“Hey, Liza,” he said. “Which comic book are you acting out?”
“One Max wrote. It’s pretty awesome.”
A beanbag flew past me and hit Diego in the shoulder. I winced, but he only leaned over, picked it up, and lobbed it toward Morgan on the other side of the room. Morgan shrieked and ducked behind a cushion before it hit her.
Camilla took this as a sign to join the beanbag war while Samuel wandered over to the video gamers. Levi promptly handed him a controller. Alana’s smile had turned to a nervous What have I done? face, but Diego didn’t seem fazed at all.
I gestured around the room. “What’s your poison?”
“Observation?” Alana asked, pointing to the couch.
“If we’re only going to observe, I want snacks first,” Diego said.
This was the first time I’d talked to Diego since his second call in to the podcast, and I listened carefully to his voice to make sure I had been right.
“What?” he asked.
“What?” I echoed.
“Why are you staring at me like that? Do I have something on my face?” He ran a hand across his cheeks and forehead, pushing his wavy locks to the side.
“No. I just … I … what were you asking for?”
“Snacks,” Alana said, giving me wide eyes.
“Oh, right. Follow me. But the carpet is lava so choose your path carefully.” I led the way to the kitchen and turned once to see Diego and Alana actually using cushions and blankets along with me to avoid the carpet. Alana had a hold of Diego’s shoulder to help her on her journey and they were both laughing.
“The tile is safe?” Alana asked as we reached the kitchen.
“Very safe,” I said. “Plates and bowls are over there. Help yourself.”
“Gummy worms?” Diego asked. “I don’t remember the last time I’ve been to a party with gummy worms.”
“I wouldn’t really consider this a party,” I said. “More like family chaos.”
Diego loaded up his plate with gummy worms and chips. Alana got a bowl of popcorn. I opted for a handful of M&M’s since I’d already had at least a plateful earlier. We took our treats back to the other room. Alana stopped in front of the couch and was about to sit when she realized all the cushions were gone—they were being used as safe zones.
“Oh, give me a sec.” I ran to the guest room and stole a pile of pillows. I spread them out on the couch and we all sat. Diego was in the middle with Alana and me on either side. I watched Samuel win a game of Mario Kart on the big screen. He lifted both hands in the air and gave a loud cheer.
“He’s very gracious in victory,” Diego said.
I smiled.
“What were you doing before we got here?” Diego asked, using a chip to point around the room.
“Mario Kart champion.”
“She’s a gracious winner, too,” Alana said.
Diego laughed.
“Are you the youngest in your family?” I asked Diego, thinking about the fact that he already had a niece and nephew.
“Yes, and my sister is the oldest. There are two in between. The brother just above me is in college and the one above that lives across the country.”
“Three boys and a girl,” Alana said as if she’d already had this conversation with him.
“Alana is the youngest, too,” I said. “Her two older sisters are in college.”
Why I felt the need to give Alana’s family dynamics, I wasn’t sure, because once again, when Diego only nodded, I could tell they’d had this conversation.
“That’s why Kate comes to my house when she wants quiet.” She actually had to yell this sentence over the noise in the room.
“Where are all the parents?” Diego asked.
“So once a month, they have a grown-ups’ dinner party next door and we do Cousins’ Night.”
He smirked at this. “They know how to work the system.”
“Yes, they do.” I didn’t begrudge them for it, though. “But it’s nice. It helps them stay close. It helps us all stay close.”
“True,” he said.
Alana had been quiet for a few minutes, and I looked over to see her typing furiously on her phone. Diego just shrugged when he observed the same thing.
Levi opened the back door before I could tell him no, and Uncle Tim’s dog came barreling in. CD immediately went to Diego and sniffed his elbow, then proceeded to lay his body across Diego’s legs. Diego let out a surprised grunt but then he scratched the dog behind the ears.
“CD, no.” I shoved him off, which was much harder than it looked. Max, seeing the commotion, came over and took the dog by the collar and led him back outside.
“Thanks, Max!” I called after him.
“CD?” Diego asked, brushing some fur off his pants. “Do you have an obsession with music storage?”
“It stands for Community Dog. We share him. Along with the trampoline and the gazebo.”
Diego laughed. “That’s new.”
“It’s okay to say weird.”
“Weird is relative.”
Before I could ask him to clarify, Cora, my four-year-old cousin, came running toward me, crying. She flung herself onto my lap, saying something I couldn’t understand.
I patted her back. “What happened?”
“Levi stole it.”
“What did he steal?” I asked.
“My candy.”
Diego held out his plate, which still had a pile of gummy worms on it. “Do you want some of mine?”
Cora immediately stopped crying, proving it was a fake cry to begin with. She nodded. When she picked up one worm and brought it to her mouth, Diego said in a small voice, “Noooo, don’t eat me.”
Cora burst out laughing. “Candy doesn’t talk.”
Diego widened his eyes. “That sounded like talking to me. You might not want to eat it.”
Cora shoved the candy in her mouth and ran off. I smiled.
Alana slammed her phone down on her leg. “Ugh.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“Guess who has to keep the same partner in podcasting with the new jobs? Guess who is the only one in the whole class who does?”
“Me?” I asked.
“Aside from you,” she said.
“Umm … Mallory?” I guessed again.
“Funny. No, me. Even after my speech about how changing partners challenges us.”
“Maybe that’s why you had to keep the same partner. Because Ms. Lyon knew you wanted to change. That seems to be what she does.”
“You’re probably right. Ugh,” Alana said again. “And now Frank’s texting me about bringing me the partner contract that’s due on Monday because he’s going out of town.”
I had forgotten about partner contracts. They were in the binders that day we’d been assigned our roles. The contracts basically said we had to put equal work and support into the project.
“I told him to drop it off here,” Alana added.
“What? Why?” Diego at my house was one thing; Frank was a whole different story.
“Because he’s leaving tomorrow.”
“Oh.” I looked around the living room at the craziness.
“Don’t worry about it,” Diego said. “It’s called having a family.”
“All right,” I said with a sigh, and Alana texted Frank back.