If You Told Me To

“Do you think this shirt looks silly?”

Sarah turned her attention from her close-up reflection in the mirror to her father standing in the doorway. He was donning a blue plaid button-down and a pair of crisp khaki shorts, a pair of worn loafers on his feet and stubble covering the lower half of his face.

At first, she didn’t know what he meant by suggesting the shirt would possibly be a strange choice. But after scanning her eyes over him a couple more times, she realized the sleeves were a little too short for him, and there were a couple of faint wrinkles here and there. But it really wasn’t anything major, so she shrugged and said, “It looks fine. It’s not your Black Tie Best, but it doesn’t look that bad.”

Jake looked down at himself, ran a hand down his stomach, and sighed. “Are you being polite, or are you being truthful? Because I don’t want Antonia scolding my wardrobe.”

“I’m being mostly truthful.” The statement was probably one of the most honest things Sarah had ever admitted in her life.

“I’ll iron a different one.” There was a tired-sounding sigh, and then Jake was gone, disappearing down the hallway before the sound of him shutting his bedroom door reached Sarah’s ears.

She turned back to herself, at the makeup that was shockingly not lopsided, and smiled. In her flirty red skirt and cream-colored blouse, she felt cute and older at the same time. Normally, dressing up made her feel silly, like a little girl playing in her mother’s closet, but for the first time, she felt confident in her attire. Thinking about it made her stick her chin a little higher in the air and grin even wider.

“Oh, you look sweet,” Jake said from the hallway, back again with a striped mint green shirt, which looked much better, because the color went better his skin tone and it was wrinkle-free. “And you’re getting pretty good at that makeup thing, aren’t you?”

“Practice. Thanks,” Sarah replied, trying not to show her father how excited his compliment had made her. “That shirt is a much better choice.”

He bowed a little goofily before offering his arm. “May I escort my beautiful daughter next door?”

Giggling lightly, Sarah made her way across the room and wrapped her hands around her father’s bicep. “You may.”

After ensuring that all the lights were off in the house, along with the small fan Sarah had set up facing her dresser to minimize sweating, the Richards headed to Antonia’s house, wondering what kind of dish awaited them. Sarah had mentioned that Antonia had been particularly excited about the vegetables she’d gotten from the market, and both father and daughter hoped they weren’t walking into a meat-eater’s nightmare.

When Antonia answered Jake’s knocks, there were hugs exchanged in greeting before the woman turned to Sarah. “Harry’s watching some television in the living room, if you want to join him. The meal isn’t quite ready yet.”

Sarah nodded politely and thanked her before heading to the sofa, where Harry was sprawled out, his eyes almost glazed over as some kind of celebrity gossip show played at a low volume. She almost felt sorry for interrupting his trance, but it was better she warn him of her presence before he got the life scared out of him.

“Hey,” she greeted, reaching down to shake his knee. “Could I maybe sit down?”

Harry startled for a second, his breath catching audibly, before laughing. “Yeah, sure.” He curled his legs closer to his body so there was enough room for another body to sit, but he wasn’t ambitious enough to sit up properly. “God, people care about some stupid stuff when it comes to celebrities. Like, do I actually care if Britney Spears went to the supermarket with her kids or Macklemore walked through an airport?”

“Maybe?”

“No, not at all.” He gave her a small smile to let her know he thought her joke was at least a little funny. “Why don’t they talk about something actually interesting? Like if Zayn Malik is actually cheating on his fiancée or not.”

Sarah flushed lightly for a second at the mention of Zayn’ Malik’s name. He was an insanely popular British singer, and she kind of had an intense crush on him, strong enough that she hung up his poster in her closet where her father wouldn’t see. But since she wasn’t thrilled with the idea of Harry knowing that, she ignored the topic completely and went in for the obvious question: “Then why are you watching it?”

“Because there’s nothing else on.” He stopped for a second. “Wait, that’s not true. Teen Wolf is on, and while I’d normally be all over that, I’ve already seen the episode three times.”

Sarah blinked. “You watch Teen Wolf?”

“Don’t look at me like that! It’s a great show! With actual plotlines and supernatural craziness and…” He let out a sigh when he saw that Sarah was getting more and more confused and concerned by the second. “If you haven’t seen it, then you can’t judge me like this. Just give it a shot, and then you can look at me like that.”

