Family dinners aren't so bad. Except when you're springing your new (zombie) boyfriend on your family. The only plus side is that I got mom to promise not to invite Major and then used Ravi to make sure he didn't show up anyways. I can only hope she's ready to move on from her perfect idyllic world where I get back together with Major and learn that I've changed. In more than one way.
"Your mother has no idea you're bringing me does she?" Lowell questioned with an amused shake of his head.
"What? No. Well, I mean I told her I was bringing a friend along." Liv replied, giving his hand a squeeze as they headed towards the apartment complex. "I just didn't specify that you're the boyfriend variety."
"I was hoping I wasn't just a friend otherwise, I've been reading these signals all wrong." He laughed easily, lacing their fingers together.
Liv rolled her eyes. "Says the guy who ate a gay brain and was giving me some seriously mixed signals."
He snorted, "Touché." He arched a brow, "So, do you think she'll like me? Do I hold a candle to the ex?"
"Well, the sex is better and if we're being perfectly honest you're hotter too. It's like a package deal." Liv's eyes widened. "Shit." She covered her mouth with her freehand, turning to look at Lowell with a doe-in-the-head-lights look.
Lowell's brows shot upwards, a smirk quirking upwards at the corners of his lips. "Did someone eat a blunt brain?"
"She seemed normal!" Liv grimaced. "Well, it could be worse. I could be obsessed with eating boogers or something."
"Is it true though?"
She gave him a sideways look as she steered them towards the elevator. "I have no idea what you're talking about." She shook her head, staring straight ahead even though she could feel Lowell's gaze boring into the side of her face. If she weren't dead and lacking a real pulse, her face would have been hot with embarrassment. Those were inside thoughts. She hadn't even realized she'd compared the two of them.
"You should be thankful. I think that I, unlike you, lucked out on some completely normal brains. I've felt remarkably like my old self today."
"Good. I don't have to worry about you making grossed out faces if I kiss you." She turned then and pressed a kiss to his lips, smiling at the way he sank into the kiss the second their lips touched.
"Liv?"
Liv scrunched up her nose and turned to look towards the voice. "Peyton! Hey. I guess mom invited you to dinner tonight too?"
Her friend looked between her and Lowell with a look of both amusement and confusion. "So this is your friend?" She pursed her lips, sizing him up. "I approve. I had no idea you were dating again."
Liv shrugged her shoulders. "It just sorta happened. You remember the sick guy in that video we watched together." She grinned, "Well here he is and he is great in bed."
Peyton made a face. "Right… You're doing the kind manic pixie dream girl thing right now Liv." She gave her friend a look before holding her hand out for Lowell. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Peyton."
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I've heard only good things about you."
"British." Peyton grinned at Liv, "I approve, Liv."
"Thanks." She gave Lowell a sideways look, trying to convey her embarrassment. "Ready to go met my mom and brother?"
"I mean your best friend approves of me, it can only go up from here right?" He released her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close to his side.
The elevator dinged and the trio entered without another word. Liv was fairly certain this dinner was going to be disastrous. Her mother was probably going to do that disapproving look of disappointment and dislike Lowell on the principal that he wasn't Major. And given the way things were going with her brain, she wasn't going to keep her mouth shut about that either.
"Don't worry Liv," Lowell said gently as they stepped off of the elevator, his fingers playing lightly over the curve of her waist. "I'm sure your mum will love me. I am quite charming after all."
"Maybe she'll be entranced by the accent and forget everything else." Liv smiled hopefully.
Peyton snickered, "Is that what happened to you?"
"Oh shut up." Liv laughed, playfully swatting her friend's back.
"I'm just saying." Peyton retorted with a grin, "I guess when you can't snag Prince Harry you just go for the hottest Brit you can find."
Lowell shook his head with an amused look. "I see how it is. The truth's out. You're just with me for the accent."
"And the brains that go along with it," Liv said with no small amount of sass, giving him a knowing look as she stepped away from him to knock on the apartment door. "Mom!"
