best friend | zdj

twenty-two

sitting at a table in a relatively quiet restaurant with my entire family was more chaotic than i'd expected. dad sat at the head of the table, happily chatting with joel and zabdiel, their laughter startling more than one nearby table. 

it hadn't been the first time the two joined in these little family dates that were a tradition at this point for dad, isa and i, especially when isa began dating joel she often invited him, but it was the first time zabdiel attended as my boyfriend, and his hand resting so innocently right above my knee was getting distracting.

sometime during the night, his hand slowly inched upwards subtly enough that i didn't realize so until our food arrived and he took his hand back, brushing with my inner thigh, making me jump in my seat as he watched with a smirk. 

i kept my head low, avoiding his eyes for the sole reason that i wouldn't be able to resist his charm if i did. his hand found my thigh again, he squeezed it gently before finally leaving his cold fingers drumming on my inner thigh. i shuddered at the feeling.

"are you okay, anna?" joel raised an eyebrow, eyes constantly switching between zabdiel and i. "are you cold? you keep shivering."

"i'm fine, thank you." i squeaked out.

"are you sure?" isabelle insisted. oh, so they were just playing with me. they fucking knew.

"yes." the reply came out harsher than i expected it to be, and thankfully dad was too distracted by his chiming phone to tell me off.

he frowned as he read a message he had just gotten, then it only deepened once it started ringing. he excused himself and headed outside to take the call.

isabelle narrowed her eyes. "twenty bucks it's his secret girlfriend."

"it's probably just the hospital." i dropped my fork with a sigh. "i bet he'll come in and tell us he's gonna have to go."

"yeah, to his secret girlfriend's house."

"i don't think he'd ditch us for a secret girlfriend, isa. if anything, we'd be the first ones to know if he was seeing someone."

zabdiel's fingertips brushed against the front of my panties, making me grab his hand and intertwine our fingers to stop his wandering. he leaned down to press his lips to my exposed shoulder, then my cheek, then my lips.

isabelle gagged and turned to joel. "lord, were we this disgusting when we first started dating?"

"you still are." zabdiel chimed in before his brother could reply, and we laughed at isabelle's expression.

dad came in and sat back down with a sigh, looking down at the table before finally turning to isabelle and i.

"girls..."

"oh, just go!" i shooed him. "it's not the first time they call you in this late."

he visibly relaxed. "thank you for being so understanding." he grabbed my hand and kissed it, doing the same with isabelle's. "here, to pay for dinner. i love you, my girls."

"love you too, daddy." we responded at the same time as gave isabelle the money to cover our food.

"that means we got the house for ourselves?" isabelle wiggled her eyebrows at joel.

i gagged. "stop being so horny. we haven't even eaten yet."

she stuck her tongue out at me, to which i responded by doing the same. at some point i ended up letting go of zabdiel's hand, and he took the opportunity to rest his palm right under the hem of my skirt. i rolled my eyes, but there was nothing i could do to stop him. as long as he didn't try anything in public...