Carrie Ryan - Unbroken Season 1

“Last as usual, just like the birth order,” C.C. muttered unconsciously as she saw Randi’s Durango and Terri’s Cherokee parked next to each other in the driveway, with Brooke’s 300Z parked in the grass. The young woman smirked knowing that her older sister had to have caught some grief from their parents over her impromptu parking space. That’s when C.C. decided parking on the street would be a lot safer.

“Well, we’re here,” the driver announced as she maneuvered into the next available parking spot on the street. “I’ll warn you now that dinner in this house usually tends to get a little,” C.C. winced looking at the space as she backed into it, “Well…very…um…interesting.”

“Interesting?” Sam looked to her left and smiled. “Come on, what can be so bad?”

“One never knows until these dinners are over.” Slamming the truck’s gearshift into park, C.C. turned off the ignition and unbuckled her seatbelt. “There we go,” she turned to the blonde beside her, “time for you to meet my family. Think you’re up for it?”

Nodding her head, Sam opened the door sliding down from the seat. She then turned, shaking her long blonde hair into place, and looked back in at her roommate. “Guess it’s now or never, eh?”

“You got that right.” The driver smiled and got out. Her long legs carried her swiftly around the vehicle and soon she was side by side with the blonde. “Don’t worry, you’ll fit in. Just act like you belong.”

The blonde woman just smiled politely and followed C.C.’s lead to the front door. Sam envisioned all sorts of scenarios as to what was inside the house before settling on the one that had been bugging her for the better part of the week. What’s interesting will be trying to figure out which one of them is gay before they tell me. Okay, Sammy girl, get that gaydar working!

Approaching the front door, C.C. noticed the serious look on her new friend’s face. “Don’t worry. It’s not like we start fires or anything in the dining room.”

“No fires. Well that’s good to know.” Sam let her mind come back to the conversation with her roommate.

“Yeah, we stopped that after burning Mom’s favorite table cloth,” C.C. amended as she opened the front door and walked through it announcing her presence to everyone in the house by shouting in Ricky Ricardo style voice, “Honey…I’m hooooooooome.”

“Burned the table cloth…” Sam muttered under her breath as she poked her head, cautiously into the doorway of the house. “Why did I ever agree to this?” The next thing that the small woman felt was C.C.’s hand grabbing hold of her, pulling her further into the family’s home. It took Sam’s short legs their full length running strides to keep up with the rest of her body. The fast paced entry causing her to see nothing but blur as she passed the simple décor of the surroundings. Before she knew it, they were standing at the end of the hallway watching everyone in the kitchen helping to prepare for dinner.

“Hi guys!” C.C. greeted her family as she walked in, noticing that Brooke was sitting on the kitchen counter with her head in her hands. Considering the woman’s slumped posture, C.C. could only wonder what their mother had been giving her older sister grief about now.

A matriarchal looking woman in her late fifties turned around and swept her youngest child up into a hug, as only a mother could do. “Hello, C.C. How’s my little girl doing today?” She asked as she kissed the wincing half-girl, half-woman on the cheek.

The look on C.C.’s face was priceless as she ate up the attention. Anyone that walked in could tell that this sister was the baby of the family.

Sam looked over to the other women in the kitchen and recognized Terri as she stood near the sink cleaning vegetables, while another older version of the cookie cutter mold was slicing them up for the salad.

Looking up from their chores, they noticed that C.C. had walked in. With a disgusted look on their faces, they turned to each other and began singing out in unison, “She’s ba-aack,” their notes slightly off key.

The annoyed young woman rolled her eyes at her other two sisters and held up one choice finger in their direction. “Excuse me, talk to the finger cause the face ain’t worth the hand!” She turned her attention back to her mother and answered the question. “I’m fine, just fine, mom.” She hugged the woman in a gentle manner and once she knew that her mother couldn’t see her gesture, she made sure the finger sticking up was the middle one.

“That is so grade school, C.C.” The eldest sibling cast her eyes to the ceiling and shook her head of long brown hair, letting it dance gracefully about her shoulders. On one of her sways, the woman brought more of the room into her sight, immediately catching the young blonde woman with her eyes. “Who do we have here?” The tallest of them all asked as she turned completely around from the sink and noticed the small blonde woman standing in the doorway.

The fact that C.C. was slighter built than her sisters didn’t stop her from demanding their attention. She walked over pulling her roommate into the center of the kitchen. “Everybody,” she vied for their attention over the garbage disposal that Terri quickly shut off as fast as she did to turn it on. “This is my roommate Sam. Sam, this is my mother, Mable Gordon.”

The smaller woman with gray tinged hair was pointed out and Sam found herself smiling back at her politely. Before she knew it, she was jerked in another direction.

“You’ve already met Terri.” C.C. waved her arm as if to dismiss that sister entirely. “The nitwit standing next to her is my sister, Randi.”

Sam noticed an air of superiority rolling off this woman, as if she was in total control of everything about her. Hmmm… The blonde found her eyes lingering over the form and not paying attention to a word that C.C. was saying.

“And last but definitely not least, the lump sitting on the counter is my sister, Brooke.” With the introductions done, C.C. stood back and waited to see what would happen.

“Hello, dear.” Mable offered her hand to Sam.

“Huh, oh,” the blonde turned toward Mrs. Gordon and immediately shook her hand.

“It’s nice to meet you. We’re glad you could join us for dinner today. Please, have a seat and make yourself at home,” Mable offered, as she gestured towards the kitchen table.

“Thank you for having me.” Sam’s voice was soft and her manners polite; so different from C.C.’s.

At the first sound of Sam’s voice, Brooke lifted her head to see from whom the melodic sound had come, moving slightly to get a better view around her tall sisters obstructing her view.

“Welcome. I’m Randi.”

Sam watched as the tallest of the sisters extended her hand in greeting. The woman was easily over six feet tall with long brown hair just a shade lighter than the rest of her sisters. Her eyes were a soft brown that seemed to twinkle when she smiled.

She’s confident, that’s for sure. I wonder… Sam could tell that she had a no-nonsense way about her. The blonde eyed the woman carefully as she shook her hand in greeting. “Thank-you. It’s nice to meet you.” She’s gorgeous! Sam wondered if this could be the sister C.C. had mentioned when she told her that one of them was gay.

Randi smiled and motioned Terri over with her head. “This here is my kid sister, Terri.”

Rolling her eyes at Randi’s description, Terri snapped back a tease readily. “Yeah, bite me, old lady. We’ve already met.” She then offered a hand to Sam as well. “Hi. It’s nice to see you again. Glad you could make it.”

The blonde smiled at the thought of actually knowing someone else here besides C.C., and was glad that Terri had stopped at the dorm that first day.