When Gen, Ty, Kana, and Abby returned to their grandparents house a couple of hours later, they noticed a slick Escalade parked next to their grandad’s Tahoe and exchanged a look.

Rachel.

They parked near the mechanic’s garage where they stored their gear, then slunk silently around the back so they wouldn’t be seen. None of them were fans of Rachel’s. She was confrontational, uptight, and highly judgemental. She also had no understanding of Gen’s mental issues and took it upon herself every time she saw him to tell him he needed to stop being such a baby and just get over it. She was also always on her phone, talking with either her friends or her coworkers, gossiping and talking crap. Mostly, the worst part of her was she just completely disregarded and ignored her own family.

Her three kids, all in high school, were quiet, well-mannered, and polite. But they had nothing to say, ever, about anything. They never contributed one single thought. Gen, monosyllabic at his lowest point, at least tried. The thoughts these kids ever expressed were surface level and unintelligible. 

Her husband, Scott, was a pleasant enough guy, but he was nervous all the time and fidgeted like he was expecting something unpleasant to happen.

All in all, they were boring and weird and no one wanted to be around them.

“There you are, what took you so long?” Donovan hurried up to the group as they trooped through the back door, intending to go hide in Kana and Gen’s room until dinner.

“We were just having a lot of fun and didn’t notice the time,” Kana said. Her eyes shot to the front of the house and then back to her father. “And, you know, we were enjoying each other’s pleasant company.”

The implication was not lost on her father and he frowned. “Can you at least pretend to like them?”

“No can do, Dad,” Gen said. “After multiple failed attempts, it’s a target best left to the professionals.”

“I.e., not us,” Ty agreed.

“Guys, please, they’re still your cousins.”

“And they’re still boring and unintelligent,” Abby said. “Sorry, Uncle, but it can’t be helped. They are the weakest link of our family and must be cut off.” She put her hand on his shoulder, sighed and shook her head, her dreads bouncing around her face.

“You kids are unbelievable,” Don grumbled. “Not saying you’re wrong, of course…” He took a deep breath and put his hands in his back pockets. “However, you’ll be relieved to know they won’t be here long. They’re only here for today.”

“They flew in for just a few hours?” Gen said, disbelieving.

“Apparently we’re just a stop off point for some big conference Scott has in California. They’re leaving in the morning, but they have a hotel near the airport so they’ll only be here for dinner.”

While he was talking, they could hear an animated, argumentative voice coming from the front of the house heading in their direction. The four exchanged panicked looks and Don moved out of their way.

Not fast enough.

“Eugene, Kana, come here.” 

They all froze, Kana and Gen looking defeated, Ty and Abby apologetic.

“Escape as quickly as you can and meet us at the Line,” Abby said. The Line was the boundary line between their grandparents' property and that of an old abandoned farmhouse nearby. In the past, the four of them would go exploring in that area for hours.

Ty fist-bumbed Gen and they walked away. Gen and Kana turned with silent groans to see their Aunt Rachel, fat and miserable looking as always, arms folded over her chest, phone clutched in one hand.

“What took you so long to get here, we’ve been waiting,” she said.

“Nice to see you, too, Aunt Rachel,” Kana mumbled.

Rachel’s eyes moved up and down both of them, inspecting them closely, not liking what she was seeing of Kana, and even less of Gen.

“How have you been?” Rachel asked. From anyone else, this would have been a polite question asked out of courtesy or general curiosity. From Rachel, it was an interrogation.

“Good, Aunt Rachel,” Kana said. “I’ve been getting more clients at work and Gen just passed his last semester of college.” They did their best not to give too much information to Rachel as she had a tendency to use it against them in some way. Nothing was off-limits, either. Even just these two pieces of information could earn them some sort of lecture so anything said after that had to be carefully selected. 

Talk about walking on eggshells, Kana thought. She was jealous of Gen in these moments because he never said anything to Rachel. There were perks to his problems, he once told her after one especially unpleasant encounter. Plus, he wasn’t fully just leaning back on his silence to avoid her, he genuinely couldn’t speak because she made him so uncomfortable and nervous. Kana imagined his stomach was already starting to hurt.

“Are you still living with your father?” she demanded. “You’re both over eighteen, you need to be on your own now and stop freeloading.” She shifted the weight on her feet. “Besides, Kana, you should be focusing on getting married soon, don’t you think? You’re in your twenties and still single, completely unacceptable. And Eugene, these piercings of yours? And that hair…” she shook her head with disappointment. “How do you plan on making it in the world looking like some angry punk with no respect for his elders?”