“Even if I like it, it wouldn’t change my confusion, because it’s a girl’s show. Aren’t all the guys shirtless all the time?”

“But the girls are gorgeous, too, so there’s something for everyone. And it’s not all about the shirtless scenes!”

“I don’t even want to know what you two were just chatting about,” Antonia laughed, shaking her head before pointing toward the dining room. “Dinner’s ready, kiddos.”

Harry let out a small sigh of relief as he clicked off the television and got to his feet, stretching his arms over his head, his back popping with the movement. Sarah grimaced good-naturedly before following him to the table, where the food was already waiting in the center of the table.

As the blonde teenager took her seat, she couldn’t help staring. The dish they were all about to consume didn’t look like anything she’d ever eaten before, a mess of what looked and didn’t look like spaghetti with some green sludge in a smaller bowl next to it. “What is that?” she blurted before she could censor her thoughts and phrase the question more politely.

Her father gave her a disapproving look, a rare occurrence, while Antonia merely chuckled. “It’s one of the dishes Harry and I found online. It’s spaghetti squash with an avocado sauce.”

Sarah had never eaten an avocado, and she couldn’t help but think that the squash having Spaghetti as a first name didn’t make it pasta. So she was just baffled.

“It looks delicious,” Jake complimented, but Sarah could see the uncertain twinkle in his eye. The Richards certainly weren’t adventurous with food recipes, and while Sarah would try the plate to be polite, she had a feeling the meal would not end well at all.

When Harry passed the bowl to her so she could be served, she took it hesitantly and gave herself a small helping, dolloping a bit of the avocado sauce on top. Her stomach was turning already, so she took a small breath to steady herself. It could be great, she told herself, picking up her fork. Don’t decide before you even taste it.

Not breathing, Sarah twirled a bit around her fork and shoved it in her mouth, chewing thoughtfully. It wasn’t the greatest thing she’d ever tasted, but it certainly wasn’t disgusting like she’d been expecting. Despite the unfortunate color of the avocados, the spaghetti squash meal wasn’t that awful, and she knew she would be able to finish what she had on her plate.

As she took her second bite, she stole a look at her father, who looked just as surprisingly pleased as she was, with his small smile that reached his eyes. “This is wonderful, Antonia,” he told her, widening his grin. “The vegetables are so fresh.”

Antonia saw it as an opening to detail her successful outing to the farmer’s market, so Sarah turned and looked at Harry. It was obvious he adored the meal his aunt had made, shoveling forkfuls into his mouth at an incredible pace. When he caught Sarah’s eye, he gave her a small, embarrassed smirk, which made Sarah laugh lightly as she looked back down at her plate.

“So you two made up?” Antonia commented with a maternal-looking smile. “I’m so glad to see that.”

Sarah shot Harry a confused look, but he just shrugged. I didn’t tell her, his eyes assured her, and Sarah just let the statement go.

“Made up?” Jake questioned, putting his fork down as if preparing for a serious conversation. “What happened?”

“Oh, nothing really. Just a little lovers’ quarrel. A couple days later, and they’re attached at the hip again.”

Jake’s neck and ears turned red, while Sarah felt her stomach drop and her heart start to race. “Lovers’ quarrel,” he repeated plainly, shooting daggers at his daughter. “Really.”

“Oh, now, Jake, it’s just a little summer romance. Who doesn’t need a bit of that to spice up adolescence?” She winked at the two teenagers, who suddenly couldn’t make eye contact with one another, before putting her hand over Jake’s. “They’re the only two kids around, so it’s not like we can keep them away from each other.”

The tendons were standing up in Jake’s wrist, and Sarah felt the avocado rise up her throat. Her father was understanding, patient, wonderful. There was no way he was going to get angry about her for seeing Harry.

But how Antonia had found out the truth, Sarah had no idea. Harry looked just as humiliated and sick as she did, so she could easily conclude that he hadn’t said anything. Especially since it broke one of their five simple rules they set aside for the summer. However she realized what was happening, Sarah couldn’t help but rudely wish the old woman had kept her big mouth shut.

Slowly, but surely, Jake picked his fork back up into his hand and began pushing his food around on his plate like an angsty teenager. “Sarah, we will discuss this at home.”

The rest of dinner was cloaked with an uncomfortable silence, and afterward, Sarah was torn away from the house so quickly that she could barely thank Antonia for the meal.