As soon as Randall walked into the living room, everyone fell silent - so much so that you could practically hear a pin drop. Your mother, David and Tabitha's face's all turning slightly pale as they saw him. It was a natural reaction of course, neither one of them having seen Randall since he was in the hospital, and you imagined it must be somewhat akin to seeing a ghost... Only this ghost wasn't dead.
"Hey, Randall. How you doing?" your father thankfully spoke up, ending the awkward silence as he rose up from his chair to greet him.
"I'm... I'm good thanks," Randall stuttered, gazing nervously around the room at all the eyes were upon him. "It's uh, it's nice to see you all again."
It was at this point that your mother suddenly let out a squeak and rose from her chair. "Oh Randall..." Her eyes filling with tears as she quickly approached him. Everyone else meanwhile, watched with baited breath, unsure of what exactly she was going to do. Letting out a sigh of relief as she threw her arms around him and gave him a great big hug.
Embracing her back - looking a little awkward at first - Randall smiled, "Hey, Mrs. C." (This having been how he'd always referred to your mother).
"Somehow I think we're a little past that, sweetheart," your mom replied, breaking from the hug and wiping away a tear. "You should probably call me Jennifer instead. Seeing as we're now 'sisters'." Letting out a little chuckle then, Randall did the same and you suddenly felt a great weight lifted off your shoulders. This being the kind of step in the right direction you'd been hoping for.
Giving the flowers to your mom and the wine to your dad, he then cautiously greeted David and Tabitha, who hadn't stopped staring at him since he'd arrived. The two of them obviously being unsure of how exactly to react. Randall knew them well though and broke the ice with a few little jokes. Playfully making fun of them both, which they thankfully seemed to take well. With the initial awkwardness and pleasantries out of the way then, Randall sat himself down and the six of you all began to chat, making small talk mostly - your mother and siblings tentatively asking him questions about how he was getting on in that body and in that life. Randall did his best to answer, even some of the more difficult ones posed by your little brother - your dad having to chide him every so often when his questions got a little too personal.
For almost a full hour and a half you must have all sat there, going over everything that had happened over the last several months. The conversation going rather slowly, and skirting somewhat around Aunt Joan's ****. Randall seemed to be coping okay considering. Looking a little more at ease than when he'd first walked in, but nowhere near his usual self. You don't think you'd actually seen him look so self conscious around other people...ever! Especially not your family, who'd he always got along with. Similarly, your mother looked slightly on edge herself, but she was coping much better than she had all those months before. Listening eagerly to Randall's answers and offering her sympathies when the subject of his parents came up...
"Thanks. But, you know... Maybe it's for the best they left me to it," Randall said, repeating the very thing that he'd told you. "Allison was never really gonna accept me like this anyway. And I guess he's gotta do what he's gotta do."
"Have you heard from him at all?" your mother then asked, "...Your father?" This being something that you were actually curious to know yourself
"No. Not in a long while," he replied. The look on his face indicating that it was still somewhat of a touchy subject. "I don't really expect to either to be honest."
This in particular had really upset your mother when you'd first told her - having been friendly enough with Randall's parents that she was utterly perplexed as to how they could even do such a thing to their own flesh and blood (even if technically, he wasn't any longer). She didn't say anything too much about this though, obviously not wanting to upset him, and instead responded, "I'm so sorry to hear that, Randall. You really shouldn't have had to go through this all alone."
"Well, I wasn't all alone," Randall said, looking over at you. "Tim's been really great with helping me out."
"So I've heard," she smiled. Shooting you a proud little look.
Assuring him then that with his father and step-mother now out of his life, he was more than welcome to come to either of them for help with anything - be it personal, financial, or just to chat - your mother then asked if the rest of you could leave them alone for a while to talk things out. Just her and Randall. Having things to say to him that she obviously didn't want an audience for.
Doing as instructed, giving your friend an encouraging little pat on the arm as the four of you all piled out of the room, you then followed after your father and asked him how he thought things were going.
"Pretty well, as far as I can make out. It can't be easy for her, but your mom really is doing her best to be strong, and I think Randall can see that."
This had been your assessment also, and you were glad it wasn't just you. "What do you think they're talking about now?" you said, having a sort of niggling curiosity. Wishing you were still in there.
"I'm not sure," came your father's honest reply. "Perhaps your mother wants to get the white elephant out of the room or something..." The white elephant in question being Joan's ****. A rather prickly and delicate subject that had admittedly not been discussed in the house for quite some time. "Whatever it is, it's best we just be patient and leave them too it. They'll work things out in their own time, so there's no point rushing them."
Telling you then to go upstairs and amuse yourself with your brother and sister while you waited, you did as requested. Curious to see how they were taking all this. While they both agreed it was incredibly strange and confusing both seeing and talking to Randall inside your Auntie's body, they also appeared quite confident that they could get used to it, just as you had. The both of them having always had a soft spot for Randall (even though neither of them would ever admit it).
Another half hour or so later, after annihilating your little brother at Mortal Kombat for about the twelfth time, you heard your mother's voice call up the stairs that Randall was leaving now and that you should all come say goodbye. Rushing quickly down the stairs where you saw your mother giving him another hug, telling him that he was "always welcome to come over whenever he wanted", you couldn't help but break into a grin. This being exactly what you'd been hoping for.
Turning to say goodbye to both David and Tabitha then - giving Tabitha a hug and David a slightly awkward fist bump - you piped up and told him that you'd see him to his car. Wanting to grab a word with him before he went.
"So... how did it go?" you asked, once you were both outside and out of earshot of the rest of your family. "Sounded pretty promising to me."
Randall however still seemed slightly distracted. "Huh?... Oh. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we had a good talk. Your mom's a super cool lady."
"And? Is everything good between you two now? No weirdness or anything?"
"Well I dunno if I'd go that far," he told you. "We talked about a lot of things and she's happy to have me in her life again, but I don't think it's gonna be as easy as all that. She wants to takes things slow and get used to me being like this. We do have to pretend to be sisters after all."
"True. But still... You got to admit this is pretty damn awesome!" You were going to stay positive at least. "After the whole thing back at the hospital, it seemed like my mom would never come round."
You got no response to this. Randall instead looking thoughtfully off into the middle distance. Seemingly paying you no attention. His mind currently being elsewhere.
"Dude!" you practically shouted, trying to snap him out of it. "Randall, are you... are you okay?" It really was becoming quite worrisome now.
"Sorry, what?"
"I said are you okay?"
"Yeah... Sorry, Tim," he apologized, shaking his head from side to side. Looking up at you then with **** eyes. His lip quivering slightly as he spoke. "It's just... Well, I'm not entirely sure how to say this..." There clearly being something he was **** to get off his chest.
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