Kana opened her mouth but was surprised by the low voice that spoke next to her.

“What’s it to you?” Gen said. 

Rachel’s eyes widened. She couldn’t remember the last time she had heard Gen actually speak. Plus, the way he was looking at her…she gulped.

“Well,” she said, “It’s just–”

“It’s none of your business, is what it is,” Gen said. “Our lives are our own and nothing you need to stick your judgemental nose into. You have your own boring kids to worry about so fuck off and leave us alone. We’ve had an exhausting day having real fun and I’m in no mood to deal with you and your condescending bullshit.” He took Kana’s arm and turned her around. “Let’s go,” he said as they walked away from a stunned and speechless Rachel.

Once they were outside and a little ways from the house, Kana looked at her brother and they both burst into laughter.

“Where did that come from?” Kana wheezed. “That was amazing! I don’t think anyone has ever talked to Rachel like that in her entire life!” She threw her arms in the air and spun around as Gen threw his head back and laughed uproariously. Ty and Abby watched them as they approached, wondering what the hell had just happened.

“Oh my god, guys, you should have been there!” Kana said, skipping as they joined their cousins and they headed toward the Line. “Gen told Rachel to fuck off.”

“What?!” the other two cried in unison.

Gen laughed and told them about the exchange. “Honestly, I’ve been wanting to say that to her for years. I can’t stand how she treats us like we’re supposed to be some little robots she can control. We have our own damn lives. It's not our fault she’s miserable.” His phone buzzed in his pocket and he saw that it was a text from Riley.

My dude! I have to call you right now, can we vid?

“Hang on, guys,” Gen said, stopping just a few feet from the Line. He called Riley and put it on video, everyone else standing behind him.

“My dude!” Riley said, his face wide with joy. “My dude’s…family?”

Gen laughed. “That’s Ty and Abby,” he said, pointing to each of them in turn. “They’re our cousins. What’s up, my guy?”

“Kelly’s pregnant!”

Kana nearly came out of her skin while Gen’s face split into a wide grin. “No way, congrats, man!”

“I know!” Riley breathed, pushing the front of his messy hair back. “I’m shocked and thrilled and scared and…damn this is some serious shit!”

“You’re gonna be a great dad, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Gen said. “How’s Kelly?”

“Hi, Gen!” Kelly said, popping up next to her boyfriend, her face wet with happy tears. “Can you believe it? I’m so happy right now!”

“Have you told your parents yet?” Kana asked.

They both nodded. “Mom’s already planning out the baby shower and everything,” Kelly laughed. “It’s way too soon for that but she isn’t gonna let that stop her.”

“They are planning on throwing us some big shebang next weekend though. Are you gonna be home by then?”

“Yeah, we’re heading home on Saturday so we’ll be there. Have you told Mika?”

“He almost came unglued, he’s so overjoyed,” Kelly said. Her eyes were shining and Riley held her to him. 

“This is incredible, guys, I’m so happy for you!” Gen said, his own happiness for his friends spilling over. “Do you know how far along you are?”

“Five weeks,” Riley said. “The doc said everything looks good at this early stage and gave her some prenatals and a diet plan and all other sorts of stuff.”

“You know we’re here for you if you need anything,” Kana said. “And I can come up with some recipes if that’s something you’re worried about.”

“Thanks, girl, I appreciate it,” Kelly said.

“Did you guys have fun snowboarding without me? Fuckin’ asshole.” Riley griped good-naturedly.

“Matter of fact, we did,” Gen said. “I’ll have to tell you all about it later.”

“Come out sometime, we’ll take you up,” Ty said. 

“Thanks, man, I’ll save up so we can go soon,” Riley said, Kelly nodding in agreement.

Abby waved her hand. “Don’t even worry about the cost, we can cover you.”

Kelly’s eyes widened. “Oh, no, we couldn’t accept such an offer, that’s too kind of you.”

“You’re Gen’s first real friends,” Ty said. “We insist on it. We’ll make a plan and go from there.”

Riley grinned, not sure really what to say. “Thanks, dude.”

“I’ll text you later, I just got a message from Mika,” Gen said as the notification bar popped up on the top of the screen. “I’m sure he’s gonna want to talk about this, too.”

“Hey, when you’re done with dinner, let’s do a conference call,” Kelly said.

“Sounds good. I’ll talk to you guys later.”

Everyone gave a resounding “Byeeee!” and Gen disconnected the call. As he expected, Mika’s text screamed his excitement.