"And you work for?"
"I am a musician."
"Not in Tahoe, young man...wherever you're from."
"In L.A I worked in the advertising department of Cosmopolitan Magazine."
"Why did you come to Tahoe."
"I was quite depressed in L.A and coming to Tahoe was my boss' idea. She thought to work on take-home assignments as well as taking a break would do me good."
"And the fact that you were hovering above my daughter a few minutes ago."
"I'm really sorry about that. I didn't mean for you'll to see it." Flynn states in a hurry. I kick him under the table. That's not why mom was grueling him. 'Not because she saw us, but because we were doing it, idiot' I try to mentally communicate with him.
We were sat on the dining table, Jen, Chris and Mom on one side, while Flynn and me on the other. Chris was at the edge of the table, almost hanging out due to the small dining table that mom and I owned.
"I mean; we shouldn't have been fraternizing in the first place." He states apologetically, hangs his head and looks at me to say something.
"What he means is...we are sorry mom. I hope nothing like that happens ever again." I say, though in my head I murmured, yeah right. This time it was Flynn's turn to kick me. He had a wide-eyed, angry look on his face. I ignored it and pursed my lips, willing him to understand that this was just a ruse.
"I sure hope not," Jen says as mom opens her mouth to speak. What?
I gave her an incredulous look. Every time she had boys over I had to cover up for her; God knows where her sisterly love was hiding.
"What?" I whisper, more to myself than to anyone in particular.
"Flynn...can I just say something?" My mom says in an eerily calm voice.
"Yes..." He swallows and looks at my mom, his face ashen gray and his eyes darting around, trying to find a possible means of escape.
"I really...really..." I waited for the 'don't like you', closing my eyes and praying this inquisition would be over. Instead, what I hear causes me to open my eyes in surprise.
"...like you." My mom completes. Flynn and I slowly turn to face my mother and together say, "What?"
"You make my daughter happy." She says simply. Now it was Jen's turn to look at my mother with an anger-ridden face.
"What?" She muttered in an angry way. I could picture steam coming out of her nose. I knew why she was so riled up- mom never liked any of Jen's boyfriends. One of them was a carpenter in our local woodshop, the other a college dropout, the next our school drug addict, and lastly but not the least the hot, sizzling, boiling drama she had with the school's most popular boy- Wallace Green. I had enjoyed those days.
My mother gave her a confused look and looked back at Flynn and me with those heart eyes I saw in emojis.
"You seem like a fine young man, and even her father likes you. I really see no problem." So she knew I had taken him to see dad. I don't know why she had never mentioned it before. But I smiled weakly and looked at Flynn with heat creeping onto my face. He looked genuinely surprised.
"I don't...I don't know what to say." He said, placing his hand on his chest as if trying to calm his beating heart. Jen glared at him, her eyes narrowing till they were barely slits on her face.
Chris looked as confused as ever and was glancing nervously between Jen and me.
"Hey, Jen, let's...let's go." He tried weakly. Jen didn't move from her spot even after Chris tried to pull at her.
"Treat my daughter right and I won't have to enact any punishment." Flynn looked at me worriedly and I shot him an apologetic smile.
"Mom..." I said in a warning tone.
"Mom!" Jen shouted as Chris vigorously tried to take her away from the kitchen.
"Jen, let's not create a scene in front of Flynn." She looked at him lovingly and made a move to get up.
"Would you like something to eat?" Jen gave out a shocked cry and made an even stronger effect to walk towards my mother. Flynn shook his head awkwardly and we both shrunk a little as Jenn tried to reach my mother.
"Oh come on, this is your home." Suddenly Jen went freakishly still and Chris moved away, scared of getting hit in his face. She pursed her lips, narrowed her eyes, again, and looked at her mom.
"I don't know what game you're playing, mother," she spat out the last word and continued, with an evil tint to her eyes, "but this, this, isn't fair." She pointed between both of us and turned on her heels. Chris moved away from the little furious bubble that surrounded her. He sighed, rubbed his brow and come back towards both of us. He whispered something in Flynn's ear which caused him to turn into a red, bubbling mess.
"It's...it's not like that." He stuttered. My mother perked up her eyebrows, from where she was currently reheating yesterday's chili.
"Ms. Franklin, I really don't want to eat anything." He looked a bit green and I gave him a worried glance.
"Don't be silly, this is just for you." I had a feeling that my family was going a bit crazy.
-
"I'm so sorry for everything," I said as I walked him out of the house. I gently closed the door, and we made our way down the little driveway. He shrugged and smiled.
"You don't have to be sorry about anything, that was wonderful. This is the first time a girl's family has liked me so much." I wondered how many other girl's families he had met. I gave him a tight-lipped smile.
"I really like that Chris guy." He said nonchalantly.
"Yeah, he's a hundred times better than my sister. Like you saw." I had told him about my sister's little stunt and the reason behind it, giving him a much-needed context.
"Don't say that she's family." He said, looking at me from the corner of his eyes.
"That's why it's easy to complain about it."
He laughed, tilting his head back and clutching his stomach. He looked at me lovingly and he pulled me closer, his hand snaking around my shoulder.
"I'll see you on..." He says, his chin touching my forehead and his hands playing with the base of my ponytail.
"Tuesday evening," I said, rolling my eyes. He had made me put a reminder on my phone, a little red heart on the calendar, write a little note and post it on the refrigerator, and also write it on my forearm.
"I think I'll remember now that you've put it on every brick of my house." He laughed, his breath warming my face, smelling like the gum I had given him a few minutes ago.
"I wouldn't want you to forget. It's something special." My toes curled in my shoes, I gave him a quick peck on his cheeks and moved away.
"Bye, princess." He sauntered away, grinning as if he had won some Olympic race.
"Bye, Flynn." I murmured as he got into his car and drove away.
