Mutual

6 - Dinners

The bell rang.

"I'll get it," Alana offered, since she just finished setting the table, and Anastasia was helping their mom in the kitchen.

"Thanks," said Anastasia.

Alana went to answer the door, knowing full well who would be on the other side.

"Did I get the wrong house? You don't look like my girlfriend or her parents."

"Funny. People always tell us that Ana and I look alike. Some even ask if we're twins."

"Trust me, I can see the differences," he eyed her briefly.

Before Alana could think too much about that response, she invited Dylan inside. He took his shoes off and walked toward the kitchen. Anastasia met him out in the hallway with a quick kiss on the lips.

"Hi," he mumbled with a small smile.

"Hi, yourself."

Alana quickly noped out of there and joined her mom in the kitchen to see if she needed any more assistance.

A few minutes later, Anastasia and Dylan came into the kitchen. The latter had a bottle of wine that he handed to the girls' mom.

"Ma, this is Dylan. Dylan, this is my mom, Aspen."

"Nice to meet you." Dylan offered his hand.

Aspen shook it and said, "It's nice to meet you, too." She then mouthed, "He's cute," to Ana, making the couple blush.

Alana put a hand over her mouth to suppress her laughter. Dylan saw this and rolled his eyes, but he didn't actually seem annoyed. Alana thought he may have even looked amused. Huh.

"Okay, you can go sit. I'm just about done in here."

Dylan followed Ana to the dining room table and sat in the chair next to her.

"You can join them, Lana."

"Are you sure?"

"Well, if you're offering, you can bring the pasta out to the table while I finish washing some dishes."

Alana nodded and picked up the big bowl. "Pasta's coming through!" She announced out of habit. Sometimes they have extended family over for dinner. They aren't usually sitting still at the table when the meal comes out, so whoever brings it has to warn the rest to be careful. No one wants to lose the freshly-made food.

She placed the bowl in the middle of the table just as the front door opened and closed. There was a bit of rustling in the entryway before a "Hey, honey" and a brief kiss could be heard.

"Hey," Aspen greeted. "Perfect timing. We were just about to start."

She and her husband, Isaac, moved to the dining room to join the others.

Dylan stood up and walked over to Isaac. "Nice to meet you, sir."

Huh, Alana thought, who knew he was capable of manners?

"You, too." They shook hands.

Alana moved to stand next to her chair and grabbed the serving spoon once everyone was seated. She held her hand out toward her dad, silently asking for his plate. She added pasta to his dish before doing the same for Dylan, then Anastasia and her mom, and finally for herself. Some habits were just ingrained in her.

"So," Aspen started a few minutes after they began eating. "You met at school?"

"Yeah, we met in a journalism class last semester."