I felt like I was more nervous than Aaron coming home from school today. I dreaded this afternoon for weeks now; it was finally the time that my family got to meet Aaron for the first time. My only experience around this was watching my older sister Maryette bring home Dennis to us a couple of years ago. I mean, that time was only different because she had announced that she was pregnant with Dennis’ kid, so at least I am walking into this with no huge surprise reveal coming their way.
Aaron held my hand as we walked down the block and turned onto mine. I felt the know in my stomach tighten up the closer we got to the house. I guess Aaron noticed it, especially when I intentionally got slower as we got closer.
“Mols,” Aaron finally said. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m just… nervous,” I admitted, looking down the block and spotting my house.
“There’s nothing to be nervous about,” Aaron tried to reassure me. I looked at him, rolling my eyes at his response.
“Well obviously,” I began to say. “It’s not your family we’re meeting for the first time.”
“But don’t you think I should be the one nervous meeting your family?” Aaron pointed out. “I am dating the baby of the family.”
“I’m fifteen,” I spat back as Aaron and and teased me. “I think I’m passed being the baby of the family.”
“You’ll always be the baby though,” Aaron looked at me as he said. “My baby, too.” I smiled as he gently kissed me on the forehead. We continued to wake down the block where my house was. I took a deep breath before walking up the steps and taking my keys out from my jacket.
“Hey,” Aaron stopped me before I opened the door. I turned to look at him, wondering what was going on. “Everything’s going to be fine. Trust me.” I gave him a reassuring smile before I turned the doorknob and opened the front door. We’ll see.
I entered my house with Aaron. He begins to look around the living room as he handed me his jacket and book bag to put in the coat closet. The first person to enter the living room was Maryette, of course dragging in Dennis with her.
“Mollie Wollie!” Maryette called out for me, and I immediately feel this wave of embarrassment. I know that was her nickname for me, but to say it front of Aaron was so cringe.
“Hey Mars,” I said to Maryette, calling her by her nickname. I turned around to talk to Aaron. “Aaron, this is my sister Maryette; Maryette, this is my boyfriend, Aaron. ” Aaron held out his hand to shake Maryette’s. Since when was he so formal?
“Nice to meet you,” Aaron smiled as he shook Maryette’s hand.
“Nice to meet you as well,” Maryette greeted back. “This is my boyfriend, Dennis.” Aaron and Dennis gave each other the universal guy hand pound as they greeted each other. My sister and her boyfriend walk back towards the kitchen, which gives me just enough time to talk to Aaron. Of course, he immediately starts laughing when the two adults leave the room.
“Mollie Wollie?” Aaron teased. I nudged him on the shoulder as he continued to laugh.
“Shut up, that’s not funny!” I whispered at him in a stern way.
“Okay, okay; I;m sorry,” Aaron said before we both walked into the dining room area where the rest of my family was. Everyone turned their heads toward us once we entered the room. My mom and Alex were sitting at one end of the table, Milo and Jennifer were sitting towards the middle, and Maryette and Dennis sat at the other end. I immediately noticed that my nephew Micah and my twin nieces were with Jennifer; Milo was nowhere to be found. Interesting.
“Hi, Mollie,” my mom started the conversation. Everyone followed with a greeting for me and my company.
“Hi, uhm…” I began to clear my throat before I said anything further. I felt Aaron squeeze my hand slightly in the process. I looked at him, appreciating that he was next to me as I did this. “This is my boyfriend, Aaron.” Everyone greeted Aaron as soon as I introduced him to them. “Aaron, that is my mom Lydia, my stepdad Alex, you already met Maryette and Dennis, and that’s my oldest sister Jennifer and Milo.” We both started to walk toward the empty seats at the dining room table.
“Nice to meet everyone,” Aaron politely said. “And, to see again; hi, Mr. Kamalani.”
“Hi, Aaron,” Milo said to Aaron before he spoke to the rest of the table. “Aaron is in my freshman vocal choir with Mollie.”
“Oh,” my mom chimed in. “I thought you had a band, Aaron?” I squeezed my eyes shut. Mom, you’re not supposed to know that yet.
“Oh, I do,” Aaron began to explain. “I’m a dual majors at Waverly. I’m in both vocal and band.”
“Like Milo’ son,” Alex added. I looked at Jennifer and Milo for any sort of reaction. The frozen look on their face is all I needed to know that they were thinking the same thing as me. Don’t ever mention him in front of Aaron and I.
“But I do have a band outside of Waverly,” Aaron cleared his throat and continued. “Mollie comes in and rehearses with us from time to time.” He looked at me as he spoke, smiling once he finished. I couldn’t help but blush a little. Why was Aaron so good at talking to my family?
“Are you a part of it?” Jennifer aggressively asked, as if she was trying to piece together the puzzle of what my life has been like for the last couple of months. I looked at Jennifer trying to not show her that I was sweating. “Yes, Pep. I am a part of Aaron’s band.”
“That is so dope,” Maryette added in, hitting Dennis on the arm. “Why didn’t we do anything cute like that when we were dating in college?”
“What were we going to do? Perform scenes of Withering Heights as The Bowery?” Dennis asked. Jennifer laughed at Dennis’ joke as Maryette rolled her eyes. It made Aaron laugh as well.
“Milo,” my mom called for Mr. Kamalani. “Is Milo a part of this band too?”
“Mom,” I quickly said, getting annoyed with all this Milo conversation.
“My other band members are some of my childhood friends,” Aaron began to explain. “We added Mollie just recently because she has a voice that fits our style of music.” Seriously, how is Aaron so good at this?
“Oh,” my mom nodded as she let the topic go. Thank God. I was surprised at Aaron’s ability to just take everything my family is saying and acting completely normal. Nothing was making him uncomfortable or having him look at me differently. It made me feel as if he was being more mature than the actual adults in this room. Everything was going well until Jennifer started the conversation again.
