"I just don't like the idea that any time there's a dinner invitation, there's this annoying little chore that goes along with it." "You know, you're getting to be an annoying little chore yourself." -Seinfeld
Aly's POV
My house is currently filled with four different families. One of those families is mine and another one is my boyfriend's, who are going to sit down at a humongous table that we, meaning just Beck, built and my parents will socialize with his parents and most likely humiliate me.
That was quite a long sentence, but it had to be said.
But we haven't gotten to the dinner part yet. We're just doing the kind of awkward talk to people before dinner and pretend like you care about their lives part.
Jade's dad, who is apparently named Stanley, seemed to be having a decent conversation with my dad and Shin, David's dad. They're all businessmen, so I guess they have some common ground. They're probably talking about staplers or something.
Cory's family was the last to arrive, probably because there are like twenty of them to get ready. My mother was the one to answer the door, but I sort of stood beside her. "Why, hello! It's a pleasure to finally meet you!" Tone it down, Mother. "I'm Jane Oliver and this, as you know, is my daughter Allison."
If they know, then why did you feel the need to say it?
She likes hosting dinners too much.
As they stepped into the foyer, Ethan closed the humongous umbrella that most of his family had been hiding under and held out his hand. "Ethan Edison." He smiled that smile that Cory definitely inherited from him and as my mom shook his hand, he added, "The pleasure is all ours."
Okay, you know the rest of Cory's family, so I won't bother writing out their introductions.
But, um, where's Cory? Last time I checked, he's the reason the Edison bunch is here in the first place.
As the rest of them mixed into the smallish crowd in our foyer and living room, Elaine stayed behind and smiled at us. "Thank you so much for having us. Things have been so busy since we moved, we've hardly had any time to make friends or even relax. This dinner is just what Ethan and I needed."
Dude, dinner with my family is never relaxing.
"It's our pleasure!" My mother's smile got even wider, if that's possible, and she said, "I've been dying to get to know my little Aly's boyfriend for ages now! And of course we should get to know his family!"
You've known about him for, like, five days now. That's not ages.
And I am not little. Calling someone 'my little' anything makes them sound five.
Ugh.
"Well, we're just lucky Cory met a girl as great as Aly." Elaine patted my arm and I gave her a small but grateful grin back.
Because compliments make Allison happy.
Elaine pulled a long, thin decorative box out of her huge purse and handed it to my mother. "This is just a little thank you gift for all the trouble you must have gone through."
My mother's smile faltered for a second, but it didn't stay that way for long. The hostess can't be rude when it comes to gifts, after all.
Even if it's a bottle of wine.
"I got the best one from our cellar. I hope you like Chardonnay."
Oh, if only you knew how much she likes it, Elaine.
Just when I thought she was going to tell her she couldn't drink that- "... Thank you. This will go excellently with the beef tenderloin."
LOLwut.
Only this was not a situation in which one should laugh out loud.
As soon as Elaine scurried off to talk to Kimiko and Ruby, Jade's mom (get it? Ruby and Jade? ... No wonder Jade's so bitter), I pulled my mother to the side. "Are you frickin' insane? You can't drink that! What about that whole 'swearing off alcohol' shit?"
Jane huffed and gave me a cross look. "First of all, watch your-"
"Really? You're holding a bottle of Chardonnay and your main concern is my language?"
"... And second of all, your father and I are not going to drink this, but I wasn't about to tell a woman I just met that my husband and I are recovering alcoholics. We'll let the other adults have some, and as soon as everyone's gone, we'll pour it out, okay?"
She didn't give me a chance to answer and just walked off.
Well then.
But before my mood could get any worse, Cory swooped in to save the day.
And he was sopping wet.
"Dude, did you just decide to stand out in the rain for, like, five minutes or were you hoping you'd catch pneumonia so you'd die and wouldn't have to sit through this dinner? Where were you?" I took his now extremely heavy hoodie off of him and hung it up on the coat rack.
Cory combed wet hair out of his face and smiled at me. "Sorry. I dropped something in the car and it took me a while to find it."
I let out a small snort and said, "Well why didn't you have Wendell get it and bring it in here so you wouldn't get all wet?"
"It's his night off. My parents do know how to drive, y'know."
Cory smirked and I just ran a hand over his drippy hair. "Cmon, let's go towel you off."
