Messy Ending

“Oh, come in. Come in.” Caitlin ushered Ben and I into her tiny apartment. “The kids are asleep and the babysitter should be getting here soon,” she informed us, shutting the white, wooden door once we were safely inside.

I took a look around the place. I had probably only been here once or twice since they had bought the apartment. Children’s toys littered the ground and were even on some of the furniture. The walls were white and pressed up against once was a couch in an ugly green color. Up against the other wall was a matching green chair. The TV was against the wall across from the couch. All in all the room was pretty bland. Pictures of Travis, Caitlin, and the kids were hung up all over the walls.

Travis appeared in the hallway that led to the majority of the rooms in the house.

“Dai, you can come with me and I’ll find you something to wear and when we’re Travis can find something for Ben to wear.” She gripped me by the elbow and dragged me to the end of the hall where the master bedroom was. I felt a bit guilty for leaving Ben alone with someone he didn’t know all that well, but I supposed I didn’t have a choice.

There was silence for a long time while Caitlin rifled through her closet. After a while she finally spoke again, “I really like Ben, Dai.”

I mustered up a sad smile. “I’m glad that somebody does. Grandma and Grandpa don’t seem too fond of him.”

“He’s good for you. What other boyfriend would drive their girlfriend four hours to see her family and then not complain when he wasn’t accepted like he should be? I’m sure they’ll come around, I’m sure,” she told me, holding up a pretty black dress to look it over.

I reached out to brush my fingers over the dark fabric. “It’s so pretty.” It was one of those one shoulder dresses that looked like the fabric was just wrapped around the body as it clung to every inch of skin it could.

“Wanna wear it tonight?” she questioned, twirling the dress around on its hanger in front of me.

I nodded and she took hold of my wrist again to drag me to the bathroom. She yelled something about Travis getting Ben something to wear over her shoulder. I looked at her in question as the dress was thrust into my arms.

“Change into the dress and then I’ll do your hair and make-up,” she explained. Her hand rested on her hip, impatiently.

Not wanting her angry, I did as she instructed me. The dress fit my curves and the contours of my body perfectly. I almost couldn’t stop staring at it in admiration.

“Now…” Caitlin said after a few moments, pushing me onto the toilet seat. For a while she didn’t speak. It was uncomfortable, the way she appraised my hair and face. I was relieved when she finally said, “alright. Turn around. I know what I’m gonna do.”

~~~

All in all she probably spent half an hour on my hair alone and another twenty minutes on the make-up. Of course she refused to let me see anything she had done until she finished completely.

“Okay…” She finished painting lip gloss over my lips. “Now you can look at it.” She capped the gloss as I slowly looked at myself in the mirror. A soft gasp escaped my lips at what I saw staring back at me. “You look truly beautiful, Dai.”

For once I agreed. I actually thought I looked pretty. What Caitlin had spent so long on my hair for was to braid it and then knot it intricately to the back of my head. A few loose strands of hair broke free and floated around my face. The make-up that covered my face actually seemed to glow, especially the dark colors around my eyes. I had to admit, my sister knew what she was doing when it came to things like this.

“How fancy is this restaurant, Caitlin?” I asked, slipping into the ridiculously tall black high heels that she had picked out for me.

She shrugged, scanning my entire appearance. “Pretty fancy. Grandma and Grandpa go there all the time. Now, c’mon, let’s go see what your man thinks of this.” She grinned, opening the bathroom door for me.

Ben and Travis sat hunched over on the couch, talking about something that Caitlin and I obviously weren’t in on. Once they heard the sound of our heels clicking across the tiled hallway, they dropped their conversation and stared up at us.

Ben’s eyes grew about ten times their original size and he stood up immediately. Even in the heels he still stood about six inches over me. “Dai, you look absolutely gorgeous,” he breathed to him, caressing his fingers over my bare shoulder.

A red glow spread over my face and I stared at the carpet of the living room, unwilling to make eye contact with him or anyone for that matter. I felt all eyes in the room on both Ben and I. Thankfully at that moment the doorbell rang, taking both Caitlin and Travis’ attention off of us, but when I glance back up I met the intense gaze of Ben’s green eyes.

I smiled up at him, pulling myself closer to his warm body.

~~~

Our grandparents met us outside the restaurant. Immediately, they sent Ben a blatant look of disapproval, which I ignored and gave him a squeeze of the hand.

