I walk into the restaurant, alone, earning confusing looks from my parents who are already seated at a table. As I approach them, I say, "Sorry, he's on a call. He'll be here soon," with a fake smile.
The waitress comes to get our drink orders, I get a martini for myself and a water for Austin. Speak of the devil, here he is. "Call went okay?" I ask.
He gives me a confused look before answering, "Yeah, babe." He then turns toward my parents and introduces himself, shaking their hands.
"Nice to see you in a shirt, Austin," my dad teases, earning laughter from Austin and I. My mom, on the other hand, looks confused. "When did you see him without a shirt, Patrick?" she questions.
My dad and I share a glance before he says, "Story for another day... So how are things between you two?" The question is directed toward Austin and I. "Planning for your big trip?"
I grab Austin's hand, and set our intertwined on the table, "Things are going great, right babe?" I answer, looking at him with sharp eyes.
He takes the hint and continues, "Oh, just perfect. The trip's all set." He 'smiles'. "I'm glad I got the chance to meet you both before taking Isla away from you."
My mom quickly adds in, "Me too. Isla's our most prized possession and I wasn't sure about you at first, Austin Butler."
I drop his hand as the waitress comes back with our drinks and I take a big gulp of mine. Austin takes a sip of his water. "Thanks for ordering this," he says spitefully.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
(sorry i'm just in a silly goofy mood rn)*
Some more small talk is made while we wait for our meals to arrive. Austin's tapping into his acting skills, pretending we're fine, since the two of us are still pissed at each other. My mom brings up his role in Elvis and asks how it was working with the incredible Baz Luhrmann. Austin begins, "Well Baz is such an interesting guy, he was incredible from all aspects," he looks at me, "And the casting of the film was just perfect."
My dad asks, "Oh, who plays Priscilla? I haven't seen much press for the film yet."
"Don't even get me started, Patrick. Olvia DeJonge was phenomenal. She did a great job capturing the love Elvis and Priscilla shared." This bitch. I can't even stand to hear him talk more about the 'incredible Olivia DeJonge'.
"I'm going to the bathroom." I hurry to the bathroom, where I take a deep breath, trying to compose myself before having to pretend I don't hate Austin right now.
I return to the table and dinner drags on and on. Eventually, Austin and I say goodbye to my parents and head back toward the car, holding hands since we're being bombarded by paparazzi. I tell Austin he's driving home since I've had a few too many martinis, and I toss him the keys.
*********
this and the next chapter were written by my friend and i in the middle of the night so sorry if they're absolute trash lmao
