“Actually, I call Ryan, Ry, so she’s the only one,” Chris teased.

“Mine gets shortened double,” Tina said motioning for us to move to the couch, which we did.

“Yeah, from Christina to Tina to T,” Hailey said with a scowl on her face.

“Christian and Christina, how cute,” I observed sitting down.

“So you’re name is Bette, is that right?” Hailey said shaking my hand.

“Yes, nice to meet you,” I said reached to shake Laney’s hand as well.

“I’m Elaina A.K.A Laney Kennard, and this is Hailey Kennard,” Laney said formally.

“Guys, there’s something I need to tell you,” Tina said.

Chris, Hailey, and Laney looked at Tina then looked at me as if trying to find an answer. They sat down then watched Tina expectantly. “Um, there’s a reason I brought Bette to dinner tonight,” Tina said.

“Yeah sure, we love meeting all your friends, Tina,” Chris said with a smile.

“But Bette is not just a friend,” Tina said.

I froze and looked at her siblings who looked rather confused. “Wait, what?” Hailey said.

“She’s my girlfriend,” Tina said confidently.

I didn’t dare breathe, waiting for their reaction.

“Girlfriend as in..” Laney trailed off.

Chris broke out in laughter and said, “holy shit you’re gay?”

“Yeah,” Tina said.

“Since when!” Laney chirped breaking into the easy laughter with Chris.

“Since we met in traffic school,” Tina said.

“Shit, what traffic school did you go to,” Hailey said with a giggle.

I sighed in relief seeing that they were open to the idea. “You guys are cool with this?” Tina said sitting down next to me and wrapping her arm against around my shoulders.

“We’re not homophobes like our the rest of our family,” Hailey said.

“Except Ryan, we really don’t know what he’s thinking,” Laney commented.

“Um, well,” Tina said getting nervous again though I thought the hard part was over, “I wanna take her to Carolina with us next week.”

“Are you insane?” Chris said his cheerful face turning serious.

“You know that anybody we take home is someone serious in our lives,” Laney said, “that’s why Josh is the only one who ever brought someone home!”

“Well, I’m serious about Bette,” Tina said.

“Tina,” Hailey said calmly, “dad will fucking kill you!”