Scream

Ring, Ring, Riiinnnngggg! I shut my eyes and put my hands on my ears. The annoying sound had been plaguing the house since Aunt Cathy and I had left the Seward house about 3 weeks ago.

Why can’t they leave us alone? I scribbled onto my notepad after it stopped.

“I don’t know,” Cathy sighed.

Ring, Ring, Riinnngggg! Ugh! Out of annoyance I raced to the phone and answered it.

“No!” Cathy screamed but it was too late.

“Hello?” The other person asked after a moment.

With widen eyes I held the phone out to Aunt Cathy with an apology in my eyes.

“It’s alright,” she sighed before speaking into the phone.

“Yes?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea…” Cathy sighed then paused.

She looked over at me and chewed her bottom lip.

“I’ll have to ask her…” I tilted my head and furrowed my brows together.

She pulled the phone away from her ear and covered up the mouth piece.

“Honey, it’s your father.” My ears perked at the information. “He wants to have dinner with us tonight.” I sat down and thought it over.

Dinner? He wanted to have dinner with me? What did he have to say? My curiosity got the best of me and I nodded looking back to my aunt. With a sigh she went back to Johnny.

“Okay.”

Later That Night

I straightened my black skirt and pulled down my white button up top. I had pulled my hair back into a pony tail because I was too nervous to fix it properly. My stomach burned with anxiety as I licked my dry lips before finally heading downstairs.

Cathy was sitting at the kitchen table giving Chris the rules for tonight. She was dressed in simple back dress pants and a red button up shirt, her hair in the normal waves that my grandma had.

“Be in bed by 10, all of you,” she warned while pointing at them.

“Yeah yeah,” he waved her off before looking up at me and smiling.

She followed his gaze.

“You look nice,” she smiled. “Ready to go?” I nodded and followed her outside.

As we drove closer and closer to the little diner we agreed to meet Johnny; my stomach twisted itself in more knots.

We pulled up and parked and by the entrance I could make out a short man with a Mohawk standing outside smoking a cigarette. He was pacing back and forth and I notice Max standing beside him; I turned and grabbed my notepad.

They’re here. I wrote and tapped on Cathy’s shoulder to tell her. She strained her eyes to read it in the dark then looked to where I was pointing.

“Well come on than,” she sighed getting out of the car.

As she walked around the vehicle I took a few deep breaths before following suite. I caught up to Cathy and positioned myself behind her as she walked up to the short man and his nephew; my father and cousin. When we were right beside them she cleared her throat to announce our presence.

Their eyes shot up to us and we all stood around in silence; each unsure of who will make the next move, or what the next move would be for that matter.

I started to rock back and forth on the balls of my feet out of boredom. I used to be the one to say something to break the awkward silence but I couldn’t speak anymore… I thought of what I would say to break the ice;

Well this is awkward. Yeah the old me would of said something like that.

“Well this is awkward,” My eyes widened as I stared at the man.

Did he just say that? Wow, weird how I was just thinking that… Shaking my head of the thoughts I let out a gust of air.

“Shall we go inside?” Cathy suggested and the guys agreed.

Johnny rushed before us and held open the door; I walked in quickly after Cathy not wanting to be away from her. She stopped and waited to be seated.

“Four?” The hostess asked and Cathy nodded.

We followed the short blond to a table towards the back. Half of me was hoping to be surrounded by more people but no such luck… Johnny pulled out a chair for Cathy and Max one for me; I smiled grateful and sat next to her, Max on my other side and Johnny in front of me. I looked down at the table avoiding his stare.

“Can I get you guys something to eat?” My heart pounded a little but I calmed myself and quickly scribbled down my answer.

“I’ll have water,” Johnny said softly.

“I’ll have the same,” Aunt Cathy said.

“Coke,” Max said and I looked up and showed Cathy my notepad.

“She’ll have a Dr. Pepper,” Cathy answered and the hostess gave me a funny look before shrugging it off and walking away.

I picked up a menu and held it in front of my face because I could feel Johnny’s gaze and it made me more nervous.

Hmm, chicken sounds good…

“So Johnny,” Cathy said.

“Huh?” Johnny answered.

He must have been deep in thought and she just snapped him out of it.

“What exactly do you want?” She asked the question carefully.

You could detect in her voice that she didn’t wish to be rude just curious.

“The same thing you wanted when you contacted me.” My brows furrowed together and lips pursed at his answer.

I slowly lowered my menu and choose to ignore it and write down my order.

Chicken strips.

“What do you think I wanted when I contacted you?” Cathy sounded a little upset now.

She didn’t like when people assumed things. Johnny sighed.

With ranch. I made sure to add.

“My parents told me about your… situation.” I could tell he searched for the right word as to not upset her anymore.

And French fries. I scribbled at the bottom before laying down the pad next to Cathy to see.

“I know you can’t keep her, that’s why you called my parents.” I sank into my seat and when I looked up my eyes met Max's.

His head was tilted and his brows were furrowed in a curious expression.

“Ok, so that doesn’t explain what you want.” My aunt tried again.

I went for my pad and ripped off the page with my order, leaving it there I wrote again.

Hi? I pushed the pad over to him and he smiled before reading it. He looked back up at me and motioned for the pen. I handed it off to him and sat quietly awaiting his response. He pushed the notepad back to me and I looked it over.

How are you? I thought of the question before scribbling something down.

Bored. I pushed it over to him.

“I want a relationship with her,” I looked over at Johnny with wide eyes.