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"We're back!"
I woke up from my slumber and checked what time it was. The clock showed 10 past 7. I got out of bed and headed downstairs, hearing the commotion.
Samantha, Jackie, and Charlotte had just come back from shopping. Samantha and Jackie carried about a dozen bags worth of shopping between them, and Charlotte had a few bags of Chinese takeout.
"Hope everyone is hungry! We brought home food for dinner," Samantha announced.
"Yeah, we may have gone a little overboard with the food. Noah, can you help me set this down?"
I took a few bags from Charlotte and placed them on the table.
My dad got up from the couch and helped Samantha with her bags. "I was starting to worry that you three would never come back."
"Yeah, and leave you two alone. I don't think so."
The girls started setting the table for dinner and called us over when it was ready.
As we sat down, my dad said, "I see a lot of bags over there. Did you guys get anything good or buy for the sake of buying?"
"Hmm, we got some good stuff. I don't know about Jackie. Some of her choices were interesting," Samantha said with a smile.
"Oh, really? Well, I wouldn't expect you to understand young people's fashion. Now, if you want to talk about something interesting, we should talk about your playlist. What is that?"
Charlotte snickered and said, "Yeah, I'm with her on that one, Mom. You listen to all these old songs, and they're not even classics. They're just old."
Samantha pretended like she was offended. "You've never said anything before. We would sing our hearts out to those old songs."
"To clarify to everyone, I would never sing my heart out. My mom would just get swept up in it, she imagined me singing along."
"Ok, I see how it is. You two wait till after I take you shopping to attack me. Duly noted. You two better watch your backs," she said with a smile.
I looked over at my Dad, and he had a smile on his face. He was enjoying seeing Jackie getting along with her new stepmom and stepsister.
"Also FYI, if the food sucks, blame it on Jackie. She's the one who recommended the place. Specifically, the egg rolls. She said they're to die for," Charlotte said.
"Woah, woah, woah. Charlotte, I thought we were on the same team."
"Playing it smart. Be nice with both sides, so I can jump ship when needed."
Jackie and Samantha glanced at each other, and the next thing you know the two of them were making fun of Charlotte. Charlotte looked surprised that her plan had backfired.
Charlotte waved her napkin, indicating she had given up, and we were all ready to dig in.
"Hold on a second," my dad said. "Before we dig into this food, I'd like to make a toast." He got up from the table and came back with wine glasses and a bottle of wine. After filling everyone's glasses, he raised his in a toast. "It's moments like these that remind me how lucky I am. Watching all of you getting along with each other, this is what family is. Here's to us!"
We raised our glasses and after taking a sip, we dug into the Chinese food. Jackie earned passing grades for his choice of restaurant, and the playful banter continued after we had finished eating.
I nominated myself to take care of the dishes as the girls went upstairs to put their clothes away, and Dad went to help Samantha. With the dishwasher loaded, I headed upstairs to try out this new game that Alec had been begging us to play. I hopped on with him and Jordan, and to his credit the game was fun.
"How are your sisters, Noah?"
"They're doing just fine, Alec."
"They ask about me? I'm sure they have."
"Yo! Can we focus on the game?" Jordan cut in. "We're getting our asses beat."
"Relax, dude. It's only a game," Alec said, still pushing, "Now, Noah, they ask about me?"
"Not at all. I'm pretty sure Charlotte forgot about you. You're not as unforgettable as you think you are."
"Then it's time for me to properly introduce myself to your stepsister. Give her the full Alec experience."
"Bro, did you just refer to yourself in the third person? Yeah, no, there is no way that girl is giving you the time of day," Jordan mocked him.
I laughed and said, "Yeah, Jordan is right. You are way out of her league. And I think she's seeing someone." She wasn't, but I didn't want someone else taking away my time with her.
"One night with me and that'll change."
"Keep dreaming."
The conversation shifted back to the game. After playing a few more rounds, I called it a night. "Alright, I'm hopping off. I got the opening shift tomorrow."
I logged out and took a nice, warm shower to put me in a sleepy mood. I tucked myself in, and I could feel it was going to be a great night of sleep. Just as I was about to fall asleep, Charlotte barged into my room.
"Noah! Wake up! Let's go outside."
"Are you drunk?"
"Tipsy. Come on. Jackie and my mom are waiting outside."
"No, I'm going to sleep. I have to wake up in the morning tomorrow for work."
"I will personally wake you up tomorrow on time. Now, come hang out with us. We're having so much fun."
"It's too cold outside. I'd rather stay in my warm comfy bed."
"No, it's not. We made a makeshift campfire. And put on your hoodie and it'll feel like summer."
"You won't take no for an answer, will you?"
"Nope!"
I sighed as I pulled myself out of bed, put on some warm clothes, and followed her outside to the patio. Samantha and Jackie were sipping on wine, in the middle of a conversation.
When I walked out with Charlotte, Samantha said, "Looks like one of the men will be joining us. Your dad refused to come out."
"How come he got to say no, and I couldn't?"
"Too late, you're here now," Samantha said. "Beer or wine?"
"Sleep."
She cracked open a can of beer and passed it along to me. "What are we doing out here?" I asked as I took a sip.
"I felt left out last night, so I insisted I be included in your next late night conversation," Samantha said.
"Can't we do this on a night when I don't have to get up early in the morning?"
"You're young, you don't need much sleep. I promise, just an hour or two and everyone is off to bed."
She seemed really eager and looking forward to it, so I relented and gave in. "So what are we doing then?"
Charlotte suggested, "Hey Mom, since this is your idea. Why don't you tell us what you and your friends would do when you were our age?"
"That's interesting. I like that idea, and I know exactly what we're doing. I don't know if you kids play this game or if this was a popular college game, but my girlfriends and I would play it all the time when we met new people. It's the best icebreaker there is. We called it Confessions."
"How does it work?" Jackie asked.
"There's one detective and three confessors. The confessors would make an anonymous confession that the detective has to match up correctly. If the detective guesses your confession correctly, you have to take a drink. However, if the detective goes 0 for 3, then the detective has to take a drink."
"That sounds like fun," Charlotte said. "How do we make anonymous confessions though? Do we write it on a piece of paper?"
"No, eventually the detective would be able to realize the confessions using the handwriting. One of the confessors would say everyone's confessions"
"That makes sense. Let's play this?"
Everyone nodded and since this was Samantha's idea, she was chosen as the first detective.
Jackie, Charlotte, and I gathered around together to make our first set of confessions. We then chose Jackie to state everyone's confessions.
"Ready? Here's the first one: I once made a kid bleed in school but made myself also bleed to not get in trouble. The second one is, that I stole a part of my sibling's allowance for an entire year without them knowing. Last confession is I once finished an entire bottle of tequila in one night. Time to guess!"
Samantha looked at us all intently to see if we would give anything away. "Interesting. I'm dealing with a thug, a thief, and a drunk. Hmm, great impressions of my kids. Ok, here's my guess. Noah is the thug, Charlotte is the thief, and Jackie, you're the drunk."
"That's not fair! She's known me longer than you two. She's always going to guess me correctly," Charlotte complained.
Samantha laughed, "I guess I got Jackie and Noah switched around. Well, dear daughter of mine, it's time to drink up!"
Charlotte took a heavy swig of wine. We decided to rotate clockwise, so I was up next as the detective.