Imperfectly Perfect

12.

After a moment, I decide to text Scarlet that I have to go eat dinner.

"Ariel, nice of you to finally join us," my mom acknowledges me when I sit down.

My dad gives her a reproachful look, as if to say, be nice. Reasons why I don't tell her everything that goes on in my life. I'm just afraid she'd judge my friendship with one of my closest friends if she knew how our friendship started. I start thinking about how Scarlet and I first met and smile graces my lips.

"Are you ready to meet with Ms. Garcia?"

"Yeah, because I love meeting with my vice principal, most fun I've had in a while."

My mom gives me a reproachful look, while my dad just starts laughing his ass off at my witty remark, and Alex... is being.. Alex... he just continues eating, ignoring what's going in around him.

"So Alex," my mom says, completely disregarding the past few minutes that I just spent, making a witty remark, that I was quite proud of might I add. Alex, who was leaning over his head over his plate, his long hair hanging over his food, nearly touching it, just the thought of his hair touching his food causes me to wrinkle my nose in disgust.

"Alexander," my mom repeats, when he doesn't reply.

I clear my throat quietly, elbowing him in the side. No response. I nudge him again, making him snap out of his trance, nearly face-planting into his mashed potatoes. His nose just brushes them when he stops and lifts his head back up.

"Wha? Huh???"

"Mom," I mumble underneath my breath, "she's trying to ask you a question."

"Oh," there's a long pause before he speaks again, just another syllable, "right."

"Alex," my mom turns to him again and he looks up at her.

"Yeah?"

"How was your day today?"

Alex sends me a strange look that's basically saying 'help me, why is she paying to much attention to me?!' I just look at him and shrug, while I let Alex and mom's voice fade in the background, I turn to my dad and look at my mom, quirking a brow. 'Disappointed,' he mouths to me and I slowly nod my head, sadness coming over me as I nod my head slowly in understanding. The clank of silverware against the ceramic dishes causes me to wince every time I hear the high pitched scraping against a plate. I finally finish my plate and I stand up, ready to finish up my homework and get ready for bed.

"That's all you're going to eat?"

"Yeah," I turned to my dad, "I'm full."

I swiftly walk from the table and wash my dishes off, putting them and in the dishwasher.

I text Scarlet while I'm brushing my teeth:

S: BABE!!

A: HEY BABE WHAT'S UP?!

S: UGH HOMEWORK

A: EW EW EW

S: UGHHHHHH IKRRRRRRR

We end up texting each other the most random things ranging from how I think he got my number to what the weirdest or most adorable thing our dogs have done. We could talk for hours about the most random topics. Our topics can vary from now to if we will ever meet and I love it. I love her.