Courage

Chapter Twenty-Four

[Maya]

Now, I thought Camila, Fran and I were going to be driving to Washington. (I guess it was dumb of me to think that, considering the car ride would be about forty hours.) We took a plane, their private jet. Their private jet had fancy hot towels with the letter R on them, fancy champagne (we didn't drink, though), and a bed where I nestled in Fran's arms for four hours.

I guess I should've also expected the Russos' old house to be a mansion, considering Fran told me they play football in the backyard. The mansion was majestic, and the decor on the inside was timeless.
As soon as we entered Camila wandered off somewhere.

"Hello? I was just on a plane, I have bags, is no one going to help me with them?" Fran complained, followed by a little echo. "The lack of hospitality is awful."

One of her brothers, Eliomar, approached us. Like Fran, he was wearing a football jersey with the number thirteen on it.

"I love how the first thing you did as soon as you stepped in here was complain," he remarked. "Hi, Maya. Nice to see you again."

"Yeah, nice to see you again, too," I returned.

"Yeah, so this is my girlfriend," Fran said and wrapped her arm around my shoulder.

Eliomar looked down and chuckled.

"What's funny?" Fran demanded.

"Nothing." He shook his head, still laughing lightly.

Francesca led me to the kitchen where Lia and Camila were, talking. When Lia saw us, she immediately embraced us warmly.

"Soooo, how are you guys?" she asked.

"Lia, this is my girlfriend, Maya," Fran stated in a way as if Lia and I were just meeting each other. It was kind of funny because we've known each other since elementary school.

"So I've heard!" Lia beamed. Camila laughed to herself, I heard her mumble a number.

"Let's catch up later, I want to take Maya, my girlfriend, to meet everyone," Fran told Lia.

"'Kay, see ya, guys."

Fran took me to the backyard, or should I say football field. Everyone was in a jersey with their name, I assume, on it.

"Franny!" a well-built man exclaimed as he approached us.

"Hey, Antonio. Maya, this is my uncle, Antonio. Uncle Toni, this is my girlfriend, Maya."

The next thing I felt were two big arms wrapped around me, my feet were no longer on the ground.

"Nice to finally meet you, Maya," Antonio said when he set me down.

"Nice to meet you, too," I breathed.

"Sorry," Fran apologized when her uncle walked away. "Toni's . . . Toni. He's welcoming to his niece and nephews' partners."

"No, I get it," I assured her.

Antonio was Fran's father's brother, one of them. Apparently having quadruplets is hereditary in their family for the oldest.

"Ohh, it, um, it runs in the family," I had said when I met Luca and Daniel, her other uncles.

"Yeah." Fran had nodded.

Fran then introduced me to Mackenzie, her mother's sister, and Mackenzie's son Cornelius and Mackenzie's niece Serenity.

"Maya, this is my Aunt Mackenzie and cousin Cornelius. Mackenzie, Cornelius, this is my girlfriend, Maya."

"Hello, Maya," Mackenzie and Cornelius said together. Mackenzie had given me a warm hug in the mix.

"And, Serenity, this is my girlfriend, Maya. Maya, this is my older sister, Serenity."

"Oh, nice to meet you, Serenity." I then recited Fran's words in my head. "Wait, wait, what?"

Serenity and Francesca laughed.

"I'll explain later, my family's extremely dysfunctional," Fran muttered in my ear.

She intertwined her arm with mine and led me to some other family members. I easily put aside the fact that Fran has an older sister that not even the public knew about.

Francesca introduced me to more of her family members, who were very embracing. I let Fran know that.

"I told I would only introduce you to the non-vulture-like people in my family," she told me. Leonardo arrived shortly after she had said that, Eliomar was with him.

"Leo, my girlfriend Maya," Fran introduced me as her girlfriend once again.

Leonardo greeted me and then asked Eliomar, "Did you keep count?"

"Yeah, this is the thirteenth time today I've heard her say it," Eliomar answered.

"I have no idea what they're talking about and frankly, I don't care. I'll be right back, Maya," Fran said to me before stalking off, leaving me with her brothers.

I rocked back and forth on my heels before asking them, "What do you mean by thirteenth time today hearing her say it?"

"Oh, well, we're keeping count of how many times Francesca says 'girlfriend,'" Leonardo replied.

"Oh," I muttered. I did notice she'd referred to me as her girlfriend a bunch of times. She also got a little defensive when one of cousins got a little touchy with me, and hugged me for quite a long time.

"It's not a bad thing, If that's what you think. It's clear that you mean the world to her based on what she's told us about you," Leonardo remarked.

I nodded, feeling ashamed, because I still hadn't  told my parents about Francesca and I.

Soon, I wandered off somewhere with Lia.

"Oh, Maya," she suddenly said. "I made this for you." She held up a black football jersey, showing me the front and back. The back had my name on it and the number fifteen on both sides.

"Thanks. You know you didn't have to do this, though," I replied and put it on.

"Well Fran asked me to, plus if you're playing you probably should wear a jersey."

"Pl—Playing?" I blurted.

"Yeah, we're on the same team, no?" she asked calmly. "I think we are."

"I— I don't know, I didn't even know I was playing! I can't play flag football."

"You should be fine. S'not like we're playing rugby," she chuckled.

"Lia, when's the last time you played flag football?"

"S . . . Seventh grade." Even she couldn't really remember the last time she's played. "Oh well, I'll just stay in the back." She shrugged.