Finding Me

Dinner Time

Dinners quiet, and awkward. The only sound is the cutlery against the glass plates. I look over at Dylan, he grins. I blush looking away.
"So, how did you two meet?" Mom asks as she cuts up Stephanie's food into bite sized pieces.
"I bumped her at the movies and then invited her to a party" Dylan answers. Mom nods, her eyes grazing over him.
"You look familiar" she says, her eyes raking over him again.
"So, when's the wedding?" I ask noticing mom's huge ring. Dave's smile widens, and mom blushes.
"Next summer, it's gonna be a huge event" she explains, I nod.
"I'm gonna be the flower girl" Stephanie tells me.
"That's fun" I reply back, she grins. She looks a lot like Dave.
"So you've decided to move permanently to Hawaii" Mom interrupts. The light fixture above her casts a shadow across her face.
"Was it Vickys idea?" She asks, disdain evident in her voice.
"No, she doesn't even know yet" I say
"You think she'll want you full time?" Mom asks, my stomach twists tightly.
"I'm getting a place of my own" I stare down at the untouched salad on my plate.
"With what job?" She asks
"I got a job at Dylan's dads charity" I say, she turns to Dylan
"Your dad owns a charity?" She asks, her tone unkind
"No my dad own the sunshine franchise as well as some stores in LA" Dylan explains, his tone normal.
"The sunshine franchise?" Mom repeats her eyes wide, Dylan nods.
"Your dads Vince Wong?" She asks
"To my knowledge" he jokes making me smile.
"That's why you look so familiar, you're the spitting image of him" she smiles fondly, I stare confused.
"You know my dad?" He asks, she looks down at her plate a blush colouring her face.
"Yes well we actually met through my ex husband, at one of his fundraisers. About 8 years ago" she says
"Small world" Dylan says looking at me
"Ya the funny thing is Violet was suppose to come with us, it was a Christmas party, but she got tonsillitis a couple days before" she laughs.
"Weird" Dylan turns to me I nod. Cheryl continues to rave about how small of a world it was. She's being even weirder than usual. Laughing animatedly at everything Dylan responds.
...
"Jesus what a dinner" I say closing the door behind us, Dylan laughs.
"Ya"
"Sorry if my mom's questions were too intrusive" I say plopping down on the couch
"I don't mind, my father gets brought up a lot" he sits next to me.
"Can I be honest?" He blurts
"Ya of course" I respond
"Your mom's an asshole" he says, a bubble of laughter bursts through me.
"I know" I say
"I can see why her and my dad got along" he exclaims
"Ya"
"So tomorrow we'll wrap up all the things I'm taking, I've already talked to the movers about shipping it. They'll ship it the day we leave" I say, he nods shifting to grab the remote.
"Have you decided what you're taking?" He asks
"Not entirely, we'll see" I say grabbing the remote from him, he nudges me.
...
"You want this?" Dylan holds up a sparkly blue dress that my mom got me for Christmas.
"No" I reply, he tosses it. I pull out another drawer from my desks, dumping the contents on the floor. I shift through some garbage, and find some old notebooks. I toss them into the packing box, and grab another drawer. Everything here seems so foreign it's weird to think about how much time I spent in this room.
"You wore this?" Dylan asks I turn towards him, he's holding up my pink poofy prom dress.
"I told my mom I did, I didn't go to prom" I say, he laughs
"Please throw it out" I say, he laughs opening the plastic protecter. I watch as he tries to pull it on, struggling with all the taffeta. He finally nudges it on, a ripping sound echoing around us.
"I think it's cute" he says looking at himself in the mirror, I laugh loudly. Suddenly my doors being opened. Stephanie stands there, a curious look on her face.
"Hi" I mutter, she looks around the door towards Dylan, who's smiling at her. She bursts out laughing, it bounces around the room.
"You're a princess" she coos stepping into the room.
"Yes but you can't tell anyone" he says kneeling down to her height, she pulls out her wand.
"Not even her" she looks at me, Dylan chuckles.
"Only she can know, she'll keep our princess secret" he assures her, she nods handing him her wand.
"Can you do magic?" She asks her tone excited. She grins onto the pink dress rubbing the fabric between her fingers.
"Of course" he says she jumps up squealing in delight. He suddenly lifts her spinning her around in the air.
"See, I can make you fly" he smiles, my heart soars. He finally puts her down, her smile is bursting off her face.
"That was so much fun" she bursts
"Can we go to my room, I have toys" she asks lifting her tutu.
"Stephanie" I hear my mom's voice boom through the hallway. She stops at the open door, her eyes finding mine.
"Have you seen Stephanie?" She asks
"I'm right here, no other princesses but me" she rushes out, her cheeks pink. Mom looks down at her, then back up at me.
"Time for piano practice" She ushers looking weirdly at me. I close the door, and both of us burst out laughing.
"She's adorable" he says peeling off the pink monstrosity.
"Ya" I agree. I empty out all my desk drawers, and put a post it with an x on the desk.
"No desk?" He asks
"Nope, always hated this desk" I say. We pack up all my stuff in 3 hours except the bed, which we'll pack tomorrow before we leave.
"You want to go grab some food?" I ask
"There's  this amazing bistro I always use to go to" I say
"Sure" he smiles. We grab our stuff and head out.
"Where are you going?" Mom stops us, Stephanie piano lessons are done.
"To grab a bite" I say, she smiles widely at Dylan.
"Dinners at 7" she says
"It's 3" I respond, she nods.
"Could we talk for a second?" She asks grabbing my arm and pulling me into another room.
"You do realize his dads a millionaire" she says
"So?" I exclaim, she rolls her eyes.
"Don't be naive Violet, lock it in" she says, I stare confused.
"Become his girlfriend, and you'll be set" she adds, I huff.
"Dylan and I are friends mom, and if I did want to be with him it would be because he's an amazing person, not because he's loaded" I state angrily
"You're such a child Violet, look at me Dave is rich and secure you could have that with Dylan. You need to realize life isn't all roses. You think I was in love with your father, no I was with him because he was safe or so I thought. Then he cheated and left me you to raise" she explains, her tone scolding.
"Oh trust me I know life isn't all roses. Living with you how could I forget, but I'd rather live in a shoe box than become like you." I say, my anger boiling up.
"I'm leaving tomorrow morning and after that you wont have anything to do with me.. mom" I state, turning and leaving.