Temptation 2: Forgiving You ✔️

37: sometimes it hurts.

"I don't know Leah...we can't just..reschedule?" Nate asks me as we walk up to the front door of Mr. Lincolns house, "Oh now you're having second thoughts?" I ask him with a grin on my face. I knew he would. It's not everyday your girlfriend asked you to attend a dinner with a house full of people that you don't know or people you don't particularly like. Nate inhales, "Yeah I had second thoughts since the moment you asked me to accompany you here..."

"You'll be fine. The Lincolns are like, the nicest people that I know aside from my parents. Maybe you'll find it a lot more enjoyable when you're actually inside." It's true. The moment my parents introduced me to them I was beyond nervous. Not like nervous where I was sweating out of my ass, but nervous to the point where I didn't exactly want to speak. We all get jitters like this anyway. "Yeah yeah I guess." He mutters quietly as the front door opens up.

"Leah!" Mrs. Lincoln calls out as her arms wrap around me. I smile at how comforting the hug is. The scent of perfume trailing to my nose as I take a breath in, "It's good to see you hun!" As she pulls away I greet her with my smile, "It's good to see you as well Mrs. Lincoln, were we supposed to bring some sort of desserts or something?" I ask, unsure of how these gatherings usually go. Most times when my parents had dinner and people over, guests usually brought over their own prepped food and desserts.

"What, no no it's not actually necessary," Her eyes divert over to Nate, and then over to me. "It's..Damon..right?" She asks and I choke, immediately shaking my head no. I could see the uncomfortable look in Nates eye, his shoulders raising up just a little. "No this is Nathaniel, my boyfriend." I correct her.

"Oh." Her face shocked a little as we all try to obtain the awkwardness, "Sorry you and him seem to have similar features. It's nice to meet you Nathaniel, by all means come in you two." Score for Mrs. Lincoln to play that off.

I flash a smile at her as I grab Nates hand, glancing up at him as he remains quiet. The last thing that I want is this dinner to go to hell, for god sakes all I need is a normal-semi functional dinner with everyone. As we make our way out to the dining room it's a lot less people than I expected. Mr. Lincoln, his daughter..Damon, he's here..so is everyone else.

Except Christian.

"Look who finally showed up," Sam announced as he stood. My smile lifted as he walked over, "You look good. Plastic Surgery?" He joked. I scoffed and chuckled, "Yeah just a few rounds of botox, not too much you know?" It was good seeing everyone again, Mari and Alex giving me a look. Not a scary one where I have to question whether they're angry at me, but more of a...creepy grin. I knew that grin, didn't exactly want to question it, so I didn't.

"Good to see everyones here. I hope you don't mind, dinner was a little bit rushed." Mrs. Lincoln said to me, "Yeah women sure knows how to create a good meal though," The old man chips in as we all take a seat, "How was the drive?" He asks us as he took the coat from me.

"It was pretty long but easy to get back here." Nate says to him. Hearing him even speak seemed to be a lot of weight off of my chest. He could play nice if he wanted to, and I liked seeing that side of him.

"Good, good. And I assume you're Nathaniel right? The boyfriend?" He asks, soon raising his eyebrow at me as if he needed some sort of clarification. He was the one, the only one I needed.

"Yeah the boyfriend, and you're the super nice family friend guy." Nate replies. I quietly laugh at his words trying to make sure the air in the room remains to be neutral.

Mr. Lincoln chuckles, "That's about right. I assume Leah refers of me to you that way." I'd say he's more like an uncle to me than just some family friend.

I shake my head, "No, that's just his interpretation of you I guess."

This was going to be a long dinner. Most of the time I sat here in silence as we waited for the food to come out. So far everything was good. The table was full of laughter, and for once Nate actually engaged in the conversation. It mostly had been between the guys but it was good just to hear everyone converse.