Isaac woke up to the sound of the phone ringing. He checked the clock and saw it was a bit after two in the morning. Groaning, he reached over and grabbed the receiver.
“Hello?” he yawned.
“Ike? It’s Zoe.”
“Oh, hi, Zoe. Do you know what time it is here?”
“I would have waited until it was a more civilized hour over there for you, but there are just some things you don’t want your family to find out through the media.”
Isaac was immediately worried.
“What happened?”
“Oh nothing horrible. Unless you call getting married a few months earlier than planned, horrible.”
“What?”
“I’m sure you noticed that Chris and my wedding plans kept getting leaked out. No matter what we did, they kept leaking.”
“Mmm.”
“So, well, someone… actually it was Babsie’s cousin’s daughter, Lane, who suggested we should elope. When she first suggested it, we kinda laughed it off, but later it grew on us and well, we did it. Just a few hours ago.”
“Oh. Hey congratulations sis,” Isaac said, stifling a yawn.
“Sorry I woke you up.”
“No, I understand. Send my congratulations to Chris as well. And say ‘hi’ to Storm and Rogue for me. Tell them we love them.”
“I will. Good night Ike.”
“Good night Zoe.”
**********
“Mum,” said Sam, walking into the lounge room, “I’d like to introduce you to my girlfriend, Melissa.”
Rita gave a pleasant smile to the thin girl.
“Hello,” she said. “I’m glad we’ve finally gotten a chance to meet. Sam never stops talking about you.”
Melissa smiled back and leant further into Sam - if that was even possible.
“It’s great to finally meet you too.”
It may have been Rita’s imagination, but as they settled down to dinner, she thought Melissa made a point of steering herself and Sam away from where Rose and Kyle were sitting. Rita told herself she was just being silly - Melissa seemed a perfectly nice person and she and Sam made such a cute couple.
“So, what do you think?” Sam asked nervously after he came back from taking Melissa home.
“I think she’s a delightful young lady,” Rita said.
“Bit skinny though,” Taylor added. “Are you sure she’s not anorexic or something?”
“Melissa? No way. I’ve seen her eat,” Sam grinned. “Actually so did you tonight.”
“That doesn’t mean she’s not bulimic…”
“Mel is just one of those people who can eat and eat and not put anything on. That’s all,” Sam assured them.
There was a giggle, and out of the corner of his eye Sam saw Rose signing something to Kyle.
“What was that?” he asked, not seeing it.
Rose just giggled, neither she nor Kyle decided to enlighten their brother.