm hoping I won't get scolded with Giada here.

Mum's blonde head is peeking from the couch, and she gets up as soon as we enter the living room. I swallow hard as she walks towards me, knowing how little we've talked during this time.

"I thought this was close family," Giada whispers, holding onto my arm.

I frown. "It is."

"Why is your Aunt Laura here, then?"

I don't have time to process because mum reaches us quickly. I don't know which one of us launched into the hug first, but I grip her as hard as I can. Somehow, I feel a weight lifting from my chest. She didn't yell or get mad at me.

"I'm sorry," I whisper.

"I'm sorry too," she says, and we part from our embrace.

"Hi." Giada says shily once mum's eyes turn to her. "I'm Jade."

I suppress the urge to roll my eyes at the name. It has been a long time since I heard her say it, and it is almost completely erased from my mind. I didn't expect her to still be using it, but I guess she still prefers to blend in.

"Hi." Mum smiles. She's trying and I know she hates this more than Giada herself. I bet she was against this relationship as soon as dad told her about the issue with Giada's father. "It's so nice to finally meet you."

What a liar.

"Jade and I are together. Dad told you, right?" I ask to divert mum from Giada before her poor jelly legs decide to give in.

"Yes. And I'm glad you didn't spend the entire lockdown alone," she adds. "I was hoping you would've come home."

"You wouldn't let me be lazy if I did." I shrug with a grin. "Where's dad?"

"In the kitchen, finishing dinner."

"Okay. I'm going to say hi to dad. Be nice to Jade."

Giada shoots me a panicked stare, but I leave them alone, anyway. I'm hoping through conversation, or sitting in front of each other not talking, mum will realise Giada is harmless. Or she'll make her cry. I hope not. But she cries easily... maybe it was a bad idea.

Regardless, I walk into the kitchen and see dad peeking at the oven. He's gotten more white hairs since I saw him last. I jump on his back before he sees me, making him bend a little forward before regaining balance and grabbing my legs.

"My back," he complains.

"Your geriatric back?" I ask with a laugh.

"You're going to send me to the hospital one of these days," he says, putting me down. I hug him briefly. "I missed you."

"I hope so or you're not getting that cap," I joke, then ask him more seriously, "How is mum feeling about all of this?"

He shrugs. "As long as this one doesn't have face tattoos, I think you're fine."

"I think it's time for everyone to let go of that," I tell him. "Is mum really okay with it? She doesn't have tattoos, but she has a crazy family."

"That doesn't help, obviously. But have a little faith. She might have a change of heart."

I cross my arms in front of my chest. "Would you put your money on that?"

"Go get your sister. Dinner's almost ready."

"Nice save." I roll my eyes but leave him, nonetheless.

I go to the living room to check on mum and Giada. They're sitting on the couch chatting about something. I frown, seeing them smile at each other, looking like they're actually at ease with each other.

"-and I really want to apologise, by the way," Giada says, making me stop dead in my tracks.

"Apologise?" Mum asks, her smile vanishing. "What for?"

"For the water balloon a while ago. It was a terrible idea, and we never meant to hit you."

Shit.

"Giada!" I call, signalling her to shut up and she frowns.

Mum looks between the both of us. "You threw water balloons at people on the street?"

"Yes...?" Giada says, looking confused. "It hit you..."

I clamp my hand over her mouth before she can bury me even deeper than she already has. She stares at me with wide eyes, and I give her a stern look before letting go.

"Funny story," I told mum, "I may or may not throw one, but one only, water balloon on the street. There were no people on the street, it hit no one."

"Why does your girlfriend think it hit me?"

"She's confused. Too much sun in her pretty head on the way here."

Mum is not convinced. She's staring at me with her piercing blue eyes, probably reading my soul to know if I'm lying or not. I fully believe she is able to do so. She's done it all my life.

"Laura was mad at you a while ago," she says, the wheels in her head spinning too quickly for me to still save my skin. "Did you throw a water balloon at her?"

"But you are aunt Laura...?" Giada asks in confusion. Maybe I should have kept her mouth closed.

"No, that's my mum," I mutter to her. "Aunt Laura is her twin sister."

Giada turns redder than a tomato and starts blabbering apologies I can't quite understand. Mum is frowning at her reaction, but turns to me instead.

"You threw a water balloon at Laura?"

"I did not. That's a clear miscommunication," I tell her before turning to Giada. "It's okay."

"I didn't know-" she starts. "I'm really sorry, Mrs Wittmore. I didn't mean to insult you."

"You didn't," mum dismisses quickly. "Why on earth would you do that, Nina?"

"I didn't. You're making up stuff in your head."

"Nina-"

"You know what? This is not going anywhere. I'm going to get Rosie."

Giada looks at me, panicked that I'm leaving again, but I give her a thumbs up before moving to the corridor. Rosie's room is at the end of the hall, and I open the door and walk in. She's reading a book, laying on her back.

"There's this thing called knocking," she deadpans after only one glance.

"Nice to see you too, after months. Glad you're okay." I roll my eyes.

