Chapter Nine
"Mom, we're home!" Lance called as he shut the door behind us.
A middle aged woman hurried out of the kitchen wearing an apron and wiping her hands on a dishtowel. "Hey honey."
"Mom, this is Ocean," Lance said. "Ocean, this is my mom, Diane."
I smiled and stuck my hand out. 'Nice to meet you, Mrs. Bass."
"Oh, call me Diane, please. It's so wonderful to finally meet you- Lance talks about you all the time," she said with a smile as she shook my hand.
A blond woman appeared on the stairs. "Hey everyone."
Lance motioned her over to us. "Stacy, this is Ocean. Ocean, this is my sister, Stacy."
Stacy hugged me. "It's good to meet you! I feel like I know you already because Lance absolutely will not shut-up about you."
"Where's Ford?" Lance asked.
"Right here," a voice said from behind us. "You're Ocean, right?"
I nodded and shook his hand. "Yup."
"I'm Ford," Ford said.
"Well, I'm gonna take Ocean up to her room now," Lance said and led me upstairs. He opened the door to a spacious light room. "Here's your room."
"Wow, this is really nice, Lance," I said, looking around as Lane set my bag down. There were large windows that faced the perfectly clipped backyard and I caught sight of a tire swing on a tree.
"We'll have to go on that tire swing while you're here," Lance said, coming up behind me and putting his arms around my waist.
"Yes, we will," I replied.
THANKSGIVING�
"I'm so nervous," I said while Rainbow and I walked into the airport. "What is their airline? American?"
Rainbow nodded. "Yeah. So am I, but we shouldn't worry."
"But you know how my dad is about me and having a boyfriend�"
"Osh, I would not worry- Lance is a perfect gentleman. Your dad will have no reason to dislike him in any way and your mom will think he's cute," Rainbow said.
I nodded. "I hope so. There's their gate."
We settled into the gray cushioned seats by the gate to wait for JC and Lance.
"Rain! Osh!" a familiar voice yelled.
We turned around to see Eddie waving as he pulled a suitcase along behind him. I shot up out of chair and gave him a big hug.
"Hey Eddie," Rainbow said as she hugged him.
"Hey you two- waiting for Lance and JC?" Eddie asked.
I nodded. "Yup. Home for Thanksgiving?"
Eddie rolled his eyes. "Yeah, my mom wants me home to spend time with the step sibs."
Rainbow smiled sympathetically. "Sorry. How are you getting home?"
"I'm gonna get a rental and drive the long three hours�"
"By yourself?" I snorted. "And you expect to stay awake?"
Eddie laughed. "I'm gonna try."
"That's dumb, Eddie. Just ride home with us," Rainbow offered.
"Are you sure, Rain?" Eddie asked. "Will there be enough room for all of us?"
Rainbow nodded. "Oh yeah. There'll be plenty of room-"
"Here they come," I interrupted as I saw two heads with baseball caps and sunglasses walk into the waiting area. "Lance!"
"Osh!" Lance wrapped his arms around me in a long hug. "I've missed you."
"Same here," I sighed.
"Eddie, hey, what are you doing here?" JC asked with his arm wrapped around Rainbow's waist.
"Home for Thanksgiving," Eddie said with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Well, that's cool," Lance said. "Are you coming with us?"
"Osh and Rain are insisting I come instead of getting a rental, so I guess I am," Eddie replied.
"So are you ready to pick our bags up?" I asked.
Lance and JC nodded. "Yeah."