Ch.4

"Now that all our homework is done, what do you want to do now?" Alex asks me now that we are done with all our work for the weekend and we have time before the dinner party at Cam and Mitchell's home.

"We could play some games outside," I say with a shrug, not sure either.

As we are sitting outside, not sure what to do and just talking about books we've read, Luke turns the corner. Without thinking he pulls the trigger on his BB gun and it hits both Alex and me, making Alex scream in both pain and surprise. While I yelp in surprise and pain too, with Luke staring at us both like a deer in headlights.

"MOM!!" Alex says with anger and annoyance in her voice while running inside to her mom. Luke and I stare at each other for another few seconds, before we both run inside after Alex.

"What? What happened?" Claire says while walking into the living room where Alex was waiting for her.

"Luke shot Gabe and me with his BB gun!" Alex says while showing her arm where she was shot and pointing to Luke who was holding his BB gun still.

"What?!" Claire says taken back and looking at Alex's red arm which wasn't damaged really, then looking at my arm which was the same.

"Luke!! This is exactly why I didn't want you to have a BB gun!" Claire says as Phil comes into the room hearing the noise.

"What happened?" Phil says as Claire explains what just happened with Alex and Luke arguing.

"Little bitch!" Alex calls Luke making me chuckle a bit, but cover my mouth seeing both parents turn to Alex and Luke.

"Alex! Language!" Claire says admonishing her daughter.

"Luke we talked about this, buddy," Phil says trying to reprimand Luke, while still being his 'friend'.

"Can you guys take the craziness down a not?! Dylan is almost here!" Haley says while coming down the stairs and lecturing her family.

"Dylan?... Who is Dylan?" Claire says while looking at her daughter with confusion.

"A boy I invited over," Haley says while Claire's eye twitches having just received this information.

"I see…" Claire says while seemly thousands of thoughts are going through her mind.

"Mom! What about what Luke did to Gabe and me?" Alex says turning her mom's attention back to her issue.

"Your Dad, like we said will have to shoot Luke since he shot the both of you," Claire says while Phil's face turns pale at the mention of that, with Luke's face also becoming pale in nervousness.

"Phil, you know what you have to do. Alex, Gabe, will the both of you help me in the kitchen?" Claire asks us as we just nod our heads and head to the kitchen with Claire.

"If Haley got pregnant, would you ever pretend she got mono for a few months and then tell everyone the baby's yours?" Alex says breaking the silence while mentioning Dylan coming over soon.

"What? Alex stop, Haley wouldn't do…" Claire says while stopping mid-sentence, having thought of something.

"Can you guys what the food for a few seconds? I just need to talk with your father Alex, about something," Claire says before running off to find Phil, most likely about Dylan.

"Guess I was right," Alex says with a smirk on her face as her Mom runs off. I just awkwardly was helping as this all happened.

"Maybe, but would you really want your sister to become pregnant?" I say to Alex who looks at me and then falls quiet.

"Why do you have to take my fun away?" Alex says with a sigh having agreed that she wouldn't want Haley to become a teen mom.

"Just making sure you don't actually hate your sister," I say with a shrug while Alex gives me an annoyed look.

"I don't! But you don't know what it is like having siblings and being the middle child. It's like I'm always forgotten," Alex says and I just look at her with a surprised look at her sudden outburst of emotions.

"Forget I said anything," Alex says and snaps out of my surprise.

"No, I'm glad you said something. This means you trust me enough to share your feelings, though you are right. I don't know what it is like, but I am your friend and here for you, if you need to talk," I say to her and she gives me a surprised look now, but nods her head smiling at me while blushing slightly.

'Seems I embarrassed her slightly,' I think seeing her reddened face.

Claire then comes back as Alex turns away, getting her emotions in check without Claire noticing anything. Then once lunch was made we all ate, with Dylan showing up shortly after we all ate. Alex and I watched this interaction from afar as Claire seemed to instantly dislike Dylan and Phil tried to befriend him. Which only annoyed Claire further.

Alex and then went into the living room to play some Wii, as Phil was trying to shoot Luke, but couldn't make himself do it. Claire headed upstairs with laundry, but most likely going to spy on Haley. Then Haley ran downstairs to Phil to complain about her mom, making Phil jump in surprise and shoot both Dylan and himself.

Alex and I share a look of surprise and confusion at what just happened. Then we start laughing at the situation, as Haley runs over to Dylan to check on him. Claire comes just after it happened and gives a large sigh.

"Ok! Everyone, stop! We have to leave for Mitchell and Cam's dinner party soon. So I'm sorry Dylan, but I have to ask you to leave. Everyone else, go and get ready!" Claire says while Alex and I go back to playing Wii.

We all then get packed into the minivan before heading over to the dinner party. Once we arrive we all start to head inside.

"Hey everyone! Glad you made it…" Mitchell says coming out of his kitchen to see we all arrived. Though I can tell he is not happy at this dinner party.

"Haley has a new boyfriend and Phil shot him," Claire says to Mitchell making both Haley and Phil look at Claire annoyed.

