Loving My Cousin

Sky was so miserable sitting in the SUV with her family. It wasn't because she didn't like her family, but because she felt uncomfortable wearing a tight, shiny, red dress with high heels while sitting in a hot SUV. It was the middle of July and Sky and her family had driven for at least 2 hours to her aunt's wedding venue. Sky didn't wear dresses unless she was forced to. At 12 years old, Sky still enjoyed running around and playing outside, so dresses were not welcome in her life. She had only started to wear jeans that year, so being forced to wear a tight dress was killing her. Sky's family was in the vehicle with her. Her mom and step-father were in the front seat. Her 2 younger brothers, Ian and Daniel, were in the middle seat and she was sitting in the back with her younger sister, Addison. They had also been forced to wear fancy clothes, but Sky really only cared about her own discomfort. When they arrived, Sky got out of the SUV and was immediately amazed at the venue. To her right were several small grass-covered hills with several trees along the border that led to a beautiful lake. To her left was a large, modern, grey building with a large balcony. Between the grass and the building was a huge patio area that had a beautiful white arch with pink lilies all over it. Facing the arch were several rows of white chairs. Sky's mom asked her to grab her suitcase from the vehicle and take it inside. She did. As they entered the beautiful building, Sky noticed a lot of people inside. Some were at the check-in counter and some were mingling in the front foyer. Everyone was wearing nice clothes and most had suit cases and bags with them. She didn't recognize anyone, which wasn't surprising. Her mom had warned her that there would be family and a lot of friends of her aunt and her soon to be uncle that she didn't know. Sky had been told that this was a building specifically made for weddings, so it had hotel rooms and a pool and balcony upstairs and a nice wedding hall downstairs. After her parents checked in, Sky and her family dropped their bags in their hotel room and went down to mingle. Sky looked around for her aunt who was getting married but didn't see her anywhere. She quickly realized that made sense because she had to get ready in her wedding dress and whatnot. Sky walked over to where her cousins, Brayden and Tristan, were standing outside on the grass. Brayden was 17 or so and Tristan was 11. When Sky's family went to her aunt's house, she often played with Tristan and her younger siblings. They hadn't been going over very much lately, but they played a lot when they were younger. Brayden often just smoked weed and hung out in his room. He didn't like to hang out with his younger cousins that much. "Hey Sky," said Tristan as he walked toward his older cousin, "What's up?" "Eh, not much. My dress is stupid and my mom made me get this crappy hair cut," Sky said while tugging on her shoulder-length hair, "What about you? Are you cool that your mom's getting married today?" Tristan had his hands in his pockets like he typically did. "I don't really care. Ben has been living with us for 2 years, so nothing is really changing," Tristan replied in a flat tone. "Ya, fair," Sky replied. Sky's mom walked over to Sky and Tristan while holding her phone to her ear. She hung up before she reached them. "Your uncle Ray and your cousins will be here in 5 minutes, so we are going to meet them by the cars if you want to join us," she informed them. "Right, I forgot we had more cousins," Sky said, remembering she had been told about them before. Sky, her family, and her cousin Tristan all walked over to the parking lot to wait for their mysterious family that Sky had never met before. A truck pulled up and three guys got out of the vehicle. One guy was older and was clearly her uncle, Ray. Ray was her mom's half brother and lived in another province, so she had never actually met him before. "Hi Sonja," Ray said to Sky's mom, "Nice to see you. Wow, are these your kids? They look so grown up!" "Yes, this is Sky...Addison...Daniel...and Ian," Sonja said as she pointed to each of her kids. "And you know Tammy's son, Tristan," she said, squeezing Tristan's shoulders. Standing with Ray were Sky's two cousins: Michael and Gabriel. Michael looked to be about Sky's age. He had short brown hair that was spiked up into a fohawk. He had a lot of acne on his face, mostly on his forehead and chin. He stood at the same height as Sky in her heels. He wore a dark blue button-up shirt that was tucked into black dress pants. Beside Michael was Gabriel. When Sky saw him she smiled a little and felt her face grow warm. He was cute. Really cute. He was several inches taller than her and had short brown hair that was slightly lifted out of his eyes with gel. He was wearing a gray button-up shirt with a dark gray and silver tie that made his blue eyes stand out. Gabriel smiled at Sky as Ray said, "These are my boys, Mike and Gabe." Ray patted them on their shoulders. Sonja stepped in and gave them each a hug, saying, "Hi! I am your auntie, Sonja." After the hugs from their aunt, Gabe turned to his pretty, younger cousin, Sky. "Nice to meet you," Gabe said, smiling at Sky as he reached out to shake her hand. "You too," Sky said nervously as she shook his hand. It felt warm to her, and the touch of his hand made Sky blush more. He then hugged her three younger siblings. She thought it was weird that he shook her hand. She would have preferred the hug.