Waited For You

Dinner

Joelle's P.O.V
I have no clue what I should wear to a place I shouldn't even be going to, but I just couldn't say no. His mom seems worse than my dad and he took me to lunch and then drove me home. I felt like I owed him, but it's almost impossible to give a guy who has everything something in return.
" black dress," I say out loud and go in my closet for my simple black sundress with some sparkle gold sandals. They are rich so I know I can't compete, so I figured I would just stay simple and try not to over sell.
" ready," I ask Landon as I see him looking at the pictures on my wall.
" you look beautiful," he breaths out and I smile over to him.
" mr. Marks, this is business which means no compliments," I smile and he laughs.
" Very well," he laughs and we head downstairs and out the door.
" Anything else I need to know, besides the fact that you're mom thinks you're definitely not interested in my type," I laugh and he looks over to me.
" I hope you get these jokes out because I will not be hearing any of this in my office tomorrow," he demands over and I roll my eyes .
" Yeah, of course not ," I laugh out and he looks over to me.
" My mother hates everyone so don't take it personal and my brother will talk your ear off. My little brother doesn't talk to anyone and I blame that on my father and mothers overly done ways, this will also stay between us," he proclaims and I nod.
" Of course," I call out and we ride the rest of the way with lighter conversation.
" Oh my gosh,  Don has brought someone to meet me," his mother says running out the huge house to kiss her son on the cheek and then she pulls me in.
" She's so pretty, could use a little more jewelry for this low budget dress, but she's pretty," she calls out and I laugh.
" Back handed compliments, lovely," I say after she lets me go.
" Jeremiah, your brother has a pretty under dressed girl here ," his mother yells out and I laugh looking over to Landon.
" charming," I whisper and he shrugs.
" At least she called you pretty," he claims and I walk in the house before his mom comes back out.
" Hello, I'm Jeremiah and this is my wife Gabrielle," he approaches me shaking my hand and I smile.
" I'm Joelle, nice to meet both of you," I greet and look directly at how well dress his wife is . A long white dress with gold specks that match her golden jewelry that went well with her light skin. I'm impressed and if her smile wasn't as fake as Landon's when he first saw his mother I would say it looks like she has it all together.
Landon's brother is a little darker with almond brown eyes, his style looks like he's about to go play a round of golf and his smile looks like he's about to be on a teeth whiting commercial. He's cute and well mannered, seems so much different than Landon's stand off personality.
" Come on guys and sit down for dinner, your brother and his date took forever to get here and I don't want the food getting cold," Landon's mom yells out and I laugh with Jeremiah's wife Gabi.
" If you don't come on the first call it only gets worse," she smiles and grabs my arm so that we can get to the dining room to eat. We end up stopping and chatting on where I got my dress that I know she would never get caught wearing, but it seems like she's just happy to have another woman here. Another five minutes and we decide to get to the table before the second call to eat.
" You left me to fend for myself, you owe me for falling off on your side of the deal," Landon smiles and I look over.
" Yeah sure because leaving me to your mothers backhanded compliments was a walk in the park ," I joke and he laughs.
" Landon, you shush so we can pray," his mother calls out looking at both of us in a way a mother only knows how.
Finally, after his mother gives this extremely long prayer over the food, we finally dig in to the meal which looks surprisingly good.
" So where did you two meet," ms. Marks asks and Landon looks over to me.
" we met at this restaurant called "telltale", we both got the shrimp dinners," I smile and she looks at me with a gleam I'm her eyes. You would think I just told her she won the lottery.
" He hasn't brought a girl home in lord knows how long. I'm just so happy to see this," his mother says happily and I actually feel kind of bad for giving her this false sense of a relationship.
" Your father would be so happy," his mother says and Landon's eyes harden.
" Please, mother not again," he starts and I decide to cut in.
" I don't think I would be a good guest if I didn't speak on how beautiful your home is," I smile to ms. Marks and she holds her hand to her heart.
     " Did I mention that I like her,"  his mother says and just then a teenage boy comes down the stairs.
      He's caramel with hazel eyes, his hair is curly and honey blonde, he looks completely different then his brothers, less confident.
     " Honey, you're late, sit down," his mother calls and he takes the seat next to me, not even looking in my direction.
       " Honey this is Joelle, Landon's girlfriend," she calls and we both almost cough out our water.
      " No need to throw around titles mom," Landon calls and I hit his side as I smile over to his brother.