"Oh… Ok. Is this the boyfriend?" Mitchell says now noticing me, though I am standing next to Alex.

"What?! NO!" Haley says annoyed, making me just shrug.

"No, he is my friend, Uncle Mitchell. His parents are working late so he is just staying with us until they are done working," Alex says before Haley can become more annoyed with me being confused for her boyfriend.

"Oh… Well, nice to meet you…" Mitchell says to me.

"Gabriel Hunter, though you can call me Gabe," I say to him shaking his hand and his eyes widen at hearing my last name.

"Hunter? Is Maria Hunter your Mom?" Mitchell says to me having heard of my mother, due to him being a lawyer too it seems.

"Yeah, she–" I start to confirm that I am her son, just as Jay annoyances his arrival.

"I'm coming in!" Jay says due to his uncomfortableness with seeing his son being intimate with his long-time boyfriend.

"Nothing is happening! Everyone else is already here," Mitchell says though very annoyed with his father's way of entering the house.

"Hey Dad," Claire says greeting Jay who enters with his new wife Gloria and stepson Manny behind him.

"So… I just want to say, that this whole party was to tell you all… that Cam and I were thinking about adopting a baby for some time now–" Mitchell says to us all.

"Wait what?! A baby should have a mother, and if you guys are bored then get a dog," Jay says interrupting Mitchell who is now offended and more annoyed with his father.

"No offense Mitchell, but I can agree with Dad slightly that having a baby is a lot of responsibility," Claire says kind of agreeing with her father on this issue.

"What?!" Mitchell says turning to Claire now annoyed with her too.

"All I am saying is you can be… a bit uptight," Claire says while Haley grunts in disapproval of her mom's statement.

"Like you aren't uptight," Haley says making Claire turn to her with an annoyed look. Though Mitchell smiles at Haley agreeing with her statement about Claire.

"This… this is interesting," I whisper to Alex, who gives me an awkward smile at me seeing her family's inner drama.

"Wait where is Cam?... Did the two of you guys split up?!"Jay says having not seen Cam yet and he is usually the social butterfly of the two men. This takes Mitchell by surprise and confusion at his father's accusation.

"I get it, Cameron could be dramatic," Jay says nodding his head, happy that his son possibly broke up with his boyfriend.

"What?! No, we didn't break up! And Cam is not that dramatic ok!" Mitchell says extremely annoyed and aggravated by both of his family members.

Right after Mitchell defends Cameron for being dramatic, Cameron dramatically enters, holding Lily aloft before the family while 'Circle of Life' from 'The Lion King plays'. Everyone goes quiet at seeing this and having not expected this, while Mitchell lets out a sigh. I chuckle slightly seeing this all, with Alex smiling at me and laughing slightly too.

"OH, MY GOD!! You guys actually adopted a baby!! Look how cute she is!" Claire says running over to Cam and looking at Lily who is just a few months old. Everyone else then runs over and surrounds Cam to see Lily, who is fairly quiet during this whole ordeal.

"Jay… you need to apologize," I overhear Gloria say to Jay, who mulls over her words.

"Jay, don't spit on Mitchell," Gloria says to Jay, but now everyone hears it and looks confused at her.

"It's a saying from where I am from… It sounds better in Spanish. 'Seré la brisa en tu espalda, no la que escupe en tu frente'," Gloria says and I nod my head.

"She means, 'I will be the breeze on your back, not the one that spits on your forehead'. Basically, protect him from trouble do not cause him trouble," I say with Gloria smiling at me and nodding her head.

"Mi familia es de España. Normalmente solo hablo español en casa," (My family is from Spain. I usually only speak Spanish at home) I say to Gloria who smiles even more at me.

"¡Oh! ¡En realidad! No he conocido a nadie más por aquí que pueda entenderme. Tienes que presentarme a tu mamá," (Oh! Really! I haven't met anyone else around here who can understand me. You have to introduce me to your mom) Gloria says very excited to have met someone else who can understand her around LA.

"Hay una cantidad decente de personas que hablan español por aquí," (There are a decent amount of people who speak Spanish around here) I say to her confused as LA does have a fairly large Spanish community.

"Lo sé, pero donde vivimos ahora. No hay nada más que gente blanca rica," (I know, but where we live now. There is nothing but rich white people) Gloria says to me and I nod my head in understanding while laughing at her statement.

"What is happening?" Jay says interrupting our conversation not understanding anything we just said to each other.

"Jay apologize," Gloria says giving him a look that leaves no room for argument. He just nods his head, then turns to Mitchell and Cam.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said what I said. You both will make wonderful parents and now little Lily is a part of the family," Jay says while smiling down at Lily, with Mitchell and Cam excepting his apology.

"So, kid, who are you and why do you know Spanish?" Jay says to me as he gets to hold Lily.

"I'm Gabriel Hunter, Alex's friend. My mom's family is from Spain, so I grew up speaking Spanish," I say with a shrug while Jay nods his head in understanding.