Before taking him upstairs, I looked to make sure my relatives, Beck and Gwen specifically, wouldn't butt in and question why we were going upstairs. But they were too busy talking to Jade, Austin, Brittney and Kellan so they were distracted. And Mandy was wrapped around Beck's legs anyway, so he couldn't have followed us up the steps even if he tried.
After grabbing a fresh towel from the bathroom, I went into my room and tossed it to Cory, who was sitting on my bed and probably getting it wet with his butt.
That didn't sound weird at all.
When he dried his hair off a little, it made it look all sexy and tousled. Aly likey.
"Look, Als, can I just tell you something?"
I nodded. "As long as it's not about how big my ass looks in these jeans."
I was just kidding, but Cory still gave me this serious look. "Hey. Don't say that. You look gorgeous tonight."
I did. With my purple off the shoulder tunic and super tight black skinny jeans, I looked like a friggin' goddess.
"You don't look half bad yourself." Cory has this expression on his face. One I've never really seen on him before. I think it's the look of someone who's...
... Nervous?
"Uh, Cory? What were you going to tell me?"
"Oh. Right." Cory sighed, running a hand through his still damp hair. Then he took my hand in his slightly moist one. "Look, I really just want to say, it was... it was really brave. You telling me about your, uh, eating disorder and all."
I almost wanted to tell him he didn't have to step on eggshells while talking about it, but... it was kind of cute, seeing him act all awkward. Maybe that's why Gwen likes David so much.
Meh, I'll spare him.
"Calm down, David. It's fine." I smirked and his tension seemed to fade when I mockingly called him David.
Cory tried to fight back a smirk as he rubbed his thumb along the top of my hand. "Still, that had to be hard to talk about, and I really appreciate that you trust me enough to tell me that."
What a dweeb.
So why did I like so much that he said that?
"Why wouldn't I trust you?" I scooted closer to him and gave him a small kiss. "You're special."
"I feel the same way about you." Cory smiled. "Which is why I want to give you something."
A gift? Bitchin'.
"I was going to wait until your birthday, but I don't think I can." He let go of my hand so he could pull something out of his pocket.
Something that's silver and very expensive looking.
"I swear to God, if you get on one knee or tell me some crap about 'waiting until marriage', I'm going to-"
Cory let out a laugh and told me, "Sometimes a ring is just a ring, Aly."
Good. Because I'm not waiting until marriage to ride your disco stick.
Lady Gaga would hang her head in shame if I did.
"Kellan dragged me with him to a jewelry store to get a birthday gift for some girl he's been dating, because if his manliness was being destroyed to bits, then mine had to be too." Cory let out another chuckle as he looked back down at the ring. "But when I saw this ring, I immediately thought of you... And I gladly lost the rest of my manly pride when I bought it."
I smiled, finally taking the ring from him. "It's beautiful," I quietly murmured. Upon further inspection, I saw that there was an inscription on it.
"Live Life, Be Brave?" I read aloud before looking at him.
"It really was brave, telling me that. And going through it, obviously. Not many people have that will. You're one of the strongest girls I've ever met, Allison Jane Oliver." Cory took the ring, slid it on my right ring finger, then gently stroked a hand along my cheek. "And it's just one of the thousands of reasons why I love you."
Oh my God. That is probably the most amazing thing I have ever heard.
Don't cry. Don't you dare cr-
Damn. Here come the waterworks.
You're lucky I love you too, you jerk.
/ /
After a few minutes of lip wrestling and other couple-ish activities that require a lot of hormones, Cory and I came back downstairs to find that we were just in time for dinner.
Yay.
The table was long enough, thankfully, considering there were nineteen people sitting at it.
Twenty if you count Amanda's imaginary friend. He's a talking llama and his name is Hortense.
This is why I don't like most kids.
But Mandy's an Edison kid, so I'm kinda forced to like her.
And she is kind of cute.
"Hortense needs a chair too," the little blonde told us, looking at an empty spot by her place near the end of the table.
We only have enough chairs for people who aren't talking llamas, so tough nubs.
Before Jane could have a panic attack and start sobbing about how the evening was ruined because Hortense had to stand (and don't you say my mother's above that), Gwen, who had just come in the dining room, grabbed the air and walked over to her. "Here you go! An invisible chair for your invisible friend," she told the five year old, 'scooting' Hortense's chair in for him.
