Izzy picked up her ringing cell phone.
“Hello?”
“Isabella, it’s your mother.”
“Great.” She muttered under her breath, “Hey mother, what’s up?”
“Well I hear from Phyllis that you’re going to be in New York this week. Funny how my own child doesn’t tell me that she’s going to be home.”
“I was about to call you and tell you mom.”
“Sure when? When you walked in the door or when you were leaving town?”
“No, I was going to call but as usual you beat me to it.”
“Yes well anyways, I talked with Phyllis and she thought that it would be great to have everyone stay at our house for a couple of days, since Phyllis and Joe are going to be in town too.”
“Sounds great Mom, can’t wait. Oh look, I have to go, give my love to everyone and I’ll see you this week, bye.” Izzy finished in one breath and hung up her phone quickly. Justin was near by,
“That was a mouthful.”
“Yeah, well that’s the best way to talk to my mother.”
“Cheer up, Izzy-bell, Tony and Paul are going to be there right?”
“Yeah, thank God.” They parked in her driveway and Izzy stayed in the car prolonging the inevitable.
“Come on Izzy, it’s not that bad, we’re here with you.”
“I know,” she sighed, “why can’t I have your parents? You think they’d adopt me?” Joey laughed,
“Well if we get married, they’re all yours.” Izzy laughed,
“Yeah that’s a good one, Steve’s single right?” She joked.
“Hey!” Joey said lunging at her to tickle her but Izzy was faster and jumped out of the car and ran for the house. Joey jumped out after her and chased her.
“Oh come on Joey you really don’t think you’ll catch me on your own, do you?” She yelled out taunting him.
“You never know!” He yelled chasing her all over the front lawn to the bewilderment of the rest of the guys whom had just pulled into the driveway. A young guy appeared in the doorway of the house.
“Izzy, what did you do now?” He yelled.
“She was making fun of me!” Joey yelled.
“Tony! Make him stop!” Izzy yelled to her younger brother. Tony hopped down the stairs and caught Izzy mid run. Joey quickly caught up to them and they both tag teamed her.
“Tony you traitor! Ha ha ha ha, stop! No more!” Another guy appeared at the doorway.
“I thought I heard Izzy scream, you need any help?”
“Pauley save me! They’re merciless!” Paul ran down and dove into the mass of Italian boys and Izzy. Chris hopped out of his car,
“Hey looks like we came at the right time!”
“PAUL! ISABELLA! ANTHONY AND JOSESPH! STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!!!” An older woman yelled from the doorway and instantly everyone froze.
“Okay maybe not.” Chris muttered to the guys.
“Aw mom, we were just having a little bonding time.” Paul said standing up and dusting himself off.
“Bonding time? We have guests and you kids are rolling around in the dirt like little pigs. Honestly I thought I taught you better!”
“Guess not.” Tony said under his breath so that only the other three could hear and they all giggled. Their mother just shook her head,
“Come on, get your butts in here and clean up for dinner, everyone’s waiting. Hello boys! Come on in dinner’s waiting for you on the table!” Everyone filed into the house and was greeted by a mass of hugs and kisses. Izzy was excited to see Joey's parents there.
“Papa Fatone, Mama Fatone!!” She yelled and happily jumped into their arms hugging them tight.
“Geez, I don’t get a greeting like that and I’m actually her father!” Izzy’s dad pouted.
“Oh Papa,” She said giving him a huge bear hug, “there’s enough of me to go around. No need to fight.” She joked.
They all soon sat down for dinner, it was amazing that they all fit in the dining room. Mom started going on about Tony, which Tony absolutely hated. Then her mother started in on her.
“So, Isabella, what have you been up to these past months, you must be busy since you never call home.” Izzy couldn’t resist,
“Well I wake up from my drunken stupor around two in the afternoon, just to catch Passions of course. Then I usually I smoke some pot, eat, because I’ll have the munchies by then. Start drinking, get completely wasted have a huge orgy with six or seven guys I barely know, puke and pass out. Can someone pass the lasagna, please?” The table went silent with Tony and Paul snickering.
“Ding round one.” Paul whispered under his breath to Tony. Joey was laughing under her breath as he passed her the lasagna. Her mother just stared at her, then slowly said,
“Isabella. Angelina. Mariani.”
“Oh mother I was just kidding, can’t you take a joke? Everyone else here can.”
“Well, I.” Her mother started but Joey interjected.
“So Paul, how’s work going?” Her mother was still pretty upset at Izzy’s comment. But the rest of dinner was pretty uneventful. It was filled with the boy’s chatter of their tour and such. After dinner the boys stood up to help clean up the plates but mother and Mama Fatone stopped them.
“We’ll get it dears you just sit here and rest.”
“Yes, Isabella can you get the main dishes?” Izzy just stared at her mother and reluctantly got up and picked up the main dishes. She brought them into the kitchen and dumped them on the counter before scraping them off.
“Isabella aren’t you going to save any of that?”
“Haven’t gotten to it yet mother.” She said shortly as she started scraping off the dishes into the Tupperware containers.
“Oh no, Isabella not like that! You’re making a huge mess, goodness all that money for college and you can’t even put away food correctly. Why don’t you go and clear more dishes off of the table.”
“Yes, Mother.” Izzy replied and went back into the dining room where her father picked her up. There was Italian music softly playing in the background as he twirled her around the living room.
