Meeting My New Family

The door to the house swings open and a skinny blonde lady wearing a ridiculous amount of makeup and clothes that are way too tight comes running down the stairs, screeching "oh my god, Oaks, you're finally here!" When she reaches me she grabs onto my face and begins kissing it all over.

After she pulls away she must have noticed the shocked look I must have had on my face. "Oh, silly me," she says in a bubbly tone. "You probably don't even recognize me. I'm your Aunt Nala. My, the last time you saw me you were just a wee lad." Nala grabs my shoulders and pushes me outwards. "Boy, what a tall, handsome young man you've grown into."

Nala steps into place behind me and pushes me up the steps and into the house. "Come, come," she says behind me. "Your Uncle Ryder and your cousin Liam are dying to see you again."

Nala pushes me down the hallway and into a dining room where my Uncle Ryder is sitting at the table reading a newspaper (does anyone read those nowadays?) "Ryder, honey," Nala says. "Your nephew has arrived." When she says that she waves her arms in front of me, as though she's presenting me to him.

Ryder looks up from his newspaper with a big smile. "Ah, Oaks, my boy," he says as he gets up out of his chair and grabs my hand with a tight grip, shaking it hard. "I'm so glad I finally get to see you again. Let me have a good look at you." Ryder grabs my shoulders and pushes me outward, the way Nala did moments ago, and looks me up and down. "My god, you're a good looking young man." He says. "The girls around here are going to go apeshit over you." Then, as he begins to walk past me, he whispers in my ear, "so will the boys."

Ryder goes over to a staircase and yells up the stairs. "Liam, get your ass down here. Your cousin is here." Ryder looks over at me. "You probably don't remember your cousin, Liam. He's five years older than you, but you were both basically babies the last time you saw each other. But for the last few weeks all we've heard from Liam is how he can't wait for you to get here."

Moments later my cousin Liam is running down the stairs. He is only wearing a towel and looks like he just got out of the shower. "Oaks, bro, welcome to the family." I don't even get a chance to say anything or even react before Liam's pulling me in for the tightest, longest hug I've ever received in my life.

I don't come from a hugging family so this is making me feel very uncomfortable. Liam must have eventually noticed this because he let's go of me after a while. "Sorry, bro," he says. "I'm a hugger."

Ryder must have left the room sometime during the hug because I see him coming back in carrying my bags. "Sorry, Oaks, my boy," he says. "We're still renovating the area of the house where your bedroom is to be, so you'll have to crash with Liam for a few weeks until it's finished."

"Yeah, bro," says Liam. "We're now brothers and roommates." Liam grabs my bags from his father. "Follow me and I'll show you our man cave."

I follow Liam up the stairs and we enter his bedroom. He throws my bags down on the floor. "Sorry, it's kind of tight in here," he says to me. "My bedroom is also under renovations, so we're actually sharing the spare bedroom. You don't mind sharing the bed with me, do you? We don't have a spare cot, and the floor's not very comfortable. I'll be up earlier than you, as my college classes start earlier than your high school classes. We will have a share the bathroom too." Liam points to the door at the other end of the room.

Then he surprises me when he pulls his towel off right in front of me. He throws a pair of underwear on before he notices my shocked impression. "Oh, yeah, we aren't a shy bunch in this family. You are going to see a lot of nudity in this house, so might as well get used to it now." He laughs before heading back downstairs, wearing just his underwear.

The rest of the day goes by with my new family asking me question after question about my previous life. Really, they don't seem all that shocked that I grew up in such a "prude and shallow" city, as Nala put it. It seemed to me by the end of the day that my parents obviously hated Ryder and Nala because they lived such a happy, free spirited life.

That evening I was in the bathroom getting ready for bed. When I got out of the bathroom Liam was already in our bed. "By the way, bro, I sleep naked. I hope that doesn't bother you. Wearing clothes to bed is just too constricting, makes it hard for me to sleep."

I tell him that it doesn't bother me, even though it does. I tell him "I'll keep my underwear on, though," to which he replies "suit yourself." I climb under the covers and try to keep as much distance from Liam as I can without falling out of the bed.