Consumed » Kai Parker

Fifty Three

I drum my fingers ceaselessly against the table, shaking my leg against the cushioned seat of the booth. My eyes repeatedly dart toward the entrance every time the glass door swings open, just to be disappointed–or relieved–when it's not the company I'm expecting.

Kai reaches over to close his hand over my fingers, stopping the tapping, and his other stills my thigh. I glance at him, my lip caught between my teeth. He gives me a look.

"You wanna go get some air?" He asks.

I shake my head. "No. I'm fine, I promise. Just a little anxious."

"I never would've guessed," he responds sarcastically and I swat his hands away. "I'll make a good first impression, don't worry. It's not like I'm gonna make small talk about the time I leapt off a cliff to freefall to my death in the prison world."

I press my hands to my forehead. "Kai."

"It was weirdly awesome, actually. But relax, I'll save that for the next family dinner."

"Please don't."

"It's going to be fine, Charlie. But hey, in the off chance that this does turn into a train wreck? I have just the exit. I'll pretend I'm super sick and have like, a projectile vomiting problem and we need to get home right away, and you'll be like oh, I'm so sorry, I really wish I could stay guys, but you know how Kai gets with his projectile vomit!"

I splay my fingers against my face. "You are so gross."

"Correction: I'm smart. It's a foolproof out, baby." He nudges my shoulder playfully. "Maybe we should have a signal in case you decide you wanna get out of here and I'll take care of the rest."

I sigh, dropping my hands back to the table and straightening my shoulders. "No. No signals. I got this."

"Yeah, you do. But I'll understand if you'd rather go back to my apartment anyway." He squints at his phone screen, mouth pursed in discontent. "Yelp says this place's fries are soggy. Ugh."

My own phone buzzes on the table and I immediately grab for it, quickly reading the new text from Elena.

3 min away. See you soon.

"They're almost here," I say to Kai in a voice far more high-pitched than I intended to sound, moving to show him the text but he's already reading it calmly over my shoulder. 

"It's okay," he murmurs through a smile against my cheek and gives me a quick kiss before sitting back against his respective side of the booth. "This is your family we're talking about."

"I know. It's just..." I rub my temples, propping my elbows up on the table. "I've never done this before. Not even with Jay, that was...different, you know? Elena and Jeremy meeting him involved brief conversation in the school hallways and occasionally at our house, but I never did the whole traditional thing of sitting the boyfriend down for dinner, mainly since I wasn't even as serious with Jay as I feel like I am with you so this is even more daunting because I really, really want them to like you the way I do–well, not the exact way I do because obviously that's weird, you know what I mean, I just-I want them to give you a chance, but I don't even feel like I know what I'm doing and what if I say the wrong–"

"Woah, okay, Charlie, breathe for a second." He soothingly rubs up and down my spine, the comforting touch easing my frantic array of thoughts. "Drink your water. Now."

My eyebrows furrow at the command and I reach for it, holding up the cold glass to my lips ruefully. "Think I need something stronger."

He makes a low noise of amusement. "Maybe later. Drink."