“I won't betray the BTC."

The van went silent.

Zofi looked at Sam, tentatively raised her hand, and said, "Won't be me, and that's the truth.”

The van went silent again.

Mari looked at Belle. Naimh Looked at Sam.

Sam closed her eyes, dropped her chin to her chest, and said quietly,

"I took Matty's virginity Saturday night.”

The van went DEAD silent.

For like... five seconds.

And then all hell broke loose.

Naimh -—

“Hey, Matty?" Belle called.

“Can you get the fancy plates out?"

Glancing over my shoulder, I nodded to Belle, set down the romaine lettuce I'd been shredding for the salad, and went to the sink to wash my hands. Heading out to the dining room, I opened the china cabinet and pulled out the “fancy plates" as Belle put it, along with the matching serving platters, gravy boat, and crystal stemware. It was customary for us to use these only for special occasions, like tonight's Thanksgiving Dinner.

I brought everything back into the kitchen for a quick rinse. Belle and

I shared the space on autopilot, working in silence. Midway through rinsing, she bumped my hip with her elbow, and I automatically slid out of the way so she could clean her hands.

Mr. K poked his head into the kitchen and asked, “Anything I can do to help?"

“Nope,” I replied immediately without Looking up while I hand-dried the china.

“We got it, Dad," Belle added without looking up as she went back to the turkey. "Almost ready."

Mr. K chuckled and returned to the living room. On his way, I heard him comment, "They're so cute together.”

“Of course," Mother replied. "They're a properly domesticated couple."

I tuned out the rest of the conversation and busied myself with everything else I needed to do for dinner. Mother was right: Belle and

I were properly domesticated, and this was our third year handling

Thanksgiving Dinner without parental support. Well, to be fair this was our third year handling it without Belle’s dad's support. Mother had never really been involved, and she was the type that if you told her just once that you didn't need her assistance, that was good enough for her.

Ten minutes later, I plopped the finished turkey onto the big serving platter, Belle went and told our parents to please have a seat at the table, and the two of us started ferrying out all the food.