After the whole “secret party” disaster and waking up to pizza crusts on the ceiling fan and someone’s flip-flop in the fridge, Grace was very much grounded. Like, grounded-grounded. No phone, no YouTube filming, no friends over. Just her, a mop, and a list of chores longer than her last upload title.

But after a week or so of punishment and a lot of “I’m sorry, Mom,” our parents finally decided to change the mood and host a wholesome family get-together. No wild music, no glitter bombs, no strangers sleeping under kitchen tables. Just us, aunts, uncles, cousins, and a full buffet of actual homemade food that didn’t come from a drive-thru.

Everyone was outside in the backyard, laughing, grilling, tossing a football around. Grace was on “host duty” (supervised, of course), pouring lemonade and handing out napkins like her life depended on it. She wasn’t thrilled, but at least she was free.

That’s when james wandered into the living room to grab a charger and bumped into him—the cousin he always kind of forgot existed. You know the kind. Shows up once every couple years and suddenly looks completely different every time.

James squinted at him. “Wait… so you’re my cousin?”

He blinked. “Uhm… I guess?”

They stood there for a second, both trying to do the family tree math.

Then james shrugged. “Cool. Wanna go play video games?”

He grinned. “Absolutely.”

We disappeared into my room, booted up the console, and spent the next two hours screaming at each other over Mario Kart while the rest of the family talked and laughed in the yard.

Grace walked by at one point with a tray of cookies and gave me a look. I just smiled.

It was nice. No chaos, no drama — just dumb family bonding and good vibes.