Severing Ties (Book 2. Ties)

9. Eaten Alive

Christmas was fast approaching, and I knew my father was going to New York for the holidays. Through most of my life, we had spent the holidays with my grandparents in France but after what happened between my parents, he was unwelcome in their house. Aunt Joy really wanted us to stay over the holidays and tried to convince my mom and I that it would be okay. I loved my aunt, but I was not going to stay and see my father and go through an uncomfortable night.

So we spent Christmas and New Year's in France. But before leaving on the twenty-second of December, Robin invited me to their house for dinner. After all, it had been about six weeks since the last time I had seen my friends. Everyone had been working nonstop, and school took up a lot of my time. I was usually around Lucas, Stephanie, Frank, and Elie; I enjoyed their company, but I was always the single friend with them. I liked Elie, but before she came along it was not just me being the single one. So when I did things with Ezra's friends (which were my friends too), I did not feel like an outcast because there were various people who were single.

I arrived at their house and was led to the dining room. At the head of the table, like always, was Mr. Lord. Frederick Lord was an attractive man even though he was old; he was tall and muscular with entrancing emerald eyes and a little bald spot at the top of his graying brown hair. It wasn't him I was surprised to see; sitting by Raven was Rayan Summers, an actor off one of my favorite crime drama shows. I sat down and greeted everyone, but Raven said nothing that would give away why Rayan was sitting in her dining table. After a few minutes of sitting and listening to the Lord family talk, Liam arrived with his girlfriend, Sophie.

Once Liam and Sophie settled down, our entrées were brought out. Dinner was uneventful until Liam spoke up. He announced to all of us that Sophie was pregnant. There was silence all around the table except for Raven who started coughing uncontrollably because she choked on her water. I glanced at her and saw Dreamy Rayan patting and rubbing her back. One thing was for sure, they were very comfortable with each other.

Nobody was saying anything, so I opened my big mouth and said, "congratulations," not very loudly. Everyone still heard me, thankfully.

It was like me speaking broke a barrier because everyone started congratulating and hugging Liam and Sophie. When we finished dinner, we all went to the media room except for Mr. and Mrs. Lord. Raven asked if anyone wanted popcorn, and of course I was one of the ones who said yes. From some time forward, I had been in the mood to eat. Maybe it was because I had gone to the doctor and started taking antidepressants. I could not say I was blissfully happy, but the world was not as dark and morose as it had seemed. It had taken three weeks for the meds to start working, but once they actually had taken an effect on my body, I felt much better.

I was lucky that once I begun to take medicine, the first set worked. When I was young, my doctor had to change the medicine twice because they were making me feel absolutely nothing instead of returning me to my normal personality. When I took them again at nineteen, they worked like a dream. So I actually enjoyed myself that night before I had to depart to France the next day.

Rayan and Raven sat too close and looked at each other with a weird look. It was annoying I could not get to Raven to ask her what was happening. I wanted to know so much, but it wasn't like I could actually speak my mind in the middle of a movie without anybody else hearing me. A nasty movie I might add. In the end I kind of liked "Black Swan" and I kind of did not. It was too weird in a lot of parts.

At one point during the movie, Liam had brought glasses and offered alcoholic beverages. When Liam offered me a drink, Robin glared at his brother. Robin really was protective of me like a brother. I didn't mind his protectiveness, but I would say Raven had felt otherwise growing up with an overbearing brother. Poor girl, she was raised with three older brothers. By the end of the night everyone was drunk except for Sophie and I. Well Raven didn't appear drunk, but she had drank as much as the guys. I concluded she was better at holding alcohol down.

"I don't know if I should have come today. I still haven't finished packing for my trip and I have to wake up early," I told Robin quietly.

"Your mom and you should have stayed and had Christmas with us," he said. His eyes were red but they looked happy.

I chuckled softly. "As much as I would have liked that, my mom wouldn't have. She doesn't know y'all, and she would have felt out of place."

A little scowl formed on his face. "I've hardly ever seen your mom."

"Yeah, she doesn't go out a lot," I replied.

A smile crept on his face, and I lifted my eyebrow in response. "Reminds me of someone," he said.

I laughed not too loudly. "Hey, we're calm people."

"That's not what I heard. Johnathan said you were a cheerleader and something he called a flyer... I think. Anyone who is willing to trust others to throw them and catch them is not a calm person."

"Technically you do have to be calm because if you freak out... you're going to fall and hurt someone."

The movie ended and Raven began to say they should give rooms to those who had drank because it was unsafe to drink and drive. It's unsafe to drink and do anything. Her brothers, mostly Liam, started teasing her about Rayan. I decided they had met him before. Man I had really been missing out on things because of school and whatnot. Liam and Robin were so drunk they had not realized they had just let a man spend the night. And if my suspicions were correct, Raven and Rayan had a thing for each other. Oh oh.

I had to leave, or I was never going to be able to wake up in the morning. I needed to get home to finish packing my dumb things and then sleep. With that in mind, I said goodbye to everyone, and looked at Raven straight in the eye and said, "you need to text me, woman. I feel like you're going to be eaten alive tomorrow."

She laughed nervously. "Oh yeah."

And then I left.

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This chapter wasn't too long so I might put up another one tomorrow, but I make no promises!

Thanks for reading! And make sure to read The Deceivers if you haven't:)

K Bye.