*story up* now now darling, don't lose your head, cause none of us were angels and you know I love you, yeah {nwh}

-Speeding Cars, Imogen Heap
 
Near Wild Heaven
Melissa "Mel" Monroe
 
Monday, July 11th: It’s date night tonight. Summer is a time to be happy right? Well spend the night with your beau over a beautiful candle lit dinner. You know how the night will end…(;
 
{okay, I am SO SORRY that I haven't written for nwh in forever and that it took me so long to get this up. I've been spending all of my time with my new baby brother. :) So, this is pretty much going to be a crap filler story (and the first I've ever typed on an iPhone) but Mel's getting married on Saturday!}
 

A bright beam of sunlight was shining in my face, and I woke up, squinting. Yawning, I moved my head out of the light's path and stared at the clock. It was 7, way too early to be awake for the day I had in store. Ryan was still passed out beside me, of course. A train could go through the house and he'd sleep through it. I rolled over, leaning against him, and went back to sleep.
 
~
 
"So, are you ready for this?" I asked Ryan a few hours later as we made a late breakfast. Today was the day I'd been dreading for weeks: the day all of my family was coming for the wedding.
 
"It's going to be fine," he reassured me, stirring blueberries into the pancake batter.
 
"No, you've never met them. My stepmother is awful and the the twins are complete terrors. I just don't feel like dealing with them," I said. Then, I remembered that Ryan barely has any family at all to "deal with" and I felt completely ungrateful. Maybe they were a lot at times, but family was family. "But, I guess it will be good to see everyone," I finished lamely.
 
"That's the spirit," Ryan said, flipping the pancakes on the griddle. "So, how'd these turn out?" he asked, handing me a plate. I took a bite. They were fluffy and sweet.
 
"Amazing," I said, wrapping my arms around him. "You're a great cook." I looked up and kissed him.
 
We cleaned up breakfast and started to get ready. As much as I tried to push it out of my mind, the inevitable was that my family would be here very soon.
 
"They're almost here," I announced as I opened a text from my dad, telling me they had landed.
 
"So we don't have to pick them up?" Ryan asked.
 
"No, they have a rental car," I replied, "but they're stopping here before they go to their hotel."
 
"We can handle that, right?" Ryan asked, looking unsure.
 
"Quick, put away anything breakable or with deep sentimental value," I said, shoving my laptop and camera into a drawer and putting a vase up in the closet.
 
Ryan watched me with a bemused look on his face.
 
"You could help, you know," I said, frantically looking around for what else I needed to childproof. Spotting the TV remotes, I hid those too.
 
"You look like you've got it covered," Ryan said. I swear, men are useless in these situations. "Seriously babe, are they that bad?" he asked.
 
"You don't understand. They have no discipline. None at all," I said shaking my head.
 
Suddenly, the buzzer rang. I tensed up. Seeing my shock, Ryan came over and rubbed my shoulders. "It's showtime," he said.
 
"Come in!" I called, trying to keep my voice level.
 
The door opened, and in came my dad and his wife, each holding a four year old boy on their hip.
 
"Hi honey!" my dad said, reaching in to hug me. As he pulled away, I got whacked in the face by Hunter. Or was that Landon?
 
"Hunter, no!" my dad's wife, Carla scolded. "We do not hit, especially not our big sister!" Please, I doubted that these kids even knew who I was. I barely saw them.
 
"You're stupid," Landon said, spitting.
 
"Great to see you Dad!" I said as enthusiastically as o could pretend to be. You could practically feel the tension in the room. It was going to be a long few days.
 

{sorry, I ended up not needing to include anyone.}