Love Better Left Unspoken [SKEPHALO]

--2--

Darryl

Friday arrived in a flash, causing Darryl to be unbearably nervous the entire day of the event. He was finally going to be meeting and seeing this 'Zak' with his own eyes. It had only been a couple days, but somehow it felt like a lifetime. He wasn't by any means already in love with him, but the anticipation of what he expected he would feel, was killing him.

It had been a long time since...the incident...and this was the first time he had been this excited in a while.  He walked into the dining room, where his parents were hosting the dinner. He took the seat that his mother had already instructed him was his, and began nervously sliding the end of a fabric napkin between his fingers over and over. His mother had just finished setting the table when there was a knock on the front door. 

She grinned excitedly, racing as quickly as possible to greet the guests. Darryl was practically holding his breath as he slowly forced himself out of his chair, his father giving him a nod of encouragement. He couldn't seem to see the boy he was meant to marry, or hear him over the excited chatter of both mothers and the formal greetings of the fathers. He didn't want to appear informal, especially not when he was trying so hard to impress, so he hung back and resisted the urge to push through them or stand on his tip toes over their shoulders. 

The woman he identified as Zak's mother approached him, smiling kindly. Her dark black hair was partially up in a tight, swirled bun, and the rest was neatly curled and splayed across her back. Her dress was red and velvet underneath, with ruffles up to the hips. There was a white cloth wrapping around her bust and draping neatly over the red, attached to the velvet with a fabric rose. "Good evening, ma'am," Darryl greeted politely, bowing with a subtle nod. She curtsied, seeming pleased with his hospitality. "Good evening. You look just...dashing," She told him sweetly, before being swept away by Darryl's mother, the two gossiping away like old friends even though they had only met recently.

Zak's father was solemn, his face stern and unfeeling, and he only acknowledged Darryl with a curt nod. Darryl nodded his head forward a quarter of an inch, trying to appear tough in a desperate attempt to gain the man's respect, but it went painfully unnoticed. As the two men walked over to the dinner table, Darryl took the moment alone to sigh in relief, before hearing the footsteps approaching him.

The real reason this entire dinner was happening in the first place came rushing back into his mind and he stifled a gasp, startling at the sound. He looked away from the spot he was staring at on the wall and met the chocolate brown eyes of none other than the man he had been waiting days to meet. 

Zak.

The boy's attire was more casual than for something as formal as meeting a future partner, but that didn't mean that Darryl thought he looked bad. He was wearing a blue tweed coat over a dull salmon colored velvet vest, and though there were buttons to connect the coat, he had left it open. His pants were checked with varying shades of blue, though all of them were relatively similar. His black hair was unruly, fluffed up on his head instead of neatly combed like Darryl's. 

"Hello," Zak greeted rudely, his voice sharp. This almost went right past Darryl's notice, too astonished by the way Zak's eyes seemed to glow despite the dark atmosphere of the candlelit room, and that even with no smile on his face he seemed to lift Darryl's spirits. Once Darryl regained control of his brain, he bowed, reaching to take Zak's hand and kiss it, as was normal formality when courting. Zak jerked his hand away fiercely, much to Darryl's surprise.

Darryl pulled back, frowning, he opened his mouth to question him but was cut off by Zak. "I'm not a girl, you know," Zak snapped, glaring at him. Darryl snapped his jaw shut, the words catching themselves in his throat. Was he already messing up this bad? Why did Zak seem to hate him already? "I-I know! I just...it's normally...what people...do?" Darryl trailed off once he noticed that his words only seemed to further anger Zak. The other boy narrowed his eyes, his head subtly shaking back and forth disapprovingly. "Whatever, can we just get this whole event over with?" He spat the word event as if it was acid on his tongue, and Darryl nearly shivered as Zak walked past him swiftly.

He turned and began to follow. But he already had an awful feeling this night wouldn't be ending well...at all.