     " Nice to meet you," I call out and he looks up at me for a second before looking back down.
     " Usually this is where you would give your name, but not talking is cool too," I laugh and he looks up to me again.
     " Justin," he says lowly and I smile.
     " nice to meet you Justin," I smile and I could swear I saw him smile too.
     " So, I'm dying to know. My sons been out of the game for a while and I was wondering if he's still any good," ms. Marks asks and we all look around confused before it clicks. I literally choke on my water. Again. I was definitely not expecting that.
     " Mom," Landon yells out and Jeremiah and his wife cry out laughing.
      " Honey, I've been worried," she claims and I burst into tears. What else can you do but laugh at this point.
     " I'm sorry, if you don't mind I have to use the lady's room," I excuse myself because I can't keep the tears from falling.
    " I'll show you where it is," he calls out as he runs behind me and I go to whisper in ms. Marks ear.
      " He's worse when he's under pressure," I joke and she looks at me and laughs.
     " You've got to keep her around," she smiles to Landon and I can't stop laughing as Landon pulls me upstairs.
      " You are making it hard to keep this business," he looks at me trapping me in between his hands and I look up to him.
      " Are you not able to control your little boy hormones,your mom is concerned," I smile at him and he looks at me intensely.
     " No, actually I can't," is all he says before he tries to kiss me but I quickly move over.
      " That glass of wine we had with dinner definitely did not get me drunk enough to think this is ok," I say lightly and he sighs as he puts his arms down.
       " Why did you come here with me tonight," he asks and there's no anger in his voice, more so curious it. I shrug.
     " I told you, I don't like feeling like I owe people something, so I decided to come and get your mom off your back as a thanks," I answer and he looks at me hard.
    " A thanks. I don't need a thank you, I need you to give in. I don't normally have to work this hard for a women to like me," he laughs anxiously and I look at him with pure emotion in my eyes.
     " Then don't. Once this is all done you can drop me off and have sex with the whole city for all I care," I explain and he turns around.
     " If I wanted to do that, I wouldn't be here in this bathroom with you. I wouldn't have kept going this long ," he says with truth seeping from him and I roll my eyes.
      " It's been three days, not exactly a chase," I laugh and he can't help but smile.
     " What do I have to do in order for sleeping with me to make sense," he asks and his honesty is noted but I can't help but feel kind of degraded.
    "I sleep with you because no one would even think of taking you this way. You are pretty with no substance" 
    His voice is ringing in my head and I've spent all this time blocking it out.
You think you can leave me. I am the only one that will make you feel this good. I am the only one that can be with you like this. Joelle, you are not leaving.
       " Nothing, keep doing what you've always done and keep me out of it Landon," I breath out and he smiles to me.
     " You called me Landon," he points out and I look at him in shock.
     " Really, everything's some type of game to you," I proclaim and he shakes his head.
      " No, me wanting to sleep with you is very real," he claims and I stand up a little straighter.
    "Me not wanting to sleep with you is very real as well," I say before walking back out to the table.
       " You two are so in love that you can't even use the bathroom alone," his mom jokes and I smile to her.
       " It's always nice in the beginning," I call and she laughs.
        " Oh honey, when Landon's father and I first got together we couldn't keep our hands off each other. Actually, I remember when," she starts and  Landon quickly cuts her off.
        " No need for story time mom, let's just eat please," he demands and his mom looks to both of us before going back to eat her food.
" A little grumpy now aren't we," Jeremiah looks to Landon and I look between both of them.
" Work called. Work seems to always be calling, its the reason all of our dates get cut short," I claim and Landon looks to me.
" Yeah, I tell Nova to just have them leave a message, but she insist on letting business calls through," he calls and my eyes lighten up.
" I'm sure having Joelle to come home to every once and a while is nice though,"'his mom calls not knowing that we see each other everyday at work.
" Yeah, seeing her everyday honestly seems to be the only thing that's keeping me going this past week," he claims and I look at him trying to find the lie. I can't tell. His eyes are almost vacant.
" Seeing him has actually become something I look forward to as well. It's good to know you at least have one person who's on your side," I claim and he's searching my eyes now and I smile. Landon and I are at the least team mates when it comes to Mark it. I don't know him that well personally, but he has defended me countless times to prospects coming in and out of the business. He's on my side as long as we are playing for the same thing.
" I think your right mom, I need to keep her around," he states and this eyes are shining.