32"Stop fussing. You look fine." Amy scolded, as Tom held up a new t-shirt.
"Fine? You really think your father will accept 'fine?' Blue or green?" he said, holding the green t-shirt slightly to the side of his body so that she could see the blue one he was wearing. Amy, who was half-lying on his bed reading a magazine, smirked.
"No shirt." She said, leaning her head slightly to look at him. Tom groaned.
"I'm nervous enough as it is, without you doing that." He turned and looked in the mirror again. "Which one?" he persisted.
"Blue brings out your eyes." Amy swung her legs over the side of the bed and walked towards him. "Green makes you look hot." She slid her arms around him, grazing her fingernails along the thin strip of skin that was visible. "But I still vote for no shirt." Tom turned and kissed her, throwing the green t-shirt onto the back of his desk chair.
"We're gonna be late." Amy murmured against him,
"You started it." He replied.
"They're late." Greg muttered, stabbing birthday candles into Lucy's ballerina birthday cake.
"Gentle." Allison said, laying a hand on her husband's, more to stop him butchering the cake than anything else. She used her other hand to slide candles into Ben's cake, shaped like a monster truck. She hadn't wanted him to like monster trucks, but given who his father was it seemed inevitable. She comforted herself with the fact that Lucy couldn't be more girly.
"They're late." Greg repeated, pushing the final candle into the creepy-looking cake in front of him. Lucy was currently going through the ballet phase and every Tuesday afternoon Allison had to scrape back Lucy's wispy brown hair into a bun and take the giddy little girl off to point her toes and spin in circles. He in turn had taken it upon himself to teach Ben to play piano. At four years old his son wasn't exactly Beethoven, but he could play a few simple tunes. Lucy would stand beside the piano as he practised, pointing her toes in time to the music.
"They probably got stuck in traffic." Allison soothed, taking the two birthday cakes and putting them in the refridgerator for later.
"Traffic. Right." Greg turned his attention to what seemed like a hundred party bags, for Lucy and Ben's kindergarten friends. Blue with monster trucks for Ben's friends, and pink with hearts for Lucy's. The grown-ups had booze in the fridge for later, when the kids had all gone home.
A car pulled into the driveway and Greg tried not to look as if he was snooping as he walked to the window.
"She drove." He remarked.
"His car's in the shop." Allison answered before calling. "Lucy, Ben! Amy and Tom are here!" Thunderous footsteps could be heard over head as the twins rushed down the stairs, fighting to be the first to reach the door. Greg beat them to it, opening the front door just as Amy reached up to put her key in the lock. Ben and Lucy rushed towards Amy and Tom, pulling them into the house.
"Amy watch look what I learned, look look!" Lucy said, jumping up and down with her toes pointed and her arms above her head.
"Tom, come see. I learned chopsticks on the piano. Come watch!" Ben said, trying to elbow his sister out of the way.
"Very clever, both of you." Amy laughed, bending down and hugging her younger siblings. She stood and hugged Greg, then stepped back to where Tom was watching patiently. Tom reached out and shook Greg's hand, and then allowed Ben to drag him through to the living room. Lucy bounced behind them, desperate to show Tom her ballet moves.
Amy smiled at her father;
"Help me bring in the p-r-e-s-e-n-t-s?" she asked, spelling the word rather than saying it so as not to attract the attention of the birthday children. No such luck though, as the piano playing stopped with a clang and the twins ran at high speed back into the hallway, hopping with excitement.
"Hi Mom." Amy said, seeing Allison arranging party food onto plates. Allison smiled at the rabble of people crowding into the kitchen. Greg stood in the doorway, watching as Amy hugged Allison, whispering something into her ear which made them both laugh. The twins clambered up onto the dining table, both still chattering incessantly to Tom who guarded them carefully, making sure they didn't fall.
Allison looked across the kitchen at Amy and grinned. "Good journey?" she asked. Amy shrugged.
"You were late." Greg scolded her, moving around the kitchen to help Allison with the party food.
"Car trouble," Amy replied smoothly and it was then that he noticed the tell-tale red mark peeking out from underneath the strap of her tanktop
"Unclench." Allison said, bringing two plates of burger and hot dog buns over to the grill. Greg, standing in front of the barbecue turning the food, scowled at the sight of Amy and Tom, playing tag with forty four year olds in fancy dress. Playing with them were Wilson, Cuddy, Chase and Foreman, as well as Chase's fiancee Carrie. Foreman's wife Libby sat beside the food table, their baby daughter Isobel wrapped snugly against her. Their two year old son Levi was trying to join in the fun with the four year olds, and Amy suddenly swooped him up, preventing him from being trampled by one of Ben's more boisterous friends.
"Have you seen the hickey?" he almost snarled, immediately changing his tone when Lucy, dressed as a fairy in hot pink and half a pot of silver glitter, rushed up to ask when they were going to eat.
"5 minutes."
"How long's that?" Lucy asked. Like any other four year old, she loved to ask questions.
"It's when I call you. Go and play with your friends." Greg replied, pressing her dainty nose with his index finger. Lucy rolled her tongue at him and scampered off to play.
"I have seen the hickey." Allison answered as if their daughter hadn't even interrupted. "But you know what? You're looking at her as if she's Lucy's age, playing at being a grown-up. She's 21. She'll be a college Senior in a few months. Old enough to drink and live on her own and shock horror; she's old enough to have sex." Greg pressed one of the hotdogs against the grill, relishing in the satisfying sizzle it made.
"Doesn't mean she has to flaunt it." He grumbled. Allison laughed, sensing that she wasn't going to make him change his mind about their daughter's choice of boyfriend. No guy would be good enough for her as far as he was concerned.
"Two years, Greg. They've been together for two years. She's not just gonna give him up. She loves him." She kissed him on the cheek, taking the plates of hotdogs and burgers over to the long, decorated party table. "Food's ready!" The kids all ran screaming to the table, clambering over the seats.
It wasn't as if he hated the kid. He didn't. In fact, if Tom hadn't been dating Amy, there was a good chance that he would have gotten along well with him. He was the kind of guy Greg would have considered hiring, if Chase and Foreman had ever moved on after their fellowships finished. As it was he still had his team of three but if one of them ever left, Tom was the kind of guy who could easily fill their shoes. But it all came down to one fundamental fact; Tom was dating Amy, and they were in love. And it killed him.
"Whose idea was it to invite their entire kindergarten class?" Greg groaned, trying to get comfortable on the sofa but struggling due to the fact that the kids had used him as a bouncy-castle.
"I think you'll find it was yours." Allison smirked, handing him a beer and sitting down next to him. She of course, had barely broken into a sweat, taking the extra forty children casually into her stride.
"Well in that case, never take me seriously ever again." He replied, closing his eyes.
"You'll live to regret saying that." Amy half-giggled, half-yawned. "We should get going, it's late." She made no move to get off the arm-chair however, where she and Tom were seated in a strange but comfortable position, Amy on his knees. Allison looked at the clock.
"It's after nine; you won't get back to the dorm until after midnight. Why not stay over and drive back in the morning?" she suggested, and felt Greg tense next to her. "Ben and Lucy would love it." All afternoon the twins had been extolling the virtues of their big sister to anyone who would listen. Amy looked at Tom, who felt his eyelids getting heavier by the second. He shrugged imperceptibly, but Amy knew exactly what he was saying.
"Are you sure?" she asked, looking at Allison but directing the question to her dad.
"Yeah, why not." Greg replied, too tired to argue.