Alien in the Family

and Claudia were great at the Aunt Carla avoidance, also great at the moving me away from the nosy friends and relatives stuff.
    Ran into a gaggle of my sorority sisters. After the shrieking, hugging, and recitation of the not-so-secret sorority pledge were over, and Lorraine and Claudia were introduced, I got a lot of hairy eyeballs from the girls. I tensed for what I knew was coming.
    “So, Kit-Kat, Chuck’s throwing this party for you but he’s not the guy you’re marrying?” Jeannine asked, semi-nicely. She was the only brunette in the group—our pledge class had run toward blondes, light browns, and redheads. Like all the rest of the girls, she was pretty and petite. We’d run to the short side, too.
    “It’s not like that, JellyBean—” I started.
    “I’m more upset that Caro Syrup’s not here,” Tamara said quietly. “She was your bestie, Kit-Kat.”
    “She still is, Twix,” I said quickly. “She just couldn’t—”
    “Get here in time,” Cathy said. “Yeah, Chuck told us.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe you dumped Chuck.” Well, at least they weren’t discussing their concerns about me marrying a space alien. That was something, right?
    “We weren’t an item, Wonka. We’re still friends. Same with Caro and me. She’s out of the country right now.” I was starting to get worried that this was going to turn into a nightmare fast.
    “Chuck said Kit-Kat’s marrying a great guy,” Kay said, cheerfully, thank God. “Face it, this puts Chuck back on the market. I say hurray for that.”
    Oh? This was news. I knew my sorority sisters loved him, but I hadn’t realized they’d considered Chuckie off the market. “Why so, Almond Joy? Not that I’m saying he isn’t on the market and all.”
    Kay grinned. “Chuck was interested in one girl and one girl only, and that was you, Kit-Kat. He seems okay with you marrying someone else.”
    Christie snorted. “He’s not okay with it. He’s just faking it the way he always did when she was head over heels over some guy who wasn’t good enough for her.” Guilt came over, drink in hand, to enjoy the party. Stress was already here, having a blast, and made room for its buddy.
    “Skittle, have I mentioned that my friends Lorraine and Claudia are my fiancé’s cousins?” My voice was starting to head to dog-only levels. Not good.
    Claudia shook her head. “I’m still sort of stuck on the nicknames. You’re all named after candies?”
    “Or sweet things, yeah.” I felt my cheeks getting hot. It never seemed stupid until I was telling someone outside of the sorority about it. To a girl, my sorority sisters’ eyes narrowed.
    “How do you keep all the nicknames straight?” Claudia asked. She sounded like she did whenever she was discussing something scientific: interested and serious.
    “Um, just do.” I enjoyed winning the Lame Reply Award on a regular basis. Guilt and Stress both sniggered and got another drink.
    Lorraine laughed. “I think it’s cute.”
    Claudia grinned and nodded. “They do seem to fit you all. From everything Kitty’s said, you’re all very sweet, just like she is.” My sorority sisters seemed to relax; at least they weren’t glaring any more.
    “And I think it’s great your sisters are going to be around to keep Jeff on his toes.” Lorraine nudged Jeannine. “Trust me, I’m with you. I think brains are the better option, too, but who can fight love?” I was tempted to ask Lorraine why none of the Dazzlers I knew were throwing themselves at Chuckie, but I had enough sense to know where that question would take this conversation, and things were already bad enough.
    “Jeff’s not stupid.” The Dazzler brain-love was great, but not at the expense of Martini’s feelings.
    “Where are your girlfriends from high school?” Tamara asked. She looked the most upset of the girls, but in a quiet way. I wasn’t sure why.
    Claudia answered before I could. “They couldn’t come out, either, because Jeff and Kitty had to move their wedding date up.”
    “Why?” Cathy asked. “Oh, my God, are you preggers already?”
    “No!” This was devolving into that nightmare I’d hoped to miss. I scrambled for an acceptable reason for my wedding date and party being as they were and came up with nothing that was going to work.
    A throat cleared behind me. “Nice to see you girls,” my mother said. She sounded pleasant and, as always, in complete control of the situation. But I wasn’t sure if