Worlds Apart

4

Shouta usually didn't enjoy family dinners. There was usually a cold atmosphere at the dinner table and it was all just very stiff and uncomfortable. Not that they had a lot of family dinners, but when they had them it was always so awkward and uncomfortable, it haunted Shouta for weeks after.

But tonight was another one of those family dinner nights. His dad was home, which was a rare occasion in and of itself. And his mother was home at the same time, so a mandatory family dinner had been announced. Shouta had usually tried to get out of them by saying that he was invited to Hizashi's or Oboro's house. But his mother had put an end to those excuses about a year ago.

So now he had to sit at the dinner table, dressed smartly, in some cold and icy silence, while eating his meager dinner (special instructions from his mother who liked to have a bunch of fancy stuff in small portions, as if they were eating at some five star restaurant). There was some quiet classical music playing in the background. The atmosphere was just depressing as fuck.

"How is school, Shouta?" she finally asked him with a more than icy smile. Sometimes Shouta wondered whether she never actually wanted to have a child with how cold she was being.

"It's uh... it's good." he replied, not even sure what to tell her. That he mostly kept to himself, unless it came to his two friends? That his grades were good, but he still kept getting in trouble with the teachers? That Emi was annoying as hell? That he couldn't get the girl that was cleaning the house out of his head for some reason? (He definitely wouldn't tell her that, she'd kill him.)

"Good? That's all you have to say?" his father asked and grinned at him. Shouta shrugged. He was rarely ever home, but if he had to choose between the two of them, he'd say he liked his father better. The only thing was... he was home so rarely, talking to him felt more like talking to some stranger that they had invited over for a fancy dinner. Even his mother treated him very businesslike.

Sometimes Shouta wondered whether she actually loved him or not, because their marriage struck him as very... he didn't even know the word for it. It looked like it was just another smart business decision. But maybe he was wrong about that and that was just what relationships between mature people looked like. Who knew. He just knew that he didn't want anything like that.

"Well, what do you want to know?" Shouta asked, hoping his mother wouldn't scold him for not being respectful enough or whatever reason she would make up this time. But she didn't say anything and Shouta almost didn't trust the peace.

"How are your grades? Your friends? You got a girlfriend yet? I'm sure you're popular with the girls, Shouta." his father replied, smiling warmly - but Shouta could see just how insecure he was behind that smile. Of course he was insecure. Who wouldn't be insecure talking to his son when he literally knew nothing about him?

"Grades are good, my friends are good, everything is peachy. No girlfriends." Shouta replied with a shrug.

"What about Fukukado? She seems like a nice girl. I get along really well with her mother." his mum chimed in. Shouta frowned. His mother always brought up Emi at every opportunity. Of course she wanted him to go out with her. She came from a rich family, she got the same good education as he did, she had money, she knew all the secret little rules of their elite little clique.

Shouta felt sick just thinking about it. Emi was like a walking nightmare to him, she was loud, she was annoying and she was so utterly obsessed with him, it was concerning. And she seemed to think she had a chance, and Shouta had a good idea why she thought so. Because his mother loved her to bits for whatever reason. And Emi's mother was his mother's best friend.

He had found the two of them sitting on the couch with expensive wine more than once, already tipsy and giggling in the early evening. Apparently they had known each other since high school or something and except for a short period of 3 months at the start of their second year in high school, they had been inseparable. And that was apparently the reason, Shouta and Emi now had to be the same. But Shouta wasn't having any of it. Not like he would get much of a choice when it came down to it, but he could at least try to resist for now.