hey everyone. sorry for taking FOREVER to write this update. things have been so crazy ill tey to update more often. Thank you to everyone for all the reviews. I hope eveyone had an awesome Thanksgiving.

Chapter 3

The Party

Walking to the door felt like ice dripping down my back with each step we took. I suddenly remembered EVERYTHING that Shane and Eve were worried about yesterday. What if they really do kill him? They are SOOOO going to end up embarrassing me! OMG what if they freak over me living with Shane and Michael again? I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried, stop thinking the worst.

We finally made it to the door and before Michael could knock, my mom was waving us in.

"Everyone, they're here!" my mom called as she ushered us through the door.

The first person that came through the hallway was grandma. She was almost 76 but still looked like she was in her late fifties, early sixties. She had short, layered brown hair and large green eyes that always used to scare me as a kid.

"Claire!" she called, rushing up to hug me. Hugging my grandma always brings me back to summers at her house. She, and her home, always smelled like lavender and vanilla. "Look how beautiful you are. Happy Birthday!"

"Claire!" called auntie Di calls, with my cousin Cass in tow. "I can't believe it. I haven't seen you in so long. Cass you remember your cousin Claire don't you?"

"Hi Cass, look how big you've gotten" Cass is three now, I haven't seen her since her second birthday, before I moved to Morganville.

I was so busy saying hello to Grandma and Di that I hadn't noticed the four men all staring daggers at Shane and Michael from the end of the hallway.

"Shane, Michael, Eve this is my Grandma, my auntie Di, my cousin Cass, and back there is my grandpa, my uncle Jack and my old neighbors Sam and April." is aid introducing everyone.

After that everything happened so fast. My mom, aunt, grandma and April all greeted my friends with warmth and open arms. The other half of my family were a little more reluctant. They were kind and polite with Eve, but with Shane and Michael they just glared and shook hands stiffly. Things were going well until we all heard Cass screaming terribly.

When I looked at Cass she had tears running down her face, clutching my leg desperately while looking, terrified, at Eve.

"Cass, honey, that's just my friend Eve." with all of the commotion, I guess Cass hadn't gotten a good look at Eve when we first arrived.

"Oh my gosh, I am SO sorry. I didn't mean to make her cry." Eve stammered apologetically. Shane, behind her, was trying desperately not to laugh, while Michael has his arm reassuringly around her shoulders.

"It's okay, she'll be fine in a minute" Di said picking up the still sobbing Cass and taking her into the kitchen to calm down.

We all made our way to the living room to sit down. Me and Shane on one end of the couch with Michael and Eve on the other. Everyone else was spread out along the room.

"So Shane, you're dating my niece." Jack says.

Oh shit! They're starting with the inquisition already? We haven't even had dinner yet!

"Yes sir" Shane answered nervously.

"Oh Jack, you're not bothering the poor boy already are you? They just walked through the door." said Di as she walked through the door, with a now silent Cass on her hip.

"He sure is Di" my grandpa says "and so am I. I would like to know what type of young man my little Claire is running around with."

"I wouldn't exactly say young, he's almost twenty." my dad adds.

"Twenty? What the hell are you doing with my seventeen year old niece!" Jack yells.

"Hey!" I cut in "He's still nineteen and in case you've all forgotten its my birthday today, so I'm eighteen! And grandpa you have no room to talk, you're almost ten years older than grandma!" as I was saying this I took Shane's sweaty hand and looked for Michael for some support, but all the help he gave was trying VERY hard not to laugh.

"Claire's right. Its her birthday we should be celebrating, not grilling her nice boyfriend. Now lets go have some dinner. We can all catch up then and maybe then you boys will learn a little bit more about Shane. I'm sure he's a very nice young man." said grandma.

"Mom's right," said dad "we can all have a nice chat with Shane and Michael at dinner."

Well, happy birthday to me.