Her mother didn't waste a second to open the door and knowing her, she'd probably been standing behind it, anxiously waiting for her daughter to show up. Liv watched as her mother's gaze flickered between her and Lowell. There was an initial look of disappointment that shifted into a look of delight.
"You must be Liv's friend she said she was bringing." She held her hand out, "Eva Moore."
"Boyfriend." Liv blurted out before she could censor herself. It wasn't like her mother wasn't going to notice the handholding and the doey eyes the made at each other.
Lowell side-eyed her, before turning his attention back to her mother, shaking her hand firmly. "Pleasure to meet you Ms. Moore, I'm Lowell Tracey."
"Boyfriend?" Her mother's brows rose upwards, "You haven't mentioned him when we've talked."
"Yeah, well, I've been so busy and we've been -"
Lowell cut her off before she said anything damning, "It's been casual up until the last few days." He explained, "She's been pretty busy with work and I didn't want to interfere and get in her way." He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her into his side. "Then she concocted this whole plan to bring me home to meet her mother."
Liv nodded her head in agreement. She desperately wanted to blurt out embarrassing details of their relationship that no one should ever tell their mother. But instead she managed to keep her lips pressed tightly together and just nod. It had only been half a day since she'd ate this brain and if it was already this bad after a few hours, she had no idea where she'd be at by the end of the evening.
Never eat an oversharer's brain.
"So? What did you make for dinner?" Liv questioned, trying to steer the conversation away from anything that she'd be tempted to blurt out.
"Since you've taken an interest in spicy foods I decided to make curry." Eva explained, "Now, I know Ravi used to talk about London having some of the best curry." She gave Lowell a small smile. "Are you from around the same area as him?"
Lowell shrugged, "I'm from Camden, he's from West Ham. I'm sure we've not eaten at the same curry places, but I am a fan of curry. Extra spicy."
She pursed her lips, giving Liv a look. "Look at you. Finding people with the same new interests as you." She waved her hands. "I'm happy. I really am."
Liv rolled her eyes, taking Lowell by the hand, "Come on, let me show you around." She gave her mother a look, mouthing to her to not pull the compare and contrast crap.
"Your mother has really judgey eyes," Lowell whispered as Liv all but dragged him into the living area of the apartment. "I haven't felt that scrutinized since I auditioned for X-Factor."
"You auditioned for X-Factor?" Liv stared at him with a look of surprise, slack-jawed and everything.
"I clearly didn't get through. Don't get too excited."
"Woaaah. You're Lowell Tracey!"
Liv's moment of surprise was shattered by her brother. "Wait. What? How do you know who he is?"
"Oh my God this is so cool." Evan said, holding his hand out. "I bought your EP album on iTunes after I found you on YouTube."
"Lowell, this is my brother Evan." She gave him a wide-eyed look. "Evan this is my boyfriend Lowell."
"You're dating Lowell Tracey?" He shook his head in disbelief. "This guy was destined for fame. He had some of the best songs. Then he just vanished."
Lowell swept his fingers through his hair, puffing up his chest in a way that Liv found very appealing. When he talked about his music career he got this swagger about him. Like he knew he was amazing and everyone else needed to know it too. It was cocky and kind of arrogant, but very hot too. "I'm just taking a break right now. Doing some private lowkey gigs."
Liv started to say something about how good he was, but instead she started to blurt out the fact that he stopped doing gigs because he wanted to eat his fans.
Evan and Lowell both stared at her. There was really no way of digging her way out of that one.
"Anyways," Lowell said, giving her a sideways look as he turned back to Evan. "You got a guitar? I could always entertain everyone after dinner."
"I do and I know how to play Lady Grace. Which is probably my favorite."
Well, at least her brother got along with him.
"You two kids talk music, I'm going to go see if mom and Peyton need any help in the kitchen." She leaned up on her toes to press a kiss to Lowell's cheek.
"Eat a Snickers while you're in there. You're not you when you're hungry." Lowell teased with a wink and a playful swat to her ass.
"Ha. Ha. You're so funny." But she was stifling a laugh with a grin plastered to her face nonetheless.
