Fight or Flight

"Are you coming over for Thanksgiving?"

"Mom, you already know I am," Veronica said, holding her phone to her ear while she poured a glass of orange juice.

"Well, I wasn't sure if you were going to spend it with your new boyfriend," Christine Scott stressed the fact that her daughter now had a significant other. "Will he be coming over for dinner, too?"

Veronica shrugged her shoulders even though her mother couldn't see. "I don't know, I guess."

She wasn't sure what it would be like now that she'd met Matt's parents. She definitely did not want to spend Thanksgiving dinner with his mother, but she also wasn’t sure about spending it with her parents either.

"Is that a definite?" Her mother asked. "Find out so I can buy extra food when I go grocery shopping."

"Fine, fine." Veronica sipped her orange juice. She just wanted to appease her mother. "We're coming, both of us."

"That's great!” Christine exclaimed. "What's his name again?"

"His name is Matt, Mom." She rolled her eyes at her mother's forgetfulness. She'd already told her his name a thousand times and she hoped that she wouldn't call him something else at dinner.

"Matt," Her mother repeated. "Okay, well we're looking forward to meeting him."

"Yeah, yeah. Just don't embarrass me, please. And tell Dad not to pull any jokes or some crazy stuff." Veronica's father had a habit of pulling practical jokes. Being a tough Marine for over thirty years meant nothing when it came to his humor.

"I'll make sure he doesn’t have “the talk” with Matt,” Christine promised. “Have you talked to your brother lately?"

"I talked to him a few days ago," Veronica recalled her last casual conversation with her brother. She was busy with work and he was busy with his new job now that he’d finished law school, so they rarely saw each other. "Is he coming?"

"Yes, he's coming for dinner," Her mother said. "I think he’s bringing Lisa, too."

"That's cool, I guess." Veronica felt indifferent about Gabriel's girlfriend of two years, Lisa. She got along with Lisa and accepted her as part of the family, but they were never that close. However, their parents really liked Lisa, possibly only because Gabriel was the only one out of the two siblings to have his love life together.

"Alright, your father's calling me, I've gotta go."

"Okay. Bye, Mom," Veronica said, listening to her father in the background grumbling about something. "Tell Dad I said hi."

"I will, sweetie. I'll call you later. I love you."

"Love you too, Mom." Veronica ended the call. Grabbing her glass of juice, she made her way upstairs to Matt's bedroom. It sounded like he was talking to someone on the phone. She pushed open the door some, and he was sitting on the unmade bed with his back to her. She lingered at the door, listening to his conversation.

"I don't think we're coming over for dinner," Matt said. "What do you mean why? Ma, you were pretty rude to her and I don't think she's comfortable coming over again."

Veronica listened intently as he spoke about her to his mother.

"You were never rude to Val, so I don't see why Veronica’s so different...Yes, she knows about Val. Val and her are actually friends..."

Veronica wondered what Kim thought about her befriending his ex-wife.

"I'm not stopping them from doing anything. They're both mature enough to put it to the side... I told you not to do that when we came. You can't just ask her questions like that."

Veronica cleared her throat lightly, tapping her fist on the open door to let him know that she was there. Matt turned, looking at her over his shoulder. He nodded his head for her to come to him. She crossed the room timidly. The last thing she wanted to do was come between Matt and his mother.

"Mom, I've gotta go," He said, looking into Veronica’s eyes as he spoke. He pulled her by her hip, sitting her on his lap. "I don't know, I'll call you later."

"She wants us to go over on Thanksgiving?" Veronica asked after he hung up.

"I already told her we weren't coming.” He gave her the answer she was hoping for. "I'm still sorry about last week. She's a little crazy sometimes."

You're telling me, Veronica thought. "It's alright."

"What do you want to do then?" He asked her. "What do you normally do on Thanksgiving?"

"Uh." She had to ask him now. She ran a hand through his straight locks and pressed a kiss to his soft lips. "How do you feel about dinner with my parents?"