"Okay," I said and walked away, feeling like my legs could cave in at any second. Don't Fall!
CHAPTER 13.
*Demetria*
It was 8:30pm.
My phone never rang. Something was wrong. It didn't makes sense. He should have called me hours ago. I'd even called my cell phone provider and yelled at their disgusting service, demanding them to test my phone's signal five times, because there had to be some mistake.....
Much to my disappointment, my phone was fine.
I tried reminding myself that he was probably just busy and would call as soon as he was done with the many charities he worked free of charge for during visits to Ottawa. That's the kind of man he was: sweet, caring, giving, generous, everything I wanted in a life partner.
Suddenly, an idea came to mind... a brilliant one.
If he wasn't going to come to me, than I was going to go to him!
I scurried to my door and unlocked it. "Mother!" I yelled into the dark hallway. "Mother!"
After a few seconds, the sound of her heels clicked against the marble staircase. "Yes, darling, I'm coming. No need to shout; Mommy's coming!"
"Hurry up! I don't have all day!" I commanded curtly as she came to a halt in front of me.
My mother was really an older version of myself. Wild, dark-brown curly hair and white alabaster skin that could rival the best in the world (thanks to the best dermatologist in Canada). She wasn't as tall as I me. I was 5'9. And we had similar deep blue eyes.
"Yes, darling, is everything okay?" Mother asked, concerned.
I stared at her for a few seconds, and then tilted my neck to the side abruptly, creating a quick cracking sound.
"I need a ride downtown in half an hour. Do you understand?" I hissed, narrowing my eyes at her.
"Out now?" Mother asked, obviously confused at the sudden change of my nightly habits. Normally, about now, I'd have been preparing for bed, considering most nights I got about eight hours of uninterrupted beauty sleep.
"Did you just question one of my requests?" I asked her slowly, holding a hand to my heart as my jaw literally dropped. It could have been a few seconds or a whole minute. The next words out of her mouth had better be an apology.
"Of course not, darling, my apologies. You know Mommy is not like those other mothers who want to get in the way of their daughter's fun!" Mother exclaimed, horrified at the mess she almost got herself into.
That's what I thought.
"I need a ride in half an hour, do you understand?" I ordered, slowly enunciating each word so she'd understand with great clarity, these were instructions I didn't have time for her to dwell on and configure. Mother took a deep breath and nodded. I took a step back and slammed the door in her face, locking it at once.
CHAPTER 14.
The smell of savoury tomato sauce and meat had my eyes rolling back. Across the dance floor, in the corner of the room, I spotted a long rectangular table with platters spread across. Steam flew out, and I followed the clouds to a problem.
Ben's table was next to the buffet table.
My table got up and joined the growing line. The line moved and the DJ played a big-band track. I leaned against the wall as Darcy and the rest of the kids grumbled how hungry they were. I snuck a peek a few spots down the line at Ben and his tablemates.
Did he get taller? Did his shoulders grow wider? Has he been pumping iron? What do his biceps look like now? The last time I touched him like that was....
"Hey Johnny!" a familiar voice said, interrupting the aftereffects of remembering the last time I had sex. Unfortunately for me, the familiar voice belonged to the person who just gave me an orgasm in my memory.
Ben.
What the hell does he want all the way over here?
"Johnny, don't forget to take your pills," Ben reminded.
"Dude, I know, you don't have to remind me!" Johnny replied, exasperated, clearly embarrassed from the call out.
Yeah Ben, he knows!
"Alright, alright. Just, reminding you, little bro," Ben said, stalling for a few seconds before heading back to his spot.
Thank God! I glanced up quickly, finding Darcy and Ben's sister Jennifer staring at me with knowing smiles.
"Why are guys staring at me like that?" I narrowed my eyes and look down at them.
I quickly glanced at Cameron, who was in the direct line of sight of Ben, who just happened to turn his head right now. His beautiful eyes take control over mine in an instant, and for a moment, I thought I spotted sadness.
I blinked away.
The line progressed.
I finally stood in front of the plates and cutlery table. I'd never been this happy to eat. First table was two selections of salads, a mixed green, and a Caesar. I smiled happily, approving both choices. I grabbed some Caesar salad and put it on my plate.
Next table.