Apparently they were regulars at this place, because almost immediately we were seated at a nice table. I made sure that my grandparents sat across from Ben and I. Caitlin sat next to Ben and Travis was seated in front of her.

Several moments of uncomfortable silence passed between us as we scanned our menus. Finally some spoke up. “So, Dai…” Caitlin took a gulp of the wine that had been served to everyone, but me. I got iced tea. “Happy birthday! How does it feel to be nineteen?”

“Not too much different,” I told her, folding my menu in front of me with the decision of what I wanted fresh in my mind.

“Ben,” my grandfather finally spoke up. “What is it that you do for a living?”

I watched Ben tug at the collar on his shirt as if it was suddenly suffocating him and take a long sip of his wine. “Actually I’m in a band. We’re pretty successful.”

“Oh, a band boy,” my grandmother said with such a distained tone it made me physically angry.

“Ben,” Caitlin interfered. “Did Dai tell you we used to live in London? That’s where you’re from, correct?”

“Oh, uh, yeah. I was born in London and then moved to Dubai and back to London, but last year I just got a place in L.A.” At this point in the conversations that surely made him uncomfortable he had drained about half of the red alcoholic drink in his glass.

~~~

Questions were fired at Ben left and right, mostly from my grandparents with the occasional save from Caitlin. Our food arrived ten minutes later after our waiter had taken their order.

“What’s the name of this band? Have you guys been on any major tours?” Grandpa asked, digging into his food.

“It’s called Asking Alexandria. We’ve headlined a few tours,” he answered. I could tell he still felt far from comfortable around my grandparents and I really couldn’t blame him.

“How’d you two meet?” my grandma finally spoke up.

“Actually, I met Ben at one of their shows,” I answered for him, of course leaving out all the gory details of the night. I didn’t even glance up to see the weight of their collective disapproval.

There was silence for one moment… just a moment. That moment was Heaven compared to the next words that were said. My grandmother dropped her fork, letting it clatter against the glass plate and said, “Alright, obviously no one else is going to say this so I’ll say it. Dai, I do not think Ben is good for you.” She paused a moment to let her words sink in. “I mean for God’s sake, Daidara, look at his tattoos and he’s in a band. He’ll probably cheat on you the first night he’s gone!”

Ben stared at his hands, no longer making eye contact with anybody at the table as my grandma went on about all the things that made my boyfriend a terrible person and not suitable to be with me. Finally Ben had just had enough and pushed away from the table. “Excuse me,” he mumbled, heading toward the exit of the restaurant.

Anger came at me and hit me with such force I was sure I was about to explode. “How dare you.” I pushed my chair away from the table and stood up in front of them. “You don’t get to decide who is good for me. I haven’t see you guys in a very long time and Ben wanted to bring me here to make me happy, but all you’ve done is treat him like complete shit!” I tried to lower my voice a few octaves and continued, “I love Ben. I really do. He’s good to me and if you guys can’t accept that then I’m sorry.” I stayed for a second to take in their horrified expressions and Caitlin’s proud one before I went in search of Ben.

In the distance I heard my family call my name, but I sped through the restaurant and pushed through the double glass doors without looking back once.

Ben stood a few feet from the entrance, a cigarette between his fingers. He never smoked in front of me, because he knew I hated the smell. Due to the current circumstances I couldn’t exactly blame him.

“Ben?” I reached out and placed my hand on his arm.
He didn’t say anything for a while. I watch the smoke billow from the tip of his cigarette, waiting. It surprised me when he did speak. “They’re right you know.” He exhaled smoke and brought the cigarette to his mouth for another drag. “I’m not good enough for you.”

“Don’t say that!” I exclaimed. “Don’t let them get to you. It’s only my grandparents by the way. Caitlin and Travis love you.”

He dropped the cigarette to the cement and crushed it beneath his foot. “You could do so much better than me, Dai. I know it.”

“Ben, stop it!” I hugged his waist and pulled him closer to me. “They say that nobody’s perfect, but I swear you’re perfect for me,” I recited some lyrics to one of my favorite bands, resting my head on his chest.

“I love you, Dai,” he murmured into my neck.

I looked up to stare at his pale green eyes. “I love you more, Ben.” I returned the smile he gave me and pressed my lips against his in a sweet kiss outside that restaurant, forgetting about my family.