“Did you know that Mollie dances?” she asked Aaron. Aaron nodded his head, now talking to my sister.
“I did,” he said as he looked at me. “She was practicing in one of the rehearsal rooms one day and accidentally walked in on her–“
“Oh, were you practicing the routine for our next show?” Jennifer asked as she looked at me. I know exactly what you’re trying to do.
“Me being in Aaron’s band does not take time away from me dancing,” I spat out. “Rehearsals with the band are on Thursdays–“
“And dance rehearsal is Mondays and Wednesdays,” Jennifer added. She laughs to herself before she continues the conversation. “No wonder you’re practicing your extracurricular activity during your lunch period. Where do you even have the time to do your schoolwork?” I was growing annoyed at Jennifer. It very much felt my own sister was taking Milo’s side when it came to my relationship with Aaron.
“I get it done,” I said, trying to hide the fact that I was getting angry.
“Do you both even have time to spend with each other?” Jennifer asked, taking a sip from her wine glass. “With your extracurricular activities combined, I’m just surprised that you two even have time to get to know each other as a couple, not just band mates.”
“Mollie and I spend a lot of time hanging out these days,” Aaron tried to have control of the conversation. Sadly, he doesn’t know how stubborn my sister can be.
“Without talking about band stuff?” Jennifer asked Aaron. This was the first time tonight that Aaron looked flustered. I hate that Jennifer would do something like this.
“Well,” Aaron began to answer the question before I cut him off.
“Pep, why are you so concerned about what my boyfriend and I do in our quality time?” I asked, not caring if I was coming off as rude.
“I’m not,” Jennifer started to answer. “I’m concerned about your time management.”
“Oh because I don’t make it to every single dumb dance rehearsal you have?” I spat back at my sister.
“Mols,” Aaron tried whispering to me. It was too late; I was fuming already and completely defensive of my relationship with Aaron.
“That, and the fact that you both are in prestigious programs that require a lot of your time inside and outside of school,” she added, looking at Aaron. “Are you using Mollie just to up your band’s image?”
“What?” Aaron asked, completely off-guard.
“I’ve been in plenty of bands in my lifetime with boyfriends that used me just because I was a good vocalist and appealing to an audience,” Jennifer began to explain.
“Pep,” Mr. Kamalani tried to stop Jennifer from continuing.
“And it seems like every time I broke up with one of the boys, I was easily replaced by another girl that one of the guys in the band were dating.” Jennifer’s eyes darted at Aaron. “Respectfully, I am trying to protect my baby sis from those type of musicians.”
“What’s that suppose to mean?” I got up from my seat, angry now. Aaron got up from his seat, grabbing my hand.
“Mols,” Aaron tried to get my attention. I couldn’t let this go.
“It’s exactly what it means,” Jennifer said, now getting up. Mr. Kamalani got up from his seat, trying to calm my sister down. “You’re putting so much of your energy on this band and forgetting about your other responsibilities without even knowing if you’ll stay in this band once after you both break up.”
“Peppie,” my mom tried to intervene in the conversation. She couldn’t let this go either.
“By all means Jennifer, that is not the case with Mollie,” Aaron chimed into the conversation now. “I didn’t scout Mollie into my band.”
“Scout?” Jennifer repeated. “So you scout your lead vocalists for your band?”
“Mollie has been the only girl we had as lead for our band, ” Aaron defended. I looked at Aaron, not knowing that fact about the band. I thought that Aaron and his band have had other vocalists come and go in their band and that it just didn’t work out in the end. I’m the first.
“Pep, just take it easy,” Maryette finally chimed in. “Let’s be lucky that she’s actually spending time with other people besides Milo these days–“
“Or at all,” Jennifer mumbled underneath her breath, looking at me as she did. I didn’t want to sit at the table anymore so instead of excusing myself, I got up and walked out.
“Mols,” Aaron ran after me, also excusing himself from the table. I quickly went out of the backdoor to the yard, no jacket or anything, just to get away from these people for one moment. It wasn’t long after that I heard Aaron call out my name. I turned around and saw him walk toward me with a sweater in his hand.
“Hey,” Aaron softly said as he handed me the sweater. I took the sweater from him thanking him for bringing it out here.
“I’m sorry about my sister,” I began to say. “Obviously I didn’t think she was going to be the problem.”
“She’s just doing what big sisters do,” Aaron added. “I didn’t take anything personally.”
“I did,” I said, finally turning to face Aaron. “Especially when she’s assuming things in the way they Milo did with us.”
“Milo doesn’t matter,” Aaron stated. “Your sister on the other hand does. If she has concerns, then let her have concerns. But your happiness is what she truly cares about.”
“It sometimes doesn’t feel like it,” I added, sighing afterwards. “I’m sorry–“
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Mols,” Aaron said, lifting my chin up with his hand. “You did nothing but welcome me into your family and that alone is hard for us to do.” He gently kissed me on my forehead, smiling once he did. “I appreciate it.” I couldn’t help but feel secure whenever I was with Aaron. This was the first time I ever felt this way about another human being, yet alone someone that I really liked. I don’t know how I was lucky enough to get Aarons attention all those months ago in vocal, now being able to kiss him and call him my boyfriend. And I; his girlfriend.
I kissed Aaron before getting up from the wooden picnic table in the backyard. Aaron held my hand as we walked towards the back door of the house. I immediately tugged his arm, directing it to the side of the house. He didn’t say anything, he just followed by lead. It was nice to have someone see me and listen to me when I needed someone to. Aaron seemed to almost be too good to be true.
That was until the night of our opening show at The Bowery.
— to be continued —
Letters From Liz. 