Colliding with Fate

~Eighteen~

I sat directly in front of Fate. His mother, Destiny, sat next to him. Ethan ate quietly on one side of me, while Claire happily chatted with Mom on my other side. Hank was nowhere to be seen. I gave Fate the address earlier today when I visited, and even then Hank made no appearance. I was slightly confused. He seemed to be the type of person to just show up, yet he hadn't.

"Thank you for dinner, Mrs Lewis," Fate said. I bit my cheek in an attempt to hide my laughter as Ethan cleared his throat beside me. Fate's eyes followed in direction of the noise, landing on Ethan thoughtfully.

"I made dinner. Mom can't cook." Ethan replied curtly. I knew that he would get scolded after everyone left, which Claire and I found very amusing.

"Well then, thank you."

"My pleasure," Ethan dug a fork into his spaghetti. I couldn't understand him sometimes. "So, Evanine..." He trailed off. It became awkward as everyone slowly turned to me. My face heated up as Fate stared at me intensely.

jesus...

My eyes found my plate of spaghetti in response. "Thank you so much for the invite." Destiny kindly said, looking at me. I smiled in response. Dinner consisted of small talk, mostly with Claire, Mom, and Destiny. Ethan, unsurprisingly, glared at Fate the entire time. In response, Fate just smirked at Ethan's attempts to "scare him off". I couldn't help but notice how Fate chewed his food slower than the usual person. It was almost calculated, in a sense. Destiny appeared to be trying to do the same thing, but I noticed how she shoveled food into her mouth like it was the first meal she's had in months.

maybe it was.

My stomach dropped at the thought of Fate and Destiny unable to come up with the money for food. It was a shame that the world revolved around just that - money. When Fate finished his plate, Mom took it and went into the kitchen and came back out with another plate full of spaghetti. After dinner, I made sure and gave them two large bowls of leftovers. I followed them to the door and thanked them once more for coming.

"My Mom really enjoyed your company. Thank you so much for coming." I smiled up at Fate, who now carried the bowls of spaghetti.

"Thank you for inviting us. We haven't eaten spaghetti in a long time." Fate replied. I could tell he saw my nervousness - the boy could see right through me.

"Fate... When is the last time you guys had an actual meal?" I whispered quietly, my eyes lowering to the ground.

"A couple years," He replied under his breath.

"Oh," I responded stupidly. I could tell Fate didn't really know what to say. Instead of saying anything else, he turned to Destiny, who was sitting in a tiny old car that barely ran.

"I have to go. I'll see you at school tomorrow. Thank you, Evie." He leaned down and kissed my cheek before he went, leaving me smiling like the idiot I looked like.

When I went back inside, Ethan approached me with arms crossed and a stern look on his face. No doubt, he was spying and saw Fate kiss my cheek. I knew the next thing that came out of his mouth was going to make him sound like a jerk. "Next time, I'm walking him out." I laughed at that.

"So you're saying there will definitely be a next time?" I replied, punching him in the arm. "C'mon, don't be such a stiff. I actually like him."

Ethan's jaw dropped in surprise. Mom and Dad and Claire came up behind me, laughing at Ethan's reaction. Of course Ethan was acting like the father in this situation.

"Son, Evanine hasn't brought a boy over since seventh grade, and that was to study. If she actually likes Fate, I say that's okay. We never stopped you from bringing girls over." Dad said, a knowing smile playing on his lips. Both Ethan and Claire tensed at his words. My eyebrows drew together in confusion.

"And yes, there will be next time." Mom added in, trying to ease the tension.

"Great..." Ethan muttered.

"Hey, Claire, why don't we go watch a sad movie and torture Ethan and make him watch too?" I shot. Claire visibly relaxed while Ethan cringed and sighed.

"No way!" He argued. Claire grabbed him by his shirt sleeve and dragged him to the couch. I laughed as I watched him give in.

"Fine, but I am not about to watch 'Titanic' again. I'm pretty sure they filmed that stupid movie in a pool. It sucked." Ethan groaned.

Claire smacked him in the chest and gasped. "That's one of my favorite movies!" She exclaimed. Claire was a fan of sad movies. She said it was good to cry.

Ethan shot her his perfect grin and looked up at her from the couch. "Sorry, Claire,"

She rolled her eyes and plopped down next to him, leaving enough room for me on his other side. Mom and Dad went to their rooms while I resorted to the couch. We decided on another chick-flick just to annoy Ethan.

When it ended, Claire and I were crying messes while Ethan sat throwing popcorn at the tv as the credits rolled. "Boo! That sucked!" He exclaimed. Despite how sad the movie was, we somehow found it in us to laugh at Ethan's actions.

Claire fell asleep soon after, as she usually did. Ethan picked her up slowly and carried her upstairs. When he came back down he sat down next to me instead of picking me up. "You're breaking routine, buddy," I glared at him through wet eyelashes. He was silent as he pulled me into his side and sighed.

"You know, I actually like the kid." He mumbled into my hair.

"You do?" I asked, shocked. I did not see that coming.

"I mean, yeah... He seems like a nice guy. And he doesn't bite back when I say annoying things to him." Ethan replied.

I couldn't help but giggle at that. "He's a quiet person."

"Unlike you," Ethan joked. "You can't shut up sometimes." I laughed again, louder this time.

"I can't argue with that," I said through laughter.

Ethan abruptly picked me up and slung me over his shoulder. I groaned as his shoulder dug into my spaghetti-filled stomach. "If I puke on you, it's your fault, Ethan." I managed.

I could feel him chuckling as he carried me up the stairs and into my room. He quietly set me down next to Claire's unconscious figure. Her red hair was already in tangles.

"Goodnight, Evan." Ethan whispered, pulling my blankets up around me. He leaned down and kissed my forehead.

"Goodnight, Ethan."

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Goodnight, guys:)
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