"And this was Lizzie's wedding," I can hear mom talking to someone in the living room as I walk down the stairs. Like yesterday, I slept in again, this time with good reason though. Harper came to my room after she finished talking to Nikki, and we ended up staying up pretty late talking. She told me about how her senior year was going and about how she was on the prom committee. In return, she badgered me for stories of the city, ones that I couldn't share with mom and dad around.

    Obviously, I didn't have many, but I couldn't let her down. Instead, I pretend my love life is a failure because my expectations are too high for any man in New York City, and while that's true, I don't tell her about the fact that I don't even try.

    I find mom sitting on the couch in the living room, Nikki and Wyatt sat on either side of her, and Skye sat on Wyatt's lap. They all peered over at my mom's iPad, which she was scrolling through, showing them old photos. I stay behind them, not bothering to make my presence known just yet while mom slides past images.

    "Look how beautiful they all are," Nikki coos, I didn't need to see her voice to know she was smiling, "was Marley the maid of honor?"

    "She was," I can slightly see the images on my mom's screen as she scrolls past them, all of them are from Lizzie and James' wedding, "she gave a speech and everything, poor girl was so nervous."

    Wyatt, who hasn't spoken since I walked down, finally speaks up, "she always hated talking in front of crowds," He mutters it to himself more than saying it to the others.

    "She did so well though," Mom continues, not fazed by Wyatt's tone, "she'd just gotten her braces off too, which was good. She'd always been so insecure of those... do you remember the slight lisp she had when she first got them?"

    I cringe, glad they can't see me. I hated my braces when I first got them. Not only had they hurt like hell at the time, but they gave me this temporary lisp at first. I'd already had a hard enough time speaking up for myself during that time. Adding the lisp on top made it even harder, "What's a lisp?" Skye asks, looking back at Wyatt, her eyes squinting together in confusion.

    "It just means she had a hard time pronouncing words," Wyatt explains, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. He was the one who had to reassure me it hadn't been that bad during the time. Still, his reassurance never worked.

    Wyatt seemed a little more relaxed since last night. It appears that being around Skye has that effect on him. I can't see his face, but I can tell by how his shoulders are slightly hunched over, his posture not stiff like a board. I wonder if his mom told him about her conversations with Harper and I last night? And if she did, I wonder if he thought that meant he'd be getting an apology too?

    Spoiler alert, he's not.

    "Ah, here's the Marley you remember," Mom sighed, chuckling slightly to herself as she scrolled back to a picture of me that was taken before I'd gotten my braces off, one where my hair wasn't styled like it had been at Lizzie's wedding. I couldn't see it very clearly from here, but I could see my frizzy hair, which I wore straight now. It never could quite decide whether it had wanted to be straight or curly back then.

    The Marley he remembers... the girl who dressed to hide away in the crowd and not stand out, the girl with metal braces lining her teeth and hair that was unruly and wild. Part of me hates myself for feeling so embarrassed and insecure about how I used to look. Still, I feel better now; I learned an important lesson in college, you can care about what you look like and take over the world. I can be intelligent and pretty.

    "What are you doing?" I cringe at the sound of Harper whispering behind me, turning to look back at her. Unlike me, who'd already changed into jeans and a white turtleneck, Harper still wore her sweats from bed, her short hair pulled into a messy low ponytail. "Are you spying on them? Are they talking about us?"

    "No, no," I shake my head, scoffing, "I was just prolonging having to see Wyatt as long as possible." Not a total lie. I didn't want to face Wyatt yet. I had also been curious of what exactly they were going to say, not that I'll admit that out loud.

    It seems Harper believes my lie because she shrugs her shoulders, nodding her head, "fair enough. Come on. I'm sure Skye's bursting to tell us our plans for the day."

    As we enter the room, I can see mom is now scrolling through photos of Skye; the ones we took in the court the day we adopted her, "Oh, good morning girls," Mom smiles, placing her iPad on her lap. I can't help but notice how Wyatt sits up straighter at the sight of Harper and I, his smile washing off his face, "sleep well?"