Honestly, she was just glad that Lowell was naturally charming and that at least someone besides her was going to be in his corner. She had a pretty strong feeling that her mother wasn't going to be enraptured by his charm after the first dinner or first hundred. She was stuck on the Major train which had left the station for good. But it wasn't like she could sit her down and explain to her that human-zombie sex was never going to be as good as zombie-zombie sex. While Major had actually been a really sweet boyfriend and she'd never ever be disappointed in the fact that he was her first love, Lowell had a serious set of skills in bed that she hadn't even known were a thing. Even her sex expert brain chow had been surprised by his prowess.
Lowell was a catch and Liv was determined to prove that to her mother. Even if that meant she might overshare some details that were best kept to herself.
"That smells delicious." Liv said as she stepped into the kitchen, inhaling the sweet scent of spicy curry in the air. Sure, it was never going to be as appealing as the idea of brains, but that didn't mean she couldn't seriously crave the scent of food that no longer really satisfied her. The spices at least made it more palatable.
"I hope you and your friend like it." Her mother said pointedly as she put the lid back on the pot on the stovetop. "Peyton and I were just talking about the fact that we hadn't expected you to start dating so soon."
Liv crossed her arms across her chest. "You're the one that was pressuring me to get back out in the ocean and catch some more fish."
"I'm just saying, I think it's awfully soon for you to be getting involved so seriously."
She arched a brow, giving Peyton a look. "Did you tell her we've had sex?"
Peyton threw her hands up in defense, "I just casually mentioned the fact that you blurted that out downstairs. She asked if I knew how serious this was. That's all I knew."
She covered her face in embarrassment. "It has been like nine months since the accident. I think it's plenty of time for me to have a healthy adult relationship. Sex and all that included."
"And it's been six months since you would have been Mrs. Olivia Lilywhite."
Liv made a face, "In case you didn't realize it I traded being Mrs. Lilywhite for having lily white skin." She said with no small amount of sass. "Not that I really chose to. PTSD is a hell of a bitch to battle. Just be happy that I'm happy."
Eva put down her oven mitt and walked over to her daughter, putting her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "I am happy for you Liv. It's just… He doesn't really seem like your type. What does he even do?"
"He's a musician. A very talented musician. A very talented musician with magical fingers." She stopped herself there before she did the oversharing thing again. "What I'm trying to say is that… What was I trying to say?"
"Major's an environmental engineer. That pays better."
Liv widened her eyes dramatically at her mother. "I had no idea that's what he did. Thank you so much for that brand new information." She gritted her teeth, before sighing heavily. "I'm not the Olivia Moore I was a year ago. I've already accepted this and you… you really need to as well. I like different things, different foods, different clothes. And Lowell. He's a really sweet guy and we've really hit it off and I wouldn't have brought him if I didn't want you to like him too."
Peyton cleared her throat and nodded towards the kitchen door, before making her escape. Liv didn't blame her, if she could, she would have been out of there too.
"This is the new me." Liv said, pressing her lips together as she looked up at her mother. "The old me is gone. Forever." Given how things were going with Ravi's zombie-rats, she had a feeling that there was no cure for this illness. She was a zombie for the rest of her undead life. Might as well make the best of it with another zombie. It wasn't like there was a zombie dating app or anything.
Eva said heavily, stroking her daughter's cheek. "Fine. You're right. I'm sorry. You've just got to understand that I'm still reeling from the three-sixty you pulled on all of us."
"You're just going to have to get used to me and my pasty-white boyfriend." Liv said playfully, trying to lighten the mood. "Now do you need any help?" She pressed her lips together and smiled. She'd gotten through that without throwing out anything like zombies, brain eating, or their sexual habits. So there was that.
Eva looked past Liv, a smile on her own lips. "Is that Evan or Lowell playing?"
Liv listened for a second, "Lowell." She could hear him singing too. "I told you he was a fantastic musician." She said, taking her mom's arm. "He only does private gigs now. You should feel very privileged."
Her mom shook her head. "I just feel privileged to have a happy daughter."