I smelled something tomato-y and cheesy. I hoped it was lasagne or some sort of pasta. Workers from the kitchen stood behind each tray, spooning equal amounts onto everyone's plate. I halted in front of the first and peered into it to see what was smelling so good.
It smelled so good.... that is, until I actually saw what it was.
"What is that?" I asked the food attendant, horrified at the cheese covered pancake shaped vegetable.
"Eggplant Parmesan," the food attendant quickly answered. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. I pulled my plate back.
I fucking hated eggplant! Mom knew this!
"No, thank you." I quickly moved to the next tray. It's a rice dish, but it looked gooey with some sort of white meat sticking out of it.
"What's that?" I asked the next attendant, trying to mask the look of confused disgust on my face.
"That is squid risotto," the attendant answered and my plate jerked back in response.
Squid!
How could she!
This time I couldn't hide the look of distain from my face. I had fucking stomach issues when it came to octopus or squid.
Mom knew this!
Next table.
There were three covered trays and I stopped in front of the first one, praying that it was something I could actually eat.
I exhaled and asked the million-dollar question again.
"What's that?" I asked the third food attendant, an older woman who looked like she was on the cusp of retirement. She lifted the lid and.... lots and lots of ONIONS!!!
"Chicken and onions," she answered tiredly, which was also code for 'Bitch, if you don't want it, move on, fucking hell!'.
I.
Fucking.
Hated.
Onions!
Mom knew this!
"Can you give me the chicken with absolutely no onions on it?" I asked the woman. She peered into the tray and moved things around with her tongs.
"I'll do my best," she said, grabbing a piece of chicken with the least amount of onions on it and placed it onto my plate. I looked back and forth between the chicken that still had onions on it, and the woman, horrified and confused that maybe she didn't understand what I asked her.
I quickly twisted my neck and searched the room for Mom, finding her seated at her 'special table', laughing it up with her people, eating this poor excuse for food.
Look up and face me, you shedevil! I urged her silently, hoping she'd look up and catch my death glare. She didn't.
"Are you going?" the person behind me asked, breaking my focus.
"Sorry." I said and moved to the next tray, peering in and sighing in relief at a selection of roasted potatoes in which I held out my plate happily for. The next tray had some sort of lemon infused fish.
Fuck.
No.
The next and last tray was pasta.
"What is that?" I asked an older man, who also looked like he was on the cusp of retirement. Trust Mom to pick a place that employed senior citizens, making them work for practically nothing while being made to work like slaves.
Fucking.
Selfish.
"Eggplant-" he began to say.
"What?!" I moaned, horrified.
"Lasagne," he finished saying.
Eggplant lasagne!
How could she!
Fucking eggplant lasagne!
WHY!.
Mom took my hate list of food and made a buffet out of it.
"No, no, no, no, no.... no thank you!" I jerked my plate back and turned away from the buffet table, coming face-to-face with Ben's table, where Ben was happily munching on his overloaded plate. That momma's boy loved and ate all kinds of food. He wasn't picky with food like I was. He wasn't picky with lips either.... you know, just pointing it out.
He picked this beautiful moment, while I looked like I was on the verge of cracking, to look up and make eye contact. He looked down at my plate, beginning to snicker. Taylor, one of our parents' friend's kids who was our age, looked up at the sound of Ben's laugh, followed his line of sight to me, glanced at my plate, and began laughing.
"All your favourites, right, Marisa?" Taylor laughed out loud with food in his mouth. "Come join us."
I narrowed my eyes at them, annoyed at the sound of their laughter. "No, thank you. I'm going to sit with my sister."
"You're going to sit at the kid table?" Taylor asked in disbelief, looking between Ben and me. Ben stopped snickering and leaned back in his chair, looking at me, waiting for my next answer.
"That's right, the kid table." I told them and walked away. Back at my table, all the kids were already there, happily eating with no problem.
How come, out of everyone, I was the one who had a freaking picky eating problem?
Why was I always the one who had to be different?
And not in the good way, more like always-the-cause-of-trouble kind of way.
I placed my plate down, and smoothed my dress sitting down. I dug into the salad first, as it looked to be the most appetizing.
"How is everyone doing here?" Mom's highpitched, fake happy voice towered over us. I looked up and her eyes are wide and excited.
Everyone muttered 'good', hoping that would be the end of it, but it wasn't, because her eyes settled on me.