    Both Harper and I hum in unison, falling back onto the couch across from the rest of them, "I need coffee," I admit, too lazy to stand up and go to the kitchen to make myself some.

    "Well, you're in luck," Dad enters the living room, taking a sip from his own cup, "we're going to the mall today, so you can buy yourself one of those ridiculously priced ones that you love so much?"

    "We're going to the mall?"

    Before dad can respond to Harper's question, Skye groans dramatically, "dad," She whines, "I was supposed to tell them."

    "What are we doing at the mall, Skye?" I question our little sister, who's still sitting on Wyatt's lap.

    "We have to wait for Lizzie," She informs me, stubbornly crossing her arms across her chest.

      We all laugh, amused by Skye, "Okay, well, I'm gonna go get coffee," I inform her, pulling myself off the couch to make my much-needed cup. I place a cup under my parent's automatic coffee machine, moving over to the fridge to grab the caramel creamer mom and dad had picked up for me.

    By the time I've finished making my coffee, Lizzie and James are walking through the door, both holding car seats that have a sleeping Iris and Elliot in them, "Sorry we're late," Lizzie apologizes, speaking in a hushed tone. Lizzie and James both look exhausted, "the twins decided it'd be fun to take turns screaming last night."

    "My perfect niece and nephew?" I ask her, holding my hand over my heart in mock shock, "I don't believe it."

    "Ha, ha, hilarious." Lizzie fake laughs sarcastically. Both she and James walk sluggishly over to the couch, taking seats on either side of Harper, rocking the baby's car seats back and forth, "so, what's the plan for today?" 

    Skye drums her hands against her lap, for dramatic effect, before announcing, "we're doing Secret Santa. We're going to go to the mall today to buy presents and then meet Santa."

    "Skye did Secret Santa with her class," Mom explains before any of us can react, "she thought it'd be fun for all of us to do it too."

    "I love that idea," Lizzie smiled tiredly, trying to act enthusiastic despite her lack of sleep, "And the Twins haven't met Santa yet, so this is perfect."

    "I'll go write down names," I offer, shooting Skye a nod as I move over to Dad's office down the hall, where pens and paper will be. I write down all of our names first, starting from oldest to youngest. When I get to Nikki and Wyatt, I hesitate. Every part of me wants to take a name out early and pretend.

   If I picked Wyatt's name, what would I even get him?

   Picturing the smile on Skye's face made me put the paper I snuck out back in. She was so excited. I can't cheat, no matter how badly I want to. I toss all of the papers into a cup before walking back into the living room, passing the cup to Skye.

    The cup goes in a circle, and everyone takes their papers out, silently reacting. I can't help but observe Wyatt's expression as he peers at his paper. He takes in a breath, his eyes shutting for a second. I can't quite tell if it's a look of eagerness or disappointment.

    Finally, it gets to me last, there's one paper left. I hold my breath, biting my lip as I reach into the glass, pulling the folded-up paper out. Please don't be Wyatt, please don't be Wyatt.... I let out a slight sigh as I open the paper, revealing Nikki's name instead.

    "Alright, everyone," Dad claps his hands together. Before he can continue, both Lizzie and James let out loud shushes, nodding their heads towards the sleeping twins, "right, sorry," dad whispers bashfully, whispering, "let's head out."

    Skye jumps off of Wyatt's lap, running upstairs to grab something. While everyone separates to grab their stuff to go, Harper comes up to me, "I have a fun idea," She says, nudging me, "wanna trade?" 

    "you got Wyatt, didn't you?" I ask her, keeping my voice down so no one else can hear.

    "Pfft," Harper scoffs, awkwardly chuckling, "me? no, no, I just..." I quirk my brow at her, and she sighs, "fine... I did."

   "Rules are rules," I shrug, patting her shoulder comfortingly, "good luck."