Amanda beamed at Gwen as if she had just given her a pony that pees glitter glue. "Thank you!"
"Don't mention it. Hortense is a guest too!" Gwen patted her on the head before taking the empty seat next to David.
Gwen's so good with kids. She's going to be a great mom someday. And Ethan and Elaine, who had gotten up to cut Mandy's steak, exchanged a glance, as if they were lucky to have found her.
Stanley just snorted, shaking his head. "You need to solve that problem before it gets out of hand," he muttered to Ethan.
Ethan looked confused. "What problem?"
Stanley crossed his arms. "That 'imaginary friend' nonsense. She'll never be a functioning member of society if you keep letting her imagination run rampid like that."
Cue everyone looking between him and Mandy after that comment and Mrs. West facepalming and mumbling something about how he had promised to behave.
Mandy was chomping on her steak and sneaking peeks at Beck at this point, so she didn't hear Jade's dad basically say she's going to be a lunatic when she grows up.
The storm going on outside got even louder, if that's possible.
Elaine, after sitting back down, raised an eyebrow. "She's five years old. It's perfectly normal to have an imaginary friend at that age."
Stanley didn't look impressed. "Believe whatever you want, but children need to learn that life isn't about living in lala land. They need to realize that life is serious and should be taken seriously. They shouldn't be encouraged to pursue ridiculous hobbies such as acting or art-"
I looked over at Jade. She was glaring at her father, with Beck resting a hand on her fist, which was wrapped around the handle of a steak knife, to prevent her from acting upon the murderous thoughts she was most likely having.
"Excuse me," my mother interrupted his rant, still trying to smile, since the hostess is supposed to do that until everyone leaves. "But how is it ridiculous for a child to thrive in the arts?"
Kimiko nodded in agreement. "Don't you think you should support and encourage your child to be creative, if that's what they love and what they excel in?"
Jade snorted, dropping the knife and snatching her hand from Beck's. "Please. My great grandmother's bra is more supportive than he is."
Stanley glared at his daughter. "Maybe if you took that jewelry off of your face, I'd actually care about your opinion."
Beck sighed. "Mr. West, you don't have to talk to her like-"
"Don't defend her, Beckett," Mr. West told him. "You're just using my daughter as your beard, anyway."
Oh boy.
"What's he talking about?" I heard Mikey whisper to Brittney. "That guy doesn't have a beard."
Brittney obviously didn't want to explain, so she joined the rest of the teenagers and kids, minus Jade, in awkwardly eating their steak. Oh, and pretending like they couldn't hear the adults and Jade bickering with Stanley over the increasingly loud lightning about how he shouldn't talk about how creativity and expression is a waste of time when half the kids at that table go to a school that teaches you the opposite.
So this dinner is going even worse that I thought it would.
Thanks a lot, Hortense.
While I stabbed my salad a few times just for the hell of it, I heard Stanley say something about how Jade had an imaginary duck named Diego when she was four and how he 'took care of it.'
"Yeah, by shooting it with an imaginary gun!" Jade shouted, standing up. "That duck was the last ounce of innocence I had and you ruined it, just like you ruin everything else!"
I guess that explains why she hates ducks.
And then it was completely dark.
And silent.
I've never been more relived for a blackout in my life.
I heard a few people shuffle around, murmur and get out of their seats, two of them probably being my mother and father. "Don't worry, everyone!" Jane declared. "James is going to go see if he can get the power back on. Please stay seated, he should get it done fairly soon."
I patted around the table for Cory's hand, and I found one.
"Uh, Aly? This isn't Cory."
Oops. Sorry, Kellan.
Let's try that again...
"Oh yeah, I knew you'd turn around, Aly."
Austin. Ew. I'll quit before it gets even worse.
I'm kind of surprised Amanda hasn't freaked out and started sobbing. Most little kids are scared of the dark, right?
But I didn't have much time to think about that, because the power came back on. James is useful for something, after all.
"Oh, thank goodness," my mother sighed. "That could have been disastrous."
"Hey," Michael said, Glancing to his right. "Where's Mandy?"
Pretty much everyone turned to gawk at the empty seat. And then they turned to exchange either confused or worried glances with each other.
I knew having a dinner party in the middle of a huge storm with nineteen people and a talking llama was a bad idea.