"There's this thing called knocking," she repeats, eyes on the book.

"Dinner is ready. Come on."

Rosie sits up, but as I am about to leave, she calls me back. She's supposed to be the nice one out of the two of us. That's what people say. Those people obviously never gotten chased after because they allegedly stole eye from her favourite teddy bear.

"What's your girlfriend like?" she asks.

Caught off guard, I frown at the question. "What do you mean?"

"How crazy is she?"

I shake my head. "She's not. She... she's really sweet. I'm the crazy one next to her."

"No way. She has to be crazy to like you."

"Shut up," I complain and throw the nearest pillow at her. "Come on."

Mum and Giada are done setting the table and they're laughing at something dad said. He pulls mum's chair back for her and Giada stares for a little too long, before noticing me. She smiles, but it wavers when Rosie comes to view. I hope she's doing fine with all the introductions.

"You want me to pull the chair for you too?" I whisper against her ear, making her look away.

"No, I'm good," she replies, cheeks tinted red.

I hum in response and pull the chair back. Still refusing to look me in the eye, she takes her seat and I take mine next to her. Rosie sits next to mum, in front of me, and exchanges quick waves with Giada.

"You really look like twins," Giada mumbles at my ear.

"We do not," I complain. "I'm prettier."

"I can hear you," Rosie adds. "You're not."

Dad chuckles at the end of the table, amused. Rosie looks a lot more like him than me, same dark hair, and smile. Maybe he'll side with her on the debate. It'd suit him.

"I am, though. Gi-Jade thinks so," I say, and she gives me a small thank you smile.

"She's biased. Mum, tell Nina I'm prettier."

"You sound like children." She takes a sip of her water.

"Child," I call Rosie.

"You child!"

"Could you not?" Dad sighs.

Giada contains a laugh under her hand. I give her look and she laughs harder. This is every day for me and Rosie, but I guess it's ridiculous from her point of view. I doubt she's had stupid fights like this.

"Even your girlfriend laughs at how wrong you are," Rosie says.

"She's laughing at how wrong you are."

"I think she's laughing at both," mum mutters. "I wonder why."

"Is there a dessert for later?" Dad asks to change subject. "I heard someone say chocolate earlier."

Both Rosie and I shut up and look at mum expectantly. All previous disagreements lay forgotten and were no longer important. Smart move, dad.

"No one said such a thing," mum said, eyeing him. "Perhaps you should visit the ENT."

"Cake, then."

"Cheesecake," mum confirmed.

"Damn it," Rosie complained. "I wanted tiramisu."

I leaned a little towards Giada with a hopeful look, but she pushed me away almost immediately.

"No?" I ask and she shakes her head. "But tiramisu is Italian."

"So? I'm not your private baker."

"Of course not." I smile. "Bakers have sugar in their pantry normally."

She nudges me away and focuses on eating dinner to avoid the surrounding conversations. No one tried to ask her anything yet. It's strange. They usually make a whole interrogation.

"Are you staying tonight?" Mum asks me. "Your room is as you left it."

"Well... yeah. If you don't mind."

"You can stay for as long as you want," she says. "Both of you, of course."

Giada smiles shyly. "Thank you. It's very kind of you."

I almost laugh at how polite she's being. She barely talks, but when she does, it's always trying to please everyone at the table.

"So, Jade," mum starts, and I freeze in place. "You're in university."

"I-" she staggers. "I'm looking for a job. To pay for university and everything else."

"Anything in particular?"

She shrugs, but I can feel her leg shaking up and down almost next to mine. "I'm not picky. Anything will do."

"Wasn't Abby looking for a new assistant or something?" she asks dad.

"Something like that." He shrugs.

"I'll do it," she says immediately. "I don't have any training but... I'll try really hard."

"I'll ask her when she'll be doing interviews," dad says.

"Thank you so much," Jade almost cries. "Really. Thank you."

"You're not in yet," I tell her.

"Still." She smiles at me, and I don't have the guts to tell her aunt Abby is not likely to hire someone inexperienced.

Soon, mum and dad take everything away from the table and go grab the cheesecake. Rosie is fixed on the phone and Giada's legs are still shaking a little. I hold her closer, trying to calm her down.

"No need to be so stressed," I say.

"I know, but it just crossed my mind your aunt is Abigail Whittmore." She makes it sound like it's a big deal. It's not. It's Aunt Abby. She buys us gifts on Christmas and never on our birthdays because she can't remember them. Nothing spectacular there.

"Amazing." I roll my eyes.

Mum and dad come back with dessert. Mum jogs a little away from dad with a silly smile on her lips.

"My parents don't do that," Giada mutters against my ear.

"Do what?"

"Smile at each other." She looks serious, and I don't know what to answer to that.

"They should. It's fun that way."

She nods. "Yeah. I hope we always smile at each other."

I kiss her temple, grinning. "I promise."

THE END

Rewriting this in Nina's pov was a spontaneous decision I half regretted, but let me know if I should go back to Jade's version

Please vote and comment. I want to know what you thought of it. Thank you for reading ;)

This was Sugarless <3