Allure | Luke Hemmings

Chapter 15

“I’m so nervous I could literally swallow my tongue and die right now.”

“That’s actually impossible. The tongue is rooted to the floor of the mouth by the lingual frenulum, Luke.”

“Damn you and your use of complex anatomy references.”

I was on the phone with Luke while he got dressed up for dinner with my parents. For the last two hours he couldn’t stop talking about the possibility of him getting sweaty due to his nervousness of being around my family. I told him to put on extra deodorant if that was going to be the case.

“I’m serious Alex, your mom is a fashion designer. What if she goes Fashion Police on me?” Luke asked.

I chuckled. “Just don’t wear anything with dots on it. She hates them on men apparel.” The different dresses my mom had placed in my bed for me to wear were an explosion of pigments that reminded me of Claude Monet’s The Iris Garden at Giverny, a painting I personally disliked.

Sorry Monet, I’m not into your colorful paintings’ era, dude.

“Should I keep the lip ring?” Luke once again inquired.

“Okay, now you’re being preposterous.” I took a pale yellow sheath dress and walked to the bathroom. “I need to change and get ready, call me when you’re here.”

“We should Facetime, then.” Luke said between snickers, and I could practically see that stupid smirk of his.

“You’re such a cheeky little shit, goodbye.” I ended the call before I spent yet another 2 hours of future phone bills.

Taking the hair straightener, some bobby pins, and some spray, I managed to tame my hair in a mid ponytail. Next, I put on some basic make-up and was ready to go.

The smell of warm food had taken over my room and made me want to take a quick visit to the kitchen, where I was met by no other than my lovely grandmother.

Scratch that, she’s the real life version of Yzma from The Emperor’s New Groove. And she was wearing purple today, what a coincidence.

“Here comes my lovely granddaughter.” My grandma, Annalise, greeted me with a warm hug and the smell of the stereotypical roses perfume old ladies wear.

“Hi, grandma.” I said, my voice sounding mushy from the tight embrace. “How come you’re visiting us today?”

“Your dad told the family you guys were preparing a meal, party of 15. Your uncles are waiting for you, Aunt Jane is looking quite terrible today, just check her dress and I’ll hear your feedback later.” She said, all smiles.

Now I knew Luke had a reason to be nervous.

I waved my grandma goodbye as she kept drinking wine straight from the bottle, and exited the kitchen. I took a look at the dinner table and almost gasped at the sight of almost all my family sitting in the dinner table, sharing drinks.

“Alexandria! What a lovely shade of yellow you’re wearing today, darling.” My mom approached me but stopped on her tracks when she noticed my glare.

“Why is the entire family here? This was my entire dad’s plan, right?” I spat.

“He just wanted to make sure you grandmother met him the sooner, the better.” She explained. “She must have told the whole family to come as well.”

“Just make sure her crude remarks stay inside her mouth today.” I spat and walked away from her, not feeling like seeing my family anymore.

I love my grandmother, but she tends to be quite the talker. Mix that and the fact she’s on her old days, and you’ll receive tons of profanities and critiques that I’m not prepared to hear. Not today.