Beverly Hills Brothers

Chapter 29

I blew out the candle I had lit to get rid of the weed smell in my room and checked my makeup once again in the mirror. I put eye drops in my eyes to hide my bloodshot eyes that were from the few hours of sleep I had gotten in the past few weeks and the joint I just smoked. If you thought I was going to go to dinner at my "ex??" boyfriends house sober, then you would be mistaken. I was high enough to not have a full blown panic attack over seeing the boys after so long, but not blazed out of my mind that my parents would know. I pulled a cardigan over my shirt to make sure the bruises on my collar bones and wrists were covered. I checked the mirror one final time and walked downstairs.

My parents knocked on the door and Lyle answered. My heart sunk but awkward conversations were avoided as Jose came in and excitedly welcomed everyone inside. "Kitty just pulled dinner out of the oven. Boys go help your mother bring everything to the dining room." Jose said sternly and gave Erik a second glance when he mumbled "yes sir" under his breath, but remembered his company and didn't say anything. I hesitated as we stepped into the dining room as my usual spot was in between the boys and my parents had already taken their respective seats near Jose. I let out a breath and sat down. "So Sarah, how has your summer been? Haven't seen much of you recently." Jose asked as the boys walked in with dishes and a pitcher of iced tea. "It's been good Mr. Menendez. I've been researching different colleges I would like to tour this year" I said and he nodded. My body went rigid as I felt the boys sit down on either side of me. "That is very proactive of you. It's best to look at all of your options." he said and my parents started talking with him about how Lyle is going to Princeton and how he must be so proud. I scooped some mashed potatoes and casserole onto my plate and I was surprised when Lyle poured tea into my glass. I tried to focus on my food, but it was incredibly hard to chew and swallow food when I felt my throat tightening from holding back tears.

It literally happened so fast. Nobody would have been able to see unless their eyes were already trained on me and coincidentally I had two pairs of eyes trained on me the whole dinner. My sleeve had slid up when I placed my glass back on the table and for the briefest of seconds, the obvious hand print around my wrist was visible before I pulled my sleeve down and dropped it in my lap. I could feel the boys looking at me more intently than they had all night, but I managed to ignore them and thankfully Jose spoke up. "Well, if you kids wanted to go to the backyard. We can have a cocktail in the lounge." he said, looking around at Kitty and my parents. "I actually have a little bit of a headache, so I'm going to head home early, but thank you for dinner Mrs. Menendez, it was delicious as usual." I said, as we all stood up from the table. "Of course dear. I hope you feel better." I nodded and quickly made my way to the door. I practically ran back to my house. I couldn't stand the idea of locking myself in my bedroom, so I decided to go out back to the pool. I sat in the hammock chair and closed my eyes. After that dinner, I genuinely did feel a headache coming on. The boys hadn't spoken one word to me. I can't beli- "Can we talk, please?" I opened my eyes to see the boys standing in front of me. "Sure." I said and they sat in chairs opposite of me. "I'm sorry" we all said at the same time. We laughed and I looked down. "Ok, me first. I'm sorry that I haven't talked to you in literally a month. I'm sorry Erik, for flinching away from you. Obviously, with my dad, when he's angry, that usually leads to me being hurt, so it's just reflex for me at this point. I know neither one of you would ever hurt me. I'm sorry Lyle for hurting your feelings when you saw me on a "date," genuinely I would rather have gotten stung by a hundred wasps than have gone to dinner with that geezer, but Jess literally forced me to go on a double date, but obviously nothing happened between us. I doubt he even knows my name." I said, feeling a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. "Alright, me next. I'm sorry I shut you out for so long. When you flinched away from me, I was really worried you didn't trust me and the idea that you thought I would hit you is unbearable. Also, I don't like the idea that your dad is still hurting you and we weren't there to protect you." Erik said, reaching his hand out hesitantly and I joined hands with him and rubbed his knuckles. "Alright, my turn. I'm sorry I didn't even ask you about the situation. I genuinely just assumed the worst, which was really shitty of me, because I do trust you and I know you would never cheat. That just comes from my own insecurities of thinking I'm not good enough for you." Lyle said, sheepishly smiling at me and I stood up. "So are we good?" I asked. "Yep." "I guess so." "Perfect!" I said, jumping on them and tackling them in a hug. We all started laughing, especially when Erik rolled out of his chair and faceplanted into the grass. "I'm glad we're back together." Lyle said and I smiled at him. "Reunited and it feels so good."