“Oh my princess Isabella, how I've missed you.” He sang softly to her.
“Me too Papa.” They danced until the song ended and Papa bowed and Izzy curtsied as the group clapped.
“Thank you for the dance my little dove.”
“Thank you Papa.” He pulled her into a hug and whispered into her ear.
“Word of advice, give Mama a break, she just can’t believe that you’re all grown up.”
“Okay Papa, I’ll try.”
“That’s my girl, now go help finish the table.” Izzy abided and brought more dishes into the kitchen where her mother and Mama Fatone were chatting about the boys.
“Those boys are so nice, especially that Lance, so polite!” Her mother said,
“Yes, our Joey's so lucky to be in with such good boys!”
“So you like them huh, mom?” Izzy asked.
“Oh course I like them, I still don’t approve of you running around the country wasting you time with them, like some groupie, but hey I’m only your mother what do I know?”
“I’m not a groupie mother, I work for Joey. It’s my job to keep him in line.”
“You were always good at that Isabella.” Mama Fatone said. Her mother interjected,
“I just keep hoping that you’ll come to your senses and settle down. Phyllis, is Joey still with that Kelley girl?”
“Yes, though between us girls I don’t think it’s going to work out.”
“See, Isabella there’s still hope for you and Joey.”
“Mom, stop.” She warned.
“What? I’m just trying to get you to see a future that has some promise. Joey’s a good catch and he’s perfect for you. You can settle down, have some children and make your family proud.”
“Mom will you stop! I’m not going to marry Joey. I’m not going to “settle” down anytime soon, so stop pushing me! I am who I am and I can’t change that! Face it, I will never be you!” Izzy yelled at her mother and ran out of the house.
The boys heard Izzy yelling in the kitchen and then the door slamming.
“Ding round two.” Tony said sarcastically.
“That didn’t take long.” Paul added as Joey got up from his seat,
“I’ll be right back guys.” He said and left the house in search for Izzy.
“What’s going on?” Lance asked concerned over Izzy.
“Oh it’s just mom and Izzy fighting again.” Paul said.
“Yep wouldn’t be a family gathering if they didn’t.” Tony added.
Joey went out into the backyard, he knew exactly where Izzy was, their old tree house. He climbed up into it and found Izzy on the floor with her knees pulled up to her chest, crying and rocking back and forth. He sat down next to her,
“Hey.” He said softly.
“Hey.” She answered with a sniffle. Joey put his arm around her and she leaned in and put her head on his shoulder.
“God I can’t believe this thing is still stable. You’d think it would’ve collapsed after all these years.” Joey said.
“I’m glad it hasn't, I don’t know where I would go.” She replied.
“Texas.” Joey stated.
“What?”
“You could go to Texas, it’s miles away from here.” Izzy laughed,
“Yeah I could, or maybe Alaska, I hear there’s some pretty hot, single guys there. Maybe then Mom would get off my back.”
“Was that what it was about this time?”
“Same old, same old, her wanting me to settle down and pop out a few kids, mainly with you. Why can’t she see that right now, that’s not me?”
“I've got an idea, why don’t we have a kid and then they’ll be happy.” Izzy burst out laughing,
“Yeah that’ll be the good, I’ll definitely be disowned then.”
“So we’ll elope and then have the kids.”
“What about Kelley? She might have something to say about that.”
“Oh yeah, Kelley. Well she can live with us too, it’ll be like the Brady bunch, or rather the Fatone bunch.”
“More like the Fatone harem.” She joked.
“Ooo, I like the sound of that.”
“I bet you do.” She poked him in the side.
“Come on let’s go back in, the boys are probably wondering where we went off to.”
“Mom’s probably hoping that we’re off making out.”
“That can be arranged.” He said jokingly leaning in to kiss her and Izzy pushed him away,
“We could or we could just go inside.”
“Ah okay.” They got up and climbed out of the tree house and went back into the house. The boys were hanging out in the living room. They were deciding where they were all going to stay.
“Well Phyllis and Joe are already in the guest room. Two of you can stay in Gina’s room, Joey dear why don’t you stay with Pauley in his room and then that leaves the pull out couch in this living room and then the one up stairs in the sitting room.” Izzy’s mother told everyone.
“I’ve got dibs on Gina’s room.” Lance said
“Yo, I’ve got seconds.” Chris said.
“Well, Justin you stay down here in the pull out couch and JC you sleep on the couch up stairs in the sitting room.” Joey said.
“You mean I have to let him,” she pointed to JC, “stay in my sitting room? I’m gonna have to sterilize it afterward.” She joked.
“Ha, ha, ha,” JC said, “look you can have Justin’s snoring keep you up all night.”
“Hey I don’t snore!” Justin said defensively.
“Yes you do!” Chris chimed in, “It’s like sleeping next to a donkey.” Chris went on demonstrating exactly what Justin sounded like and pretending he was a donkey.
“Oh boy, Joey what did we get ourselves into?” Izzy asked shaking her head and he just laughed.
After everyone was finally settled in, Izzy realized how exhausted she was and decided to go to bed. She went into her room and shut the door. The silence was so blissful, she sighed enjoying it. Izzy then stripped and got ready for bed. She put on one of her favorite silk chemises to make her feel a little better. It was so difficult being home with her mother. She turned toward her bed but was grabbed from behind, she tried to scream out but he covered her mouth.
“Don’t scream.” He whispered.